Washington Wizards Need To Find Playing Time For Kelly Oubre

By Ben Mehic | Jan 15, 2016

Dec 19, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards forward Kelly Oubre Jr. (12) reacts after making a three point shot during the first quarter against the Charlotte Hornets at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

Washington Wizards Need To Find Time For Kelly Oubre

Ernie Grunfeld doesn’t deserve praise for much, but moving up in this past summer’s NBA Draft to snag Kelly Oubre from the Atlanta Hawks turned out to be the most impressive decision he’s made in a very long time.

The Washington Wizards lacked young talent that they could build around for the future.

John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter were virtually the only players on the roster that were 24-years-old and under. Over the past several years, Washington’s front office has seemingly refused to accumulate young talent, but rather focused on obtaining proven veterans — or, players that were on their way out of the NBA.

While I really enjoyed the AARP unit in 2013, that bench exemplified everything that was wrong with the Wizards.

At some point, you have to stop relying on players that are well past their primes, especially since the league has become a lot faster and explosive.

The likes of Andre Miller, Al Harrington, Drew Gooden and Rasual Butler were all called upon to lead the second unit and it obviously failed.

I was surprised Grunfeld made the move for Oubre, considering how hesitant the front office has been to add raw talent. Most expected the Washington Wizards to select Bobby Portis, but they opted to move up and get a player who they believed had more upside.

Making moves for “upside” typically never pan out in Washington, but Oubre had all the tools to become an impact player out of Kansas.

With that said, I don’t think anyone expected him to make such an impact this early in his career.

Randy Wittman has a tendency to bench his rookies, but with Beal, Porter and Alan Anderson all suffering injuries early in the season, he had no choice but to give the 20-year-old a chance.

Oubre responded well by displaying his already-impressive defense and shooting touch from deep.

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Now that the team is starting to get healthy, Wittman has a decision to make: revert to playing his older, less productive players or Kelly Oubre.

Even though the answer might seem pretty clear to us, Wittman is a second tier NBA coach for a reason.

On January 13th, Wittman decided to play Gary Neal and Garrett Temple over Oubre — both players have had productive seasons this year — but he also decided to play Drew Gooden and DeJuan Blair together.

Once he finally figured out that the Blair-Gooden front court was a disaster, he put Oubre in the game, who almost single handedly helped secure a victory for Washington.

Oubre checked into the game, knocked down a key 3-point shot and immediately made an impact on the defensive end of the floor. For a 20-year-old rookie, Oubre has already shown an incredible ability to get necessary stops down the stretch. He’s found a way to rip the ball away from the offensive player inside, creating momentum-changing transition opportunities on the opposite end.

Coming into the league, I expected Oubre to go out of his way to earn minutes — meaning, he’d try to do too much. That hasn’t been the case, though. Instead, Oubre is earning playing time by committing himself defensively and knocking down 3-point shots.

After Wednesday night’s game, Wittman spoke about Oubre’s impact:

"“Kelly came in and helped change that with his activity at the defensive end,” Wittman said. “We had 15 deflections in the fourth quarter alone. … Kelly gave us a great lift.”"

It only makes sense to reward the players who are having the most impact, and Oubre has stepped up for the Washington Wizards.

Wittman has to find a way to get the rookie on the court because he’s undoubtedly the most energetic player on the roster, to put it bluntly. Neal, in particular, has given Washington a lift offensively, but he’s a complete liability on the defensive end of the floor. If playing Oubre means losing Neal’s presence on the floor, then it’s something Wittman will unfortunately have to sacrifice.

Oubre is hitting over 40 percent of his 3-point shots, so it’s not like Washington would lose spacing by giving him consistent minutes. Having rotation players like Temple, Neal, Oubre and eventually Anderson fight for playing time is a solid problem to have, but leaving the rookie out of it just because he’s a rookie would be a mistake.

Wittman has done a solid job this season and I expect him to figure the situation out. Washington might have to ultimately stunt Jared Dudley‘s minutes so he can share the court with Oubre and Gooden off the bench, without having to play Blair.

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We’re basically halfway through the season and the sample size is big enough to make some sort of evaluation on Oubre. Washington made the right choice by moving up and grabbing someone who has the talent to become an All-Star player. For Oubre to blossom, he needs playing time. It’s really that simple.

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