Lucid Dribbling: 3 Things that have caught our eye in Wizards’ early season

2. Big Boy Pump Fakes

I don’t know if this is a designed action from the coaching staff, or if one of Kyle Kuzma or Kristaps Porzingis started it all on their own, but there has been a noticeable amount of effective pump fakes from the Wizards’ starting bigs.

This one from Kuzma against Cleveland comes to mind:

And this slick move from Porzingis against Chicago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HulhCB39D7s

Or Porzingis again against the Pacers:

Given Kuzma and Porzingis are 6’10 and 7’3 and are a career 33.9% and 35.4% from three, it makes plenty of sense that this would work – but admittedly, it wasn’t something I was looking for entering the season.

Whether they are driving past their defender or taking a one-step dribble into another shot, it seems to be an effective way for Wizards to keep a defense on their toes and open up the offense a bit more.

It reminds me a bit of what makes Joel Embiid so effective as well:

I think I’d like to see some inverted give-and-go action here, with a guard at the elbow, so that when the defender bites on the pump fake, they toss the ball inside before rolling to the rim. I’m not sure how effective that would be against an NBA-level defense, but it could be an interesting wrinkle if Unseld and his staff can make it work.