Elvin Hayes protecting the rim for the Bullets
The 2020-2021 Washington Wizards are a bad defensive team. And that might actually be an understatement. Given the personnel, it seems unlikely that this group will magically turn into a good defensive team anytime soon.
Larry Hughes and I have talked a lot about the team’s porous defense on the Bleav in Wizards podcast. On this week’s show, Hughes explained what it takes to be a good defensive team in the NBA and how they could improve.
We also discussed if anyone on this roster had the potential to make the jump to be an above-average individual defender. We both feel Rui Hachimura is one of the few guys with the potential to make a major leap defensively. We haven’t really seen that from Hachimura so far this season but he’s still young and should continue to make strides on that side of the ball.