After a year of rookie, which on the one hand predictably had too many ups and downs in his ability, Danny Abdia opens a second season in the NBA.
On the other hand, less standardly, it also had too many UAVs of the kind you don't want to see - like teammates snatching a corona or a serious injury that required several months of recovery. Which seemed like a distant dream in the earlier stages of the season.
So in the end, it was not a quiet or simple rookie season, the kind from which a linear improvement graph could be built for next season.
Among other things, also because on 20/21 the natural phenomenon Russell Westbrook played there, for its many advantages (prominent) and few disadvantages (no less prominent).
Both because the coach changed (by Scott Brooks, Hi Wes Ansald Jr.), and also because in the trade that sent Westbrook to the Lakers came back a host of players who are all set to get significant minutes this season on the team - Spencer Dinwiddie, Cantabius Caldwell-Pop, Montez Harle, Kyle Kozma and Aaron Holiday.
In many ways, this is a new group.
True, this is still "Bradley Bill's team", which finished another season with more than 30 points per game, this time second in the king of baskets table for just one, Steph Kerry.
And in the NBA, if you have such a big star and around him a young bunch, and a coach in his first major role, there is no doubt at all that this is the most significant parameter in determining the style of the team and the opportunities that everyone else will get.
But contrary to what one might think, Abdia has a lot of influence on how this season is going to look for him.
Yes, Bill is a 34% "Yosage" monster in the last two years (i.e., 1 in 3 attacks he has on the field ends in a shot or his loss).
And yes, apart from the players mentioned, Roy Hachimura is also coming this season laden with intentions to become an even more central player, after a good season end last year, an excellent home Olympic tournament on a personal level with Japan, and in his third year at the club.
Without a doubt, the Wizards have a squad with quite a few worthy players, and a very large part of them consider themselves - and rightly so for him - a leading player.
Bradley Bill.
This is still his team, Photo: AP,
But Abdia himself does not really fall for any of these names.
And so, to a large extent, his success in his second season in the league depends on him no less than on "circumstances."
Give him the ball
What does not depend on it?
No matter how many times he gets the ball with his back to the basket, on a low guard.
This has already happened last season, and this season - when the Wizards are expected to try quite a few relatively tall vehicles - it should perhaps even happen more, that the opponent may be trying to "hide" a lower guard from Abdia.
Teams that do this to some extent want the Wizards to get out of their normal offensive pace and forcefully try to take advantage of the situation by putting a ball into a loss.
But Abdia is really excellent in these situations.
He does not dig back and seeks to take a shot by force, and very many times he takes advantage of this situation to pull another guard and take out a great delivery.
In order for him to have a good season, he should be educated to give him the ball in these situations.
Maybe even try to create them for him occasionally.
Another thing that does not very much depend on the loss is the frequency with which he will actually function as a second ball carrier, as the coach has said quite a few times that he intends to do.
This is a function that seems relatively tailored to its loss.
But in the squad that has, besides the ball piglet Bill, at least another 6-5 players who can see themselves as ball leaders, if not first then second, it is not worth cultivating too many expectations that this will be a move that the Wizards go to often enough.
And of course, it does not very much depend on him the number of times his teammates will give him when he is free, which is something that happened many times last year, and also in several cases in pre-season games in recent weeks.
But Abdia's ability to stick these free throws at a better rate and with much greater stability than those he introduced last year - certainly depends on him.
Not to mention
his problematic
penalty percentages
.
The assertiveness with which he will try to take his guards to the basket in cases where he does get to lead a ball and create, completely sits between his temples.
Keeping his composure - something Abdia has never excelled at - is also literally in his hands.
In fact, apart from rebounds and energies on defense, things that depend on him and that he really surprised them with in the rookie season, in all the other things that depend on him, he still doesn't get a great score.
And without doing at least that, do not be surprised if despite a mediocre rookie season and below, somehow he will still be able to experience the crisis of the second season.
Danny Abdia, his second season in the NBA kicks off, Photo: AFP,
