No. 2 – Davis Bertans
Maybe a few starts were all the Latvian Laser needed. Scott Brooks chose to add Davis Bertans to the starting lineup on February 8 against the Chicago Bulls to “activate” him. It was a short-lived experiment — Bertans only ended up playing three straight games as a starter — but it definitely jumpstarted his hot shooting in February. After shooting 28.6 percent and 34.8 percent from three in December and January, respectively, Bertans shot up to 43.5 percent last month. Through three games in March, he’s shooting 41.2 percent from outside.
Washington Wizards fans everywhere are ecstatic that the $80 million man is finally starting to knock down the three like he did last year. Even though it was a short stint in the starting lineup, Bertans was able to get into a better rhythm playing alongside the starters. Scott Brooks seems to understand this philosophy now after a lot of trial and error to start the year. Bertans is back to the bench, but Brooks brings him into the game earlier and plays him during crunch time.
This minor tweak to Bertans rotation has been great because he excels with the starting group. Westbrook and Beal, in particular, create a lot of open looks for him because they both draw so much attention from opposing defenders. With more space to fire, Bertans has been knocking it down at a much higher clip. Let’s just hope he continues to get hot and raise his career three-point shooting percentage back over 40 percent because it has taken a slight dip so far this year.