The Wizards finished 2014 looking like legitimate contenders. They had the third-best record in the East at 22-9, behind the Toronto Raptors and the Atlanta Hawks. There was a lot of work to do offensively but fans were rightfully optimistic about the team's chances to come out of the conference.
Poor 3-point shooting is hurting the slumping Wizards
The Washington Wizards have not started 2015 well and the lack of outside threats is a big reason why.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Since the new year, the Wizards have gone 11-13 and are just one and a half games ahead of the sixth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks. It's been a precipitous fall that shows no sign of stopping, with the team having lost seven or their last 10.
There are many reasons why Washington is in a slump. Marcin Gortat has taken a step back recently while Bradley Beal can't shake the injury bug for good. Defensively, neither the effort nor the execution are there at times, which is a death sentence against a team like the Cavaliers, who destroyed Washington Friday. Yet Washington was great on defense early in the year and Beal and Gortat are proven talents who will surely bounce back. That leaves three-point shooting as the most worrying aspect of their bad stretch, as it has been a problem that has plagued them all season long and has only gotten worst lately.
For the season Washington ranks No. 27 out of 30 teams in three-point attempts per game despite shooting the fifth best percentage in the league from outside.They are taking over four fewer three-pointers than last season. After being one of the most prolific and efficient corner three-point shooting teams in 2013-14, the Wizards now rank in the bottom third of the league in attempts. They are simply not shooting enough and recently not even connecting on the few outside shots they take. The reason why that has happened largely comes down to one name: Trevor Ariza.
The Wizards replaced Trevor Ariza with Paul Pierce, a move that was lauded for the cap flexibility it allowed Washington to maintain and the versatility Pierce added as a secondary ball-handler. Yet there's one area in which Ariza is superior to Pierce and that's volume three-point shooting, in particular from the corner. Ariza is leading the league in total corner threes this season and finished second last season, when he was with the Wizards. He had excellent chemistry with John Wall, who found him again and again for spot-up threes.
As Ariza moved on, the Wizards have not found one player to replace his production. Rasual Butler filled in well to start the year and Pierce is an accomplished shooter but he prefers to shoot from the wings or the top of the arc.
There is no designated gunner who can play over 30 minutes and always be on the lookout for Wall's passes. Injuries to the two players who were supposed to pick up the slack -- Bradley Beal and Martell Webster -- have not made things any easier, as the team has had to rely on the streaky Garret Temple more than they should.
Over the last 10 games the Wizards have attempted the fifth lowest number of three-pointers and have connected on just 32.6 percent of them. During that stretch, they have been the second worst corner shooting team in the league, at 28.1 percent. Rasual Butler and Paul Pierce have combined to go 6-for-22 while Temple has missed his four attempts. Good shooting masks a lot of flaws and the Wizards don’t have it right now.
The reason why three-point shooting, especially from the corner, is so important to the Wizards stems from their lack of a big man with three-point range. For the starting big men duo of Nene and Marcin Gortat to work, Washington needs the two wings to space the floor and prevent the opponent from packing the paint and closing driving lanes for Wall. The shooting slump not only affects the points the Wizards get from outside but also the ability of the ball-handlers to break down the defense for easy shots inside. Here’s how the floor looks for Wall after turning the corner on a pick and roll:
Wall passed the ball to the corner but Pierce missed, failing to punish LeBron James for helping off him. With two big men that have to be close to the basket and wings that are not enough of a threat to occupy help defenders, the Wizards' offense simply can't work.
The good news is the shooters will break out of their slump at some point. Butler was on fire until recently and Martell Webster has really struggled with his shot after coming back from injury despite being an absolute killer from the corner in past seasons. If Bradley Beal can put his health problems behind him, he should be able to play heavy minutes and, while he doesn’t shoot as many threes as he probably should, he’s the type of threat opponents respect. Obviously Paul Pierce should bounce back as well, which would give the Wizards enough firepower to keep defenses honest or punish them for over-helping. Washington survived Ariza’s departure early in the season by replacing his shooting by committee and they can do it again.
The Wizards are not looking as scary as they did before 2015 but there’s still time to get back on track. Most of their recent losses have come against good teams and have not been lopsided, except for the demolition at the hands of the Cavaliers Friday night. The schedule will now give the Wizards a respite, as only two of their next 10 games will be against teams with a better record. If they can ride out this slump and get to the playoffs healthy, no team will want to face them.
See More:
