The Washington Wizards focused on revamping their bench rotation this offseason and so far Jodie Meeks has been delivering what has been asked of him.
The Washington Wizards are coming off their first loss of the season in a nail-biter to the Los Angeles Lakers. While it was a surprising loss, as many believed the Wizards would enter their matchup against the Golden State Warriors undefeated, it was a loss that would’ve come sooner than later anyhow.
The even bigger surprise is John Wall and his early struggles during the first four games of the 2017-18 regular season. He is currently shooting just 37.3 from the field and even worse, just 14.3 percent from beyond the arc, hitting just 2-of-14 of those attempts. However, early struggles are to be expected and the real news here is: The Wizards’ bench is certainly performing better than last year.
Kelly Oubre Jr. came into this season with high expectations and so far is meeting those expectations and then some. But Jodie Meeks, he is the true support the Washington Wizards needed coming off the bench.
Meeks has had trouble with injuries over the years and throughout the past four seasons he has appeared in just 104 games. As long as he stays healthy and playing at this level, the Wizards can claim they acquired Jodie Meeks as an absolute steal in free agency during the summer of 2017.
Jodie Meeks playing at the top of his game
For the best season to gauge Jodie Meeks’ possible contributions to the court, we have to go way back to the 2013-14 season where he appeared in 77 games and started in 70 of them. At that time, he was averaging 15.7 points per game on 46.3 percent shooting and 40.1 percent from beyond the arc.
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Those are phenomenal numbers as far as efficiency is concerned, though the Wizards quite obviously will not be starting Meeks’ at any point barring injury to Bradley Beal. The real deal is his hot start over the first four games of the 2017-18 season, where many questioned his ability to fill the role of a defensively sound bench player as well as a 3-point threat.
How well is he doing over the first four games? Despite a pretty shabby 36.0 percent shooting from the field, he is lighting it up from beyond the arc, hitting exactly 40.0 percent of his shots. This is the true mind-blowing statistic: While he is averaging 9.8 points per game, his per 36 minute metrics are great. Per 36 minutes, Meeks is scoring 21.3 points. Again, it is beyond reason to say that he will earn starter’s minutes but he is an excellent addition to the rotation.
He is also very reliable when it comes to hitting his free throws, averaging 4.0 attempts per game and sinking 93.8 percent of those shots. As far as his offensive and defensive rating, he is doing well with the time he has earned at 16.5 minutes per game. He currently holds a 116 offensive rating and a cool 105 defensive rating over four games.
Next: 2017-18 Week 2 NBA Power Rankings
It is still early in the season and anything can happen, but it is certainly nice to see an improved Washington Wizards bench trot out to the court as their starters catch a breather.