Fast pace starts on ‘D’
Lack of stops hindering Wizards’ running game
DALLAS — Bradley Beal doesn’t necessarily need a statistic to tell him what he has already seen on the court. He can feel it during games: The Washington Wizards could be playing a lot faster.
“Throughout the course of the game sometimes we’re not running hard enough or we’re not getting into our sets fast enough,” Beal said before Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. “Sometimes we’re getting into our sets too late in the clock. A lot of times, coach doesn’t even want us running sets. That’s how fast he wants us playing.”
Before the start of the season, the Wizards emphasized playing fast as a hallmark of the team identity. With one of the most dynamic point guards in the league, as well as an abundance of athletic and interchangeable wings and a big man who can run, Washington has the capability to play fast within the sets. Though the team plays at a high pace (104.95 possessions per 48 minutes, which is sixth in the league), the statistic doesn’t necessarily show if players are running to spots, screening with force and not hesitating on decisions.
In tracking data collected by John Schuhmann, a senior writer at NBA.com who focuses on advanced statistics, the Wizards average 11.2 miles traveled per 24 minutes of possession, which is just 24th in the NBA. The statistic specifically tracks player movement within a set and reveals limited activity within the Wizards offense. Schuhmann has noticed spots of lethargy within the team’s sets.
“I think that’s where they lack,” said Schuhmann, who has watched several Wizards’ games, both with and without Dwight Howard in the starting lineup. “There’s not decisiveness and activity offensively.”
Not much changed Tuesday night when the Wizards surrendered 70 first-half points to the Mavericks in a 119-100 loss.
John Wall led the Wizards with 24 points and Beal and Otto Porter Jr. Mavericks forward DeAndre Jordan, left, and Wizards guard Bradley Beal chase after a loose ball during the first half. Beal scored 19 points. each contributed 19 points.
The Wizards run when they can. They utilize transition often, and have shown a knack for generating steals (10th in the NBA). But they’re not necessarily scoring enough on the break, where they rank 20th with a 1.08 points per possession average in transition plays.
Could the team’s early struggles on defense be to blame?
“We can always play faster but it starts on the defensive end,” Porter said. “We can’t get out and run unless we get stops.”
Entering Tuesday’s game, Washington ranked 26th in defense points per 100 possessions, per Synergy Sports. Instead of getting a rebound and pushing the ball, the Wizards are stuck inbounding the ball after an opponent scores.
“We haven’t been doing a great job rebounding the ball,” Wall said. “So we’ve been taking the ball out of the net a lot of times instead of just getting rebounds and pushing the pace.”
The Wizards could still accelerate the offense even after an opponent’s made shot, but the team’s move to spread around ballhandling duties have caused a bit of confusion that’s slowing things down.
“We didn’t know who was taking the ball out,” Wall said. In practice, “we try to simulate to have our four man take out the ball every time and have the five man run the floor, get the ball to me and let our twos and threes run the lane. So we can simplify that a little better.”
When Beal is sensing the need to pick things up, he’s gone rogue by performing the role as the inbounder even though coach Scott Brooks wants his guards out and running.
“Because I want to get it out and go fast,” Beal said. “A lot of times coach hates it when guards take it out. It’s usually a big’s job to take it out and guards just get out so we can push the ball ahead.
“I notice it. I catch myself sometimes not running hard,” Beal continued. “That’s why I try push myself or have guys on the sideline or coaches pull me to the side, if I’m not running hard enough, tell me and I can correct it and make sure I’m running hard enough.
“I think it’s something we definitely need to do more of. I think we do it in spurts instead of consistently.”