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Enchanted: This is how Washington and Chicago became the surprises of the season opener in the NBA

They were rebuilt but crystallized quickly, and both begin to convince the big star that he should stay: the Wizards and the Bulls have found a surprising defensive identity all the way to the top of the East, and one has Israeli weapons with numbers that can no longer be ignored.

So which of the two is still above its realistic place?

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• Washington Wizards

• Chicago Bulls

• Danny Abdia

Assaf Ravitz

Sunday, November 14, 2021, 1:30 p.m.

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Washington Wizards players train ahead of game against Orlando (from Washington's Twitter)

We are nearing the end of the first month of the regular season, and both conferences are starting to take shape. The West as a whole has straightened out quite as expected. Golden State's season opener is surprising, but it was supposed to be a good team and overall the top teams are ranked high. The East, on the other hand, as a pharmacy. Two of the three Eastern leaders are Washington and Chicago, two teams that in most predictions were not ranked within the top six in the conference. Cleveland also started the season much better than expected and Toronto looks impressive. These four will most likely not stay in their position for long, but all four look like competitive teams that can battle for the various playoff spots. This situation creates a problem for teams like Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta that have not started the season well, the latter two are currently ranked even out of the play-off tournament.

Today we delve into Washington and Chicago, the first leading the East with a 3: 9 balance and the second ranked third with a 4: 8 balance.

They have common lines: both were almost rebuilt in the summer and instead of needing time to connect they crystallized very quickly and arrived very hungry for the season.

They both have a star who could end a contract this summer and it is very important for them to prove to him that a team has been built around him that can run at the top.

Both were supposed to be weak defensive teams, but much of their success has to do with defense.

They both have reasons to believe they are capable of continuing like this, but also potential difficulties, which delving into them reveals the differences between the two.

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A quintet of a top group for all intents and purposes.

Lavin and Drusen (Photo: GettyImages, Jonathan Daniel)

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  It's the truth

Chicago

Billy Donovan's team is the less surprising of the two.

Once Damar Drusen and Lonzo Ball teamed up with Zac Lavin and Nikola Wojciech, it was clear that this was one of the most talented quartets in the league and in a team that has a chance to be a real factor this year.

But question marks around defense and depth, alongside six or seven teams that looked more senior in the East, left the Bulls more in a black horse position than a true potential top team.

One of the most important conclusions of the first month in the NBA is that it might be worth updating those predictions.

The issue of depth is real, and became more serious after Patrick Williams finished, practically, the season. The one who really helps Donovan deal with the problem is Alex Caruso, who turned out to be a fifth rib worthy of everything. The guard who came from the Lakers comes off the bench and provides personal protection for guards at the highest level in the league, including 2.5 steals per game, along with good secondary game management ability and shooting at high percentages of free throws. While Tyler Hiro, Carmelo Anthony and Monterz Harrell are the favorites for the title of sixth player of the season thanks to their points accumulation rate, Caruso is one of the best substitutes in the league on his way and he also deserves to be on the early list of candidates.

Lonzo and Drusen are physically big enough to function as forwards in a low lineup where Caruso and Lavin are the guards and Wojciech is the chin, this will be the Bulls' five-man squad in most cases. When there is one such senior substitute, it is easier to get by in the rest of the minutes with a battery of forwards and defensive inside players that on any given day one or two of them will be more suitable. Kobe White is expected to return soon and close the depth corner of the guards, in the rest of the positions there are no safe stocks.

The short staff makes any absence of one of the big four a problem.

In the near future, Chicago will have to make do without Wojciech, who was diagnosed with Corona, and already in the first game against Golden State, it is clear how much his absence has an effect.

Donovan's senior chin may not have hurt since the start of the season, but he is perhaps the most important axis around which the team's attacking game is built.

Without Watch's ability to roll both in and out, propel the offense after he gets the ball, throw from the outside and celebrate in a post on most of the guards, Chicago's offensive play will be based much more on Lavin and Druzen's personal abilities.

It is a pity that this happened precisely in preparation for a particularly intriguing foreign trip to the West that was supposed to test the Bulls' abilities, now the test will be of a different kind and more related to the ability to make adjustments to a significant absence.

But as long as Schweich recovers quickly from the disease, his absence will have no long-term effect.

The first big test will look different.

Wojciech (Photo: GettyImages, Tim Nwachukwu)

Chicago’s offense is one of the best in the league largely thanks to the fact that all five senior players are good and smart morals. The players really enjoy the feeling that they do not have to take hard shots because on the other side more quality players are waiting. Most of the Bulls 'attacks start with a pick' roll from one of the outside players with Wojciech on one side, and continue with the ball moving to the other side so that one of the other outside players attacks in front of a less organized defense. The players focus on very simple actions, not trying to complicate, and the result is that this is one of the teams that loses the fewest balls in the league. Lonzo creates an option for a passing game and Avin is the main beneficiary of the opportunities he gets in the open field. Chicago throws the fewest threes in the league and the most shots from half-distance (anyway, Druzen), but from every range it scores in good percentages.

The defense is the surprising part.

Statistically, there is nothing that Chicago is bad at, and it allows rivals very few threes and assists.

Donovan's method is conservative: the outside players fight blockages, the chin waits pretty low most of the time and minimal help.

Bull and Caruso do a great job on the front line of defense, both Lavin and Drusen do not fake when rivals examine them.

Wojciech is a seemingly effective defensive center for the regular season, he is positioned correctly in Pick n 'Roll, reads moves at a high level and controls the rebound.

His real test will be in the playoffs, with the best offensive players in the world consistently attacking him in a pick n roll.

But until then there is still a long way to go, and meanwhile Chicago looks like a real top team, as long as the stars are fit.

We managed to forget his offensive potential.

(Photo: GettyImages, Michael Reaves)

Washington

After the Wizards brought in five rotation players in the summer in exchange for Russell Westbrook, new coach Wes Ansald Jr. got a roster that on the face of it looked too wide: a lot of very good players but no very good players alongside Bradley Bill. Washington's strong season opener shows the advantage of having many good players, being able to send to the floor at any given moment five players with a positive contribution who complement each other in abilities. Most of Ansald's rotation players are in the 25-29 age range, which is an ideal range for this stage of the season: these are experienced enough players who have already acclimatized to the league, who are at the peak of physical maturity and young enough not to start underestimating the regular season. Many of them get a bigger role than usual and are happy with this opportunity.

The attack is based on the talent of some of these players. Alongside Bill, who is another one of the stars who opened the season in poor shooting form, Montreux Harle stands out in particular. A weak season for the Lakers has forgotten the potential of Monterz in the regular season, the team that turns the color for him is one of the best offensive chins in the league, one that comes with high energies per game and makes chin replaces opponents. Spencer Dinwidi also finds his place as a Pick v. Roll expert with a good color finish and great decision making. The list of significant attacking players is completed by Kyle Kozma, who does a little of everything, scores threes in the best percentages of his career (37.8 percent) and plays with a lot of confidence.

These four are primarily responsible for the fact that Washington's offense is close to average, although it's clearly not a team that feels comfortable within its attacking game. Too many attacks get stuck and are ultimately based on the ability of the senior players to create. There are moments of goodwill and moments where movement and coordination can be seen at a higher level, but most of the time the Wizards' offensive play is conducted without synchronization. This is not the side thanks to which Washington is at the top of the East.

Defense is the reason. Washington is ranked 18th in the league in offensive efficiency and fourth in defensive efficiency. There is no doubt that Ansald focuses on training mainly on defense, this is the side where Washington works like a well-oiled unit. His players are constantly communicating with each other, resolving possible glitches before they happen, thinking one step before the attack. Most of the rotation players are at a stage in their careers where they already understand in depth how good NBA defense works, and it is clear that some of them came from the quality defensive system of the Lakers and Frank Vogel.

The Wizards' defense forces the rivals to throw the shots they do not want, they throw the most in the league from half distance and from the area in the color far from the ring, the two least effective areas.

Washington's three-point defense is the best in the league in a combination of quantity (31.3 threes per game, third lowest in the league) and quality (29.5 percent, the lowest percentage in the league).

The opening chin, young Daniel Gaford, is an excellent defensive chin that controls color, making it easier for the players around him to stay close to the outside players.

The Wizards' top five are high, Dinvidi is a 1.96m tall coordinator, this allows Ansald to make substitutions on four positions, which helps him force tough shots at the opponent from isolation moves.

The best defensive player on the team whose defense is her secret.

Abdia (Photo: GettyImages, Scott Taetsch)

It is impossible to talk about Washington's defense without talking about Danny Abdia. Even regardless of our special interest in him, the young Israeli would have been given a significant place in this article. Because this is, simply, the best defensive player on the team whose defense is the secret of its power. In the minutes that Abdia plays Washington absorbs 94.7 points per 100 passers, the best defensive rating on the team and one of the best in the league. Of the 208 players who played at least 20 minutes in at least six games, Danny's defensive rating places him fourth in the league. Abdia's personal metrics are also impressive: the players he maintains score 35.1 percent from the field, about eight percent less than expected, his figures are even more impressive with shots close to the basket and threes, the most important shots in terms of defense. And as the season progresses, Abdia keeps getting better and better players and does it excellently. His ability to keep senior players well has been one of the key factors in some of Washington's tight wins this year.

Abdia's attacking game pays the price of playing in a successful team at a young age, when there is no room to grow through mistakes, but the fact that he earns significant minutes in the Eastern lead thanks to his defense is very impressive.

Facing rivals with dominant forwards like Yannis Antocompo and Jason Taitum his presence is even necessary, and Ansald will have a hard time giving up on him even when Davis Bartans and Roy Hachimura join the squad.

But this is not an article about Abdia but about Washington as a team, so I will end it with the question of how much the early success indicates what will happen next.

The answer is that the current balance is probably a bit excessive, the Wizards' points difference is not that of a conference leader and they have won all their close games, many times there is an element of luck in that.

Without a significant offensive upgrade it would be difficult for Washington to stay in an area that leads to a home-court advantage in the playoffs.

But the start of this season makes it clear that Washington is a legitimate team for the automatic entry into the playoffs, and relative to early expectations it's a lot.

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