East Notes: Wizards, Pistons, Bucks, Damian Lillard

Wizards

The Wizards have lost 12 straight and are in danger of finishing with the NBA’s worst record since they were known as the Baltimore Bullets in the 1966-67 season.

“That could change this year,” wrote Scott Allen of the Washington Post. “After losing their 12th consecutive game Tuesday at Capital One Arena to fall to 9-49, the Wizards moved into a tie with the Detroit Pistons at the bottom of the league standings. It’s a remarkable development considering the Pistons, who finished with the league’s worst record a year ago, tied an NBA record by losing 28 consecutive games earlier this season.”

• Allen went on to detail just how terrible things are in Washington in a fantastic in-depth piece on the franchise’s history. You can check it out here.
• For the record, the Wizards haven’t won 50 games in a season since 1978-79, their last trip to the Finals. They won the title the year before that.

Pistons

The Pistons still have plenty of needs to fill and should trade for a 3-point specialist during the offseason, wrote Steve Pelletier of RezBall’s Substack.

“The Pistons should sign or trade for 3-point specialists to surround Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson, and Isaiah Stewart,” Pelletier wrote. “Focus on shoring up the interior defense with Duren’s development and getting a Dale Davis-type vet to push him. Collect as many picks as you can to build out the roster.”

• Coach Monty Williams is still hot over the perceived no-call in a close loss to the Knicks earlier this week. “I’m not of the mindset of creating or building up an argument against the NBA or the officials,” he told reporters. “I was talking about an isolated incident last night, and I’ll stand on what I said and what I saw after the game. As I told our guys today, we have to move past it but learn from it.”

Bucks

The Bucks are slowly but surely regaining their form under coach Doc Rivers, as noted by Jamal Collier of ESPN.

“With back-to-back wins coming out of All-Star Weekend, the Bucks have turned things around defensively since Doc Rivers became head coach,” Collier wrote. “They won in Minnesota in their first game out of the break, holding the Wolves to 13 points in the third quarter, then prevailed in Philadelphia, keeping the Sixers to 16 points in the fourth. Overall, Milwaukee is 11th in defensive efficiency with Rivers at the helm, up from 19th under Adrian Griffin.”

• Star guard Damian Lillard said he’s happy in Milwaukee but it’s been “draining” being away from his kids, as our Ashish Mathur relayed here. Lillard said his friends and family are still in Portland, where he spent the first 11 seasons of his legendary career.