Washington Wizards 2015-16 Player Grades: Week 17

We’ve been waiting for the Washington Wizards to get healthy for quite a while. It was the built-in excuse – but now Bradley Beal, Otto Porter and Nene are all back, and the Wizards still suck. Who could have possibly seen this coming?

At least this week we could have bowed our heads and said, “Hey, they were playing the Thunder and Warriors, there was nothing they could have done.” John Wall, with a superhuman effort, even succeeded in making the Golden State game interesting.

Then the Wizards just had to go and pee in our cornflakes by blowing a big lead against the Hornets. There are no more excuses. There’s nothing left to say. This team is bad, and Ted Leonsis, Ernie Grunfeld and Randy Wittman should feel bad.

Let’s grade.

John Wall: 24.8 PPG (52.8 FG%), 6.5 RPG, 9.5 APG, 2.0 SPG, 1.0 BPG

John Wall has often been criticized for coming up small against his best individual competition, but that was not an issue last week, as he put on one of the most epic performances of his career against Stephen Curry and the Warriors.

Wall finished with 41 points, the second-highest total of his career, in an incredibly entertaining shootout with the league’s best player. While Curry rained three after three, Wall attacked the rim with ferocity, nearly singlehandedly making it a game before foul trouble forced him out at the worst time.

He then followed it up with his first triple-double of the season: 18 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists against MVP candidate Ish Smith and the 76ers. He also shot 50 percent of his threes – the Wizards suck, but it wasn’t the worst week to be Johnathan Hildred Wall.

Grade: A

Bradley Beal: 20.0 PPG (54.1 FG%), 2.3 RPG, 2.0 APG

It hasn’t translated into wins, but it’s been fantastic to see Bradley Beal burst right back into the lineup as the consistent scoring option we know he can be.

Win or lose, Bradley Beal staying in the lineup and putting 20 or so points is the best thing that can happen for the Washington Wizards. Beal is most likely destined for a maximum contract after the end of the season, and it would be wonderful if the Wizards can confidently make that decision based off a great second half.

Which makes it really too bad that Brad’s probably going to fracture his tailbone in some sort of horrible, hilarious slapstick incident, and miss 20 games in March and April. That’s the #WizLife.

Grade: B+

Otto Porter: 11.8 PPG (48.6 FG%), 3.8 RPG, 2.5 SPG

Wall and Beal generally killed it this week, and that was really it outside of a brief burst of life from Otto Porter against Charlotte. In one of the most random scoring binges of his career, Otto scored 17 points in the second quarter – naturally, he finished with 20, and the Wizards blew the game and lost.

It was Porter’s sixth game of the season with 20-plus points, and his sixth with four or more steals. Three of those have come in the last two weeks: he also got four against Golden State, and in a 17-point loss to Toronto on January 26.

Grade: B-

Jared Dudley: 9.0 PPG (48.0 FG%), 2.8 RPG, 3.8 APG, 1.3 SPG

For the first time, we’ve recently heard the name “Jared Dudley” being whispered in trade rumors, possibly to the East leaders Cleveland Cavaliers. It makes sense: why wouldn’t a team want Jared Dudley, especially Cleveland, a contender that needs shooters?

Dudley’s a solid, proven veteran, the Washington Wizards’ best defender and most automatic shooter. He’s also on an expiring contract – which won’t have the same meaning at this trade deadline due to the impending rise of the salary cap, but it can’t hurt either.

Jared Dudley would be the perfect rental rotation guy for a contender, and he could come for relatively cheap.

If you’re the Cavs, it makes sense to go after him – and if you’re the Wizards, it makes sense to look at deals. DC’s not going to the playoffs anyway.

Grade: C+

Marcin Gortat: 14.5 PPG (57.8 FG%), 10.0 RPG, 1.3 APG

Against the Thunder and Warriors, Marcin Gortat failed to notch a double-double: the first time he’s gone two straight games without a double-double since late November.

With Wall so locked in against Curry and Golden State, it was surprising that Gortat only finished with 9 points – he’s often the first beneficiary of Wall’s talent, and the point guard had 10 assists that night.

Then he rebounded with a vintage Gortat performance, gliding through the wretched 76ers for 21 points and 13 rebounds. All it adds up to another week with a double-double average – he’s a tenth of a rebound away from having a double-double average for the season, which he hasn’t done since the 2011-12 season.

Grade: B-