I have to say I’m pretty torn on the Wizards so far. On one hand, they’re 6-4 despite injuries to Bradley Beal, Alan Anderson and Martell Webster, as well as growing pains as they figure out how their personnel can mesh with their new Pace & Space offense.
Sticking with the positives: Otto Porter is having a terrific season (leads the team in PPA — see below), and they’re getting some decent play Ramon Sessions, Nenê and Jared Dudley off the bench.
On the other hand…John Wall — despite his publicly stated desire to be an MVP candidate this season — is performing like a pretty average starter, the team seems to crumble whenever Kris Humphries is on the floor (despite decent production from Humphries), and Marcin Gortat is lost on offense.
Since I believe Wall and Gortat will perform more like they did last season, my biggest area of concern is at power forward. Humphries continues to be fairly productive, and has even added a three-point shot. So far this season, he’s at .412. An analysis I did in July suggested .365 could be anticipated.
The problem: the Wizards collapse when he’s out there. So far, Washington is 5.2 points per 100 possessions worse offensively and 5.9 points per 100 possessions worse defensively (net -11.1 points per 100 possessions) when Humphries is out there. While the results are a bit extreme because of the small sample size, keep in mind the Wizards were worse on both ends of the floor with Humphries last season, and Boston was worse on offense with him out there.
My theory: Humphries plays like my iPhone 4 trying to load an app. When it’s time for business (like catching a pass), there’s a pause, then a blank screen, then a spinning wheel, and then maybe some action. It could be that Humphries is just better against reserves than starters.
Unfortunately, the Wizards don’t really have a viable option to start at power forward. Nenê can’t be relied on in that role, and moving him into the starting lineup leaves the team without a reserve center. I’m dubious about Jared Dudley as a viable option — he’s been a below-average rebounder for a SMALL forward throughout his career. (It’s worth mentioning that in the tiny sample size recorded thus far, Dudley is rebounding at his best rate since his rookie year.)
If the team can’t figure out how to play with Humphries as a starter, they may be forced to start Dudley and take some lumps on the board.
Player Production Average
The ratings below are a metric I developed called Player Production Average (PPA). In PPA, players are credited for things they do that help a team win, and debited for things that don’t, each in proportion to what causes teams to win and lose. PPA is pace neutral, accounts for defense, and includes an adjustment based on the level of competition faced when a player is on the floor. In PPA, average is 100, higher is better, and replacement level is 45.
League-wide PPA scores through games played 11/22/15 are here.
PLAYER | GAMES | MPG | 11/10 | PPA |
Otto Porter | 10 | 32.9 | 144 | 158 |
John Wall | 10 | 32.7 | 153 | 129 |
Kris Humphries | 10 | 20.8 | 90 | 121 |
Ramon Sessions | 10 | 18.0 | 131 | 119 |
Marcin Gortat | 10 | 27.5 | 91 | 112 |
Bradley Beal | 7 | 33.9 | 128 | 108 |
Garrett Temple | 8 | 15.4 | 38 | 106 |
Jared Dudley | 9 | 21.7 | 36 | 92 |
Nene Hilario | 9 | 18.6 | 58 | 90 |
Drew Gooden | 6 | 12.8 | 99 | 51 |
Gary Neal | 10 | 18.7 | 23 | 49 |
Kelly Oubre | 6 | 10.0 | -103 | -4 |
DeJuan Blair | 4 | 8.5 | -345 | -129 |