National Basketball Association

Washington Wizards Three Takeaways: Wizards Close Out Preseason With Impressive Win Over Toronto Raptors

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Washington Wizards concluded preseason with an impressive 119-82 victory against the Toronto Raptors.

On Friday night, the Washington Wizards concluded preseason with a 119-82 victory against the Toronto Raptors.

There’s no such thing as playing perfect basketball – players will botch plays and create turnovers – but the Wizards were pretty damn close.

Right from the start, Washington moved the ball, ran on offense and got plenty of open looks from the perimeter. Everyone, from John Wall to Markieff Morris, was hitting shots from deep.

Quickly, Washington gained a double-digit lead and never looked back.

An exhibition victory against a top team in the Eastern Conference doesn’t mean anything on paper, but it does set the foundation for the regular season.

For the first time since preseason began, the Wizards looked ready to get the real thing started.

Sharing the sugar

John Wall dished out 11 assists in 26 minutes and his backcourt mate, Bradley Beal, added 9 assists. Washington assisted on 33 of their 49 made field goals.

Each of the starters is capable of passing, which is huge for a modern offense.

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While neither Morris nor Marcin Gortat are Marc Gasol-level passers, they still know how to space the floor and move the ball to open spots.

Morris, in particular, has been a very underrated passer for Washington.

Kelly Oubre and Otto Porter both do a great job of moving without the ball and their effort is usually rewarded when the ball is in Morris’ hands.

Everyone in the starting lineup scored at least 15 points.

Since the Wizards lack an elite scorer (Beal has the potential to become exactly that this season, but the sample size needs to be larger), distributing the ball is integral to the offense.

Porter finally steps up

Otto Porter has been outplayed by 20-year-old Kelly Oubre in the preseason. Finally, he stepped up against the Raptors.

He made all 7 of his shot attempts, scoring a total of 16 points. Porter also grabbed 9 rebounds in 23 minutes of action.

The problem with Porter has never been his ability – it’s always been his aggressiveness. He’s scored in bunches in the past, but disappeared from the offense after not demanding the ball back.

He’ll never become a 20+ point per game scorer, but he’s capable of producing at a high level when he doesn’t shy away from shooting the ball.

Washington will shoot plenty of threes this season and Porter has to continue hitting. Porter, like Trevor Ariza during his time in D.C., will be an option from the corner.

Second unit rotation

Scott Brooks shortened his rotation on Friday night, opting not to play any of the players on non-guaranteed deals until the game was essentially over. He ran with Trey Burke, Marcus Thornton, Oubre, Andrew Nicholson and Jason Smith off the bench.

Surprisingly, Tomas Satoransky wasn’t a part of the primary second unit. He got some playing time at the end of the fourth quarter.

The offense struggled with that particular lineup. Burke and Thornton combined to make just 1 of 9 shots. Relying on Satoransky might be the smart move going forward.

Washington will begin the regular season on Thursday against the Atlanta Hawks. They couldn’t have asked for a better way to close out the preseason than an impressive win against the Raptors. The ghost of Paul Pierce would be proud.

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