FanPost

Trading for DMC won't change a thing

It seems the more the Wizards lose this season, the more fans get excited talking about the prospect of trading for DeMarcus Cousins. The idea of reuniting John Wall and DMC seems great and the possibilities for building an offense around that pick and roll combo are endless, so obviously we ask ourselves how come Ernie hasn't done everything is his power to make it happen.

The consensus around here is that the trade would revolve around a combo of Bradley Beal and Marcin Gortat. My own point of view is that given how Bradley has played of late and if he sustains it until the All-Star break it is a fair deal, but I don't think that even in a million years the Kings will pull the trigger on such an offer.

In any case the Wizards should be focusing elsewhere. For as maligned as it might be, our starting unit is good. Numbers as well as the eye test show that the offense is organised, they are defensively sound and the chemistry is there. You don't have to look too far into analytics either to see that we have a good unit : we have a point guard who is a great distributor and average-to-superb (depending on drive and fatigue) defender, a potent 20+ scorer at shooting guard, a very solid PF who take over the offense in spurts, a center currently having a career year and a great glue guy that does a little bit of everything.

Our real problem is the bench. We currently rely on a 25 year old European rookie and a second year mid-first round draft pick as the most productive players off the pine. As soon as the second unit comes in the offense goes to hell and the defence goes to Congress. Just think about this : how many successful teams don't have a sixth man ? We don't have an 8th man.

All of which brings me to what I'm trying to say : trading Marcin Gortat and Bradley Beal for DMC won't change any of that. We might find ourselves with a more potent starting unit (and even that isn't certain, depending on chemistry) but the bench will be just as bad or worse given that we won't be able to split up DMC in two players, whereas we currently can spread out BB's Marcin's minutes so that the bench has a starter with it on the floor.

I'd much rather see the Wizards wait for Ian Mahinmi to get healthy and see what he can bring. If he shows he's as good as promised, move him to the starting unit and see if the Gortat/Sato pick and roll can bring some scoring off the bench. If it can't, trade Gortat while the price is still high for a combo guard who can actually score and shoot the 3 at a high clip "à la" Marcus Thornton when he knew how to play basketball.

Anyway, that's just my two cents of the story. Don't hesitate to tell me what you think, or any other ideas you might have in the comments !

This represents the view of the user who wrote the FanPost, and not the entire Bullets Forever community. We're a place of many opinions, not just one.