RizDaPrince

[GM Rizzo]

Pretty cool stat tracker for upgraded roles

Man has an apple watch on his chise. That's a neat touch

Can't take credit for it. The fine folks over at 2kdraft.com are the ones who came up with it. I'm loving it so far as I'm getting a real, authentic build up with MyPlayer rather than what I was trying to do with the actual game mode, grinding for VC.

[GM Rizzo]

Confidence. It's all about confidence in this league.

Coach Brian Keefe showed the confidence in Prince to up his minutes and role on the team. His teammates were showing confidence in the young wing by playing off him from time to time or even calling plays on the fly when they spot a mismatch. And Riz was showing confidence in his own skills, even against the league's very best.

But was that confidence going to backfire on the rookie?

In the nine games since his meeting with the coaching staff, Prince hasn't been exactly lighting the world on fire as he's sporting a shooting slash line of 40.6% from the floor, 19.2% from deep and 54.6% from the line. If the Wizards weren't dealing with injuries to starting point guard C.J. McCollum and 6th man Corey Kispert, one has to wonder if the coaching staff would have rethought their recent decision to prop Prince up in a more prominent role.

But to close out the calendar year, there was a glimmer of hope for the 19-year old Swiss army knife forward. While it was a loss against the Knicks, Riz was able to get some extended run in front of the Wizard fans en route to his career-high scoring output of 18 points. He was able to connect on seven of 12 field goal attempts, get to the line four times and knock down a triple, showcasing his three-level scoring chops. If his touch around the rim continues to improve, it should help open up some space on the perimeter for him to get off some clean looks from three.

At 9-21 on the season, the Wizards are essentially out of playoff contention. Does Prince play the good soldier role and continue to try to play winning basketball or is it time for him to put his confidence on the court to use and really assert himself as an alpha on this squad?

[Captain Canada]

Had one hell of a game against the Knicks. Slowly starting to build up your stock.

[GM Rizzo]

Had one hell of a game against the Knicks. Slowly starting to build up your stock.

It was a rare night where I was able to get to the rim - and actually finish - while also shooting well from the perimeter. I desperately need to get my jumper down.