#SoWizards Kevin Broom

The Washington Wizards made one deal at the trade deadline, sending starting center Daniel Gafford to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for a first round pick and center Richaun Holmes.

Holmes is on the wrong side of 30 and hasn't been much good in a few years now. Gafford is pretty good and just 25 years old, so what gives?

Ben Becker and I break down what the Wizards front office is likely thinking and discuss what the lack of trades involving Kyle Kuzma, Tyus Jones, Delon Wright, Landry Shamet, and Corey Kispert says about the state of the Wizards.


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The Washington Wizards replaced Wes Unseld Jr. as head coach, moving Unseld into a front office advisory role, and promoting lead assistant Brian Keefe to be interim head coach. When the team makes a big move, there's no one better to discuss it with than old friend and podcast partner Ben Becker.

Ben and I have been talking and analyzing the Wizards for 20+ years now. This conversation is the latest edition of what a listener once described as what it might sound like if NPR had a show about the Washington Wizards.

In this episode, we talk about Unseld, the challenge of rebuilding a franchise as decayed as the Wizards had become, and the long-term strategy the team's new leadership — Michael Winger, Will Dawkins, and Travis Schlenk — are pursuing as they attempt to resuscitate a long moribund franchise.


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Just past the midway point, the Wizards are bumbling through what's likely to be the worst season in franchise history. To discuss the biggest issues the team faces as they attempt to rebuild, I invited on veteran Wizards observer and reporter, Troy Haliburton.

We began with a couple big NBA stories — the Milwaukee Bucks firing newly hired head coach Adrian Griffin, and the Miami Heat trading for Terry Rozier.

Then we talked Wizards, touching on:


Jordan Poole
Wes Unseld Jr. and the coaching staff
Michael Winger, Will Dawkins and the front office
Bilal Coulibaly
what the Wizards will do at the trade deadline

This was a fun conversation between a couple long-time Wizards analysts and reporters who don't agree on everything.

Make sure to check out Troy's excellent Substack.


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With the Washington Wizards set to face the Indiana Pacers Wednesday night, it seemed like a great time to catch up with current Pacers journalist and Bullets Forever alum Tony East. In this episode, we talked about what makes Tyrese Haliburton special, Haliburton's hamstring injury, and what the Pacers do well and not so well before diving into the Wizards.

Tony's attention is primarily on the Pacers, but he watches a lot of Wizards basketball, which leads to some great insights into how Washington's rebuild is going. We hit on a number of Wizards topics, including:


the struggles of Jordan Poole
who the Wizards are likely to trade
whether "showcasing" players makes a difference
the improvement of Deni Avdija
the puzzling approach to developing Bilal Coulibaly into a future NBA star.

This was a fun conversation about two teams going in different directions.


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In this episode, I'm joined by Bullets Forever's Osman Baig to discuss the state of the Wizards. As I wrote in my big picture check-up on January 3, they're still bad.

Oz and I drilled into concerns about how the Wizards are managing the development of French rookie Bilal Coulibaly. Suffice to say, we have concerns, specifically about his lack of involvement in the team's offense.

As we discussed during the podcast, of the team's 11 rotation players, Coulibaly is 11th in per minute touches. In other words, he gets the ball less frequently than any other player in the rotation.

We also delved into the team's odd focus on forcing turnovers defensively. Reportedly, this is because the front office, coaches, and analytics staff believe this is because it emphasizes being in the right place defensively. I tried — and failed — to recreate their work on this.

Last, we talked about Corey Kispert and driving to the basket.


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Why has the Wizards defense been so bad this season? I put the question to Coach Nick from BBALLBREAKDOWN, and the answer leapt off the screen: they're helping from one pass away. That's the team's scheme this season, and it's the root cause of giving up open threes, and the mad scramble that gives opposing teams easy scores and domination on the offensive glass.

This is an in-depth discussion of head coach Wes Unseld Jr.'s defensive scheme, the theory behind implementing it, and what's going wrong. We also touch on "soft switches," and what the team can do to be better this season...even as they strategically lose to increase chances for a high draft pick.

We touch on their offense a bit, as well as what's going wrong with Jordan Poole, and the development of Bilal Coulibaly.

My favorite part is our discussion of Coach Nick's "Chase Defense." This is a new defensive system he's invented to address modern offenses that are built on three-point shooting and pick-and-roll actions. Coaches are experimenting with it at lower levels, and the results are promising.

We talk about the concepts and theories underpinning Nick's defense, as well as what it will take for an NBA team to give it a shot.


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