Washington Wizards Blog – Page 22 – NBA Blog

Wizards sign Ramon Sessions to 10-day contract

The Washington Wizards today signed guard Ramon Sessions to a 10-day contract.

“We’re very familiar with Ramon,” said Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld. “He’s a veteran who can play both guard positions and will add depth to our backcourt.”

Sessions returns to the Wizards after playing one-and-a-half seasons in Washington (2015 and 2015-16), appearing in 110 games (eight starts) while averaging 9.2 points, 3.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds. He was originally acquired from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Andre Miller at the 2015 trade deadline.

In his 11th season, Sessions (6-3, 190-pounds) has averaged 10.4 points, 4.1 assists, and 2.7 rebounds for the Bucks, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Lakers, Bobcats/Hornets, Kings, Wizards and, most recently, the Knicks, where he played 13 games (three starts) earlier this season. The Myrtle Beach, SC, native was originally selected by Milwaukee in the second round (56th overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft.

Wizards trade Sheldon Mac to Hawks

The Washington Wizards announced today that they have traded guard/forward Sheldon Mac to Atlanta for a protected 2019 second round pick.

Mac, who underwent surgery to repair a torn left Achilles tendon in October, has not appeared in a game this season. He averaged 3.0 points and 1.1 rebounds in 30 games for the Wizards last season after signing as an undrafted free agent.

John Wall scoring big in January

The Wizards were defeated by the Milwaukee Bucks 104-95 yesterday, finishing their five-game homestand 2-3.

John Wall recorded 27 points and nine assists, his fifth game with at least 25 points in January.

25+ Point Games, January
Lou Williams 7
John Wall 5
Giannis Antetokounmpo 5
DeMar DeRozan 5
Kevin Durant 5

Wall is averaging the second-most points in the Eastern Conference in the month of January (seven games) and the most assists in the entire NBA in that same span.

Points Per Game-EC, January
DeMar DeRozan 30.8
John Wall 25.9
Giannis Antetokounmpo 25.6

Assists Per Game-NBA, January
John Wall 11.3
Kris Dunn 7.9
Goran Dragic 7.0

Kelly Oubre Jr. notched his 30th game this season with at least 10 points, the third-most on the team this season (Beal-41, Wall-32).

— Wizards Notes

Wizards doing about as well as they did last season

A post shared by Washington Wizards (@washwizards) on Jan 10, 2018 at 6:26pm PST

The Wizards currently have the fifth best record in the Eastern conference, behind the Miami Heat. Solid. But more was expected from a team that brought back last year’s roster and should presumably be improving, not staying the same. Here’s the Washington Post reporting:

But now that the 2017-18 Wizards have reached the crossroads of the regular season, they look strikingly similar — or only slightly better, in some instances — to last year’s team.

The Wizards are 23-18, just one game better than last year’s pace despite the organization going all in on its belief that continuity with Wall, Beal and Otto Porter Jr. would lead to greater heights.

Through the first 41 games, Washington has produced an offensive rating of 106.3, the 11th best mark in the league — the exact same number and ranking the team held at this point in the season a year ago. While the Wizards have shown marked improvement on the defensive end, ranking eighth in the league with a 104.0 defensive rating, that progress has not helped the team win more games.

Full article

And here’s NBC Sports Washington with more:

The positive side is that the Wizards are comfortably in the Eastern Conference playoff race at fifth despite missing several key players at times due to injury. Wall has missed 11 games, Markieff Morris missed eight and Otto Porter has missed four.

Health has been a big difference between last year and this year. Last season they didn’t have any significant injuries to their starting lineup and after 41 games they were 22-19, a game behind their current pace. That team advanced all the way to the seventh game of the second round of the playoffs.

Full article

Wizards lose competitive game to Bucks

A post shared by Washington Wizards (@washwizards) on Jan 6, 2018 at 7:06pm PST

The Wizards dropped a competitive game to the Milwaukee Bucks last night, 110-103. The Wizards fell to 4-2 this season in the second game of a back-to-back.

The loss snapped a five-game home winning streak for the Wizards, who last lost at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 17.

Markieff Morris recorded his third consecutive double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Three-straight double-doubles is the longest streak of Morris’ career. Morris has also led the Wizards in rebounding for six-straight games now.

John Wall tallied 16 points and 16 assists in the game, a season high for assists this year. It was the most assists Wall has recorded in a game since his career-high 20 against the Bulls on March 17 last season.

The Wizards lost for the first time this season when all five starters scored in double-figures, Washington is now 5-1 in those games this season.

— Wizards Notes

Wizards set to face Pelicans

A post shared by New Orleans Pelicans (@pelicansnba) on Dec 16, 2017 at 10:00am PST

The Wizards are set to face the Pelicans tonight. An intriguing matchup for anybody in the league, the Pelicans have two of the biggest names in the NBA frontcourt world: DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis. But the team as a whole is 15-15, tied for the 7th best record in the Western conference. Very solid, but unspectacular.

Here’s NBC Sports Washington discussing the Pels:

Few teams in the NBA offer a matchup problem as unique as the New Orleans Pelicans, who feature two All-Star big men in Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. One is lanky with arms that reach to the sky. The other is wider and known for his brute strength. Both can move and shoot unusually well for their size.

On Tuesday night, the Wizards will see the Pelicans’ twin towers for the first time since Cousins landed in New Orleans. He was acquired from the Kings in a Feb. 20 trade, just 16 days after the second and final meeting between the teams in the 2016-17 season.

Cousins is a player the Wizards know well. He and Wizards guard John Wall teamed up at the University of Kentucky back in the 2009-10 season before the two were drafted into the NBA. Veteran players on the Wizards have played against both Cousins and Davis over the years. But now they have to deal with them at the same time.

Full article

Marcin Gortat says Wizards must be humble

The Wizards are off to a 5-4 start this season. Which is okay, but the squad should play better. The return from injury of Markieff Morris should help matters. But there’s still improvement needed. Here’s the Washington Post reporting the comments of center Marcin Gortat:

On Sunday night, following a 107-96 road win over the Toronto Raptors, starting center Marcin Gortat advised that the team needs to bind its unfettered confidence.

“Just because we won this game today here, it doesn’t mean that everything is fine and we back on the right track. There’s a lot of things we’ve got to work on,” Gortat said. “First of all, we’ve got to become a more humble team and we just got to work harder.”

Gortat’s message: less talk and more action.

Despite Gortat’s supersized personality — the man once walked a pig on a leash through a shopping mall in Poland — as the graybeard among the Wizards, he tends to be more pragmatic. And when Gortat’s comments were shared with teammates, they agreed with the suggestion.

Full article

John Wall reportedly has minor shoulder strain

Here’s the Washington Post with what’s hopefully a minor update about Wizards guard John Wall, whose shoulder sounds like it could use a bit of rest:

John Wall could miss his first game of the season while dealing with a left shoulder injury.

Wall, who has started all eight games while averaging 20.5 points and 10.4 assists per game, received treatment Saturday on his sore and sprained shoulder but is considered “questionable” to play ahead of the Washington Wizards’ Sunday night matchup against the Toronto Raptors, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The previous night as the Wizards hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers, Wall made shoulder-to-shoulder contact with 6-foot-11 forward Channing Frye and dropped to the hardwood where he remained longer than usual. Following the Wizards’ 130-122 loss, Wall underwent X-rays, which came back negative, and exited the arena with his left arm in a sling.

Full article

John Wall speaks out on Charlottesville

Here’s what Wizards guard John Wall had to say about recent troubling non-basketball, non-sports events in Charlottesville, Virginia that have gripped the nation as of late, per the Washington Post:

“It’s been difficult. It’s been tough,” Wall said, referring to the previous week. “We go through times where times are going in the right direction for us. Our country is going in a positive way. Then we turn back around and revert back to the stuff we try to tell our kids not to do or what our parents told us … they went through in the past, and we thought we got away from that.

“It’s kind of amazing to understand that in 2017 going into 2018, we’re still dealing with the same type of things that our great, great grandparents dealt with and we thought we were going in a positive direction,” Wall continued. “All we can do is not use it as retaliation and try to stay positive and understand that we want to give these kids a brighter [outlook] of what’s going on and not use it to go back at these people.”

On the development of Otto Porter

Here’s CSN Mid Atlantic reporting on Otto Porter, who the Wizards just rewarded with a huge new contact. Specifically on what Porter will be working on as he continues his development:

During the press conference to announce Porter’s new deal, the Wizards small forward outlined the specific areas he hopes to improve in the next few years:

“I want to continue to improve in getting stronger and being able to defend bigger guys. I definitely want to be able to do that. I’m going to continue working on my midrange and my three-point, extending my range out. The big thing for me is my ballhandling. I want to make sure I keep my ballhandling real tight, whether I get the rebound and push it up the floor myself, I just want to be able to maintain my skills.”

If Porter can get better at defending big forwards, that would be excellent for the Wizards in terms of playing small and switching on defense.