The Washington Wizards fell to the Bulls, but they’re still in striking distance of the playoffs. Here’s the players that have been there before.
It was a tough loss last night for our Washington Wizards. Bradley Beal put up a career high, on efficient shooting even, and still couldn’t pull out the win. It’s depressing, I can understand that Wizards fans, trust me.
But let’s calm down a moment, take a breath, and look at the facts. The Chicago Bulls are still firmly behind our Washington Wizards by a game and a half, and the Wizards are just 3.5 games from sneaking into the playoffs.
I’ve written before that there are a ton of benefits to getting this young squad into the playoffs, and it could accelerate the growth of players like Isaac Bonga, Moritz Wagner, and Troy Brown. But which guys on the roster actually already have experience in the “big dance?”
It’s an interesting question because these would be the guys, should we get there, that would be leading our squad to a likely first round exit. But they’d also be the guys that would be most facilitating the growth of our younger players by setting expectations and offering advice.
Experience is the name of the game in the NBA, as we see year after year when young teams get to that moment they falter. Only to play better the following year.
Scott Brooks is no stranger to this specific phenomenon, having lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to the playoffs and a first round exit in 2009-10 only to bring them back and go all the way to the Western Conference Finals in the following 2010-11 season.
So which Washington Wizards might we expect to step up if the team can get to the postseason? Let’s take a look at each player’s experience on the roster.
1. Ian M#ahinmi
Say what you will about Ian Mahinmi, and I’ll probably agree with you, but the dude is one of the most experienced players on the roster. The 33-year-old Frenchman has been in the league 12 seasons now with four different teams.
He came in with so much promise and that never really panned out with averages of 5.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks per game with the Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards, Dallas Mavericks, and San Antonio Spurs. He’s shot 53.4 percent from the floor and just never really showed prowess as a post presence or a rim protector.
But even without producing stellar numbers, Mahinmi has been a producer on successful teams for eight out of the 12 seasons he’s been in the league. That’s good for a 75 percent success rate at the NBA level, which is fairly impressive.
Through 67 postseason appearances in his career, though, he’s managed to see the floor only 11.9 minutes per game. With averages of 3.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks, he’s basically been a non-factor.
Mahinmi’s best playoff stretch was in a seven-game series in 2015-16 against the Toronto Raptors while he was with the Indiana Pacers. He averaged 8.1 points 5.1 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in the series, including a 22 point, 10 rebound, and 5 assist showing in a game four win.
Mahinmi would be a great shoulder to lean on for Moritz Wagner and Thomas Bryant, who have absolutely no playoff experience. He’s been there, though he’s never gotten farther than the Eastern Conference Finals.
2. Bradley Beal
26-year-old Bradley Beal has an inordinate amount of playoff experience thanks in large part to partnering with back court running mate John Wall. In his eighth season, Beal is putting up career numbers and may singlehandedly be the biggest reason the Washington Wizards do or don’t make the playoffs.
If he does make it to the playoffs, he’ll look to improve on his playoff averages of 22.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.6 steals per contest. All while also draining 2.4 threes on 36.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
He’s one of only 19 players to put up such stats in the playoffs in their first seven seasons of play in the league, joining names like Gilbert Arenas, Dwyane Wade, Stephen Curry, Paul George, James Harden, and Reggie Miller. The kid’s a stud, folks, and he doesn’t shy away from the big stage.
He’s appeared in 40 postseason tilts, all in a Washington Wizards uniform, and he’s ready for more. Are we?
Let’s hope so because he can really be a shooting guard on a championship level team, and some more playoff experience couldn’t possibly do him harm.
It’s hard to judge which season was the “best” of his postseason career, but in terms of win shares it was his first season 2013-14, when he put up 19.2 points, 5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 41.5 percent from beyond the arc in 11 games.
The key to his value here was both his efficiency and his assist total, which was his second most in playoff experiences. But these two numbers speak volumes to Beal’s value in being a weapon, but not the focus of the other team’s defense. He needs pieces around him to really produce at his maximum level.
3. Davis Bertans
Davis Bertans may be the mos important name on this list of Washington Wizards. The reason being that he has perhaps the best and highest quality playoff experience appearing in three postseasons with the San Antoni Spurs under Gregg Popovich, the league’s best coach.
In those three seasons, he managed to see the floor for only 11.9 minutes per game, but he 16.1 minutes per game in his final two seasons there, being a major contributor off the bench behind LaMarcus Aldridge. He averaged 3 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1 assist with 29.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
The deflation in numbers in the playoffs as opposed to his regular season numbers, specifically from distance, is a bit concerning. I’ve mentioned in a few of my recaps before that when teams tend to game plan and key in on the Latvian Laser, his production goes down and he doesn’t know how to adjust.
His three-point percentage in the playoffs is evidence to me, being a far cry from his 41 percent during the regular season. But the 27-year-old may just be hitting his stride, and if the Washington Wizards can find their way to the playoffs this season, I’m sure we’ll see that climb.
4. Ish Smith
10 seasons, 11 teams. Now that’s a rough life with a lot of moving.
Ish Smith has suited up for the Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans, Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors, and of course the Washington Wizards. It’s hard to say why exactly he’s bounced around so much with career averages of 7.7 points and 3.9 assists in just 20.1 minutes per game, but perhaps it’s because Ish Smith can be a little inconsistent.
Personally, I thought he deserved a longer look as the starter in Detroit where he played behind Reggie Jackson. But he’s always been second fiddle at the PG position pretty much.
Until now. Now he finds himself as the starter, averaging the second-most minutes of his career, and it couldn’t come in a better spot for him should the Washington Wizards qualify for the playoffs.
Ish Smith has played for four different teams in the postseason, and has never made it out of the first round. But he’s never really had his chance, averaging just 7.6 minutes per game in the most important games of the season.
Still, his per 36 numbers in the playoffs are pretty good at 9.4 points, 5 rebounds, and 6.4 assists. Those are serviceable numbers, but we have to consider that he’s shot only 28.6 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from behind the line in his 14 playoff experiences.
That’s not a good trend but he should be a valuable resource as a seasoned veteran of this game on over 1/3 of the league’s teams.
5. & 6. Shabazz Napier and Jerome Robinson
Finally, we come to the new guys. Shabazz Napier and Jerome Robinson were our big haul at the deadline, and you have to wonder if Tommy Sheppard considered their playoff experience when negotiating those deals.
While limited, Napier and Robinson have appeared in a combined total of 14 playoff games, just getting a taste for the different level of play. Shabazz owns postseason averages of 6.9 points and 1.9 assists in just 12.2 minutes per game, while Jerome averages 3.6 points and 1.4 assists in just 9.2 minutes per game.
That’s good enough for 20.3 points per game and 5.6 assists for Shabazz and 14.1 points and 5.5 assists for Robinson if we extrapolate those numbers to per 36 minutes. Not too shabby at all and both players have shot the ball well from deep, Napier at 40 percent and Robinson at 50 percent.
If we get into the playoffs, both of these players stand to see more postseason minutes than ever before in their careers.
Bringing these two guys in makes it just six guys on the roster in total with playoff experience. That’s just six out of 14 guys with guaranteed contracts on the Washington Wizards that are currently active (no John Wall).
A playoff push would make a lot of sense for this squad as they seem to be in desperate need of the experience. The quest hasn’t started well so far after the all-star break, but there’s still hope.