Wizards second-year forward Kyshawn George had a breakout game on Friday, racking up a career-best 34 points on 11-of-15 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks in a win over Dallas. George is aiming to make performances like that the norm.
“You get to create what the Wizards are going to be for the future, and I think there’s no better space to be as a player than that,” George told Varun Shankar of the Washington Post. “I’m just looking forward to stacking those days to just get better.”
CJ McCollum believes George can develop into that type of player.
“He’s the total package,” McCollum told The Athletic’s Josh Robbins. “He’s got it all. A three-level scorer. Obviously, you see the handle, you see the defensive pressure.”
We have more on the Wizards:
- The bench contributed 47 points, 19 rebounds and eight assists, led by rookie Tre Johnson‘s 17 points. “Our bench came in and really changed the game,” coach Brian Keefe said, per Robbins. “We ended up playing 11 guys, and everybody had a contribution to that. We were able to establish the physicality against a pretty veteran, big team from the get-go. Even though we didn’t make shots at the beginning, we stuck with the game plan and trusted what we were doing.”
- Speaking of Johnson, the knock on him coming out of Texas was his defense. He believes he can become an asset on that end of the floor, he told Mark Medina of EssentiallySports.com. “People who have seen me play know that I can defend,” Johnson said. “I’ve never really been the one to get picked out too much. So it’s really about being solid on defense. Maybe I’ll try to be more active in steals. That’s the only place where defense shows on the stat sheet.”
- According to Robbins, it’s key during the rebuild that the Wizards soon unearth a future All-NBA player on the roster. This season should be about finding that guy, whether he’s already on the roster or whether he’s going to be in the 2026 draft. Overall, Washington must stick to its plan this season, even as the losses pile up again, says Robbins.
I became a Kyshawn believer when I watched him in the Americup, he was phenomenal
I’ve been pretty high on kyshawn since we drafted him, you could see the potential and talent with his size from the beginning. However I don’t think anyone including me thought he was going to be as good as he’s showing right now. Hopefully he becomes that star player that my wizards desperately need.
Gotta admit I didn’t have Kyshawn on my bingo card. I thought he was a chucker.
This is very promising news for Wizards fans. (I’m now a Wizards fan because of all the thoughtful posts by the gracious @peter_cantrope .)
Next, they need to get Cam Whitmore in the mix…
For us who watch the Wiz regularly, it started to become clear that Kyshawn is likely the best player among the young draftees somewhere in the middle of last season. When he stopped being used as just a corner 3-pt shooter, and was allowed more. Handle the ball, be the first guy who brings it up the court after a rebound, play on the inside, be a POA defender, get different defensive assignments.
Yes, he was missing many shots, yes, he was fouling, yes, he was turning it over. But damn, he looked good at just about every aspect of the game.
He makes so much sense of the possession when he handles the ball. It was already like that late last season, in the summer (Summer League, Americup) and in preseason. In the first 2 games of this season, he has looked more competent as a lead guard than CJ in every way. The team went down in score in both games when CJ was handling the ball, and when he went to the bench and Kyshawn was given the task, he immediately helped shape the game for the team. When he runs the point, the game develops at his speed. He makes good decisions and actually creates advantages.
Also, it turns out that he’s the best defender on the team. He can actually defend 1-4. He’s being used as a POA defender and also to guard 4s. In the game against Milwaukee, he was tasked with guarding both Giannis and Cole Anthony. Last night, he guarded just about everyone and did great, particularly against Dallas’ forwards and wings. Has a real feel for when to defend space and make it tough for an opponent, and when to stick out a hand to get a steal or a block.
He uses his body so bloody well and actually makes power plays. Like a real power forward. Like damn.
Interestingly, he entered the league as a catch-and-shoot guy with a little bit of skill on the ball and no defense.
But the shot was not falling at first.
Well, it is falling now (and was already in the latter parts of last season), he has way more than just a little bit of skill, and he’s the best defender on the team.
Some other notes from the first couple of games:
– CJ looks just as bad as Brogdon did last year, if not worse. He’s bricking shots, he’s making weird decisions, he can’t cross the halfway line in 8 seconds under pressure. His form needs to improve for the team to get something for him at the trade deadline;
– Middleton can play. With limitations, ofc, but he can play. And he looks organic in this team. You get a certain warm feeling when you watch him play and still be good;
– Cam Whitmore is undersized and only looks to shoot, just like he did in Houston, lol;
Cam is a pretty good athlete, you see it when he drives and just takes the ball to the rack. Like you said though, he doesn’t typically look to his teammates unless he gets himself in a bad spot. Guys like him can give you points in bunches and spurts, which is fine but he’d have to adjust his own game if he wants to get more minutes out there. Still worth having on the team to see what you can get out of him though.
My question is, who loses minutes when Coulibaly is back? Ideally it would be CJ in my book since hes kind of useless right now. Not that I’m a huge believer in Bilal, the defense is definitely there but the shot making has to improve. Especially when you have guys like Kyshawn and Tre commanding a lot of minutes.
Well, somebody will have to be sacrificed.
If you think of it, Justin Champagnie has already been sacrificed. His play last season merits playing and starting. I don’t think anyone plans to waive him anything like that; he has a nice long contract and will stay. But at least in this stretch, he’s not being used.
If you check total minutes played by OKC players in 20-21, 21-22, 8 out of 9 guys with the most minutes were all aged 18-22.
I don’t think it’s a plan to have CJ and Chris play big minutes every night. But they need to play to hopefully return something in a trade. And also it’s just not a good way to run an org if respected players like them are always on the bench or get 14 minutes a game.
Minutes can be distributed more evenly. I don’t expect many 30+ minute games for any player.
Injuries will happen.
Bub played 82 games last season, but it will not harm him and the rest to play 70-72 games, leaving room for others.
As far as match-ups go, Kyshawn defends opposing 4s. So you can have a center, Kyshawn + 3 guards/wings on the court, one of them being Bilal.
Personally, I believe in Bilal more than I do in Sarr and Carrington. He will return from injury and will likely be sluggish, but it’s okay. The way he played for France before getting injured was encouraging.
Bub I think has the most to prove for me. Sarr, worst case scenario I think is that hes a very good finesse shot blocker, who can out athlete slower or less skilled centers while contributing some threes even if they aren’t consistent yet. He can’t outplay guys like Giannis/Jokic/A healthy Embiid because he simply does not have that girth to him. And realistically you’re not going to one on one defend any of those guys and expect success. I will say Sarr has been more physical and he doesn’t back down from the likes of Giannis but he is listed at 7-0 ft 205 and that is way too thin to deal with some of those absolute units.
I will say I like Bub. He’s got the fire you want in a team leader and a floor general. He doesn’t back down from guys and he will get in his opponents faces. He’s definitely the personality type that every team needs. The problem is that he is always inconsistent in at least one area of his game. He’ll nail a ton of his threes but then also in the same game have bad turnovers or ill advised fouls and not actually provide much in the way of distribution. Or He will play great defense and distribute the ball but also go 1-7 from the field. You hope he can eventually put together complete games.
I do feel bad for Champagnie though. I imagine the dude can still go off on a scoring binge and be an impact player even with very little minutes to go around. He played well and earned a role on this team but, there are so many young talented guys, a lot of whom are playing really well. This is before you take into account that even Will Riley hasn’t gotten much opportunity despite playing well in summer league and preseason. And then you factor in Coulibaly who will be giving fits on the defensive end to whoever unlucky soul hes matched up against. Theres a ton of mouths to feed right now.
Personally, I don’t believe in girth. Girth doesn’t make you good at basketball. Giannis was making the same type of power plays he’s making now when he was a scrawny 18 y.o. rookie. Talen Horton-Tucker had all the girth the day he entered the league, but that didn’t help him become good at basketball in the NBA.
No amount of muscle gain will erase Sarr’s weaknesses – positioning, poor hands, lack of body control when going up with the ball.
Could not have put any of that better myself. I thought his ceiling was just going to be a very good 3 and D guy. But hes blown that ceiling off the roof with ease, you love to see it.