(Photo: Washington Wizards)
With the Washington Wizards opening the preseason this week and the regular season in just over two weeks, it is important to take stock of where the roster stands at each position. Who is the starter, backup, and reserve players? What did they do last year and what should we expect this year.
Starter: Bradley Beal
2016-17 Statistics: 23.1 points, 3.5 assists, 3.1 rebounds, 48.2 percent shooting, 40.4 percent 3-point shooting in 34.9 minutes per game over 77 games.
The last time we saw Bradley Beal in a meaningful game, he was dropping 38 on the Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semis in Boston. You can consider that to be Beal’s closeout game to his best season yet, and a vanguard performance for what we hope to finally be the year he is crowned an NBA All-Star.
Despite a number of recurring lower body injuries shelving Beal for a considerable portion of his first four seasons, it didn't cause much of a setback in his development. At age 23, Beal has managed to remain on pace to be one of the league's best shooters, all the while drastically improving his floor game and shot selection. And as Scott Brooks is a guard's coach, look for him to use Wall and Beal interchangeably more and more in the back court, with Beal getting a plenty of reps as the team's primary ball handler - even with Wall on the floor alongside him.
This season, look for Beal's progression to continue at a high rate, particularly as it pertains to his offensive output. Both Beal's field goal percentage and points per game last season jumped significantly from previous years, which can actually be chalked off as a testament to his mental growth, taking higher percentage shots, and attacking the rim.
Backup: Jodie Meeks
2016-17 Statistics: 9.1 points, 1.3 assists, 2.0 rebounds, 40.9 percent shooting, 40.9 percent 3-point shooting in 20.5 minutes per game over 36 games.
For the longest time, Wizards fans have always concerned themselves with finding an adequate backup for John Wall. But not so much Bradley Beal. And now, randomly, we might have one for him too. And his name is Jodie Meeks. For the better part of his career, Meeks has been a solid shooter. He's shot just under 38 percent from 3 for his career and impressive true-shooting percentage of .567.
Meeks has been a bit AWOL the past two seasons, having played in just 39 total games dating back to the beginning of 2015. However, if there's any hope that he'll bounce back to a semblance of who he was in 2013 - when he averaged 15.7 points a game and shot 40% shooting from 3 - then we might have found some of that hope on Monday night. Meeks - albeit against an inferior Chinese team - scored 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting and made 4 of 5 three's in his preseason Wizards debut. That kind of production can bode worlds of improvement for a bench unit that has perpetually struggled to keep up offensively with the starters. And there's no question that Brooks will stagger Meeks in the rotation and give him some burn with Wall, which could only make the Meeks signing even more
Reserve: Sheldon Mac
2016-17 Statistics: 3.0 points, 0.5 assists, 1.0 rebounds, 40.0 percent FG shooting, 23.3 percent 3-point shooting in 9.6 minutes per game over 30 games.
Although the artist formally known as McClellan doesn't get a lot of floor time, doesn't it seem like he always make a play of some sorts when he does? On Monday night against the Long-Lions, Mac made the most of his floor time scoring 17 points in 23 minutes before fouling out.
I don't expect a ton from Mac this season, at least not with the likes of Wall, Beal, Meeks, Porter, and Oubre out there taking shots. But the one value in Mac is knowing that if his number is dialed, he'll be there to pick up. How he'd perform in extended minutes is probably something we don't want to find out just yet, but he is in good company at the bottom of the depth chart, which is where he will likely stay for the duration of the season.