Alex Sarr was dealt a tough hand as a rookie after being picked No. 2 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft.
The French product entered the league with high expectations and after a pre-draft cycle filled with rumors about his team intentionally doing everything they could to not land in Atlanta, his play in Summer League started his tenure off in the opposite way he and the team hoped it would.
Entering his rookie season, Sarr quickly turned things around and showed that his offensive struggles in Summer League didn't tell the whole story of his game.
Obviously, those same offensive inefficiencies carried over to the regular season, but as the year progressed, the forward slowly but surely improved.
However, the offensive struggles for the big man were outweighed by what he showed defensively, at least in the eyes of the Wizards general manager Will Dawkins.
In comments about Sarr's rookie season, Dawkins made it clear that he believes the former No. 2 overall pick shined in year one:
“To be 5th/6th in blocks, number 2 in contests —- he’s [Sarr] impacting the game,” Dawkins said. “When we ran the numbers he was the number 1 most efficient switch defender in the NBA last year (min 200 attempts)," according to the general manager.
Dawkins ended his comments about Sarr saying “Alex was ballin last year.”
It's clear that even with the offensive struggles from Sarr, the Wizards front office continues to think highly of the forward.
With high expectations, Sarr was put in position to receive tough criticism and while that's without a doubt warranted, there's no denying that the defensive potential the young Wizard showed is plenty to be excited about moving forward.
It's hard for fans to get behind players, especially when their struggles offensively make the box scores look so poorly.
Considering many fans just look at stats and mainly points and shooting percentage, it's hard for some to fathom that there's other ways that players can impact the game.
However, Sarr's impact on the game defensively will eventually get the credit he deserves and if he's able to develop his offensive game like the team feels he can, there's real potential for him to become a dynamic two-way player for the Wizards.
As the season nears, Sarr could be in position to turn his doubters into believers and prove Will Dawkins to be right about him all along.