I am in the party that the Washington Wizards should stagger their starter's minutes such that one of them, preferably John Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter Jr., or Markieff Morris (when completely healthy), is always on the floor with the second unit. Head coach Scott Brooks is not necessarily in that same party as he wants to keep playing the group of Tim Frazier, Jodie Meeks, Kelly Oubre Jr., Mike Scott, and Ian Mahinmi.
“It’s early, I want to establish an identity with our bench,” Brooks said, before Saturday's game, when asked if he foresees continuing to keep a starter on the floor at all times as was the successful case in the second half against the Lakers. “Give them opportunities to get some continuity, some familiarity with one another. Get a rhythm to play with one another. There’s going to be games where that is not going to be the case, but it’s early in the season. I feel comfortable that they are going to continue to improve and create a force and a style and a pace that’s going to make them successful as the season going on. I have no problem if a starter is going to jump in there with them or two starters, but right now, I’m comfortable with seeing them continue to evolve and progress.”
Of course, if the all bench players second unit is able to widen leads let alone preserve them on a consistent basis, it will do wonders for the starter's minutes to keep them fresher for April, May, and potentially June when a team's legs matter most. On Saturday, and granted it was against the then 2-10 Atlanta Hawks, the Wizards bench scored a season-high 54 points and allowed the starters to play between 20 and 28 minutes, including no time in the fourth quarter.
"It's a great game," Brooks explained after the Hawks game. "[A] Great home win for us. It's just nice to get off to a good defensive start and play pretty solid defensively throughout the game. They shot the ball well from the three. Thought we did a great job of really making them take tough shots. We controlled the tempo on both ends. Just a good win. Gave our starters time to rest in the fourth quarter. [A] Lot of good things, [a] lot of good play off the bench. Guys were moving the ball, looking for each other, and that's progress. We're going to hopefully continue to build off a game like tonight."
Against Atlanta, Washington only had two lineups that played more than 5 minutes. The first was the starters who had a net rating of 30.8, 112.2-81.4, in 19 minutes and the second was the backups who had a surprisingly efficient 11.1 net rating, 100.1-89. John Wall, playing through a migraine and cold, was appreciative of only having to play 24 minutes.
“It was great, I was very excited for them,” Wall said. “It’s a boost for those guys. Hope those guys can find some momentum and find a rhythm that they can get used to and get back to playing the way we want to play and those guys, when they play well, they make our lives a lot easier.”
The success of the second unit, with or without a starter also on the floor, will likely come down to the developing player of Oubre. The third year wing finished with 18 points on 5 of 8 shooting along with 7 rebounds. More impressive was Oubre finishing with a career-high in made free throws, 8, and free throw attempts, 9.
“Moving, being disciplined on our offense and cutting at the appropriate times and attacking," Brooks said about the key to Oubre's play. "You know, he's a great runner when he wants to run. We just got to keep him running because of his ability to finish but it all comes down…I mean I've been with him for a year. Between [being] solid defensively, he always has great games offensively and the game rewards him that way. Tonight, was one of his best defensive games. He didn't gamble, he didn't get beat on backdoors. He just played solid basketball and he was terrific on offense.”
“I think he’s just being smart and not trying to let his offense dictate his defense," Wall theorized. "His defense is dictating his offense. He’s able to get open shots, he’s running the floor with us in transition, he’s getting to the free throw line.”
How Brooks uses the bench will probably settled for at least a few more weeks, but for the time being, do not expect the ten man rotation to go away.