Washington Wizards: The Addition Of Al Harrington And ‘Definitely Going To The Playoffs’

John Wall‘s reaction when Al Harrington texted him that he was coming to play for the Washington Wizards: “Help me get to the playoffs.” Harrington is confident that the Wizards will be a playoff team this year and while Harrington is not necessarily  the final piece that will lock the Wizards in to a top-eight finish in the East, there is a good chance his addition will help Washington this year.

Al Harrington could help the Washington Wizards as a stretch 4. Photo Credit: NBA.com

Most of that help will come on the offensive end, specifically from Harrington’s ability to space the floor as a stretch power forward. One of the biggest issues with Washington’s horrid offense last season was poor floor spacing. Their offense was bad all year, but their best lineups — which were very good in small sample sizes — typically featured Bradley Beal or Martell Webster (usually both) spreading the floor, giving John Wall and Nene room to work. But these successful lineups were never on the floor. Of Washington’s eight best offensive lineups (of lineups that logged at least five games and 25 minutes; per NBA.com’s offensive rating) only one appeared in more than 15 games and only two lineups saw more than 40 minutes all season. And these were not niche lineups that you would figure never saw playing time. One of the eight lineups featured Wall, Beal, Webster, Emeka Okafor and Nene — Washington’s projected starting five for this season — and every lineup but one had at least three of those five players. Washington simply could not keep their shooters on the floor last season and did not have players who could fill in for their top shooters when they were unavailable. Only four Wizards shot better than the league average from 3 last year — Webster, Cartier Martin, Beal and Trevor Ariza — and those four players missed a combined 99 games last season. The absence of shooters probably had the biggest effect on John Wall, who had trouble working efficiently out of the pick-and-roll when the space he wanted to work in was crammed up due to poor perimeter shooting.

Al Harrington can help with the floor spacing issues. Harrington is a career 35 percent 3- point shooter and since 2006 has shot 36.6 percent from 3 (not including his 10 games last year with Orlando). He is typically good from the right corner and at worst, average above the break. He probably will not be bringing this amazing shooting stroke to Washington, but should be good enough to provide the Wizards with something they never had last year — an adequately sized power forward who can knock down the 3 ball. Washington never had this type of shooting from the power forward position, except when Trevor Ariza slid to the power forward position in small ball lineups. When Ariza moved to the 4, Washington was successful offensively — four of the eight lineups mentioned earlier featured Ariza as the small ball 4. The addition of Harrington will allow the Wizards to trot out more lineups that feature a power forward who can knock down the 3 ball and with Harrington they will not be sacrificing as much size as they do with Ariza. Essentially, with the addition of Harrington, a healthy Wizards squad should be able to feature consistent wing shooting from Beal, Webster, Ariza and, potentially, from rookie Otto Porter, as well as create even more space in particular lineups that feature Harrington.

The concern with Harrington of course will come on the defensive end. Harrington lacks the foot speed at this point in his career to keep up with the quicker, more athletic power forwards in this league. He was never known as a great interior defender and it can be assumed that when he is paired up with Okafor or Nene down low, the ability of the duos as interior defender will be less than the starting combo of Okafor and Nene together. However, Harrington is a smart player, he has been in the league for a long time and has played for some good coaches during his time in the NBA. You would figure he will pick up, execute and fit into Randy Wittman‘s defensive scheme and he should be able to be hidden in the right lineups. Take his last year in Denver as an example. Harrington was featured in Denver’s four best defensive lineups that season (per NBA.com’s defensive rating). Granted these were small sample sizes, but in them Chris Anderson was able to anchor Denver’s defense with Harrington providing enough support to make those lineups very effective defensively. Washington’s success on defense last year suggests that Harrington can be similarly able to be hidden in the Wizards’ five-man units that feature Okafor or Nene manning the paint. If they are able to pull their same top level defense off with Harrington on the floor, the offensive boost he can provide as a stretch 4 should help the Wizards on the offensive side for stretches of play.