Page 98 - Ish Smith News Today

With the Washington Wizards still struggling despite the recent acquisition of Russell Westbrook, rumors have continued to swirl around the teams top scorer, shooting guard Bradley Beal, and his future with the organization. The two-time All-Star has also been the subject of multiple hypothetical trade scenarios, including one that would allow him to join the Philadelphia 76ers and team up with their two young superstars, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. As noted by NBA Analysis Network on Friday,...

Although it hasnt been long since the Houston Rockets traded Russell Westbrook to the Washington Wizards for John Wall, a recent article suggested that it might not be long before his new team moves him elsewhere, potentially marking his third move in just two seasons. As explained on Wednesday in a list of pre-trade deadline predictions, Bleacher Report wrote that Westbrook hasnt had a very good start with the Wizards. Although his numbers were lower at the time the article was published, the...

Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images On the bright side, the Wizards found a new way to lose. Instead of coughing up a double-digit second half lead with preposterously bad fourth quarter defense, they fell behind, trailed by as much as 19 points in the second half, before rallying to make the final margin a deceptively respectable 8 points. The Wizards have problems. Weirdly, defense isn’t the biggest one, except in fourth quarters. It’s not exactly a strength, but it’s in the category of A pr...

Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images Yes, it’s early in the season. Yes, training camp and preseason were rushed. It would be totally understandable to be 0-3 after playing two solid teams if the Wizards just looked rusty and disorganized. But the way they’ve lost those games has gotten a lot of attention from fans and pundits. After benching players with hot hands and odd lineup combinations that lose leads, head coach Scott Brooks should not be free from criticism, no matter how early it ...

Through their first few games, the Washington Wizards have gotten the full Russell Westbrook experience.

Coming off a loss to Orlando on Saturday night, the Wizards (0-2) take on the Magic (2-0) Sunday at 7:00 P.M. at Capital One Arena in the second game the teams’ back-to-back series. For Washington, it’s the second game of a four-game homestand. Russell Westbrook (rest), who has tallied triple-doubles in each of his first two games with the Wizards, will not play Sunday. Wizards head coach Scott Brooks announced pregame that Raul Neto would start in his place. GAME INFO PROBABLE STARTERS W...

The Washington Wizards put themselves in a better situation to win when they swapped John Wall for Russell Westbrook in the 2020 offseason. However, there are still plenty of things the Wizards could do to achieve their main goal in the 2020-21 NBA season. In order to have a better chance of fully dominating the Eastern Conference and winning the 2021 championship title, they could consider surrounding Westbrook and Bradley Beal with more star power before the trade deadline. One of the players...

Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images Hello! It’s been a bit of time since we last saw you, but it’s good to be back as we get ready for what’s shaping up to be another weird NBA season. COVID-19 is still raging, we’re still trying to make it to see tomorrow, and everything has changed around the Brooklyn Nets. When we last saw the Nets, they were finishing up their 2019-2020 season in the bubble as the Toronto Raptors finished off a four game sweep. Since then, they overha...

NEWCOMERS: Russell Westbrook, Raul Neto and Cassius Winston All eyes will be on the Wizards’ brand-new backcourt as the team opens the 2020-21 season this week against Philadelphia. After acquiring Russell Westbrook via trade earlier this month, the Wizards now boast one of the best guard duos in the NBA. Westbrook, a former MVP and nine-time All-NBA point guard, will run alongside Bradley Beal, who is coming off the best season of his career in which he averaged 30.5 points and 6.1 assists ...

Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images Sure, most of the attention goes to Russell Westbrook making his Wizards debut. But serious basketball people know the truth: this was the Thomas Bryant revenge game. In the previous preseason game, Detroit Pistons cheap-shot artist Blake Griffin flung Bryant to the ground in a pointless and gratuitously violent foul. Bryant lost composure and went after Griffin, and was so mad he pushed a ref away and got slapped with a $45,000 fine. Along the way, Gr...