Anseld Jr. compliments Avdia the "underrated": "makes winning moves that you don't always see"

The Wizards' coach is satisfied with Avdia's defense and commitment to rebounds, Washington knows: "As long as he is in the top five, his offense will become secondary."

Kuzma admits: last season the locker room was not cohesive

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10/22/2022

Saturday, October 22, 2022, 09:45

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Danny Avdia and Kristaps Porzingis in shooting practice (from Twitter)

Washington is encouraged by the positive start to the season.

Tonight (between Friday and Saturday) the Wizards went 0:2 after beating Chicago 100:102 in the first home game of the season, after a decisive basket by Bradley Beal.

The Wizards are proud that this season, unlike last season, the locker room looks cohesive and positive.

"This season we love each other. Last season I couldn't say that out loud," admitted Kyle Kuzma, who finished as the team's leading scorer with 26 points.

Wes Anseld Jr. expressed satisfaction with the mental toughness of the Wizards, who led by 17 points during the game, and were able to scrape out the win despite a late comeback by the Bulls.

This is also not obvious given the large margins the team lost last season en route to some embarrassing losses.

"I think tonight's headline is the message sent to our players - it's perfectly fine to win ugly," said the coach.

Defense, toughness, rebound.

Avdia in action, tonight (Photo: GettyImages, Scott Taetsch)

A somewhat strange story developed around Danny Avdia before the game, when the Wizards announced that he would be absent from the game due to the ankle injury he suffered against Indiana, but they clarified a few minutes later that he was actually fit and would play.

In the end Avdia started with the five, and finished with 6 points (2 of 4 from the field), 10 rebounds and 4 assists.

When Anseld Jr. was asked to define Avdia's ability in the game, in which he guarded Bulls star DeMar DeRozan for quite a few minutes, he replied: "Underrated. When a player scores 32 points in front of you, it's never easy, but I saw a maturation in Danny today. He didn't Letting offenses get the better of him, guarded smartly, didn't get fazed by DeMar's body tricks, and helped us a lot in rebounding, the category that was our Achilles heel in the preseason. He grabbed some big rebounds, and makes moves that win basketball games. Brad had a big block in the last quarter, that Also the kind of moves that win games, but sometimes there are smaller actions that help win, and you don't always pay attention to them. Danny does them a lot, and he did tonight as well."

In Washington, they understand that in light of his command of the five, Avdia will have a very specific role this season.

"In the end, Avdia played 23 minutes and was good. He scored 6 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and handed out 4 assists - a statistical line of the kind that we will probably see a lot more from Avdia this season," NBC noted.

"As long as he starts in the top five, the offense will naturally become secondary for him, certainly in relation to the defense. He is one of the team's most important players in defense, but in the offense he won't get many shots next to Beal, Porzingis and Kuzma."

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