Randy Wittman doesn’t have many options at his disposal as he looks for veterans to help prop up a Wizards team that has been outscored by a combined 43 points and outrebounded 114-69 in the last two games. The Raptors, tonight’s opponent, pulled down a franchise non-overtime game record 61 boards in Friday’s 106-89 win over Washington in Toronto on Friday.
The Wizards coach said he was searching for something after they got blown out by the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday, but ahead of tonight’s second game against Toronto in four days, he said lineup changes aren’t on the table.
“Maybe different rotations, things of that nature,” Wittman said. “I’m looking at a lot of different things, and that’s what you try to do, but we gotta continue to forge ahead, learn what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong and correct those things that we are plagued with – number one, that being rebounding. The last couple games we’ve gotten totally destroyed on the boards, and then you couple that with 37, 36, 38 percent shooting, you’re not going to beat very many teams with that.”
In one specific case, JaVale McGee is averaging 5.3 rebounds in the last three games after grabbing 10 boards in each of the previous four contests.
“Sometimes his shot-blocking takes him off the rebound, and that’s something that he’s got to be a little bit careful of,” Wittman said. “You don’t want to take his aggression away because he’s a good shot blocker, but he can’t be coming and jumping over other defenders and missing the shot block, and now his guy’s tipping the ball in with the offensive rebound. That happens to us once in a while, and he has to understand, ‘Am I getting this or not,’ and when you’re not, you’ve got to stay on the board.”
As for available veterans, big men Ronny Turiaf (hand) and Andray Blatche (calf) remain injured while Rashard Lewis is also out with a sore left knee, leaving Roger Mason Jr. and Maurice Evans as Washington’s only players on the bench who’ve played more than one year in the NBA.
Evans, with just three appearances and two points to his name this season, seems primed for a chance to contribute.
“He’s had some nagging injuries early on, coming into camp back in December,” Wittman said. “Getting his legs back under him and things of that nature, but I think he’s close to throwing in there, especially in situations where we kind of get overwhelmed with not recognizing playing with a purpose. That’s what I was talking about with maybe mixing in another veteran somewhere.”
With Chris Singleton in the starting lineup, along with John Wall, Nick Young, Trevor Booker and McGee, Wittman has the same lineup that former coach Flip Saunders used to get the Wizards’ first win of the season – which also came against the Raptors.
