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Washington Wizards Mailbag Monday: Front Court Options, Future Free Agent Targets, and More

By Ben Mehic

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If you want your questions featured in our weekly Mailbag Monday series, feel free to tweet us @WizofAwes.

We’re back with another edition of Washington Wizards Mailbag Monday.

Today’s questions come from Reddit and Twitter.

With Jared Dudley out for the first month(s) or so, who do you see coming off the bench and leading the second unit? Still Ramon Sessions? Who can be that scoring coming off the bench to provide some energy?- via Virulentt

Alan Anderson was brought in to fill this role specifically, so he’ll become the leading player off the bench.

Even though I think Anderson will get some minutes as a spot starter, he will likely become the team’s sixth man for most of the season. His ability to shoot from the outside will make him a good fit along side John Wall and Bradley Beal.

The veteran wing will give Randy Wittman some flexibility as well.

Coach Witt will have the option to play small and Anderson is versatile enough to play multiple positions in that aspect of the game — Washington could play Wall, Beal, Anderson, Otto Porter and Marcin Gortat together in spurts.

Sessions will remain the primary backup guard for the Washington Wizards, but I don’t see him playing a lot of minutes at the two spot like he did this past season. Gary Neal should provide a lift in scoring off the bench as well.

Basically, Anderson and Neal should give Washington the scoring punch off the bench. They desperately needed that and both players are solid acquisitions.

What’s up with #KSLIFE?!? Most of his suitors have dried up. We don’t have a roster spot for him… Is he looking at going back to Europe or could we make a trade to clear up a spot for him?!? Any other NEW FA attractions interested in our hookshot God?- via oglefro

Remember when Kevin Seraphin was supposed to get PAAAID this summer? Well, it doesn’t look like he’s going to get that ridiculous raise we all expected him to get this off-season.

We all thought Seraphin was going to become a backup option for a lot of the teams that missed out on their primary targets.

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When the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers missed out on the top free agents, Seraphin was rumored to be on their radar.

Both teams have since acquired big men and Seraphin remains unsigned.

His name hasn’t popped up in the rumor mill in a long time.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he takes the league minimum from a bad team (I’m looking at you, Philadelphia), puts up crazy numbers and gets paid next summer. That’s the route Ed Davis took last year and it worked out pretty well for him.

Seraphin could also opt to play in Europe, where he’d get paid a lot more than the league minimum and he’d become the team’s go-to player.

If the Washington Wizards really want to keep him — and it honestly doesn’t look like they do — Ernie Grunfeld could look to find a trade to clear a spot, like you said. If they do, DeJuan Blair would almost certainly be involved.

At this point, I wouldn’t expect that to happen though.

Jared Dudley is the best option for the Washington Wizards at the power forward spot.

After watching the Wizards dominate the Toronto Raptors in the playoffs, it’s clear that they have to continue playing small-ball. Dudley played the four spot a lot with the Milwaukee Bucks and helped lead them to their first playoff appearance in years.

I don’t think Dudley will start at that spot, but he’ll definitely get plenty of time at that position once he recovers from back surgery.

Washington could also look to play Porter at the stretch four position.

Nene is going to start for the Washington Wizards on opening night.

While that might seem disheartening to the folks who hoped the Wizards would continue playing small-ball — don’t worry, they will.

Washington is likely going to start Wall, Beal, Porter, Nene and Gortat. With that said, Wittman will swap Nene out for a wing early in the game, which shouldn’t hinder the team whatsoever.

Since Dudley is out, I could see Wittman bringing Anderson off the bench early. So, Washington could play Wall, Beal, Anderson, Porter and Gortat together early on.

When Nene is swapped out early, he’ll have the chance to play the backup center position, even though he’s not fond of it.

It will essentially give Washington another creator off the bench. I could see Wittman playing lineups including Sessions, Neal, Anderson, Drew Gooden and Nene.

No, guys, you can’t have him.

(You have Luke Babbitt and his luscious hair, so we’re even.)

I have no idea, but he obviously deserves a chance to represent his country. Why? Because he’s better than Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving. Yes, I’m still salty.

I think Wall is in the same boat as Damian Lillard. Neither will have a great shot at making it, but in case someone gets hurt, the program should at least have them in their pool of players.

At this point, I think Quinn Cook will have a better shot at making the USA team than John Wall. Coach K gonna Coach K.

Kelly Oubre wins because he’d accidentally step on Porter’s foot with his awesome, spiky shoes. I’m not sure why he showed up to the court with those shoes, but he did.

The Washington Wizards might have the weirdest collection of front court players in the league.

If they truly want to continue playing small, and it looks like they will, then I don’t understand why DeJuan Blair is still on their roster.

I’d hate to see him get cut, but it might be necessary. Blair isn’t someone who’s going to contribute on a regular basis. At the very least, the Wizards should look to find a deal for him.

Will Grunfeld make a move? Probably not. I just don’t see why a team would take his guaranteed contract (take it, Hinkie. Please, just take it).

If I ran the team, I’d be on the phone all day looking for someone to take DeJuan Blair. If a suitor isn’t found, then Ted Leonsis should cut his loss and waive him.

That probably won’t happen though, because the team wants Nene to play most of his minutes at the backup center position. I don’t know how that will work — the Brazilian big man doesn’t like playing center and he’s made that clear numerous times.

Still, they’re going to try to make him play the backup center spot. However, if I ran things, I’d either trade or waive Blair, then re-sign Kevin Seraphin.

That way, Nene could still play the four and five spot and the Washington Wizards would still have a capable center in Seraphin on the bench.

Um, Kevin Durant is going to be a Wizard… why would they target anyone else?

But really, he might not be.

While that scenario hasn’t even popped into a lot of fans’ minds, we need to start considering situations where the Wizards don’t get Durant, because that might seriously happen. After all, it’s rare for players to leave winning teams with superstars (Russell Westbrook).

Let’s hope we don’t have to face that scenario, but if the Wizards do, then they could target Al Horford.

He’s probably the best available free agent besides Durant in 2016. He’d immediately fill in for Nene and the Washington Wizards would have arguably the best front court in the NBA with Horford and Gortat.

Danilo Gallinari was also on my radar, but he just signed an extension with the Denver Nuggets.

Nicolas Batum, Jeff Green (this is a nightmare scenario… Wizards miss out on Durant and sign Green instead…yikes) and Ryan Anderson will also be free agents.

Instead of throwing a bunch of money at a single free agent, Washington would likely acquire multiple solid players instead of Durant. For instance, they could acquire both Batum and Anderson.

We’re all in with #KD2DC, though.

Next: Why Otto Is The Future Stretch Four

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