Washington Wizards: Goals for each prospect entering Orlando

Goal for Thomas Bryant: Be more aggressive

As I wrote a few months ago, Thomas Bryant came to D.C. with low expectations and quickly blew these expectations out of the water. He became a high-energy, highly efficient scorer from inside the paint. He quickly (and deservedly) became beloved by Wizards fans everywhere.

He then signed a very affordable contract this past offseason to the tune of three years, $24 million. Unfortunately, that contract has tainted the way some fans have looked at Bryant’s production this season. The deal came with raised expectations, which is fair, but unrealistic expectations.

Thomas Bryant was never going to be our “center of the future” nor a guy the Wizards could build around moving forward. There is a lot to like about his game, but some of his limitations make things tough.

While he might not be a franchise cornerstone, he can still be a very good center who the Wizards can continue to develop and use in a lot of different ways.

But in Orlando, he needs to work on one thing. Be more aggressive.

In 2018-2019 he was a monster inside the paint, shooting a blistering 61.6 percent from the field. So many of his shots were layups and dunks, and he looked like he was giving what the defense gave him.

Contrary to what the numbers might suggest about Bryant this season (59.9 percent from the field on 1.1 more attempts than last season), he has looked to be a little bit more tentative and has moved further from the rim and settling for more jumpers.

An increased workload will obviously give you some growing pains, and Bryant has missed 26 games this season due to a foot injury, so that could have affected his shot selection. But now that he is fully healthy, he should get back to the basics. Don’t rush shots, don’t settle for jumpers, and attack the glass.

That’s what made Bryant so beloved in year one in Washington. Tough buckets at the rim, not corner threes.

Hopefully, Bryant can find some of the aggression and assertiveness he played with last season for this final stretch in Orlando.

If he can show that he can get more shots around the rim and rebound at a fairly high rate, I think the Wizards will be happy with Bryant going into next season. Don’t expect all-star numbers from the big man on a nightly basis, but he doesn’t need those to get the job done and be worth the deal he signed last summer.