Washington Wizards Player Grades: Assessing Week 4

The Washington Wizards are winning again! Now if only they could somehow manage to continue to only play two games a week, every week. It certainly makes grading everything a lot easier.

The Wizards had an impressive Week 4 of 2015-16 NBA basketball, turning in their most impressive two-way performance of the season in a blowout win over Milwaukee, and eking out a tough, Nene-fueled road win (just like the mediocre old days!) over a capable Detroit Pistons team.

Business is gonna pick up soon.

Let’s grade.

Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

John Wall: 13.5 PPG (52.4 FG%), 4.0 RPG, 8.0 APG, 1.0 SPG

It’s a good thing that in 2015, the Washington Wizards can get John Wall performing at less than his best, and still put up a W from time to time. Such was the case on Saturday night, as Wall put up a rather quiet 8 points and 7 assists, and the Wizards still pulled out a nice road win against the Detroit Pistons.

Wonderful, terrific. But the Wizards are going to need a lot more from their point guard, especially as it comes to being a scoring option – we all know Wall is a pass-first operator, but he has to be more prolific than the 14 points a game he’s put up since the first three contests of the season.

Grade: B-

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Garrett Temple: 9.0 PPG (40.0 FG%), 3.5 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.5 SPG

Bradley Beal is finally back (although since he only played one game this week, he doesn’t qualify for a space in my grades, accordingly to my bizarre and completely arbitrary rules), and while it’s back to the bench with Garrett Temple, he’s earned a role.

Drew Gooden moving out of the rotation means that the bench skews smaller, opening a spot for Temple, who always comes up big at the precise moment that I begin to wonder whether he really merits a place on this team.

He’ll be here forever, and at this point, I really don’t mind. He’s a great team guy, and he’s had his moments on the court. He somehow finds a way to come through when the Washington Wizards really need him the most.

Grade: B+

Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Otto Porter: 18.0 PPG (56.5 FG%), 3.5 RPG, 2.5 APG, 2.5 SPG

At this point, anyone who doubted Otto Porter’s ability to be a major factor in the NBA has been summarily banished.

But even I, the screamingest, most unreasonable of all Otto partisans, have been shocked with how quickly Otto Porter has become a consistent, reliable offensive option. Porter emerged from the womb hitting 2-point jumpers, and when he’s hitting the three – which he’s done a bit more in recent weeks – he’s a wonderful compliment to the Wall-Beal-Gortat scoring trio.

That’s not where I expected Otto’s biggest value to come from, but here we are. Otto just puts it in the hoop.

Grade: A-

Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Kris Humphries: 4.5 PPG (18.2 FG%), 4.5 RPG

Shouts that Kris Humpthrees is immaculate, pure and here to stay forever may have been a little bit premature, but when the Washington Wizards can toss out Throwback Beast Nene and Bucket-Getter Stretch 4 Jared Dudley, they don’t really need Hump to be on his game every night.

Hump has been a bit of an inconsistent roller coaster ride, but it should be noted that he’s hitting a very, very respectable 41% of his long range attempts through the season’s first 10 games – after hitting zero threes in his last decade-plus of NBA basketball, even.

The symmetry is almost eerie right now: he’s 14-34 on 3-pointers, 14-33 on 2-pointers.

Grade: D-

Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Marcin Gortat: 13.0 PPG (55.0 FG%), 8.5 RPG, 1.0 APG

At no point in the last few weeks has Marcin Gortat kicked in the door and blown your mind, but he’s just playing some steady, solid basketball. Freed from having his offensive value limited by having to post up – the Washington Wizards post up at one of the lowest rates in the NBA so far this season – and his offensive output has slowly ramped up.

Gortat has scored in double-figures in seven straight games, which is gravy when you consider his defense is worth the contract alone. Right now, opponents are shooting a full 10% lower than their averages against Gortat inside of six feet from the basket.

Grade: B+