Washington Wizards: 3 takeaways from 2019 NBA Summer League

2. There are role players to be found

The Wizards have had serious depth issues in the past few years and they have been unable to find consistent players who can fill a role off the bench. This summer a few players proved that they could be potential fixes to the Wizards problem.

A backup point guard has been hard to find in the last five years. Aside from Tomas Satoransky, the Wizards revolving door included Andre Miller, Ramon Sessions, Trey Burke, Ty Lawson, Brandon Jennings and Tim Frazier, none of whom were able to stick around for very long.

Last week in Las Vegas, Troy Caupain, a 6’4” guard who played with the Lakeland Magic of the G League, handled the offense very well.

Particularly in the pick-and-roll with a variety of big men, Caupain was almost always able to make the right decision, whether it was finding the roll man, pulling the ball back out or scoring himself in a variety of ways.

The former Cincinnati Bearcat proved he could score from all over the court. He shot 38.8 percent from deep last season but just 5-of-17 in a limited sample this summer. He had the best mid-range game of anyone and got to the paint with ease, consistently finishing with a great floater.

Though he was not the quickest player out there, he was one of the smartest. He used screens very well and always knew where his teammates were, racking up 4.4 assists to go along with 11.2 points in 22.6 minutes per game.

The Wizards have had pretty good shooting on the team in recent years with guys like Trevor Ariza, Jeff Green and Otto Porter Jr. However, all of those players are now gone.

Garrison Mathews, s 3-point sniper, played well in his three Summer League games. The Wizards officially signed him to a two-way deal on Jul 14 after he shot 6-for-17 from deep.

The Lipscomb product proved himself as an all-around scorer in college, but will likely be a 3-point specialist at the next level.

At 6’7”, Mathews was tenacious on the offensive boards and was always spacing the floor in transition. His catch-and-shoot ability is something the Wizards could use. However, expect him to start in the G League and split time between both teams this season.

Finally, Moritz Wagner deserves to be mentioned despite a subpar Summer League performance. His tenacity all over the court and his ability to seemingly be involved in every play should be recognized.

Moe played in 43 games for the Los Angeles Lakers last season with little playing time.

This summer he averaged 10.3 points and just 4.0 rebounds on a measly 31 percent shooting. His decision making is questionable and at times he just seems to be completely lost on the court, not to mention he did not show any ability to make wide open 3’s.

But enough with the negatives. The Michigan Wolverine can be a big body in the paint with good face up game and screening ability on offense.

Defensively he may not have the size to guard true centers or the quickness to guard modern NBA power forwards, but we can still expect to see Wagner getting rotation minutes with the bench lineup during the season.

All three of these players could be solid role players next season or in the years to come if the Wizards give them a chance.