Did the Wizards get better or worse post the Westbrook trade?

 

DID WASHINGTON GET BETTER OR WORSE

POST THE WESTBROOK TRADE?

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On July 29th the Washington Wizards traded away 9x All Star Russell Westbrook for Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and a 2021 first-round pick, per Adrian Wojnarowski. Leaving loyal Wizards star Bradley Beal in Washington with a potentially better situation. Russell Westbrook, turning 33 in November, looks to team up with the 2020 Finals MVP Lebron James and Anthony Davis on the Lakers to compete for his first championship. While the fit is immediately very questionable you can not deny talent. 

WESTBROOK REPLACED BY SPENCER DiNWIDDIE

Free agent guard Spencer Dinwiddie is nearing a deal with the Washington Wizards, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 3, 2021

On August 3rd the Wizards completed a deal to acquire 28 year-old Spencer Dinwiddie via sign-and-trade with the Brooklyn Nets, per woj. The Wizards only gave up two future second round picks for him. Dinwiddie suffered a partially torn ACL back in December against Charlotte causing him to miss all of the regular season. He had been eyeing his return for the NBA Finals--according to Kristian Winfield of the Athletic--had the Nets made it that far. Dinwiddie stated he loved the thought of the "big 3" between him, Bradley Beal, and Rui Hachimura. Now, obviously Spencer is not a better basketball player than Russel Westbrook but he will definitely be a good replacement. The fit with him and Beal alongside each other seams very possible with either or being the lead guard and running off ball sets.  Dinwiddie's last full season he averaged 20.6 PPG, 6.8 APG on 42/31/79 shooting splits, per statmuse. As for the rest of the starting lineup to pair with those two, it as of right now would be Caldwell-Pope at the 3, Rui at the four and Thomas Bryant possible at the 5. Not the best defensive lineup with KCP being the best defender but the Wizards have never been known for their defense. But, it still being so early in the offseason the Wizards have a lot of problems to deal with. 

THE CURRENT FRONTCOURT LOGJAM

Because of the Westbrook trade, as of right now the Washington Wizards have Deni Advidja,  Kyle Kuzma, Rui Hachimura, Davis Bertans, Daniel Gafford, Montrezl Harrell, Thomas Bryant,  and newly acquired from the draft Isaiah Todd. Understandably today’s league is position-less but that is a-lot of front court guys you would have to distribute the minutes between. Deni Advidja being a very versatile and run 1-4 positions. But other than Deni newly hired coach and father of Wizard legend Wes Unseld Sr, Wes Unseld Jr. could have a bit of trouble managing the minutes. Bryant, Gafford, Harrell, then Len are your four rotational centers essentially with Len being your best defender there. Leaving Rui, Kuzma, Bertans, and young Isaiah Todd running other front court positions. All of which definitely deserve some type of play time, favoring Rui here being the better out of the four. The offseason is still far from over so the Wizards could definitely solve this problem with a couple of moves, but for now it is a logjam of centers and power forwards.

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   KYLE KUZMA

Acquiring Kyle Kuzma in the Russell Westbrook trade from the LA Lakers could turn out very good, or very bad. Kuzma, ever since having to play behind Lebron James and Anthony Davis has not found a consistent role of any sort with the Lakers. Kuzma thinks very highly off himself and there’s nothing wrong with that. But at the end of the day being our own biggest critic is what will bring out the best. Kuzma's best statistical season was in 2019, averaging 18.7 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game on 46 percent field goal and 30 3-point percent shooting splits. The narrative for Kuzma so far is that he needs the ball in his hands to be impactful as a scorer, which was never gonna happen playing alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, as it shouldn’t. Those two were the actual stars and the offense should always run through them. To Kuzma's defense as he stated after the 2021 Playoff series lost to the Phoenix Suns:

" It's hard to be consistent in an inconsistent role"

Kuzma did not like the third scoring option role much, neither did he do the best coming off of the bench. There were some good moments. Some series in 2020 he was a good team defender and honed in on his role of a spot shooter and cutter. Kuzma has been seeking a bigger role but with the Wizards having Bradley Beal, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Rui Hachimura, Kuzma may not get his wish. They are both athletic so they could possibly be playing together. Montrezl Harrell and Kuzma had their eyes set on being traded to the Sacramento Kings, which the two probably would have liked to stay in California but the Lakers front office had other plans.

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    PROJECTION FOR NEXT YEAR

Looking at a starting lineup of Spencer Dinwiddie, Bradley Beal, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rui Hachimura, and Thomas Bryant with Kyle Kuzma, Corey Kispert, Montrezl Harrell, Deni Advidja, Aaron Holiday, and Daniel Gafford as good rotational pieces. The Latvian laser Davis Bertans is somewhere in that rotation as well. Barding health,  this team could be very good. Especially with the fire of Scott Brooks and upgrade in Wes Unseld Jr. Being realistic, we can go ahead and 'lock up' and expect obviously Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami as better for sure than this current Wizards team. Chicago can be thrown in there as well but we have not seen their new team just yet on the court but on paper Lonzo-Lavine-Demar-Williams-and Vuc is better. New York outside of getting Evan Fournier did not do too much this free agency to raise their stock from last year as the 4 seed. Boston besides getting Al Horford back did not get that much better. Those two teams as well could be better than Washington as well. Then teams like the Hornets did deal with injuries this past season and are young and upcoming. The Raptors as well could be thrown in the mix possibly. But hypothetically the Wizards at the minimum should be a Play In team. But in a perfect world I could see the Wizards surprising a lot of teams and being a 6-7 seed. For sure there is no one on the roster besides Beal of course with the talent of a Russell Westbrook, but they have many many players that have so much to prove. These guys have chips on their shoulders. A far better coach from last year. At the least, Washington basketball will be very fun to watch next season and I am excited for what is in store for this team.