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Wizards meet Nuggets on Wednesday afternoon in first exhibition in Orlando

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On Wednesday afternoon, the Wizards will take the court for their first competitive basketball game in over four months, a scrimmage against the Nuggets at 3:30 P.M. The scrimmage is one of three that Washington and all 22 teams participating in the league’s Orlando restart will play leading up to their eight “seeding games.” With teams still ramping up their conditioning and, in some cases, short on players, each team’s first scrimmage will be played with 10-minute quarters rather than the usual 12.

According to Wizards head coach Scott Brooks, center Ian Mahinmi (sore right groin) will not play while Thomas Bryant will start, but play only around eight minutes. After arriving in Orlando last week, Bryant quickly joined the practice rotation, but is still working to get his legs under him.

Game Info

HP Field House | 3:30 P.M. | NBCSW | 1500 AM

Storylines

Well-rested or rusty?

The number-one question heading into Washington’s first game action in months is simple: what sort of quality of play is reasonable to expect? It is a question that all 22 teams are facing. The Wizards have not played a game since March 10, a win over Knicks the night before the season was suspended in an effort to curb the outbreak of COVID-19. With so much time off since competitive play, much of which players spent isolated and limited in their ability to stay conditioned and keep their skills sharp, the timeless “rest vs. rust” question has never been more prevalent. Jump shots, defensive rotations and communication have all been referenced by players and coaches as facets of the game that will take reps to fully get up to speed.

While all 22 teams will likely have some hiccups to work through in the early stages of the restart, some will handle the circumstances better than others. Who comes out on the right side of the “rest vs. rust” issue will largely paint the picture of the two-week seeding period and greatly influence the postseason picture. Those that come out of the gate hot, looking well-rested and in-tune as a team, will have a chance to improve their position heading into the playoffs. On Wednesday, though, the stakes will be relatively low. The Wizards, still working through a ramp-up process targeting peak performance at the start of the seeding games, will focus on getting their feet underneath them, working through sets and testing new rotations with minutes distributed and balanced conservatively.

Where will the Wizards go for scoring?

The Wizards will be without leading scorers Bradley Beal and Davis Bertans for the entirety of the restart period in Orlando. That being the case, minutes, dribbles and shots are all up for grabs and one of the team’s biggest focuses over the next month will be identifying who is equipped to fill those roles, especially among their younger core.

The most glaring hole will be scoring. Beal and Bertans combined to average 45.9 points per game this season. Rui Hachimura, one of the prime candidates to see an uptick in responsibility, is the team’s third-leading scorer at 13.4 points per game. Ish Smith, Shabazz Napier, Troy Brown Jr., Jerome Robinson and Thomas Bryant will all see more action in Orlando. The team has made it clear, however, that it will be far more of a group effort than simply plugging players into Beal and Bertans’ positions and asking them to replicate their production. While the focus of Wednesday’s scrimmage will be conditioning and shaking off rust, keep an eye on players taking on new roles. Do not expect to see the issue solved Wednesday, though. With shortened quarters and Brooks’ stated plan to keep minutes in check, it’s unlikely that any single player will have an opportunity to steal the show.

The game experience

Wednesday afternoon will feature a pair of games: Washington’s scrimmage against Denver and, just before it, a 3:00 P.M. exhibition between the Clippers and Magic. These games will provide the first glimpse of what game action and the surrounding experience will like be for the next three months. No fans, socially distanced benches, neutral court designs that include “BLACK LIVES MATTER” – and lots of screens.

The new presentation and environment will be an adjustment for fans viewing from home, media covering the game and players and coaches communicating on the court.

“The communication with the officials from the players and the coaches – that’s going to be interesting,” Brooks said. “I’m going to do my best and our players are pretty good…we’ve got some pretty calm, cool guys.”

“I can’t remember (the last time I coached in an empty arena),” Brooks said. “I’m actually looking forward to it, because this is a (thing) that will probably never happen again. It’s going to be interesting to see how we all respond, from shooting from free throws, from play calls, from referees.”