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Washington Wizards 2016-2017 Bench Breakdown and Analysis

By Ryan Eugene

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The Washington Wizards have completely revamped their bench this summer. Here’s a complete breakdown of the new bigs, wings and guards

Washington has long been a franchise that seemed to build the roster around a strong five man starting lineup, while piecing together the bench with a variety of decent shooters, rebounders, and defenders.  

Unfortunately, the results have been inconsistent over the last few years.

During the two year stretch that saw the Washington Wizards reach Game-6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the team utilized bench players, including Al Harrington, Trevor Booker, Martell Webster, Andre Miller, Otto Porter, Rasual Butler, Kevin Seraphin, Ramon Sessions, and Garrett Temple.  

The players all brought specific areas of skill to the table, but definitely had varying levels of success.  

We cheered for Webster, and cursed his name in the same season.  

The common goal of creating a bench unit that works well together and has players that can fit into the starting lineup was certainly used to create the bench this past season, but injuries, a lack of chemistry, and just poor planning this past season led to many of the issues that arose over the 82 game season.  

Of course, one of the common downfalls about most bench players is just what the Wizards encountered: a lack of consistency.  

Once the Wizards weren’t able to sign any of the max level unrestricted free agents, they turned the focus to building a deep, young, defensive-minded bench, that could grow together, rather than assembling a group of one-year rentals as they did last year.

The team traded for 23-year-old Trey Burke, who has disappointed so far in the NBA after having an impressive college career.

Burke was named 2013 Big Ten Player of the Year, and won the Oscar Robertson Trophy from the USBWA, the John R. Wooden Award, the NABC Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year awards, thus winning all four of the major player of the year awards.

Jimmer Fredette completed that feat two years prior, so it’s not exactly an exact measurement of future NBA success.

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Still, it was a positive addition for a team that didn’t have any draft picks this year.

Additional signings included Pacers starting center Ian Mahinmi, Czech guard Tomas Satoransky, the Orlando Magic duo of Andrew Nicholson and Jason Smith, and the re-signing of Marcus Thornton.

The team still has a small amount of cap space left to add to the bench, but the options are rather limited as we are exactly one month after free agency opened.

Even so, Washington has managed to improve the bench in many ways, and I’ve separated the improvements into the three position groups: bigs, wings, and guards.

Bigs

The big man rotation of Smith, Nicholson and Mahinmi is younger, more versatile, and a stronger defensive unit than the Nene, Kris Humphries, and Drew Gooden bench rotation the Washington Wizards had last year.  

Mahinmi, who will provide the bench with a starting caliber center, has essentially the same defensive statistics per-36 as Gortat, but is more of an athletic bruiser on offense – something backup center Nene had lost as his age increased.  

What will be lost with the departure of Nene are his ability for steals and passing.

Another potential issue among the bench bigs to watch is shooting.  

With the February addition of Markieff Morris, Jared Dudley eventually moved to the bench unit, shooting 36 percent from deep off the bench.  

Although, that was 11 percent worse than his percentage as a starter, he provided key spacing, and a 3-point threat that could easily move into the starting lineup and fit the team’s identity.

Nicholson, who shot 36 percent from three on 114 attempts, indicated he will be focusing on improving this area again this offseason.  

Quick fact: Nicholson, made seven more threes than Hump on six more attempts.  

This should be concerning as we saw how streaky Humphries was, and how three-happy he was at times.

Looking deeper though, it should be an expectation that Nicholson is more equipped to be a  3-point shooting power forward, as he has attempted 244 threes to Humphries’ 13 through each players’ first four seasons.  

Additionally, Nicholson is already a 33 percent career shooter from behind the arc, and 3-point shooting is a part of his current offensive repertoire, thus he won’t be adding an entirely new skill set, rather working to improve it, just as he does every part of his game.

Wings

The thinnest position for the bench is certainly the wing position, with Kelly Oubre and Jarell Eddie seemingly the backup small forwards.  

Oubre has been living in the “Trenches” this offseason, and it’s hard not to be ecstatic about his prospects for the upcoming season, even though he’s just one season from being described as one of the most raw prospects in the first round.  

The athletic, 3-and-D player is what’s “in” in today’s NBA, and he can certainly fill that role down the road.

Nicholson has shown his ability to shoot in rhythm, but keeping up with with the opposition would most likely be difficult for large amounts of time.  

Of course, as the wings would only be playing the small forward position, versus playing two positions like the guards and bigs must do, it’s reasonable to expect that the team currently has its main contributors at the position covered.  

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Otto Porter averaged 30 minutes last season, and with the incoming bench big man rotation, looks to potentially see a decrease in minutes at power forward.

Assuming his minutes increase to around 34-35 per game, there’s not much time left for players not named Oubre to assume the small forward position.  

While Eddie may not see many without injuries to players ahead of him, retaining him for his shooting expertise is still the right move for the team.  

I’m still pro the team adding another wing player with the roster spot, mostly for depth reasons, but Porter, Oubre, and a few minutes of Beal or 6’7” Satoransky should be able to suffice.  

Guards

Ramon Sessions was a huge piece for the Washington Wizards last year.  

The only player to play in all 82 games, Sesh had a knack for pushing the ball, getting to the rim, and either converting the layup or getting to the free throw line.  

He attempted the most free throws on the team per-36 minutes, and was in the top-10 for field goals attempted by bench guards within five feet of the hoop.  

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His passing certainly left much to be desired from the backup point guard, but the scoring ability usually sufficed for a team typically behind at this point in the game. 

Burke looks like he will share the main backup point guard duties to begin the season, with 2012 draft pick Satoransky, a tall ball handling combo guard in the lineup, who can guard the other team’s backup shooting guard.  

Burke actually averaged more points per game than Sessions, albeit shooting an inefficient 41 percent from the field.  

The percentages, free throw attempts, and assists are all lower for Burke, but because of his age (23), play in college at Michigan, and the ability to play behind John Wall, we should see a better Burke.

His role is clearly defined, and he won’t come into games not knowing what to expect from the coaching staff that day.

We’ve delved before into the strengths of Satoransky, but comparing his abilities to that of Garrett Temple, it is exciting to imagine the possibilities offensively that he could bring to the team.  

With Beal being injured so often in the last few years, Temple had plenty of opportunities to both start and play significant minutes from time to time, while becoming the primary backup at shooting guard once Gary Neal was released.  

He actually had a great season, considering the issues the team faced, and was rewarded with a 3-year, $24 million contract with the Sacramento Kings.  

With all the needs across the roster, Washington decided to bring in Sato for 3-years, $9 million, and it’s the perfect time.  

Tomas hesitated on coming over for the last four years because of the lack of playing time available, and enjoying his role with FC Barcelona, which allowed him to grow from an interesting prospect abroad, to one of the best players in Euroleague.

Similar to Temple, Satoransky will be asked to play the combo guard role, off the bench, while also using his length to guard taller guards on the other team.  

Temple was asked to play positions 1-4 during the season and showed his versatility, increasing 3-point attempts, while continuing the move the ball on offense.

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Yet, we can’t deny the fact that adding one of the best point guards outside the NBA, who is also 6’7”, athletic and shot 39 percent from the Euro three last season, will improve the offensive limitations that the team sometimes found itself in without Wall or Beal.  

I also can’t wait to see a lineup with Wall, Beal, and Satoransky push the ball up the court, with three supreme athletes, two shooters, and two great passers.

It will be key to monitor what he will add on defense, but hopefully improvements in Oubre’s game will mean that Satoransky won’t be forced to guard the opponent’s top guard or small forward from the jump.

Lastly, our favorite 29-year old shooting guard (my mind is actually blown finding out that he’s still this young), signed on to return to Washington.

While Marcus Thornton’s minutes should decrease from the mind blowing amount they were at the end of last season, his 3-point shooting, and “microwave” abilities will be important for this team that lacks shooting, especially when the $128 million dollar man is not available.

Chemistry

Scott Brooks has prioritized returning to playing great defense, including winning the rebounding advantage.  

These additions to the bench during the off-season certainly fulfill those goals, while undoubtedly raising concerns in other areas, namely the lack of 3-point shooting.

It’s hard to compare a six man lineup of Burke, Sato, Oubre, Nicholson, Smith, and Mahinmi directly to the main bench lineups of last year, but looking at it from afar, the new group seems more durable, sharing, and strong on defense, while to our knowledge as of now not containing a potential locker room cancer.

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It will be interesting to see how the depth at the power forward and center positions affects the rotation among Gortat, Morris, Smith, Mahinmi, and Nicholson.  

Gortat only missed seven games this year, with only three being because of injury, and before this past season Morris played 245 of a possible 246 games in the three previous years.

Even with durable players, the more information that comes out on wear and tear of players, the more important it is to build a team that can has bench players who can limit the minutes and strain on the key players.  

Beal is Beal, and Wall is coming off his first surgery on both knees. Depth will be important.  

Still, Brooks believes that he has the tools to get the best out of his players while also keeping a particular player’s health in mind, saying on The Vertical Podcast with Chris Mannix on Tuesday, “You have to be able to manage their workload.”

Next: Wizards Won't Have Chemistry Issues In 2017

“Going forward, the staff that we have together, we understand that. The analytics on the medical side is important. The workloads, the things that we have to try to prevent injuries from happening is going to be very important for myself.”

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