Deni Avdija is having a breakout season for the struggling Wizards, so far topped by a career-high 43 points against New Orleans right before the All-Star break – and he was ITCHING to get back on the floor with his team when he joined Lynnell Willingham Thursday just after practice.
“I think we're together, we're trying to push the last stretch of the season to try to win as much as possible and get better,” Avdija said. “Everybody knows our record is not the best, but we can get a lot of benefits from playing together, and we have a lot of young talent on our team that can develop, so it's really important for us to develop and stay together and compete as much as we can.”
The Wiz return to action tonight in Denver, and at 9-45, they have much better odds a winning the Draft Lottery than a playoff game, but the latter was never really the goal per se anyway.
Still, there are a lot of positives the team brass is looking at, and for, in this first rebuilding year, and so far, Avdija – who is averaging career highs in stats across the board – is one of those positives, which is great for a team that just signed him to a four-year extension prior to this season.
“I feel like I still have a lot of room to grow. I'm still learning game to game in terms of like, where's my spots on the floor and getting better defensively and at communicating on the court,” Avdija said. “I’m always competing and never give up, doesn’t matter our record or the game or time – I’m working hard and trying to do the best that I can. Honestly, I’m in a good stretch right now and just trying to keep it going, and it's a good thing to build on for sure.”
Having a healthy summer to build off his finish to last year, and coming into this season healthy, has been a big boost for Avdija, as he had more of a chance to put that work in than he had at any point in his career.
And now, as one of the longer-tenured but still young players on a rebuilding team, he’s become a respected leader who can show the way as he’s also still adjusting to the NBA four years in.
“I’ve known some guys for quite a bit, and they have more confidence in me and the organization has more confidence in me, so I feel like everybody just respects my word more,” Avdija said. “As a rookie, your word doesn't mean a lot, but I feel like, you know, especially where I came from, having the place to come and say stuff when I need to is big for our team, and I feel like it's been helpful for me to grow as a person. I'm gonna do whatever it takes for the team to be to be able to win games; it was tough for me in the beginning, between conditioning and being away from home, and that was more challenging than the basketball. After I overcame that part, it was just like getting better in basketball, and that's where it all clicked for me.”
Avdija also spoke a little bit about some of his teammates, and how the strife in his native Israel is affecting him and his friends and family – take a listen to the entire conversation above.