Washington Wizards: Setting the table for the 2020 offseason

None of the young players popped

The John Wall injury (I know, common theme here) and the firing of long-time GM Ernie Grunfeld ushered in a new focus on player development rather than chasing the playoffs – a drastic change from previous seasons. The 2019-20 Wizards had eight players aged 23 or younger, with six featuring prominently in the rotation. So how did they fare?

Troy Brown Jr.

Brown had a bit of an up-and-down sophomore season. He injured in his calf in the preseason, went from a starter to a reserve in December, and dipped his toes in the “Scott Brooks Otto Porter Memorial doghouse” on multiple occasions. He also took a few steps forward on the heels of a somewhat forgettable rookie campaign.

Unless this franchise undergoes a major shakeup, Troy Brown likely tops out as a second-unit creator. He’s a below-average three-point shooter, both in terms of volume and accuracy, making him a poor fit with the Wizards’ backcourt. And on-ball, he just doesn’t yet have the one go-to skill that allows him to pressure a defense and open up juicer looks at the rim. While Brown still has plenty of time to improve – he appeared noticeably twitchier in the bubble – it’s difficult to envision him as a primary option. Surely a team with different personnel/coaching staffs could find greater uses of his skillset.

Brown’s individual defense was a disappointment this year as well.

Rui Hachimura

Rui Hachimura is likely always to grade out poorly by the advanced metrics due to his play style (ball-dominant, not a defensive playmaker), but I’d be surprised if he ever becomes a quality NBA player. His one calling-card as an offensive player – scoring out of the mid-post – is an outdated skill if you can’t get anything else out of it, and Rui’s inability to jump off one-foot caps his efficiency when he does decide to drive. Hachimura’s also a complete liability off-the-ball (color me skeptical that he’ll ever be able to shoot threes with the flat arc on his shot) and defensively.

The defense is what alarms me. We knew that he’d struggle early with help-side rotations, but in one-on-one situations Rui would routinely get torched by even middling scorers. This led me to question his overall toughness/competitiveness at times. And with the pre to post-bubble improvements of guys like Tyler Herro and Jamal Murray, Rui’s showing there was quite disturbing – especially when he’s supposedly a tireless worker who picks things up quickly. The Wizards view him as a core piece, which is baffling to me.

Isaac Bonga

Isaac Bonga is the most intriguing among the Wizards young players long-term. That said, he’s nowhere close to being ready as a high-level contributor. He’s incredibly raw, but Bonga has the idiosyncatices to turn into something – dependent on his skill-level and body developing. That something, who knows? I just hope the Wizards have the foresight not to shoe-horn him into a Trevor Ariza “3-and-D” role.

On the season, they were 9.4 points per 100 possessions better defensively with him on the floor. The one concern may be that Bonga just isn’t athletic enough for the NBA.

Thomas Bryant

Thomas Bryant had a bit of a stagnant season, as the hopes of him being anything more than a dependent offensive player or a below-average defensive player grew dimmer. Offensively, we all know what Bryant is at this point: a lethal play-finisher. He needs to scrap the jab-step series and focus more on stretching out to the arc like he did in the bubble. But non-superstar offensive-oriented centers are a dime a dozen, and Bryant was a disaster on defense this season.

Despite a 7-foot-5 wingspan, Bryant just doesn’t impact drivers at the rim – always seeming to fall off-balance for a split-second, mistime his jump, or get taken aback by physicality. He’s also a poor rebounder. The silver lining is that he made incremental progress in the bubble, but the Wizards should look to upgrade should they have playoff aspirations in 2021.

Moritz Wagner

It was truly a tale of two seasons for Moritz Wagner. Before suffering an ankle injury in LA against his old team he looked like a legitimate piece for the future – averaging 12 points in under 20 minutes per game on an insane 61/43/84 shooting line. After that, Wagner was a completely different player, appearing aimless and out of sorts offensively – he made just 3 threes total in the last 25 games of the season.

Even if the October/November 2019 Moe Wagner was a mirage, the in-between version is still a nice back-up center; it’s just up to him (and the team) to revive that early aggression. Contrary to what you might believe, Wagner can actually hold up adequately in many matchups on defense – he’s an irritant who’s generally in sound position. The biggest issue with Moe is the charge-taking; he’s in desperate need of an intervention.

Jerome Robinson

The organization seems infatuated with Jerome Robinson, going out of its way to acquire him (and his $3.7 million guaranteed) and then giving him an ample opportunity to prove himself – despite not showing anything in his previous stop. Robinson did little to dispel my opinion of him back in February. Right now he’s much more comfortable from the mid-range from three (28.3% from above-the-break on 127 career attempts), which is an issue since he’s not nearly dynamic enough as an on-ball threat.

He did demonstrate a propensity for foul-drawing in the bubble, but overall I wouldn’t bet on Robinson ever becoming good enough offensively to be more than a bit-player. And while Robinson tries hard on the defensive end, he just doesn’t possess the physical tools to be impactful.

Admiral Schofield

Schofield isn’t an NBA player, and the fact that he lost minutes to Jarrod Uthoff in the bubble should solidify that in everyone’s mind. He’s like if P.J. Tucker couldn’t guard anyone.

Garrison Mathews

Mathews impressed me on both ends of the floor – gunning threes on the move, making energy plays and timely rotations on defense – during his limited action. The concern here is that his shooting wasn’t actually real (30.4% on 112 attempts in the G-League), which has to be his one stand-out skill to survive in the league.