CHICAGO — If height was the only trait that matters in basketball, Justin Champagnie would not be as important to the Washington Wizards as he’s been early this season. He stands a shade under 6 feet 6 in bare feet, a less-than-ideal size for someone who specializes in rebounding.

Desire, smarts and toughness matter, too, and Champagnie possesses all of those characteristics in abundance.

Champagnie proved his mettle yet again late in Saturday night’s third quarter against the Chicago Bulls. After a Bulls player missed a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, the loose basketball deflected off Washington’s Trae Young and Chicago’s Matas Buzelis and careened toward Champagnie and Chicago’s Jalen Smith.

Smith is a 6-foot-9 center, and his wingspan is nearly five inches longer than Champagnie’s.

The physical advantage belonged to Smith. The ball belonged to Champagnie.

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This kid is a mf star man. If he’s given the time and leeway to fully develop i can see him breaking Gil & Beal’s 60 point single game record

Hawks fan here. I’ll be going to catch the wizards vs hawks game at capital one arena. I should be landing in the afternoon, any recommendations for things to do or places to eat during the afternoon? Will I be able to park near the arena? Is traffic crazy? Thanks

Wanted to make back to back posts because I just have some thoughts from what I've seen this week.

2-1 and a lot to be encouraged about. Lost to the good team, blew out the to disaster team, comeback against the bad one. That's about right if you just consider tiers going into the season.

I feel like the half court offense has been very up and down thus far. Some of it is of course just chemistry, but the shooting hasn't been great. Too many possessions where the ball sticks. When they play with pace they can score in the half court but they have been at their best offensively so far in transition and the offensive glass and beating teams up with size.

I feel you all could really use a guy in the half court who can consistently generate paint touches from the perimeter. Hence, the question above. How much do you think AJ returning will uplift the offense of this team?

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Sarr is starting to get the Wemby and Rudy treatment where offensive players shy away from attacking the rim with him in the paint. He is so rangy in the paint with his mobility, instincts, and length and able to make plays across a large radius, with excellent anticipation.

He's really becoming a standout on D. Do you all think it's good enough for that illustrious end of season honor? I think he's playing well enough to make an All Defense team early on.

I have Colombian descent and I found out Jaime Echenique was the first Colombian in the NBA, does anybody know or have a Jaime Echenique wizards jersey, I can’t find a Wizards one. I would like to offer it if you have it. I know he only played 10 days, but I want to make a special frame with that jersey and maybe if I go to his team in Italy I can get his auto on the jersey, that would go crazy.

Continuing the tradition from the beginning of the season of posting net points from each game to contextualize the performance better for everyone on a nightly basis. Just a reminder:

“It quantifies every rebound, shot, turnover and free throw and assigns credit and blame to the players on the court. It divides credit and blame based on the difficulty of the players' contributions to the success or failure of the team.”

Tired from traveling so my summary will be shorter than the last couple of days. Like the first game we played, I personally think today’s net points are reflective of fans consensus. I thought Champaigne was today’s MVP and the ratings almost agree with me. Trae was imperative in keeping the ball humming, Ky and Bub were great both ways, and Ayton was impactful on the bench once again. Caleb Wilson deserves flowers for having a great game against a team with playoff aspirations. While it was a shaky game, we won, which goes a long way—especially considering how uncompetitive we were less than a year ago.

Where is the over saturated bed so I can fudge on it?

I don’t expect us to win 50 games or anything. But i look forward to not getting blown out by 30. I look forward to competitive 4th quarters.
I look forward to knowing who can get a bucket in the waning moments of a game.
We know we can put the ball in the Hands of Tre or throw it in the post to AD, and they can get a bucket or get to the line.

This team has been missing that since they traded John Wall away.

We all know Bradley Beal would just bounce the ball off his foot and get a turnover.

Also
Love the way our young guys are developing.

Bilal looks like he’s growing leaps and bounds. Blocking shots, getting steals and hitting threes.

Kyshawn has gotten bigger and stronger.

Loving what I’m seeing.
And it’s only up from here.

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What’s going on with Will Riley? I don’t understand why he isn’t getting playing time is he in the dog house? I feel like he’s one of our best players why isn’t he getting a chance?

The Wizards outscored the Bulls 40-20 in the third quarter to improve to 2-1. Justin Champagnie -- what a basketball player. Here was our postgame show following the Wizards surviving the Bulls.