The Washington Wizards have a new face in the frontcourt. Say hello to Alex Len!
The Washington Wizards have not played a game since Jan. 11. Due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, the team has been unable to dress the eight players needed to compete in a game. Next time the take the court — whenever that is — the Wizards will have a new face in their frontcourt. The team has reportedly signed Alex Len off of waivers to a one-year deal.
Len should be a familiar name to Wizards fans. The 28 year old center played his college ball just 20-some miles from Capital One Arena as a Maryland Terrapin. Since leaving College Park and being drafted 5th overall in 2013, though, Len has struggled to find a permanent home in the NBA.
Len spent five seasons with the Phoenix Suns, the team that drafted him, then had a cup of coffee with the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings. Len was waived by the Toronto Raptors on January 19, les than two months after he signed a one-year deal during the offseason. Len appeared in only seven games with the Raptors.
Once Len hit waivers, the Wizards weren’t the only ones after him. He reportedly had other suitors after leaving the Raptors’ roster. However, he chose the Wizards. The Wizards may have signed him to a one-year deal as a band-aid with Thomas Bryant out for the season. But Len obviously saw an opportunity to prove himself in Washington. He’ll be playing for a contract, whether with Washington or elsewhere, so the Wizards should be getting his best.
Free agent center Alex Len has agreed to a one-year deal with the Washington Wizards, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. After clearing waivers, Len had multiple suitors and chose opportunity with Wizards, who needed depth in frontcourt.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 22, 2021
So what exactly does he bring to D.C.? Here are three ways Alex Len helps the Washington Wizards.
Ways Alex Len will help the Washington Wizards: Rebounding
The Washington Wizards aren’t a good rebounding team, and they haven’t been for awhile. After finishing last season as one of the NBA’s worst rebounding teams, the Wizards currently rank 23rd in team rebounding. That ranking wasn’t going to improve once the Wizards lost Thomas Bryant. Despite averaging a meager 6.1 rebounds per game, Bryant was the Wizards second-leading rebounder behind Russell Westbrook.
By adding Len, the Wizards have added a center that will help in one of the team’s weakest areas. Len, a career backup, has never averaged more than 7.5 rebounds for a single season. His career averaged is 6.8. But, Len has averaged at least 10 rebounds per 36 minutes in each of his seven NBA seasons. Even as a backup center with both the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings last season, Len put up rebounding numbers (5.8 rpg) that would have made him one of the leaders on the Wizards in that category.
Len won’t completely solve the Wizards’ problems on the boards, but he will help them improve. At least now the team won’t be routinely outmatched in the rebounding department. Through the first 11 games, the Wizards have outrebounded their opponents only twice. And that was with Thomas Bryant.
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.
Ways Alex Len will help the Washington Wizards: He’s Alive and Well!
The best ability is availability.
It may sounds ridiculous, but Alex Len being a healthy, able-bodied center is reason enough to justify this move by the Washington Wizards. When the Wizards lost Thomas Bryant for the season, it was obvious they needed to get creative to fill their frontcourt hole. Robin Lopez isn’t a starting caliber center, and Moritz Wagner’s limited play through the team’s first 11 games doesn’t scream confidence in the 23-year-old center. Wagner has averaged 13.0 minutes per game this season, but has shown up as a DNP more times (6) than he’s seen the court (5).Recently released Anzejs Pasecniks obviously wasn’t going to be the answer. Pasecniks logged just six minutes of action this season before he parted and the Wizards parted ways.
Before adding Len, the Wizards were down to basically just Robin Lopez. Moe Wagner has been one of the many Wizards in health and safety protocol and the team had resorted to power forward Bradley Beal. As the Wizards get closer to returning to action after what will be close to two weeks off, if not more, the Wizards needed frontcourt depth. In Len they get just that. And by signing him for the minimum, they get some center help without going into the luxury tax.
Plus, they get a guy hungry to prove he still belongs in the NBA. The Wizards are now Len’s fourth team since the start of the 2019-20 season. That doesn’t exactly scream job security. With multiple offers available, Len chose the Wizards over other teams because he saw an opportunity in D.C. he didn’t see elsewhere. At 3-8, the Wizards could definitely use some of the urgency Len is sure to provide.