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Zach Lowe on Martell Webster's contract

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But if you’re going to argue the league should value 3-and-D guys more highly — and I have — then you can’t slam this deal, even if Webster probably tops out as a slightly above-average defender. He doesn’t quite have the bulk to defend the league’s behemoth wings, he can have some quickness issues against 2-guards, and you can spot him being inattentive away from the ball. But he manages fine on a night-to-night basis, and he can play either wing position (though he’s played mostly small forward in the NBA). Almost every core Wiz lineup featuring Webster at small forward (i.e., lineups that did not include the Garrett Temples of the world) had a positive scoring margin, and the Wizards blew the league away with John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Webster on the floor together. The Wiz want to make the playoffs, and Webster will help while allowing the Wiz to ease Otto Porter into the NBA. This might be an overpay, with Beal and Porter looming as the team’s future core, but if Webster shoots around 40 percent from deep again, it’s not a damaging one — even if the Wiz used the full mid-level exception here.

Grantland.