Washington Wizards: Is Deni Avdija the answer at small forward?

With the regular season less than a week away, the Washington Wizards need to find out who will start at small forward. Could their most recent first-round pick be the answer?

Fresh off an interesting offseason, the Washington Wizards are still preparing for an opening night showdown with the Philadelphia 76ers on December 23. With that date quickly approaching, it appears the Wizards have cemented four of their five starters. Russell Westbrook will be at the point, Bradley Beal at shooting guard, Rui Hachimura at power forward, and Thomas Bryant at center.

The last question for their starting lineup is, who is going to start at small forward?

Coming into training camp, the Wizards had a few interesting options to start with Troy Brown Jr. and Isaac Bonga leading the competition. But after a few weeks of camp and a couple of preseason games, a new intriguing option may have emerged as the best option at small forward: rookie Deni Avdija.

Carpe Diem

After a few months of fans tinkering with different ideas of who could start at the three, Scott Brooks quickly declared the small forward competition “wide open” during a training camp interview. Now, this is not to say that guys like Brown or Bonga are playing poorly. But it does show that nobody has really put the position in a choke hold.

With the season quickly approaching, the fact that nobody has claimed the position should not be cause for concern yet, but it does make you wonder. Why haven’t any of these guys been able to separate themselves?

If the incumbents can’t figure it out, maybe it’s time to give a new face a shot at the three. Maybe it’s time to try Deni Avdija. Scott Brooks has had many positive things to say about the 19-year-old rookie and even said he may have a “good chance to start” during his rookie season.