(Photo: Washington Wizards)
Preseason Game 1
Long-Lions (0-0) at Wizards (0-0)
October 2, 2017 at 7:00 PM
Capital One Arena | Washington, DC
Online: Monumental Sports Network
We made it! Wizards fans, give yourselves a pat on the back. You have survived another long offseason and the Wizards will finally take the floor to ... wait a second, you’re telling me the games do not count? Eh, it’s all good. Hey at least basketball is back! The Wizards open up the preseason tonight at Verizon … oops, I mean Capital One Arena against the Guangzhou Long-Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association.
What to Watch:
New Faces on the Bench
While that team from Boston and that team from Cleveland dominated the offseason headlines with some weird trade, the Wizards re-signed their key players and brought in some new faces to help fix a bench that was relatively bad. Thankfully, the team still had a solid season but the bench was the biggest weakness. Monday night, fans will get to see Jodie Meeks and Mike Scott’s Wizards debut. We will also see camp invite Donald Sloan get some minutes. We’ll get a small glimpse of how the bench can contribute this season.
Key Matchup:
Jason Smith vs. Tyler Hansbrough
If there’s one thing I learned from following the Wizards for the last 15 years, it’s that the injury bug is irresistible. Unfortunately, the Wizards will begin the season without Markieff Morris who is coming off sports hernia surgery. While the Wizards aren’t entirely sure who could replace Morris to start the season, one worthy candidate is Jason Smith. Smith averaged 5.7 points per game and 3.5 rebounds per game last season and was one of the bright spots on the bench.
Smith will face a challenge tonight, as will any of Keef’s replacements, as he goes up against Psycho T. If you’re a fan of any team in the ACC (and this also counts Maryland, who used to play in the conference), you’ll recognize this dude. While he hasn’t seen NBA action since 2016, he had a good season last year in the G-League. Given that Hansbroough will be back on an NBA court playing against some good competition, expect him to have a good game tonight.
X-Factor:
Ian Mahinmi
Last season it was Mahinmi who began the season on the IR. This time around, Mahinmi has dropped 10 pounds with the goal of becoming a more mobile player. Expect Mahinmi to be more explosive and show great speed. Tonight we’ll get a first look at the new and improved version of im.
Fun Factor:
Hopefully we’ll see some high flying dunks like these tonight.
Prediction:
The starters and the bench put together an impressive display, leading to a Wizards win.