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CHICAGO – Shortly before this pandemic-plagued 2020-21 NBA season began, a team that plays its home games just 1.3 miles from the White House decided to clean up the house.
So they traded a beloved John Wall All-Star for a disgruntled Russell Westbrook, who arrived in Washington still burning from the fire he started in Houston, where he demanded a trade citing concern about the Rockets’ “culture and responsibility.”
On paper, these Wizards look good.
With Westbrook and Bradley Beal, they have a 1-2 fatal blow for a backcourt tandem.
His front row is led by a chunky, beefy 6-foot-10, 248-pound center in Thomas Bryant and a lithe power forward in Rui Hachimura.
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And the bench has some decent pieces on veterans Davis Bertans, Robin Lopez and Ish Smith.
However, aside from the above, the Wizards have little else. They are like the person on a Zoom call: Prim and properly above but below is in casual disarray.
This is why they have absolutely no wins on the ledger, they are last among 30 teams in the overall ranking.
Hours before 2020 collapsed in 2021, the Wizards somehow managed to lose to the Chicago Bulls at home for the second time in three nights.
Chicago, previously winless and somewhat rudderless, dressed four fewer players who were on the NBA’s health protocol.
Surprisingly, the loss of manpower didn’t stop the Bulls from playing like an All-Star team against the Wizards, who gave up 133 points and allowed seven Bulls to score in double figures.
Defeated from the boards, 44-37, Washington also lost in the battle to manufacture assists, 34-27.
As he struggled through this five-game misadventure, Westbrook averaged a triple-double with 19.8 points, 12.8 rebounds and 12.3 assists per.
The effort of all trades, however, could not ignite the magic. Just misery.
After his first loss to the Bulls, a 115-107 bite on Wednesday, Westbrook attempted to boost his team’s morale with a post quoting the great Martin Luther King Jr.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he is in times of comfort and convenience, but where he is in times of challenge and controversy.”
Sadly, those powerful words did not unlock the prison of his continued lost odyssey.
Which doesn’t mean it won’t, eventually.
But the future is not very promising, as the Wizards’ next four games will all be on the road against the Timberwolves in Minnesota, the Nets in Brooklyn, the Sixers in Philadelphia and the Celtics in Boston.
Faced with a brutal schedule, and the fact that they are 26th in the league in both points per game allowed (122.2) and defensive rating (115.2), Washington could easily be 1-8 by January 8.
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Which begs the question: Where will the Wizards be when such a challenge arises in which a playoff spot begins to decline by nine games in a 72-game marathon?
I do not know. Does not matter
But if you are curious for an answer, try to repent and repent.
Somewhere in Houston, John Wall is smiling.
While his new team, the Rockets, aren’t necessarily happy at 1-2, they sure are far less miserable than those lackluster, winless Wizards.
