Three Washington Wizards we want to see play better post all-star break
By Keith Cork
1. Thomas Bryant
Yes, he’s been injured. And yes, he shouldn’t be playing with a tricky stress reaction that is super tough to get rid of, especially for big men who carry a lot of muscle weight like Thomas Bryant.
There’s even a chance that he doesn’t play again this season, as much as I hate to admit it. I’m of the mindset that a first round out to any of those teams mentioned in the previous slide doesn’t really benefit the third year big, and Rising Star Moritz Wagner and Ian Mahinmi are playing well enough that there’s no rush to bring him back.
Though TB hasn’t made an appearance yet in the postseason, so I would definitely love to see him come back and play an integral role in a playoff push and series. But if he’s going to come back and play, he needs to be healthy and he needs to play better.
His per 36 numbers are pretty much down across the board this season compared to last, with even more opportunity with no John Wall. His turnovers are up 0.6, blocks down 0.3, rebounds down 0.6, and he’s shooting the ball at a lower percentage from everywhere except the three-point line.
Wizards fans expected big things from Thomas Bryant in this season with no Wall and no real competition for his starting center job, and he’s been unfortunately robbed of the opportunity by injury. But he still has 29 games left this season to show us what he’s been working on.