Why the Washington Wizards Will be a Top 10 Defense

With the Washington Wizards’ season set to get underway, there remain questions about the team’s chances to compete in the Eastern Conference.  Will Gilbert Arenas stay healthy and be his old self?  Will Andray Blatche fulfill his potential and be the player he can be?  Will the Wizards regret getting rid of Oleksiy Pecherov? (just kidding).  One major concern that will be definitive of the Wizards’ season is whether they can play defense, especially against teams of the East’s top tier such as Boston, Orlando, and Cleveland.  Upon taking a closer look at the Wizards’ personnel, there are several reasons to believe that they can. 

Throughout the Grunfeld era, the Wizards have enjoyed much success scoring points.
It has provided for some entertaining regular season games, but little success in the playoffs.  Year after year the knock on this squad is that they can’t defend well enough to compete for a title, this is the year that it stops. 

I have put together 5 reasons why I believe the Washington Wizards will surprise their critics and emerge an improved team defensively:

1. They Weren’t That Bad in the First Place – The last season that can objectively be evaluated for the Washington Wizards was two years ago, the 2007-08 season.  I am going to go ahead and say that last season was an aberration skewed by the freak occurrence of three starters missing significant time due to injury.  It was not a true measure for the current roster mainly because Gilbert Arenas played in only two regular season games.  What people don’t realize is that the Wizards had the 12^th best defense in the NBA in 2008, according to opponent’s points-per-game averages.   By allowing only 99.2 points-a-night the Wizards made an improvement from being ranked 28^th overall in that category the year before.  This is an astounding stat considering that their best player, Gilbert Arenas, was out of the line-up and Caron Butler was also injured.  There is sound evidence that with a healthy Gilbert and Caron, this team will be even more imposing defensively.
Agent Zero has for some reason developed a reputation of being a one-dimensional NBA player, a shoot-first scorer that can’t hold his ground on the defensive end.  In fact, in Gil’s best three years with the Wizards, from 2004-2007, he was in the top 5 for steals-per-game in each season.  In 2005-06 he actually finished second to Chris Paul in steals.  Flip Saunders remarked earlier this offseason that Gilbert came out of college as primarily a defensive prospect, with the right coaching he could develop into a true stalwart on the perimeter. 
Caron Butler has also finished in the top echelon in steals the past few years.  Twice in his career he has been a top 10 steals-per-game player, in ’03 with the Miami Heat he placed 9^th in that category and in 2007 he was 7^th in the league with the Wizards.  Ironically, for all the criticism that Antawn Jamison gets for his defense, two years ago he was 20^th in the NBA in steals. 

2. This is a different Wizards team – The last time NBA fans got a good look at the Wizards was two years ago against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs.  Gilbert played sporadically in the beginning of the first round series before reinjuring his knee.  Despite injuries to both Gil and Caron the Wizards took Cleveland to six games.  The year before was a similar result as Washington lost to Cleveland in the first round.  The way the Wizards’ roster currently stands is far different from those two teams.  Ernie Grunfeld has now put together three offseasons that were essentially devoted solely to improving the team on defense.  He drafted Dominic McGuire and Javale McGee.  Andray Blatche saw increased minutes as a result of both injuries and flashes of potential.  He signed Fabricio Oberto who is a solid back-up big man with experience in the playoffs.  Another important note is the newfound depth they have at almost every position.  Depth means less minutes for the stars which helps them to be fresh at the end of the game.

3. Brendan Haywood is the center – Brendan Haywood could very well be one of the most underrated centers in the NBA when it comes to defense.  Two years ago he enjoyed a breakout year on offense and increased his rebounding average to 7 boards a game.  His improvement as a rebounder could serve this team well on late game possessions.  Where he helps the Wizards the most is as a shot blocker.  In 2007-08 he ranked 10^th in blocked shots with 1.7 per game.  His career average of 1.4 is actually good for the top 55 shot blockers of all time. 
I remember several years ago Sports Illustrated did a player’s poll, asking NBA players who the most feared big men in the league were to face in the lane.  Brendan was in the top 5 that year and has only gotten better since.  UNC’s all time leading shot blocker, Haywood has great size and has continually developed his defensive game by becoming better at positioning and off-the-ball defense.  He is now at the point in his career where he is respected by those who drive the lane.

4. Size and Versatility – One of the points Flip Saunders has made in his press conferences as the Wizards new coach is that he’s thrilled to have players that can play multiple positions.  Players like Mike Miller, Andray Blatche, and Dominic McGuire have the ability to fill in at any of three positions in case Saunders wants to go with either a big or small lineup.  This could pay dividends on defense as there could potentially be lineups with Mike Miller at shooting guard, giving them a 6’ 8” defender on the perimeter. 

At the guard position the Wizards have great size in general.  All three of their point guards, Arenas, Randy Foye, and Javaris Crittenton, are listed over 6’ 3”.  They have height, quickness, and youth at point guard which is crucial for them to play physical defense and prevent open outside shooting.  The only real defensive liability in the Wizards backcourt is SG Nick Young.  He has the tools to be a solid defender, he has size and quickness, he just hasn’t put it all together yet.  In defensive stop scenarios Deshawn Stevenson will probably earn his spot minutes.  For all that people criticize Deshawn, he is still an above average perimeter defender and can hold his own against some of the better scorers in the NBA. 

The forward position is probably the Wizards’ best unit for defense.  With Caron Butler leading the way they bring toughness and the ability to cause turnovers.  As I mentioned earlier, Butler is consistently in the top 20 for steals-per-game.  Andray Blatche’s best statistical category is probably blocked shots.  Two years ago he was tied for 15^th in the NBA by swatting 1.4 per game.    
Dominic McGuire could enjoy a breakout year on the defensive end.  The reason he was drafted was strictly for defense as he was 5^th in the NCAA in blocked shots his junior year with 3.6 per game.  His build and length is similar to Tayshaun Prince, a player whom Flip Saunders coached for three years in Detroit.
One thing that will make the entire defense better is the fact that the Wiz have a strong collection of defensive centers.  Brendan Haywood and Javale McGee sharing minutes should keep a lengthy 7-foot shot blocker on the floor at all times.  As Washington fans, we’re all anxious to see the development of Javale McGee and in his second season he could earn a lot of minutes by protecting the basket.

5. Flip Saunders – Flip has made his name in the Association for his offensive genius, bringing a point guard’s perspective and an extensive, creative playbook.  Through building this reputation his success on the defensive end has become overlooked.  In his 13 seasons as an NBA coach, his teams have averaged a 12^th overall ranking as far as opponent’s points-per-game.  In Minnesota, his team didn’t achieve playoff success until they made great improvements defensively.  After mediocre campaigns staying in the 11^th-18^th range, the Timberwolves jumped to the 7^th defense in the NBA in 2003-04.  Since that season Saunders has not coached a team with a defense ranked worse than 9^th. 
When he coached the Detroit Pistons from 2005 through 2008, the team ranked 3^rd, 2^nd, and 1^st, respectively.  In his last season, when they ranked 1^st, they only conceded a stingy 90.1 ppg.  I must share these stats with the caveat that Saunders had the fortune of having former Defensive POY Kevin Garnett in Minnesota and a team full of star defenders in Detroit.  Saunders was, however, able to make the most out of the players he had.  He was successful in getting his team to play to their potential defensively.  I think that there is no reason why the Wizards won’t be able to build on their 12^th ranked outing of 2007-08 and possibly have a top-10 defense in this coming season.  It will depend directly on the health of the stars and most importantly the consistency of its young role players coming off of the bench.  One thing is for certain, the Wizards will have to improve drastically to contend for the Eastern Conference title as it is no secret that defense is paramount.  Each of the last two teams to reach the NBA Finals from the Eastern Conference have been lead by the Defensive Player of the Year (Garnett and Howard)


*Stats from www.basketball-reference.com