Washington Wizards: 2017-18 NBA season preview

Storyline 3: Curing the bench woes

The Washington Wizards signed a lot of quality veterans looking for new roles this season. While their starters ranked among the top 10 in the NBA in major statistical categories, their bench ranked near the bottom.

Taking John Wall and Bradley Beal out of the game became more of a game of chess than an attempt to get them rest. With them off the floor, the offense lost all the wind in its sails. The bench ranked 29th in points per game (27.0) while the starters ranked third in the NBA (82.2 points per game).

This season, they’ve got a wealth of experience at their disposal so there should be no excuse for a letdown. Center Ian Mahinmi is healthy after appearing in 31 games last season. Jodie Meeks looks good so far in preseason action, averaging 13.3 points through three games so far.

Depth shouldn’t be an issue in 2017-18 for the Washington Wizards and that speaks volumes about where they stood last season. It wasn’t until close to the NBA Trade Deadline that they got some much-needed help from Bojan Bogdanovic and Brandon Jennings and even then, it was too little, too late.