2016 Washington Wizards

Written by Paul Banks of the Washington Times, David Kay and Peter Christian of the The Sports Bank. Send Paul an e-mail here: paulb05 AT hotmail DOT com.
All other e-mail, including advertising and link proposals, send to: [email protected]

Washington Wizards (Last Year: 41-41)

2016-17 Projected Depth Chart:

C: Marcin Gortat

PF: Marfieff Morris/Drew Gooden

SF: Otto Porter/Kelly Oubre

SG: Bradley Beal/Jarrell Eddie

PG: John Wall

NBA Free Agents:

SG-Bradley Beal (RFA)

C-Nene Hilario (UFA)

SF-Jared Dudley (UFA)

PG-Ramon Sessions (UFA)

PF-J.J. Hickson (UFA)

SG-Marcus Thornton (UFA)

SF-Alan Anderson (UFA) v SG-Garrett Temple (UFA)

2015-16 Team Salary: Approximately $45.6 million

NBA Offseason Team Needs:

1. How Much for Beal?: Entering this summer as a restricted free agent, Beal wants a max deal. Is he worth that? Probably not. However, some team will be willing to pay max money for the soon-to-be 23-year old especially with the salary cap significantly increasing this offseason. Will that team be the Wizards?

If Washington is not willing to max him out, the team need to explore sign-and-trades options so it doesn’t lose one of its top players without getting anything in return. If the Wizards do lose Beal or end up dealing him, finding a replacement shooting guard becomes priority No. 1.

2. Frontcourt Depth: With seven unrestricted free agents, the Wizards need depth all across the board. Even if they re-up Beal, they have enough cap space to sign some quality players to round out the roster. The focus of that should be in the frontcourt where assuming Nene isn’t brought back, Washington only has Drew Gooden as a backup big.

3. Backup Point Guard: Ramon Sessions has been a serviceable backup to John Wall for the past season and a half. If the price is right, Sessions could return to the District. If Sessions ends up signing elsewhere though, Washington needs to find a capable point guard to spell John Wall.