The Washington Wizards didn't just out of the gate. They tripped, fell and rolled around for several hours in a 112-83 loss to the Orlando Magic. It was the worst season-opening loss in team history. Bullets Forever did a recap of their own and it was so spot on, I had to extrapolate on it.
- "The lone bright spot was Cartier Martin, who looks like he gets how to move without the ball. He's the only guy on the team that looked like he knew where he was supposed to be on both ends of the floor. "
Martin led the Wizards with 17 points off of the bench and has already solidified his role as Washington's sixth man. Perhaps he can sneak into the starting lineup (I'm looking at you, Al Thornton).
- Al Thornton played fairly well, but as long as he can't shoot from the outside, he's hurting the team because people can just cheat off Wall.
Speaking of Thornton, he didn't play poorly, but like his teammates, he couldn't shoot. Thornton's game is in slashing to the paint (he even had a ferocious "And 1" dunk). But if he can't produce from the outside, his play will be detrimental to the team.
One more noteworthy fact. SB Nation DC's own Jake Whitacre provided this statistic:
Last season, John Wall lost three games by a combined 22 points.
Wall better get used to that.