Wiz of Awes
Fansided

Are the Washington Wizards better without Bradley Beal?

By Keith Cork

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 01: Bradley Beal #3 of the Washington Wizards looks on against the Orlando Magic during the first half at Capital One Arena on January 1, 2020 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 01: Bradley Beal #3 of the Washington Wizards looks on against the Orlando Magic during the first half at Capital One Arena on January 1, 2020 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
(Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) /

Last 5 Games Team Stats

Obviously, the Wizards have had a better record in the last 5 games compared to all season, with a win rate of 60% compared to 33% before that. But what isn’t clear is how they’ve been doing it.

In fact, the Wizards have been worse on the offensive AND defensive ends statistically over the last five games. According to NBA.com, they’ve scored 106 points vs. 114.8, shot the ball with 44.5% accuracy vs. 45.8%, shot 3’s with 32.8% accuracy vs. 36.2%, free throws 65.6% vs. 77.3%, dished out 21.4 assists vs. 25.7, and stole the ball 7.4 times vs. 7.8 in the last five games versus the season as a whole. The only two raw stats they have performed better in is rebounds (46.8 vs. 42.6) and blocks (5 vs. 4.2).

A deeper dive gives us a little more perspective on the defensive end, and looking at opponents numbers, the Wizards have given up 8.9 fewer points over their last five, and the biggest key has to be perimeter defense as opponents are shooting a dismal 25.2% from the 3-point line as opposed to 36.6% on the season.

The Wizards defense has been super bad all season, but it’s really tough to say in just five games if the defense can be attributed with this HUGE drop-off in opponent three-point percentage or if the Wizards have just been getting lucky with opponents missing open shots.

As someone who has followed basketball for more than two decades now (and with a minor in economics, statistics being a big part of that field of study), I would wager it’s a little bit of both, but I would fully expect opponent three-point percentages to start to creep more towards the norm. From this limited data set, I would probably deduce that the Wizards have been getting lucky in the short-term, but I have been known to be wrong in the past.

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