Washington Wizards Player Grades: Week 13

The 2015-16 Washington Wizards have reached the halfway point. They’re under .500 and they aren’t occupying a playoff place. How many people expected that things would go even this awry?

But despite that, all is not lost in WizLand.

Yes, their destructive home loss against Portland was a catastrophe, but they came out of this snow-shortened week in ninth place in the East, just a game and a half behind a Miami team they just beat.

An act of Snow God kept the Wizards from a chance to climb back to .500 against Utah, but the regression of the East’s bottom half means that DC will be first in line to break back into the playoff picture.

Let’s grade.

John Wall: 13.5 PPG (35.5 FG%), 4.0 RPG, 10.0 APG, 1.5 SPG

Facing off against Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers, John Wall again failed to step up against a top point guard, turning in 9 points and 10 assists on 4-17 shooting.

Wall’s struggles against his best one-on-one competition is something to monitor, but it hasn’t affected his All-Star candidacy a single bit. With Kyle Lowry (deservedly) overtaking Kyrie Irving for the second starting guard spot in the upcoming All-Star Game, Wall’s trip to Toronto should be secured.

This would be Wall’s third straight All-Star appearance – the last Wizard to achieve that was, of course, Gilbert Arenas. Gilbert also made three All-NBA teams to go along with his three All-Star Games, while Wall is waiting to be named to his first.

In such a point guard-heavy era, it’s an uphill climb for Wall to get into that reckoning. Maybe if he went out there with a stinkface and trashed guys like Lillard, he’d have a better shot.

Grade: C

Garrett Temple: 14.5 PPG (62.5 FG%), 2.5 RPG, 2.0 APG

I’ve been saying it all along: at a certain point we need to quit looking over our shoulders and just trust in Garrett Temple’s ballerhood.

We’re Washington Wizards fans, I know.

We’ve been hurt over and over again. But I think Garrett Temple is for real. He’s playing with an unheard-of confidence on both ends of the floor, something that’s going to sustain him when his shooting comes back to Earth.

Temple is shooting 42% from 3 this month, something that won’t last. But his aggressiveness and ability in transition will carry him through the rough patches, and should ensure his place in the starting lineup.

Grade: B+

Kelly Oubre: 0.0 PPG (0.0 FG%), 2.0 RPG

I love Kelly Oubre, and I think he has star potential. But this week, we saw just how much the Washington Wizards miss Otto Porter.

I think Oubre’s pleasantly surprised all of us so far, but he’s still very much a spurt player for the Wizards at this point – he’s able to put together stretches where he really swings the game, but he’s not developed and consistent enough.

Otto Porter has his flaws, to be sure, but he’s so far been a reliable scoring option. He’s not going to put in a scoreless week, like Oubre just did. Oubre needs to play, but Otto Porter has to start, and play at least 30 minutes a night.

Grade: D-

Jared Dudley: 10.0 PPG (52.9 FG%), 1.0 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.5 SPG

Jared Dudley just keeps rolling on, doing the exact thing he does every night: being the Washington Wizards’ best defender and hitting every open shot. He’s a metronome, and he’s been a wonderful, wonderful signing.

Despite this unfailing consistency, Dudley found himself out of the starting lineup for the first time in over a month against Miami, and while the Wizards won that game, it’s a tactical error that shouldn’t be repeated.

Marcin Gortat and Nene can play together in certain matchups, especially when the opposition plays two traditional bigs, but Dudley should almost always be playing next to Gortat.

When Dudley was on the court at the same time with Gortat against Miami, the Wizards were +18.

Grade: B+

Marcin Gortat: 15.5 PPG (63.6 FG%), 12.5 RPG, 1.0 APG, 2.0 BPG

And if you want to talk consistency look no further than the Polish Machine. Miami’s Hassan Whiteside is the type of long, athletic, rebounding big that tends to give Gortat fits, but he rose to the challenge against him this week.

Gortat turned in 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Whiteside was totally ineffective in just 11 minutes of play. It got so bad for Whiteside that Erik Spoelstra elected to start Amar’e Stoudemire, who still plays basketball, in the second half.

Gortat’s now running on a streak of 22 straight games with double-figure scoring, dating back to November 27 at Boston. Along the way, he has 17 double-doubles. Nice.

Grade: A-