What’s Up The Washington Wizards’ Sleeve?

So far this offseason the Washington Wizards have prepared for a roster overhaul. When it was clear to them that future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce would likely leave for his hometown and former coach, they drafted Kansas wing Kelly Oubre. While Oubre, a 19-year old rookie who averaged less than 10 points-per-game (ppg) in his only year in college, will not replace what Pierce brought to the table right away, they hope down the line Oubre can develop into an All-Star next to John Wall and Bradley Beal. But what other moves have they made this offseason? And to what end?

In the last week Washington has added three players they hope can increase their three-point shooting from this season when the Wizards ranked just 26th in number of threes made per game. Jared Dudley, Gary Neal and Alan Anderson are career 40, 38 and 35 percent three-point shooters respectively. While they are not prolific shooters, they post about the same shooting numbers as the Wizards current backup guard Martell Webster with just one small difference.

Dudley, Neal and Anderson will all be free agents next summer. Webster on the other hand, will be owed nearly $6 million in 2016-2017. Washington is hoping to have maximum cap flexibility next summer to run in the Kevin Durant race, and moving Webster’s contract just might be a way to make that happen.

There have not been any current rumblings about Webster being moved, but keeping him along with Neal, Anderson, Dudley and Oubre all on the bench would make for a crowded rotation. Adding all these new players could be a part of a plan to move someone such as Webster.

The Wizards definitely missed Webster’s production this year. In his previous two years in Washington he hit 139 (2012-2013) and 146 (2013-2014) three pointers and the Wizards were ranked 18th and 16th in the league in threes made per game. While this is only about middle of the pack of the NBA, it is clearly better than them ranking 26th last year when Webster was only available in 32 games and made 10 threes.

The Warriors proved this year that the game is very three-point heavy, and the Wizards understand that. And while they may want to move Webster’s contract to free up room for 2016, they have made the necessary moves this past week to fill his role and bring their shooting numbers back up.