News Wizards Team Notes

[Washington Wizards]

In “Best Chance to Win,” Wizards Collect 11th Straight Loss

Sure, the Wizards lost by 23 to a Brooklyn Nets squad sporting an identical 1-11 record, but it marked a resounding success — Washington snapped a six-game streak of allowing opponents at least 12 offensive rebounds, and a two-game streak giving up at least 20 offensive boards. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

I jest — ChatGPT tells me dreams are made of neural noise, memory fragments, emotional residue, and your brain’s best attempt to make sense of all that chaos. Why does that feel like ChatGPT is sub-tweeting this year’s Wizards?

So, I’ll take the blame for this one. I wrote a check-up article for yesterday that lauded the play of Alex Sarr and gestured at hope the rest of the team would get better. In grand #SoWizards tradition, Sarr played his worst game of the season, and the Wizards could not contain the NBA’s 24th ranked offense.

In what figured to be one of their better chances to get a win, they lost by 23. Their next opportunity to get blown out by a bad team is Nov. 28 at the Indiana Pacers. The Wizards have other chances to get blown out but those will be against good or mediocre teams, not one of the league’s worst. Plan accordingly.

Thougts & Observations​

• Kyshawn George had a strong overall game — 29 points with a 124 offensive rating (almost +9 relative to league average). He also fouled out for the third time in 12 games played this season. He’s had five or more fouls 9 times, and 4 or more in 11 games. At the risk of getting too technical, that’s too much.
• Sarr has played well so far this season, but was ineffective last night against Brooklyn. He joined George in fouling out.
• Bilal Coulibaly returned to the starting lineup after missing four games with some muscle tightness. He shot just 2-6, but contributed some rebounds, assists, and steals.
• CJ McCollum and Khris Middleton weren’t bad, I guess.
• Michael Porter Jr. played like a man trying to convince contending teams to trade for him — 34 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists. I’m sure he’d love to see Wizards defenders more often.

Four Factors​

Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).

The four factors are measured by:

• eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
• OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
• TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
• FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)

FOUR FACTORS	NETS	WIZARDS	LGAVG
eFG%	63.9%	51.2%	54.3%
OREB%	18.9%	7.5%	26.4%
TOV%	14.1%	10.1%	13.3%
FTM/FGA	0.354	0.238	0.227
PACE	99	100.5
ORTG	130	107	115.6

Stats & Metrics​

PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).

PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.

POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.

ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is 115.1. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.

USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%.

ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.

+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 114, the league — on average — would produced 22.8 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -2.8.

Players are sorted by total production in the game.

WIZARDS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Kyshawn George	32	66	124	34.6%	1.9	141	-15
CJ McCollum	32	67	126	19.9%	1.4	129	0
Khris Middleton	27	57	139	17.7%	2.4	128	3
Bilal Coulibaly	28	57	112	12.5%	-0.3	103	-1
Bub Carrington	20	42	119	12.0%	0.2	105	-25
Corey Kispert	15	31	95	10.6%	-0.7	54	-8
Cam Whitmore	13	27	101	23.3%	-1.0	46	-13
Marvin Bagley III	17	35	82	15.6%	-1.8	-5	-6
Alex Sarr	23	48	80	22.1%	-3.8	-41	-2
Tre Johnson	17	35	61	25.3%	-4.9	-110	-25
Tristan Vukcevic	7	14	81	14.3%	-0.7	70	-8
Justin Champagnie	7	13	108	25.9%	-0.3	38	-15
AJ Johnson	3	6	0	14.7%	-1.0	-95	0

NETS	MIN	POSS	ORTG	USG	+PTS	PPA	+/-
Michael Porter Jr.	34	70	149	31.0%	7.2	264	17
Tyrese Martin	26	54	146	24.1%	4.0	296	26
Nic Claxton	30	63	147	21.3%	4.2	202	14
Noah Clowney	30	62	128	12.3%	1.0	107	16
Ziaire Williams	30	62	132	13.7%	1.4	77	13
Egor Demin	20	41	119	15.4%	0.2	102	-3
Terance Mann	29	60	106	18.4%	-1.1	66	10
Drake Powell	19	39	95	15.4%	-1.2	80	13
Day’Ron Sharpe	16	32	109	21.5%	-0.5	64	9
Jalen Wilson	2	5	302	16.0%	1.4	522	0
Tyson Etienne	2	5	101	48.0%	-0.3	0	0
E.J. Liddell	2	5	0	32.0%	-1.7	0	0

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...nce-to-win-wizards-collect-11th-straight-loss

 

[Washington Wizards]

Brian Keefe will NOT be fired just because the Wizards are bad this season

So, the Washington Wizards have the worst record in the NBA this season at 1-12 (tied with the Indiana Pacers) after losing to the Brooklyn Nets last night. It isn’t that the Wizards lost to the Nets. It’s also that the Nets had a then-identical 1-10 record as the Wizards yesterday. They also were humiliated on their home court by another bad team.

So you start seeing X posts like these where fans are laying out the pitchforks, demanding that Head Coach Brian Keefe be fired.

We need to fire Keefe. I’m afraid we are stunting our young guys more than developing them. Some of the habits this team has is disgusting pic.twitter.com/ej4XiT2etn

— PlayoffWAS (@PlayoffWAS) November 17, 2025

We’re getting crushed by a team that’s horrible just like us!!

Brian Keefe do not have a good hold on this young squad. They need somebody to really coach and relate to them. That can get to them. He’s not it!! #Wizards #FireKeefe

— JJ Childs (@BigSargeJJ) November 17, 2025

Brian Keefe gotta go… I get you wanna keep him for the tank but guys aren’t developing properly..

— wizkidsforever (@wizkidsforever) November 17, 2025

And furthermore, the players had one of those notable … players only meetings in the locker room. Josh Robbins of the Athletic reported this last night.

The Wizards' players had a players-only meeting in their locker room after tonight's loss to the Nets, Kyshawn George said.

— Josh Robbins (@JoshuaBRobbins) November 17, 2025

So, first, is Keefe’s job on the line? And should he lose his job?

First, there is no indication that Keefe is on thin ice. He was hired to lead a team that is built to lose games in the hopes that a franchise savior is drafted in a year or two or … five. In short, Monumental Basketball President Michael Winger and General Manager Will Dawkins are content with the Wizards tanking for awhile. Hell, Winger and Mystics General Manager Jamila Wideman even dismantled the Mystics right before the most critical offseason in WNBA history, and EVEN when there were three All-Stars on the team and they were in the playoff hunt.

Right now, Monumental Basketball’s philosophy is something to the effect of “we rebuild from the ground up by any means necessary.”

So in short, Keefe will NOT be fired because the Wizards are losing games, even to other bad teams. And since Keefe has some deeper connections with Monumental Basketball brass, he’ll be fine for a while.

It’s not happening folks. Brian Keefe isn’t getting fired. Not by fellow OKC alumni Will Dawkins and Michael Winger.

The #Wizards have the 2nd youngest roster in the NBA. They will lose and lose. They will give the 2023-24 #Pistons a run for their money with this losing streak! https://t.co/AFpDSl5I42

— Faisal Hassan (@Faazzla) November 17, 2025

So what are the reasons WHY Keefe would be fired in 2025-26?

Consider any notable HR scandal and its underlying causes. We’re talking about things like corporate stealing, being deeply involved in the NBA betting scandal (ex. Chauncey Billups’ days with the Portland Trail Blazers are definitely numbered) or office misconduct like harassment (ex. the NWSL firing and giving lifetime bans to several team coaches a few years ago). But again, there is no evidence of Keefe being accused of these things. So unless something crazy comes up, Keefe is staying this season, period.

Leading a bad team where management more or less wants the team to be bad in the standings is NOT going to get the coach fired in the short term.

At some point, Winger and Dawkins will have expectations for the Wizards to win more than … five games a year. Ted Leonsis will get impatient too. But until then, as Wizards fans, we’re in for a lot of Groundhog Days.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...n-keefe-should-he-be-fired-washington-wizards

 

[Washington Wizards]

The Wizards’ players-only meeting happened after Brian Keefe’s postgame remarks

The Washington Wizards are on an 11-game losing streak, and things are looking pessimistic. And some want head coach Brian Keefe fired. But we know that’s not happening.

When players hold players-only meetings, there seems to be an insinuation that something isn’t going right. Something along the lines of the head coach “losing the locker room.” Joshua Robbins of The Athletic provided more context on when the players-only meeting took place. It happened directly after Keefe gave his postgame remarks.

“We buckled to the adversity,” coach Brian Keefe said. “We fouled when we shouldn’t. We didn’t dig in when they made certain runs. This group has never done that. That was disappointing on all of our end. We have to own that. But that was the thing that was bothering me the most, is that after the initial start of the game, which I thought we came out with a necessary mindset and attitude, once we got hit, we didn’t respond well.”

It was a bad enough performance that, after Keefe spoke to the team following the final buzzer, the Wizards held a players-only meeting in their locker room.

“We needed that talk, I think,” Coulibaly said afterward. “The guys just stepped up, the vets, the guys that have been used to winning. That’s what we’re trying to do here in the next year. So they had to talk to us, and they did a great job about this and everybody was listening.”

No one is exactly sure what was said in the meeting itself, but it seems like sometimes, players-only meetings are just that. A reinforcement about what a team’s expectations are. It’s not necessarily some plot to get the coach fired or emasculated.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this meeting? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/late...-happened-after-brian-keefes-postgame-remarks

 

[Washington Wizards]

Wizards at Timberwolves preview: Washington looks to end 11 game losing streak on Wednesday

The Washington Wizards play the Minnesota Timberwolves tomorrow night. Let’s get to it.

Game info​

When: Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. ET

Where: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN

How to watch: Monumental Sports Network

Injuries: For the Wizards, Alex Sarr is day-to-day. For the Timberwolves, Terrence Shannon is out, and Jaden McDaniels is day-to-day.

What to watch for​

The Wizards are looking to snap an 11-game losing streak. Every NBA team player, coach, and their mother and their ancestors know that the Wizards want to win more than they do. However, I think we all know that the Wizards aren’t winning most of their games this season. That said, an 11-game losing streak is a lot, right? Maybe the Wolves will be a little complacent tomorrow at home and look like … Washington did last Sunday?

Hey, it can happen!

Minnesota is currently sixth in the Western Conference with a 9-5 record coming off a win against the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 17. Let’s see if Washington can catch Minnesota off guard.

Source: https://www.bulletsforever.com/wash...zards-minnesota-timberwolves-nba-game-preveiw