It was a tough shooting day for the Washington Wizards in their 112-102 loss to the Toronto Raptors. Some of that can be attributed to the Raptors being one of the league's best defensive teams, but some of it is that the Wizards simply don't have enough 3-point shooting threats on the floor.
Trae Young shot a respectable four-for-10 from distance, and Tre Johnson shot a good four-for-eight; however, that's about it. No one else on the roster made more than one from distance.
This is similar to the first game, where, despite the win on the back of Anthony Davis' monster performance, the Wizards shot six-for-28 from three as a team. In that game, Bub Carrington was the only Wizard to make more than one three-pointer.
It's becoming clearer that, to transform into the playoff team they believe they can be, head coach Brian Keefe needs to find more creative ways to get outside shooting on the court. This poor spacing won't get it done in the long term in an ultra-competitive Eastern Conference.
Brian Keefe can't keep running out lineups with zero spacing
The Wizards' bench has plenty of solid three-point shooters, but the starting lineup is a different story, especially with AJ Dybantsa sidelined. Dybantsa isn't a phenomenal shooter from deep right now. Still, opposing defenses are going to respect him a lot more than they do Bilal Coulibaly, who's currently starting in his place.
During the time that Dybantsa misses, it doesn't make any sense to continue starting Coulibaly. Instead, sliding Kyshawn George to the three and slotting Johnson into the starting lineup makes perfect sense.
Also, in the last game, Carrington only played 11 minutes. While he does struggle to generate rim pressure and defend at times, he's still one of the best shooters on a team that doesn't have many. In last night's game, he was a neutral plus-minus in a contest they lost by 10. 20-ish minutes per game doesn't seem crazy for Carrington, assuming he's contributing positively.
The last tweak that Keefe should consider is playing Khris Middleton more. Now, he hasn't been good this season. But that's more than likely just an early-season slump. If there's one thing Middleton can do, even with bad knees and while getting up there in age, it's get buckets.
Dybantsa getting healthy soon should definitely help with his overall scoring gravity. Teams won't be able to pack the paint as much as they're doing now. But there are definitely certain roster decisions that should be made to maximize this roster's offensive potential.
Add us as a preferred source on Google