Khris Middleton, Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr could return to the Washington Wizards' active rotation in the coming days, said general manager Will Dawkins
The Washington Wizards are coming off their second road win and fourth overall win of the season, holding the Pacers to under 90 points to get revenge after the loss suffered two weeks prior.
It marked the first time the Wizards held an opponent under 100 points in over one year and the first time under 90 points since 2020-2021 season, giving general manager Will Dawkins plenty to be excited about.
“I think that was clearly our best defensive effort of the season. When you have three quarters where they're 15, 19 and 23 points scored like that's that's huge for us and markers,” Dawkins said on 106.7. “I'll say this - Coach Keefe had the guys in the right mindset. They didn't like what happened that last time they went to Indiana. I think they responded and reshaped and had a more determined effort. And I think you saw that. But it was a great team effort, because obviously we're down a lot of bodies, but the players that got their chances really stepped up. And I was just proud of how they competed, the energy, the effort, connected-ness.”
Maybe most impressive was Washington securing the win despite a long list of inactives.
Khris Middleton has missed the last three games with a right knee contusion and Malaki Branham out for the last two due to a sprained right thumb; Corey Kispurt is battling a fractured right thumb, Bilal Coulibaly working through a right oblique strain and Alex Sarr working through an adductor injury that has sidelined him for six straight games. Head coach Brian Keefe told Varun Shankur of Post Sports on Monday that Sarr “has not progressed to doing live work in practice,” but Dawkins expressed optimism on Sarr among several able to return “probably within the week to ten days.”
“I think you will see Bilal [Coulibaly] come back here pretty quickly. Hopefully Alex, at some point at the end of this week is trending, if not early next week. Khris Middleton right around that same page. So we're starting to get guys healthy. It was good to see Tre [Johnson] get back there, even though he was on that 15 minutes cap, pretty much. But you’ll start seeing a little bit more there. And then Corey [Kispert], with his broken thumb, has started progressing, doing more on the course. So I think Khris, Bilal and Alex are probably within the week to ten days, hopefully sooner, and then not too much further after that with Corey.”
More from Dawkins
On Washington’s mentality after Washington’s 45-point loss to Boston on Dec. 4
“But I'd say the last three games, since that Boston game, that no one really liked the taste of that, we've been a more resilient group. We've tied or led in the fourth quarter all three of those games. Again, if you have a tie at that point or leave you have a chance to win, but more importantly, chances to learn, stack opportunities. So I think we're trending in the right direction, and the culmination came with the passing and the defense in Indiana.”
On Will Riley
“Yeah, I love this is approach, to be honest with you. Will [is] young, but doesn't act that way. He's an everyday guy. There's a few guys that are in the gym all the time - morning, noon and night - and he's one of those guys. He just really loves basketball, but I think what he's showing is he's taken what he's been able to learn and the experience he's gotten with Cody and the Go Go to use his high level IQ and his high level competition and motor to just impact the game. And the last five games, when he's gotten real minutes, he's obviously producing, shooting well, but also scoring. I think it's averaging double digits over the last five games. So again, Will [was] someone when we drafted we knew it was going to take some time. He's still not close to who he's going to be, but the fact that he competes and brings it every day and makes the teammates better with positive energy on top of the skill set that he has to play on the ball, off the ball, make shots and really make reads, is why we're so high on him. When you mix in the size and that he's still growing, like you guys said, we feel pretty good about that one down the line.”
On community outreach efforts during the holidays
“Our guys this year have actually really crushed it - individually, but also team stuff. The normal give backs to the schools. And three different players and teams have visited the hospital at different times and brought kids to the games, those type of things, but making sure our staff, we actually put together a wish list for families of people who were incarcerated and couldn't take care of their kids this Christmas and make sure we fulfilled their Christmas list. And then a few of our players - John Thompson and I actually went to the jail and visited some of the residents there and talked to them. So it's been very active. Tre [Johnson] had an event just yesterday, like it's non stop. Our guys have been in the community.”