This season presents a new era of excitement for the Washington Wizards and their fans. After years of being in the basement, they now have multiple All-Star and All-NBA-level talents, as well as an elite young core, headlined by No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa.
While it's common for NBA fans to overreact to preseason, there are always aspects that you can pull from the games. If Dybantsa struggles, no, it's not all doom and gloom for his NBA career, but there are certain parts of the preseason that should absolutely be taken seriously too.
These are two questions that I am hoping the Wizards can at least start to answer throughout their preseason games.
1. How much will AJ Dybantsa be prioritized on offense early on?
In any ordinary situation, a top pick is instantly going to be one of the top-scoring options on their team right away. However, this Wizards team was the opposite of an ordinary situation last season.
The Wizards were "buyers" at the trade deadline last season, but the two main pieces they traded for combined for five total games played in the season. However, that was by design, as they were actively tanking for Dybantsa. Anthony Davis and Trae Young, when healthy, are All-NBA-level talents, and they'll undoubtedly be the first and second options on the team this season.
So the question lies in where Dybantsa falls in the offensive pecking order. Obviously, you have to prioritize him because he has all the upside in the world, but is he the third option behind those two? Is he the fourth behind Alex Sarr? It remains to be seen how he'll be used, but he's in an elite situation for a No. 1 pick.
Where does the spacing come from?
I'm probably higher on the Wizards than the consensus, and I think if their top players stay healthy, they'll absolutely be a top-eight seed, but there is one major question mark I have. How is this team going to space the floor consistently?
In the projected starting lineup, you have Young, who is an elite spacer as long as he's on the ball, which he will be, and Kyshawn George, who is a very solid three-point shooter at 38.1%. Everyone else is a mystery. Dybantsa is an incredibly gifted scorer, but the majority of that is attacking the rim, and in the mid-range, his three-point shot isn't a strength currently.
Then you have the two bigs: Sarr and Davis. Both are theoretical stretch bigs, but the percentages don't really show that. Davis has the capability to shoot, but in his career, he's at a mere 29.5%. Sarr shot it at 33.3% last year, which isn't much better.
For the spacing not to be a big issue, a few things need to happen. For one, Tre Johnson needs to play a lot. Johnson might be the best pure shooter on the team, and getting him as many catch-and-shoot looks as possible will open the court up drastically. The second is unlocking the pick-and-pop game between Young and the bigs.
While I understand the percentages aren't great, Davis and Sarr haven't played with someone as skilled as Young in the screen game in quite some time. Young will be able to create open looks for them in favorable spots. If those two things happen, the spacing questions could dicipate slightly.
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