Washington Wizards: Otto Porter Is The Stretch Four Of The Future by David Statman

NBA Free Agency 2015: Kevin Seraphin Might Not Get A Huge Raise After All by Ben Mehic

Last season, the Washington Wizards were one of the oldest teams in the league. With Nene, Paul Pierce and Marcin Gortat all in their 30’s, Washington desperately needed to get younger this off-season.

While Ernie Grunfeld and Co. are still focused on surrounding their back court with veteran players, it was clear that the team needed to address that roster issue. Simply put, you cannot have players like Pierce and Nene without supplementing the team with more young talent.

In this year’s draft, the Washington Wizards moved up to grab one of the youngest players available — Kelly Oubre Jr.

The freshman forward out of Kansas is exactly what the Wizards needed. He’s young, athletic, willing to learn and seems to have the potential to eventually become a part of the team’s core.

With that said, similar to Otto Porter in his first season with Washington, don’t expect Oubre to get much playing time right out of the gate.

In an interview with ESPN’s Amin Elhassan, Wizards vice president of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard echoed those statements, essentially stating that Porter, Jared Dudley and Alan Anderson are expected to be in the rotation.

Even with Dudley out 3-4 months following back surgery, Oubre will have to fight for a spot in the rotation against veteran players who’ve already proved themselves.

Many have speculated if the Wizards will continue to play small-ball with Dudley out, but all signs point to them continuing that new style of play.

If I had to guess, Randy Wittman will likely start Nene at the power forward spot next season.

Still, Porter is capable of playing the four position in spurts and will likely do so this upcoming season.

At 6’9″, Porter has the height and length to play the position, it’s just a matter of putting on weight in the long run. Nowadays, though, his size wouldn’t even be a great concern. He’d still be capable of defending most stretch fours on the opposite end of the floor.

Washington also added some guard depth by acquiring Ramon Sessions before last year’s trade deadline and by signing Gary Neal this summer.

Wittman played Sessions with Wall last season, and while I don’t expect him to do it as often next season, it will remain an option.

More importantly, the Washington Wizards will get much needed spacing with the Neal addition. Washington could play a three guard lineup consisting of John Wall, Neal and Bradley Beal along with Porter and Gortat.

Or, the Wizards could just play the “traditional” small lineup with Wall, Beal, Anderson, Porter and Gortat.

The Wizards will also have the option of playing Drew Gooden and Kris Humphries alongside Gortat — both of whom are capable of spacing the floor. Gooden shot 39 percent from three last season and seemed to have transformed his game this late into his career.

As cliche as it sounds, Oubre will still have a chance to earn a spot in the rotation during training camp, but it’s not very likely. He did have some great performances during summer league, but he also had moments where he showed that he still has a lot of work to do before becoming a regular contributor at the next level.

For Oubre to crack the rotation during the start of the season, he’s going to need to start hitting outside shots with consistency. His jump shot looks smooth, but he hit less than 30 percent of his threes during summer league.

Couple that with the fact that most coaches prefer to play veterans over young players, and Oubre will likely have a year of learning before stepping on the court regularly.

At this point, you could expect Porter, Anderson and Dudley to play regular minutes. Gooden and Humphries will also get an increase in playing time until Dudley returns. Wittman will also likely play three guards at a time in certain moments of the game, which won’t leave much room left for Oubre.

The 19-year-old rookie has a bright future, so I wouldn’t get discouraged when he doesn’t get regular minutes next season. After all, we saw how well Porter performed when his time finally came during the second half of the season last year.