Washington Wizards: 3 ways Alex Len helps the Wizards
By Ethan Smith
Ways Alex Len will help the Washington Wizards: Shot blocking:
Alex Len is not a prolific shot blocker. His career average for blocks is 1.0 per game, a shade higher than the 0.9 he averaged last season. However, that mark, like his rebounding one, would have placed Len among the Washington leaders last season. Again, Len would rank high individually on a unit that collectively ranks very low in the league.
During his short stint with the Sacramento Kings to end the 2019-20 season, Len posted a 6.4 block percentage (an estimate of the percentage of opponent two-point field goal attempts blocked by the player while they were on the floor) over 15 games. He started this season strong, as well, posting a 7.8 block percentage during his seven games with the Toronto Raptors. Last season, the Wizards didn’t have anyone with a block percentage above 4.8. So far this season, Robin Lopez is leading the pack with a 2.9.
As one might expect, the lack of interior shot blockers makes life easy for opponents. The Wizards currently give up 47.3 points in the paint per game. They rank 21st overall in opponents points in the paint. Just as Len won’t solve the Wizards’ rebounding issues entirely, he won’t completely turn around the Wizards’ porous defense. But without Bryant, the Wizards were bound to start surrendering points in larger bunches than they had been, if you can believe that. Len will at least slow the bleeding for the Wizards, who currently own the second-worst defensive rating in the NBA.