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

3. Kyle Kuzma + the Bench Mob

One of Coach Unseld’s first adjustments this season has been to sub out Kuzma a little earlier and replace him with the bench unit that includes Delon Wright, Will Barton, Rui Hachimura, and Daniel Gafford.

The reasoning is simple enough — you want to avoid having your three best players (Beal, Porzingis, and Kuzma) off the floor at the same time. The Wizards have been without Corey Kispert as well, so filling the floor with shooting when Gafford is on the floor is imperative.

In only 11:47 minutes of play, this lineup was outscoring opponents by 45 points!

Consider this with the fact that the original version of this lineup with Anthony Gill instead of Kyle Kuzma was outscored by 25 points in 27 minutes of play.

Now that Wright could be out for two months with a hamstring injury, Coach Unseld has had to make another adjustment. The new version of this lineup has thrown Monte Morris in Wright’s place and was outscoring opponents by 4.5 points per 100 possessions prior to last night, and has now dropped being outscored by 7 points per 100.

Wizards’ Bradley Beal is shining in ways you wouldn’t expect

The Washington Wizards have started with a 2-0 record, and the main reason is the new and improved leadership of Bradley Beal.

Is the answer going to be Jordan Goodwin? In only 13 minutes of play, he’s a +27.2. It’s a small sample size, but I guess we’ll see what Coach Unseld throws together against the 76ers on Wednesday.