NBC Sports Washington NBA analyst Chase Hughes isn’t surprised that the Wizards decided to bring back head coach Wes Unseld Jr. for another season, because as he explained to Kevin Sheehan on Friday, the Wiz can make, to be frank, plenty of other excuses or choices.
“I agree it was not very surprising in part because Unseld still has to years left on his deal, and the way Tommy Sheppard framed it – he’s our coach moving forward – is a common way to answer that is a little vague but leaves you an out if you need it,” Hughes said. “I think the Wizards don’t see where they are this year as entirely his fault; overall, I think they would point to some of their injuries – having Kyle Kuzma, Kristaps Porzingis, and Bradley Beal only play 35 games together is probably the stat they would cite to tell the story of this season – and personally, I don’t think they had nearly as much talent as they thought they did going into the season. I think they need to add a significant amount of talent to this roster, and get better at drafting to give him a better chance to win as head coach.”
Sheehan agreed with the absences of the big players as a big reason for the Wizards’ fate – “this is an explosive team when healthy,” he said – but questioned how Unseld, who was brought in to bring a more defensive-minded approach, hasn’t made strides there.
“They haven’t, and at times this year over large sample sizes, they looked like they had improved from last year and made small steps forward, but certainly they don’t have the Top 10 defense they hoped to have when they hired him,” Hughes said. “I think there’s probably some missing pieces in that regard; I think they can get better at guard, even though Delon Wright has been tremendous, and they can use some help on lean defense. And, they rank very low in terms of deflections and forcing turnovers.”
Rim protection hasn’t been an issue, despite some below-average numbers, but it may come down to “a few more players in key areas” to Hughes.
That leads to the GM, whom Sheehan is surprised isn’t a name that people are talking about as on the hot seat.
“I haven’t heard that conversation too much either,” Hughes said. “I don’t know how significant any changes they make after this season would be, but I have to imagine the Wizards will evaluate lot of their options given how disappointing this year has been – the manner of which they fell short in the playoffs was, to a degree, they did not expect, but where they are right now is kind of reflective of where they were four years ago when Ernie Grunfeld was fired.”
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The Wizards have made some positive steps forward under Tommy Sheppard in Hughes’ eyes, especially given the John Wall contract situation he inherited, but if you are what your record says you are, at least the draft process has to be looked at for a potential shift.
Sheehan added that saying DC is not necessarily a premium free agent destination so you “have to hit gold” in the draft, and eventually get some kind of generational player the Wizards have never found – so that’s why what the Wiz are doing down the stretch is the right move.
“This is the first time I’ve seen them (tanking) to this degree,” Hughes said, “but it makes sense in this instance. I’m against a years-long, “The Process” type tank because it’s fool’s gold and you can find talent anywhere in the draft. It’s about making your own luck; they’ve been picking in the lottery and had some really good players left on the board who would’ve made significant differences. The Draft is the one thing you have complete control over, and it affects everything.”
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