Neither John Wall nor Bradley Beal are big on setting New Year's resolutions for themselves, but if they hope to reach the Eastern Conference Finals as they set as a goal for the Washington Wizards before the season, then the team would be wise to work towards the following resolutions.
No More Mr. Nice Guy From Scott Brooks
For most of last season, the entire team raved about Brooks' calling as a player's coach that allows them a great amount of liberties. Having already lost to 10 teams below .500, which is more than they did all of last season, it is simply inexcusable by all parties involved. Beal and others have taken the full breadth of the blame for poor effort, but Brooks can also do a better sure ensuring such lapses do not continue to happen. A strong argument can be made that Wall and other top rotation players are the root of such lackadaisical and uninterested play against sub-.500 teams, which means Brooks cannot exactly bench his four-time All-Star point guard or other key players without potentially causing unnecessary waves in the team dynamic. Instead, I think Brooks should take care of things behind closed doors like pure hustle and effort defensive practices or more one-on-one film sessions with his players to point out their flaws. Beating the Chicago Bulls was a good start, but to have more losses to sub-.500 teams than any other NBA team as of January 1 is inexcusable.
Markieff Morris Where Art Thou?
The power forward had already went on a major tear at this point last season. From December 23, 2016 to February 16, 2017, the last game before the All-Star break, Morris averaged 17 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He scored in double-figures in every one of those games. Obviously, Morris is still feeling the effects of his ankle injury as well as his surgery to repair his sports hernia in addition to other ailments that keeps him from moving at the same level he has in the past. With Mike Scott surging and Jason Smith available to provide spot minutes off the bench, I think the Wizards should seriously consider giving Morris some time off to get back to 100 percent because they will not do any damage in the playoffs without him at his best. If they do not wish to rest him now, they could wait until the All-Star break where Morris could get 11 days off, while only missing one game against the Knicks.
More Small Ball, Please
Against the Bulls, Brooks experimented with multiple small ball lineups with both Markieff Morris and Mike Scott playing center despite being just 6-10, 245 and 6-8, 237, respectively. Of Washington's 16 lineups that has played at least 20 minutes so far this season, 4 of their best 6 net rating lineups are small ball lineups. With Cleveland starting Kevin Love at center and Boston typically rolling out a positionless lineup, small ball will be the Wizards best chance to compete with the East's two biggest contenders.
Better Short Term Memory and Shot Selection
"When we shoot the ball well, we always tend to play better defense," Brooks said before the Bulls game on New Year's Eve. That is borderline inexcusable. Obviously, that is a result of human nature that you get down on yourself when shots are not falling, but if Washington wants to be taken seriously by other teams in the NBA, they have to change that mindset and completely put out of their heads what just happened on offense when defense is the current task at hand. Easier said than done, but one way to shoot the ball better is taking better shots. Too often, Washington goes hero ball with isolation matchups that ended up with jacking up midrange jump shots that typically brick.
John Wall, for instance, shoots 64.4 percent at the rim so far this season, but that efficiency plummets to 31.2 percent on shots more than 3 feet away from the rim to the three-point line. As a result, it would be wiser to minimize his midrange jump shot game, take a few every once in a while to not be too predictable, by taking more three-pointers where he is currently shooting 33 percent from.
Less Talking
A lot has been made of the Wizards claiming that not only are they the second-best team in the East, but that the reigning conference champions three-years running were ducking them in the playoffs. I do not fault Wall or Beal for feeling the way they feel, because they are both very prideful players that do not want to admit that anyone is better than them, but that does not mean they need to broadcast it for the entire world. They have even admitted that some of their performance against sub-.500 teams could be a result of other teams not liking their trash talk and giving the Wizards their absolutely best shot. As Brooks said recently, Washington has not accomplished anything, yet, because the second round of the playoffs is not something to boast over. So, until the Wizards do something substantial, whether it be this season or further down the line, it would be a good idea to stay under the radar in terms of making waves. Without the likes of a Paul Pierce or Nene in the locker room, Ian Mahinmi should maybe take on a bigger role in this case, this is uncharted waters for the House of Guard led Wizards without a true veteran leader in the locker room.