Washington Wizards: Five Lessons From 2015 NBA Free Agency

3) Getting the right talent to fit the system

It was well chronicled last summer that Washington would be moving towards more of a pace-and-space offense, capitalizing on the talent the team showed in the 2015 playoffs.  

Washington made a nice move trading a top-55 protected draft pick for Jared Dudley, a serviceable stretch four who started 41 games.  

Yet, the Washington Wizards had no other real options heading into the season, thus Kris Humphries began the season as the starting power forward, and although he certainly improved his three-point shooting, it was clear early on that he would not be a realistic option for the entirety of the season, eventually leading to his trade to Phoenix in the Morris trade, after he dealt with his own knee injuries.

It looks like new coach Scott Brooks will continue with a similar offensive strategy, and Washington will need players to space the floor, who can also be creators.  

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When Bradley Beal missed a stretch of games in December and January, the majority of the offensive playmaking was placed on Wall, who in turn had his best month of the season before the New Year, but also had to play 38 minutes a game as the absolute main focus of opposing defenses.  

This summer, Washington will need to bring on some additional trustworthy ball handlers with Wall coming off surgeries to both knees.  

It’s very possible that he has to slowly be brought up to game shape early in the season, and having capable secondary ball handlers like Jeremy Lin, Bazemore, or Nicolas Batum would go a great way to preserving Wall, and to hopefully helping the team keep Beal’s minutes around the agreed upon minutes restriction.  

In addition, bringing in more players that can switch positions will help as well.  

For a majority of the season, Porter was the only player that could guard shooting guards, small forwards, and power forwards.  

Dudley was a step slow, Temple undersized, Anderson hurt, and Oubre too raw. If we should take anything away from Golden State’s success over the last two years, it shouldn’t be the need to play fast, space the floor, and shoot a high amount of threes – it should be having a defensive unit that can switch quickly and effectively.  

The Warriors were in the bottom fourth of the league in turnovers, but made up for the inefficiencies by limiting their opponents (in addition to all those threes.)  

Batum, Bazemore, Evan Turner or Parsons would certainly improve the Washington Wizards’ defense and length.  

Although Bazemore is only 6’5”, his 6’11” wingspan and athleticism help him play bigger on the court.

I may be a little over infatuated with him from watching him torch William and Mary twice a year, but he showed a lot of teams that he is an athletic 3-and-D player, who is also a Swiss army knife with the number of skills he possesses.  

He is one of just 11 players in the last four years to meet his averages in one of his first four seasons, joining a stellar group (minus MCW).

Next: 4) Forgetting to fill out the entire roster