FanPost

Can the Wizards Fix Their 2 Biggest Issues from the ’16-17 Season? (part 1)


Despite another step forward from the Wizards’ young core, defense and bench play ultimately doomed the Wizards from advancing past the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Wiz have a shot to improve in both these areas in ‘17-18 with the right effort level and coaching decisions.

Part 1: Defense

If there’s one stat that sums up how crappy the Wizards D was last year, it’s this: The D was 10 points better per 100 possessions with Brandon Jennings on the floor. If you watched the playoffs or followed Jennings’ offseason move to play in China, it’s pretty clear that he didn’t offer rotation level NBA talent on either end of the floor. During that time, the Wiz had the second worst D in the league and were generally a train wreck on that end of the floor.

They’ve been in the bottom half of the league for the last 2 seasons, but if they pick up the effort level and focus on D, the Wiz have a chance to move to around the 10th best defense in the league. They lack the rim protection and wing defense required to move much past number 10. Still, a leap from 21st to 10th would be a great improvement for this squad.

Here’s where the team stands headed into the season.

Starters

John Wall. Wall is the head of the snake. Despite taking offense to not being named to an all-defense team last year, Wall was an average defender for most of the season. While carrying more and more of the load offensively, his defense has suffered. Watch an entire game from the ’16-17 season and you will see at least 4-6 plays a game where Wall takes a high-risk gamble that rarely pays off, putting more pressure on his teammates. The two most common gambles are: 1) trying to poke the ball out from behind on the pick-and-roll, effectively taking himself out of the play; and 2) trying for a steal in the backcourt which leads to the opposing guard attacking with a full head of steam and unnecessary matchup issues. There’s no doubt that Wall has all the physical tools to make an all-defense team, but he needs to find consistency and discipline to get there.

Bradley Beal. Beal has all the tools to be an above-average defender. He’s not quite big enough to be effective against bigger players (DeRozan has torched him), but is generally solid against most 1s and 2s. Like Wall, his biggest defensive issues are effort and focus. One play he’ll fight across multiple screens to deny a shooter, on the next he might die on a screen or miscommunicate on a switch. Finding consistency will be the key to his ’17-18 performance.

Otto Porter Jr. Porter has been miscast by some in the media as a "3 and D" wing. The 3 is there, but his individual 1-on-1 defense is below average for an NBA starting wing. He has trouble staying in front of quicker players and can’t match the physicality of bigger wings. On the plus side, his help defense is solid and he’s strong rebounder for his position despite his slender frame.

Marcin Gortat. At age 33, Gortat’s athletic ability are certainly on the decline. His block and steal numbers have declined for 5 straight years, and is now in the bottom half of the league in both categories at the center position. His drop in lateral quickness have made him a liability both in pick- and-roll D as well as when he is forced to switch onto a smaller player. It would be surprising if he didn’t take another step back this year on defense, but strong post D, rebounding and a good basketball IQ should keep him close to a passable defender.

Markieff Morris. Morris was the Wizard’s best defender in 2016-17. He isn’t great at anything, but he does a lot well. On the ball, he can guard most 4s and 5s in the league no problem. Unlike Gortat, when he gets switched onto a smaller player, he at least has a chance. He moves his feet well and generally stays in front of people, forcing smaller guards and wings into jump shots. Off the ball, he’s a good help defender with above average hands and instincts. Fouling remains a big problem for Morris leading to more minutes from worse defenders behind him in the depth chart.

Bench

Tim Frazier, Jason Smith, Jodie Meeks, Mike Scott. All four of these guys are below average defenders, and there’s probably not much hope of that changing this season. Out of the group, Frazier has the greatest potential to be average, but his size remains a limitation. The hope is that most of this group will be playing against the other team’s backups and will not be a major liability. If any of these 4 are playing crunch time minutes this year, look out.

Kelly Oubre. In theory, Oubre can guard 1 through 3 and some 4s. In reality, he reaches and fouls way too much and is often a space cadet off the ball. He’s still probably the team’s best on the ball wing defender and can use his length to create turnovers and block a few shots. If he takes a step forward this year, he definitely has the skillset to help this D, but instincts and basketball IQ are hard to teach.

Ian Mahinmi. A healthy Mahinmi would be no doubt an asset to this defense. He protects the rim and moves his feet decently for a man of his large size. The catch is obviously that he is on the wrong side of 30 and coming off multiple knee surgeries. 12-15 mins of solid D from Mahinmi is probably the best case scenario for this season. Thanks for this contract, Ernie.

Tomas Satoransky. If Satoransky could hit an open 3, he would be playing 20 mins a game in the NBA. He’s an above average defender who can guard 1s, 2s and probably some 3s in the small ball era. He has great length for the guard position at 6’7 and his effort level and instincts are solid. His offensive limitations are what keeps him on the bench, although Brooks should still consider playing him more this season.

Coach

Scott Brooks. Brooks certainly should take some of the blame for the effort level and consistent reaching and fouling last year. Watch a Spurs/Rockets playoff game from last year to see how Popovich gets his players ready to play D. In terms of the defensive scheme/system, Brooks’ biggest weakness was a lack of consistency in when and how he employed a switching defense. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason on when the Wizards would switch. Sometimes, they wouldn’t switch anything and other times they would have Gortat switching onto PGs early in the shot clock for no particular reason. Another year with the same core in place will hopefully improve the communication when the Wiz do employ switching defenses, but Brooks needs to think harder about what teams and matchups to switch against because the team does not have the personnel to just be a super switchy D against everyone.

Part 2: The Bench (coming next week)

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