FanPost

3 missing ingredients: Facilitator, Shooter, Enforcer

I see the eye rolls and hear the collective groans. "Here we go again. Another fanpost about how the team can be fixed." Honestly, the team is fine, but they lack a few key ingredients. This team could stand to add a facilitator, a shooter, and an enforcer to push further ahead in the standings.

Shooter: Meyers Leonard

As it stands the bench lacks fire power. Trey Burke, Marcus Thornton, and Kelly Oubre can hit perimeter shots, while Jason Smith makes shots from midrange. Most teams that are going for a ring have at least one Center who can shoot threes. Golden State can put Draymond Green in that slot, San Antonio uses Lamarcus Aldridge for occasional threes, Kevin Love and Channing Frye in Cleveland hoist three pointers, and so does Al Horford in Boston. It's a new staple separating good teams from those at the mediocre level. Enter Meyers Leonard.

Meyers Leonard tends to be called soft by many. He certainly won't be mistaken for Demarcus Cousins anytime soon, but he's got heart and very good shooting touch. After Cousins dropped 55 on the Trailblazers, spat out his mouth guard (in Leonard's general direction) and ignored Meyers Leonard in the following press conference, Leonard bounced back and had a solid game the next time Portland and Sacramento squared off. He showed guts when some players might roll over after dealing with that.

Aside from that game, however, Leonard has struggled to start the season. His value couldn't be any lower, which is why the risk may be worth it. He put together some solid games last year with his presence, not by piling on points, but by chipping in a good 8-12 points most nights. Sometimes he fell short, but others he exceeded that amount. It's too bad he never got to shine in the playoffs due to season ending injury.

A new change could help him out, much like his three point shooting could help out Washington. He'd be able to play next to Smith or Morris. And if he were to come over and learn half of what Gortat provides in pick and roll offense, it might not be so ridiculous to keep him past the year. He's still young with room to grow and on an affordable contract. Would Portland demand more than a 2nd rounder for Meyers Leonard? We shall see because he seems to be out the door soon. January 15 is the first available day to trade him.

Enforcer: Quincy Acy

After the scuffle in Boston, it may be wise to get some kind of protection for the team's star players, Wall and Beal. Nene is gone and Mahinmi is out indefinitely. It's known that at least some Celtics players will rile up Wall and Beal and will likely use that from now on. Other teams will probably use that strategy as well, especially come playoff time. Wall and Beal aren't pushovers by any means, but they can't keep getting into physical altercations. Losing one of them to possible suspension may prove problematic. Enter Quincy Acy.

Quincy Acy is the type of player who gives no f×××s about the opposition. Those who watch Washington play on Christmas know that all too well. Yes, he swung at Wall, but it didn't seem personal. He seemed pissed that they were getting embarrassed on Christmas on national TV. (Sometime after that game, I believe he and Wall made up after a different game.) This dude plays with unlimited passion and ferocity, but it's not like he's looking for fights while on the floor.

Acy posseses a decent shooting touch mixed with viciously angry dunks. Add on the fact that he's tallied some star players to his swat list (Dwight Howard and Klay Thompson). He may be another body willing to slow down some of the Eastern conference wing players. Search him on YouTube and be amazed that he hasn't been a part of a playoff team in his career thus far. Hopefully he doesn't have to remain in Brooklyn past his 10 days so Washington can give him a shot.

Facilitator: Rajon Rondo

Washington may load up with additional shooters and muscle, but things will likely remain close to the status quo unless another facilitator is acquired. Just like the middling 2013-14 team, this team suffers greatly when Wall sits to get rest. Grunfeld made a move to get Andre Miller to run the second unit and this team currently needs another facilitator to keep pace with other teams, Enter Rajon Rondo.

Rondo, Rondo, Rondo. What you see is what you get. The Bulls missed that memo and got it completely wrong. Now, they have 14 million reasons to blame Rondo for their woes. Hopefully Grunfeld and his people are paying close attention to what's going on with Rondo and the Bulls front office to learn from their mistakes. From this point, it looks like they could easily plummet in the standings, leaving them with the option to start a new rebuild around Jimmy Butler (if they don't trade him) and Dwyane Wade.

Rondo didn't ever seem like a long term solution for them in the first place and signing Wade made more people puzzled. He's in the second unit playing around 20 minutes a night, but after what has transpired these past few weeks it seems doubtful that he'll stay in Chicago much longer. If a solution works out, then all the power to both parties.

If a buyout occurs, then it may prove wise to sign Rondo. He's not the rah-rah type, but he's got a lot of NBA experience. Some little things here and there that can be taught to Satoransky. He can bring the second unit shooters to life with much needed guidance. And if any coach can deal with Rondo, it has to be Scott Brooks (Coach Popovich works too, but that's cheating.) Brooks had Westbrook, Harden and Durant at the same time. He gets wrongfully blamed for not reigning in Westbrook, when that just can't be done. Rondo would likely respect Brooks more than Hoiberg, because Brooks doesn't pull punches. He called out Wall early on. Scott don't play that.

Also, Rondo may be able to unlock the Wall effect. I have a strong feeling that teams will try 3 guard lineups in the playoffs. Cleveland seems to be looking for that point guard so Kyrie and Korner can play wings with LeBron as the garbage guy and Love as the other shooter. Or possibly LeBron as the scorer/Facilitator and Thompson as the post threat offensive rebounder. Beal can check Korver. Hopefully Wall can contain or slow down Kyrie. Washington vs Cleveland makes a very interesting playoff matcup.

To sum up, there are multiple choices of personnel to add to the existing roster, but the key remains the same. A facilitator, shooter and enforcer remain necessary roles to push this team past the midseason grind. The starting unit is playing very well together, with some second unit guys stepping up to spark the occasion fire. Taking a risk on Rondo, Leonard and Acy contains upside for the season, and those three wouldn't tie up the future with heavy contracts.

Thank you for reading to those of you who did. I look forward to any opinions and criticism.

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.