Wizards open training camp with eyes on No. 2 overall pick Sarr

It was hard to ignore Washington Wizards rookie Alex Sarr on Tuesday when the team opened training camp at its D.C. practice facility.

The rookie 7-footer showed off the range, size, and athleticism that made him the No. 2 pick in this year’s NBA draft. 

He’s just getting started. 

“Today I was just trying to get my stamina up, running hard and all that,’ the French teenager said after his first official practice. “I also learned some new plays.”

Sarr may only have one NBA training camp practice under his belt, but professional basketball is nothing new for the 19-year-old. He started playing with the American Overtime Elite league when he was 16 before starring in Australia’s NBL last season.

The NBA is a different beast.

“I feel like everybody here is more athletic. Obviously, it’s the best league in the world, so every player has more talent,” Sarr said. “But the NBL was a really fast-paced league too. So I feel like that prepped me pretty well.”

But if the NBA Summer League was any indication, the rookie’s transition could take time.

The rookie struggled in four Summer League games, averaging just 5.5 points while shooting an ice-cold 19% from the field. The worst performance came on July 16 against the Portland Trail Blazers, when Sarr attempted 15 shots from the field. 

He missed them all.

The underwhelming performances led to widespread ridicule on social media, with some fans already labeling the highly-touted prospect as a bust before he ever took a shot at Capital One Arena in the District.

Summer league is in the past now. Sarr said he’s spent the intervening three months focused on getting better. 

“It’s a process that’s still going on,” he told reporters Tuesday. 

Luckily for Sarr, he should have plenty of time to develop with the rebuilding Wizards. After a 15-67 record last season, general manager Will Dawkins and coach Brian Keefe said contention is still further down the line. 

This year is just about improvement. 

“It’s process over outcomes,” Keefe said Monday. “I’m a competitor. I want to win, but I want to go into the stuff that gets us to win. … How we prepare, how we handle practices, how we handle shootarounds, how we handle film sessions — those are the things that’s going to build us to be a sustainable winner.”

Washington’s front office will likely want to see more of the same in Keefe’s first full season as coach. He took over the role on an interim basis last year, but the record improved only marginally. The progress showed in the on-court play, as the lowly Wizards remained competitive in games down the stretch. 

Forward Kyle Kuzma, who led the Wizards in scoring last season, noted that Keefe cooked up a new offensive scheme during the offseason. Instead of relying on a primary ballhandler, Washington’s offense will use more motion and cutters to keep defenses on their toes. 

“When a coach takes over halfway through the year, you can’t really implement everything you want,” Kuzma said. “So [Keefe’s] had a whole offseason to think about what positions he wants to put us in. That’s just part of the learning curve right now.”

The 29-year-old counts himself among a handful of veterans on a generally young Wizards squad. He — alongside the returning Jordan Poole and new additions Malcolm Brogdon and Jonas Valanciunas — has already found himself in a leadership role.

“We’re just trying to help out, trying to speed up the learning curve because it’s going to be a long year,” Kuzma said. “As they’re working, you learn something new every day. I’m just trying to get people up to speed so when October 24 comes, we’re just a little bit better.”

The veteran assistance to kick off training camp was a welcome sight for Keefe, who has his hands full implementing a new scheme and welcoming several new faces after a busy offseason. 

“We’re lucky to have the guys we’ve added this summer and then the guys we’ve had on our team in years past,” Keefe said. “Those guys are total pros. They know how to prepare; they love the game and they showed it today.”

With training camp underway, Washington’s 82-game journey for the 2024-25 season has officially begun. After a couple more practices in the District, the Wizards will host a pair of training sessions in Canada before Sunday’s preseason opener against the Toronto Raptors.