Washington Wizards: Player grades for the 2019-20 season

Lowest Grades

Rui Hachimura:

The 13.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game Rui Hachimura compiled in his rookie season looked encouraging, but none of the advanced metrics expressed the same optimism (-2.28 Real Plus-Minus, -2.66 Player Impact Plus Minus, -3.2 Box Plus-Minus, -5.3 RAPTOR), as all of them rated him poorly on both sides of the floor. He has plenty of time to improve, but he left more to be desired than his rate stats would indicate. Grade: D-

Troy Brown Jr.:

Troy Brown Jr.‘s scoring average jumped from 4.8 points per game to 10.4 in 2019-20, but his per-100 possessions stats show that was more a result of increased playing time than anything else. His efficiency did tick up (52.4 true shooting percentage), but it still fell below the league average. Defensively, he did an alright job of limiting the most efficient shots on the floor (50th percentile in Regularized Adjusted Deterrance), but opponents still shot 48.8 percent against him and made 37.6 percent of their 3’s, contributing to his less-than-stellar defensive metrics (-0.96 Defensive PIPM). Grade: D

Ish Smith:

The swift-footed Ish Smith finished in the 45th percentile in pick-and-roll points per possession (PPP), likely because his chronic spacing problems invited defenses to clog the lanes despite him shooting a career-high 36.7 percent from deep (47th percentile in BBall Index’s per game 3-point gravity). He was even more listless defending ball screens (36th percentile in opponent’s PPP), which explains why the shots in the paint go up when he’s on the floor (18th percentile in RAD). Grade: D+ 

Thomas Bryant:

How did Thomas Bryant finish with a 0.37 Offensive PIPM? Well, it was primarily thanks to his effectiveness as the roll man on ball screens (74th percentile in PPP). The young big man improved his midrange game (51.8 percent between 3 and 10 feet; 46.2 percent between 10- and16) and combined with his upper-tier finishing at the rim (78.5 percent inside three feet), he commanded many opposing defense’s attention from those spots (91st percentile in rim gravity; 74th percentile in midrange gravity). If his 3-point shot is for real (40.7 percent on 3.7 attempts per 100 possessions), he’ll become even more of a problem on offense.

His defense wasn’t great (-0.67 D-PIPM), but that had more to do with him getting cooked on the outside (44.8 opponent’s 3-point percentage) than any sort of substandard rim protection, though that needs to be cleaned up, too. Grade: D+

Isaac Bonga:

Isaac Bonga stopped spot-up shooters (90th percentile) and roll men (90th percentile) at an elite rate and forced his opponents to take a bunch of midrange shots (88th percentile in RAD), hence why his D-PIPM sat at a healthy 2.23 last year. However, he was a net negative on offense (-2.09 O-PIPM) despite shooting adequately (60.8 true shooting), as teams didn’t respect his shot and reacted accordingly (ninth percentile in midrange gravity; 17th percentile in 3-point gravity). Perhaps that will change in 2020-21. Grade: C-