Washington Wizards Free Agency 2016: Possible Cheaper Free Agents Available

The Washington Wizards must consider adding more young talent to their roster. Here’s a list of names they could potentially target this summer

It seems like every year there’s a young NBA player who was considered a bust after their rookie contract, who toils around and plays for the league minimum to prove he belongs, finds an opportunity and rises from obscurity to a big payday the next offseason.

Last offseason, Bismack Biyombo was that guy.

Coming into this season, the number seven pick of the 2011 NBA Draft had never averaged six points per game or even eight rebounds per game in any of his first four seasons.

Considered a bust by many, he was left with signing a two year, $6 million contract with the Toronto Raptors. And then it happened.

Biyombo performed rather admirably in the 22 regular season games he started for the seemingly oft-injured Jonas Valanciunas, averaging seven points (at 55% from the field), 12 rebounds and two blocks in just under 30 minutes a game (Source: Statmuse).

Already appearing to be headed for a decent pay increase heading into the playoffs, when Valanciunas got injured again, he took his talents to South Beach to begin his next pay ascension.

In the seven games Biyombo has started since JoVal has been out, he has averaged over nine points, 12 boards, over two blocks and shooting 65% from the field.

He has had 13 or more boards and four of these seven games, including the 26-rebound explosion on Saturday night in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He’s had at least two blocks in all but one game.

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Bismack has become an impact player at a very impactful time for his future, as he is now set to receive starter money in an offseason with a meteoric increase in the salary cap.

The riches-to-rags-to-riches story of Bismack Biyombo made me think about the Washington Wizards.

Not him per se, because barring a Gortat trade, he’s seemingly priced himself out of the Wizards’ plans.

He made me think of the team from another angle.

From the assumed aversion to second-round draft picks (Aaron White and Tomas Satoransky tho) to the oversights of players such as Biyombo, the lack of ability to bring in talented, young, and cheap bigs – well young, cheap rotational players overall – has been troubling, especially considering the team has speed demon John Wall as the cornerstone of the franchise.

With no draft picks (at the moment) and cap room available but seemingly reserved for Bradley Beal and hopefully another star, Ernie Grunfled and Co. may have to scour the NBA landscape to find cheap labor this offseason. Heck, they should do that regardless.

I decided to subjectively sift through the young players up for free agency this offseason to see if there were any possibly cheap diamonds in the rough.

First, when I started this exercise I was set out to try to find the next Bismack Biyombo or Hassan Whiteside. Well, after looking at the available players, I didn’t see that happening anywhere (though to be fair, not many would have looked at respective lists the last two offseasons and plucked out Whiteside and Biyombo either).

I sort of modified my expectations and criteria to just looking at young free agents (28 or younger) who I thought would be relatively cheap and possibly relatively overlooked.

So this excludes free agents I’m pretty sure will get paid like Kent Bazemore, Evan Fournier, Chandler Parsons, Dwight Powell, Allen Crabbe and Festus Ezeli.

Wings and Stretch Bigs

• Darrell Arthur
• Moe Harkless
• Terrence Jones
• Meyers Leonard
• Jon Leuer
• Donatas Motiejunas
• Mike Muscala
• Andrew Nicholson
• Thomas Robinson
• Derrick Williams

Darrell Arthur – UFA, Player Option – OK, I’m a fan of this guy. He’s a big with a pretty good three point shot and a willing defender. He stepped in pretty well for the Denver Nuggets when Kenneth Faried was injured. He would be a great off the bench big for the Washington Wizards, and he can stretch to center in small ball situations. I think John Wall would love him.

Maurice Harkless – RFA – Maybe my favorite player on the list, but there’s probably no way the Portland Trail Blazers let this guy leave. I was interested in the Wizards trading for him last year when Orlando was giving away bigs. I love the potential that he has a wing, and he even guarded Draymond Green a good bit in the playoffs. Sadly, he’s drawn too much attention to himself for me to believe he’ll truly hit the market.

Terrence Jones – RFA – A lot of the restricted free agents on this list are just wishes, pretty strong possibilities to remain with the teams their on. This isn’t one of those cases. The marriage with the Houston Rockets would seem to come to an end here.

Things just haven’t worked out for Terrence Jones, who was lapped by Josh Smith, then Motiejunas, then Clint Capela, and then Michael Beasley. I’ve always thought he had talent, and I’m not sure now if it’s gone or if his struggles were a product of Houston’s dysfunction. Markieff is already here, but a change of scenery could be greatly beneficial for Jones.

Meyers Leonard – RFA – With Allen Crabbe and Moe Harkless also up for restricted free agency for Portland, there may not be enough room or energy to think about Meyers Leonard. If there’s a chance he becomes available, the Wizards should be interested. I think he has the ceiling to be a really nice floor spacing big.

Jon Leuer – UFA – I remember many Wizards fans talking up Leuer as a potential second round pick coming out of the 2011 Draft (second round pick and 2011 NBA Draft in the same sentence, CALM DOWN, Wizards fans!! IT’S OK!!!). Leuer was playing great this season under Jeff Hornacek, but things seemed to change once he got hurt and Earl Watson took over. Mirza Teletovic filled a lot of his previous role and his minutes definitely took a dip. Still an interesting reserve big.

Donatas Motiejunas – RFA – Ah, the Rockets. Motie wasn’t injured to start the season, and figured to have a breakout. Then Kevin McHale was fired. Then he was traded to Detroit. Then the trade got rescinded. Then Michael Beasley happened. He’s got talent and baggage may preclude Houston from bringing him back, but is the injury history worth the risk?

Mike Muscala – UFA, Team Option – A bit of a downer that Washington Wizards legend Kris Humphries came in fresh off of being waived and took basically all of his shine, but still he’s cheap labor for the Atlanta Hawks so I doubt they let go of their team option. Plus, if Al Horford leaves there could be an opening for more minutes.

Andrew Nicholson – RFA – Rob Hennigan is a wildcard. Nicholson has promise, but who knows what Orlando wants to do with him. They are said to be trying to catch a big fish this offseason, and maybe this means he’s available.

I’d keep an eye on this situation because Nicholson could be a nice player to have off the bench. A pretty good post player, I was surprised to see he shot 36 percent from three this season.

Thomas Robinson – UFA, Player Option – Another player that I liked as a flier last offseason. Cheap labor. This is a failed lottery pick like Biyombo who could be a nice find in the right environment.

He played very well for the Brooklyn Nets toward the end of the season. Well enough that I’d imagine he’ll opt out of the $1.1 million on his contract for next season for a larger paycheck. I cheated a bit because he’s not much of a stretch anything, but I just like him so I put him on here.

Derrick Williams – UFA, Player Option – Williams showed some signs here and there in absence of Carmelo Anthony and PORZINGOD (Kristaps Porzingis), but after noticing that while he has a player option, he would be opting out of $4.6 million, I’m not sure that’s a great move for him, even in this market.

Guards

Jerryd Bayless – UFA – This would seem to be a reach. If we think Ramon Sessions will have priced himself out of what the Wizards want to pay him, one would think Bayless would be in the same boat.

Markel Brown – RFA – Brown largely sat on the bench most of the season but the last couple of weeks he got more of a chance to shine thanks to injuries and the Brooklyn Nets punting on the season. Not much of a shooter, but he definitely improved on his rookie season. He could be a nice little player. The Nets have the protection of the Gilbert Arenas provision (hey, if there’s one thing Ernie Grunfeld can hang his hat on, it’s this) in their favor if they want to bring him back.

Isaiah Canaan – RFA – CANAANBALL!!! of DFS fame came in towards the end of the season and shot the ball with the type of irrational confidence that helped the Philadelphia 76ers almost win more than 10 games. He’s pretty strictly a scorer, and Liberty Ballers’ assertions make me fearful of even writing any more.

Ian Clark – RFA – He may be more sought after than I imagine. I liked what little I’ve seen of him, and once I saw David Aldridge mention him in conjecture (I think) as someone who would be a good fit for the Wizards, I became even more intrigued.

He’s the kind of young player that would be a great get for the team. With Harrison Barnes likely to command a big payday (so not interested by the way), maybe Clark could slip through the cracks.

Seth Curry – UFA – I don’t know if new Sacramento Kings head coach Dave Joerger will value him, but George Karl sure didn’t. His thoughts on Curry lead to yet another public tossing of shade by DeMarcus Cousins denouncing Karl’s thoughts on Seth’s future.

He’s not a shooter in the Steph Curry level family (hey, wait), but he did shoot 45% from long range this season (only 111 attempts because, you know, George Karl hated him). Color me interested.

Tim Frazier– RFA – One of the true bright spots of the New Orleans Pelicans’ snake-bitten season. Bounced around between NBA franchises and the D-League for the better part of two seasons, Frazier signed a 10-day contract in March with the Pels after they had lost Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday and then Norris Cole to injury.

Thanks to additional injuries to Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson and good production, he stuck around and became arguably their second best player over the last month of the season. New Orlenas has a lot to figure out at guard with Holiday, Evans and Cole all in the mix, so hopefully Frazier gets lost in that.

He can be had a good price and I’m sure he would become a fan favorite at the Phone Booth.

I do realize that some, maybe even most of the players I listed are going to be either coveted by their respective teams as restricted free agents or will command more on the open market than I could possibly envision.

Next: Wizards Need To Find Their Biyombo This Summer

Nonetheless, do you see anyone who the Washington Wizards could target as a quality rotational player or more for years to come?