The Washington Wizards didn’t give Kelly Oubre much of a chance during his rookie season, but the athletic wing will be alright going forward
Basic Stats: 3.7 PPG (42.7 FG%), 2.1 RPG, 0.2 APG
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be posting individual player reviews for the guys that ended the season in a Washington Wizards uniform. We’ll continue with everyone’s favorite Wave Papi..
Heading into the 2015 NBA Draft, I profiled over 20 prospective Washington Wizards draft picks for Wiz of Awes. None of them were named Kelly Paul Oubre Jr., who wasn’t linked to the Wizards for a minute leading up to the draft.
The conventional wisdom was that the Wizards would select a big man, like Bobby Portis (good!) or Kevon Looney (no!). No one expected that Silver Fox Ernie Grunfeld would instead show a little bit uncharacteristic ambition, trading up for a lanky, raw, hyper-athletic 19-year-old wing who looked to be a dead-on project.
Randy Wittman is notorious for not playing rookies, and Oubre’s season followed the script early on. But unlike his predecessor, Otto Porter, Oubre showed something in flashes of action in his first few weeks as a rookie.
On December 16th, Oubre played over 20 minutes for just the second time in his career, and scored 18 points against the San Antonio Spurs. Three nights later, with Porter injured, Oubre received his first-ever start – and with the rookie from Kansas in the lineup, the Wizards reeled off a four-game winning streak.
Although foul trouble limited his minutes during that brief run, Oubre gave Washington Wizards fans every reason to be hopeful for his future.
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At barely 20-years-old, Oubre showed the ability to take over a game in spurts.
Oubre is clearly unafraid of the opposition, unimpressed by the spotlight, and capable of making eye-popping plays at both ends of the floor.
In December, the month where he received the most playing time of his season, he even shot 54.2% from 3-point range.
That should have been the springboard for Oubre’s season.
Instead, the rookie only got one more brief run in the starting five – the Wizards ended the season 6-3 with Oubre starting – and by February he was riding pine again.
The 2015-16 Washington Wizards season was infuriating for many reasons, including the fact that their 2015 sweep victim Toronto Raptors are going to the Eastern Conference Finals, while the Wizards are sitting at home for the whole playoffs.
But nothing, perhaps, was more inflammatory than the sight of 2015 first round pick Kelly Oubre – who, as we saw when he got his chance to play, is no damn bum – sitting behind the likes of Marcus Thornton in meaningless March and April games.
For that, Randy Wittman deserved to be fired out of a cannon into the sun. But fret not! He is no longer around to clip Oubre’s wings.
On a team not exactly spoiling with young talent, Kelly Oubre did what he needed to do this year to show that he will be a part of the Wizards’ core going forward.
He’s undoubtedly raw, but his potential is unmistakeable. And now, he has a coach with a track record of developing young talent. The Wizards missed an opportunity to catch lightning in a bottle with Kelly Oubre in 2015-16, but they won’t in the years to come.
Next: With Brooks, Oubre Will Get A Chance
He has a lot to work on – handle, shot consistency, on-ball defense – but Oubre’s got the stuff you can’t teach down. No matter what happened this year, the kid’s going to be alright.