The Wizards earned their first win of the young NBA season with a 121-119 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in the heart of Atlanta. While it’s going to be a long road back to relevancy, as Lao Tzu once said, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Let’s go over the good, the bad, and the ugly from last night’s game.
The Good-
Kyle Kuzma has received a lot of criticism for his slow start and perceived disinterest on the court but he said, hold my beer. While he still deals with turnover and efficiency issues, he fulfilled his role perfectly which is the role of the number one scoring option. Last night, he not only shined in his scoring role by dropping 25 points, he also flirted with a triple-double. If he can be the Kyle Kuzma that we know he can be, the Wizards can take their time with Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr till they are ready for more of an offensive load.
The Bad-
Bilal Coulibaly is a bad bad man. He is already a dawg on defense but with expectations on him making a step forward this season offensively, last night gave us a glimpse of what to expect in DC for a long time. Adding a mid-range jumper and improved ball handling to go along with a faster release from three-point range, he’s poised for a good season.
The Ugly-
While you could argue that the continued issues on on their parameter defense and turnovers could be the ugly part of all of this, Jordan Poole is the ugly. He’s ugly because if Bilal was a bad man, JP13 was straight nasty. With three straight impressive games and a renewed focus this season, I’m expecting a Most Improved Player season.
