Scott Brooks has three weeks to make the pieces fit around John Wall and Bradley Beal

These Wizards are still relatively new to Washington. Only two players have more than two seasons of experience with the franchise: Bradley Beal and John Wall.

These Wizards are also young. On the 16-man roster, only six players have at least four years of NBA experience, which means Brooks has dubbed players such as 23-year-old Thomas Bryant “young veterans.”

But one thing hasn’t changed: These Wizards, no matter when they got to Washington or their age, still revolve around Beal and Wall, who themselves are at disparate points in their careers. Beal is coming off a career year, while Wall is making his careful reentry into NBA life after foot surgery and an Achilles’ injury sidelined him for two years. Only three players on the current roster have ever actually played with Wall: Beal, Bryant and Troy Brown Jr.

All Brooks has to do is knit everyone together — in the final season of his five-year contract in Washington, at that.

“You have to have the talent and skill set, which we have, but there’s a lot of new pieces,” Brooks said in the first of two virtual news conferences from the Wizards on Tuesday. Second-year forward Rui Hachimura followed shortly after.

“I think for team chemistry, it’s going to take time,” said Hachimura, who predicted that by the end of the season, the Wizards would be in the playoffs. “I think our first game, I don’t know, might be a struggle, but I think we’re going to be fine. We’re going to play together, we’re going to have good chemistry outside the court, so I think once we start practicing, it’s going to be great.”

The Wizards had all but two players present on the first day of camp.

Brooks said that Latvian forward Davis Bertans, the team’s three-point specialist, is still sorting out visa issues but is expected to join the group shortly. One new, unidentified player tested positive for the coronavirus before traveling to Washington, a reminder that this NBA season will begin amid an ongoing global pandemic.

“Item number one on my list and everybody’s list and the country’s list is we have to stay safe and healthy,” Brooks said. “The NBA has worked all summer long to put some good protocols in place that give us the best chance to have success, and that’s got to be number one. We’re going to have to adapt.”

For the Wizards, that means coming together as a coherent roster in about three weeks’ time. The season is slated to begin Dec. 22, with a trio of preseason games before then. Brooks will spend most of the month observing his young players to see how they’ve improved and who might earn a spot in the starting lineup.

He anticipates Hachimura will stay there alongside Wall, Beal and Bryant, but nothing is set in stone. And the fifth starting spot, on the wing, is up for grabs.

As for reintegrating Wall, Brooks said there is no set plan yet for how the team will handle the point guard’s minutes. The coach saw Wall last month in Los Angeles and said he is “as good and as strong as he’s ever been,” though playing day after day at full NBA speed — even just in practice — is different from working out or scrimmaging as Wall has been for months.

“He’s ready to go. He’s excited, been in town doing some workouts,” Brooks said. “We’re going to start slow with all of our guys. This is not the normal training camp where most of our guys will come in after Labor Day, be together, get in great game shape, so it’s all going to be predicated on everybody’s conditioning.”

Brooks anticipates stitching Beal’s and Wall’s games together on court will be easier than anticipated. Their off-court happiness is a separate issue — Wall made it known last month that he wanted out of Washington after a report that the team had discussed trading him — but on court, Brooks feels they still complement each other well.

“I think you can blend those two guys’ skill sets together now much easier, because they both are going to end up being good shooters, and Brad’s ability to play-make and handle the ball, it’s going to be better,” Brooks said. “Also, the mental stress of having to [carry the team alone] every single night, it wears on you. … You have another elite player coming back, I think it’s going to be beneficial to the group and to your good players as well.”