LAS VEGAS — In this cutthroat league, you obviously need talent, but you also need more than that.
The best teams have people who can dominate a game.
Most rebuilding teams are tasked with finding a few of them, especially the Washington Wizards, who are starting at the bottom. For now, the Wizards would be content to identify young building blocks who at least have the grit and confidence to try to change a game through sheer force of will.
Perhaps that was the gist of the fascinating answer given by summer league coach Cody Toppert when asked Friday morning what he wanted to see from rookie Alex Sarr in the 19-year-old’s Wizards debut Friday night.
“He’s a very strong character,” Toppert said. “He cares about his teammates. I think we want to see a little killer on the field. We want to see a guy who brings an aggressive mentality on both sides of the ball, a physicality on defense that’s going to set a foundation for who he’s going to be in the future. And then on the offensive side, there’s got to be a level of aggression. We don’t want him hiding on offense. We want him looking for action.”
Seven hours later, inside UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, hopeful Wizards fans saw that the team may have just signed not one, but two youngsters with killer instincts: Sarr and guard Bub Carrington.
Carrington overcame some challenges against the Atlanta Hawks to put up 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists on the stat sheet.
“When you know you played for this, you trained for this, it’s like butterflies turn into confidence,” Carrington said.
Overcoming his own anxieties, Sarr dissuaded the Hawks players from attacking the basket. In 23 seconds, he blocked three shots.
“To protect the basket, when you see an opportunity, you jump and get the ball,” Sarr said. “It’s very simple, so I just did what I had to do.”
Sarr showed other facets of his game. Deployed more as a facilitator than a scorer, the imposing teenager handled the ball with ease, made some deft passes and scored two three-pointers. He finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists to go with his four assists.
What made the evening even sweeter: The Wizards won 94-88.
Do Sarr and Carrington still have a long way to go? Yes, and that’s fair enough. But on Friday, they at least showed the ability — and the willingness — to change the course of a game. Sarr did it with his rim protection, with Toppert calling him “the anchor” of the Wizards’ defense. Carrington, a week shy of his 19th birthday, complemented his powerful shooting with good passing and smart playmaking.
With his parents and grandparents from Baltimore watching from the stands, Carrington set the tone on the game’s first possession by hitting a three-pointer from the left wing. On Washington’s next possession, he fouled and then made both free throws.
“I think what’s great about his game is that early on they tried to get him to speed up, and they did, and then he figured out how to calm down, handle the pressure and lead the team,” Toppert said. “He figured out how to organize us, which is a big responsibility.”
Summer League games are subject to the same caveats as Summer League games, which aren’t really games at all, but exhibitions. Washington was facing an Atlanta team that was arguably even more inexperienced and cobbled together. Tougher competition awaits in the fall.
But on Friday, Sarr and Carrington appeared to live up to expectations.
Sarr, the No. 2 pick in last month’s draft, made both of his 3-pointers in the second half. Both times, he made smooth shots over a 6-foot-2 defender. On one play in the fourth quarter, he dove to prevent a potential defensive rebound from going out of bounds.
“He had some great blocks,” Toppert said. “He bounced back at key moments. He battled through some cramps and those three points were huge when we needed them.”
While Sarr is expected to play a lot this upcoming season, the Wizards plan to be patient with his development. He’s just 225 pounds at 7-foot, and one of the reasons the Wizards signed veteran Jonas Valančiūnas this offseason was to allow him, instead of Sarr, to face some of the league’s toughest centers.
When the Wizards drafted Sarr, they knew his defensive skills were far superior to his offensive skills. In that sense, he’s similar to Wizards second-year forward (and fellow Frenchman) Bilal Coulibaly. Both Sarr and Coulibaly are long-term players.
Against the Hawks, Carrington, the 14th overall pick, looked impressive for someone who played just one season at the University of Pittsburgh. His performance mirrored his performances during the Wizards’ practices before their trip to Las Vegas: He showed a maturity beyond his years. General manager Will Dawkins called Carrington the team’s most vocal player in recent weeks.
“I’m just trying to be a leader,” Carrington said. “I came here to play guard, and being a guard is about being vocal. So coach has been keeping an eye on me, and some of my older guys have been helping me along the way, too, just trying to keep me active, keep me vocal, just because I have to be one of the leaders on the team.”
With Carrington and Sarr, the Wizards may have found more than that.
With time, and a lot of elbow grease, they could become the killer-instinct players Washington so desperately needs.
Friday was a good start.
(Photo by Bub Carrington: Lucas Peltier/USA Today)
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