NBA Free Agency 2017: 5 offseason needs for the Washington Wizards
Falling short of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, we can look forward at some needed offseason adjustments for the Washington Wizards, for a potential championship run next season.
The Wizards entered last offseason filled with endless possibilities. They started off on the right foot by signing former Coach of the Year Scott Brooks, who was previously at the helm in Oklahoma City, leading the Thunder to a finals appearance in 2012.
They had cap space and their sights set on bringing Kevin Durant back to his hometown to play alongside John Wall. However, that did not work out as planned with Durant eventually signing with the Golden State Warriors. To add insult to injury, not only did Durant sign with the Warriors, he didn’t even entertain a meeting with Wizards personnel.
Plan B was the highly coveted Al Horford, who was also a free agent. Unfortunately for Washington, he chose to head to New England and signed with the Boston Celtics.
After failing miserably to acquire key free agents, Washington recklessly squandered their remaining cap space by signing Ian Mahinmi and Jason Smith and re-signing youngster Bradley Beal to a max deal, a move that was met with some skepticism from the Washington fan base.
After a rocky start to the season, the Wizards eventually got it together and ultimately landed a No. 4 seed in the highly competitive Eastern Conference Playoffs. After dispatching Atlanta in the first round, Washington barely missed making the Eastern Conference Finals, losing to the Celtics in a tight seven game series.
Now that their season has come to a premature end, we can now take a step back and examine five offseason needs to get the Wizards over the hump.
5. Fix the bench, now
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way.
It would be an understatement to say that Washington had one of the worst, if not the worst bench in the entire league. Many believe that if Washington had a better bench, it would be them meeting the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals as opposed to the Celtics.
Outside of the starting five, Washington really didn’t have anyone to turn to. Trey Burke was brought in and was a huge disappointment. Washington signed Ian Mahinmi for a mere $64 million and only got 31 games out of him due to injury. When he did play, Mahinmi averaged only five points and five boards which is not a lot considering his acquisition price. Jason Smith was unproductive and Kelly Oubre, the greenhorn out of Kansas, is still underdeveloped and cannot be fully relied on.
On top of wasted cap space, they gambled their future by trading a first round draft pick (lottery protected) for Bojan Bogdanovic. While Bogdanovic saw his game vastly improve during his time in Brooklyn, he seemed to take a step backwards in Washington with his inconsistent production.
They desperately signed Brandon Jennings, a move that seemed to work out at times. Jennings was one of the better players off the bench which isn’t saying much. He still only averaged five assists and four points per outing and couldn’t be depended on.
The rest of the crew is actually worse than the above players and aren’t even worth mentioning.
With virtually no cap room next season and a limited amount of draft picks, the Wizards are going to have to be creative if they are going to seriously address this crippling issue. The Wizards cannot and will not go any further until they address their horrific bench situation.
Maybe it’s time to start pushing harder for a G-League team. Just a thought.