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Washington Wizards 2016-17 Season Predictions: Markieff Morris Could Play Out of Position In 2017

By Ben Mehic

Apr 8, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Washington Wizards forward Markieff Morris (5) gets defended by Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (34) during the fourth quarter at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Pistons win 112-99. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 8, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Washington Wizards forward Markieff Morris (5) gets defended by Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (34) during the fourth quarter at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Pistons win 112-99. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /
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Washington Wizards don’t have an elite wing defender and could be forced to play Markieff Morris out of position in 2016-17

After failing to acquire a star this off-season, the Washington Wizards turned to plan B: build enough depth to compete for a top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Last year, the Wizards’ season was essentially derailed by injuries. The team focused on adding versatile veterans during the summer, but failed to consider their injury-plagued histories.

For most of the season, John Wall was forced to carry the team all by himself.

The likes of Garrett Temple and Jared Dudley played bigger roles than expected, and the Wizards’ playoff hopes were virtually dead by the All-Star break.

Washington revamped their strategy this summer by focusing on finding young players that could withstand the grind of an 82-game season.

With Ian Mahinmi, Tomas Satoransky, Trey Burke, Andrew Nicholson and Jason Smith on board, the Wizards finally have a roster comprised with durable players.

In theory, Scott Brooks should have a lot more flexibility to work with than Randy Wittman had this past season.

Satoransky, who’s 6-7, is going to be able to play multiple positions and carry some of the ball handling load off the bench.

Kelly Oubre, who’s also 6-7, will finally get a chance to prove himself with the second unit too.

Nicholson, a traditional stretch four, is capable of playing both forward spots, but more importantly, he can space the floor well enough to share time with the bench and some of the starters.

The Wizards did a solid job of recovering from their failure to land a star, but after addressing some of their major needs – like acquiring a defensive-minded center – they forgot to add a lock-down wing player.

Unless an unexpected trade occurs, Otto Porter and Oubre will spend most of their time leading the small forward position.

Porter has shown promise as the team’s starter and will only continue to develop under Brooks.

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The former Hoya has displayed his ability to hit the outside shot, find open looks by moving without the ball and run with the guards in transition.

An aspect of Porter’s game that’s hurt Washington in the past, though, is his defense.

Porter, who’s 6-9, has the quickness and length to disrupt passes, and help the team out on the defensive glass.

The problem is, he’s only 200 or so pounds (he’s listed at 198 pounds by Basketball-Reference).

Gary Neal was listed at 210 pounds this past season, for comparison.

There are players in the NBA that are built similarly to Porter, like Kevin Durant, who’ve become solid defenders, but Porter isn’t at that level yet – or at least wasn’t last season.

Some of the league’s best players are going to be matched up with Porter on a nightly basis. While Porter might be able to compete offensively, he’s likely going to get lit up by the opposition.

In the past, he’s simply been too small and weak to defend the elite players, like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and even older veterans like Joe Johnson.

Unless he’s been chugging muscle milk and eating cartons of eggs everyday this summer, Porter will probably remain one of the weaker players on the team.

So, how can the Washington Wizards rectify the situation? By playing Markieff Morris at small forward when he’s needed.

If it were 2005 and not 2016, Morris would be considered a perfect fit at small forward. But, given how the entire league has shifted towards playing small ball, Morris has all of the characteristics of a modern four.

Even if Morris remains the starting four and plays most of his time at that position, the Wizards will have to utilize him as their three occasionally.

Morris, who’s 6-10 and weighs 245 pounds, has the size and strength to defend the aforementioned wing players.

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For instance, when Anthony first matched up against the Wizards in October, he scored 37 points on 11-18 shooting from the field.

Washington tried to have Porter defend Anthony, but obviously, things didn’t work out too well.

The second match up didn’t go quite differently.

Anthony, albeit in a losing effort, followed his 37 point performance by scoring 33 points against the Washington Wizards.

It started to change once Morris arrived to Washington, though.

Without a strong inside presence, the Wizards were able to switch Porter onto Kristaps Porzingis in their third game against the Knicks, allowing Morris to handle the defensive assignment of guarding Anthony.

Morris, who helped the Wizards become a top-10 defensive team during the second half of the season, held Anthony to just 20 points on 21 shot attempts.

Anthony wasn’t able to back his way towards the basket against Morris like he did against Porter. The step-back, mid-range jump shot that Anthony has been hitting his entire career wasn’t available.

Morris was able to single-handedly neutralize Anthony, who had some of his best games of the season against Washington.

I wouldn’t expect the Wizards to play two “natural” big men at once together next season, but Morris will inevitably have to spend time at small forward.

Next: A Declining Role: How Mahinmi Will Change Gortat

It’s not an ideal situation. If the team had, say, Trevor Ariza on the roster, they wouldn’t have to rely on Morris to defend players like James and Anthony. But, right now, he’s the only answer, even if he has to play out of position sometimes.

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