thedcdime

By: Willis

Earl Calloway playing for the Mad Ants

The Washington Wizards are facing off against the Atlanta Hawks today at 4 o’clock in their first game of the Las Vegas Summer League. If you’ve been paying any attention to the Wizards this offseason, then you’ll have already realized that the 14 man roster (see below) features a lot of players who won’t be with the Wizards this upcoming season. The reason is simple: Washington doesn’t have enough roster space to take on even half of the players trying out for the team. When it’s broken down, there are really only a few players who have even a remote chance at playing for the Wizards next season. Let’s take a look:

14-Man Roster

G: Steven Gray, Gonzaga

G: Bradley Beal, Florida

G: Earl Calloway, Indiana

G: Tomas Satoransky, Czech Republic

G: Shelvin Mack, Butler

G: Ravern Johnson, Mississippi State

F: Jan Vesely, Czech Republic

F: LaRon Dendy, Middle Tennessee State

F: Mike Scott, Kent State

F: Jeff Brooks, Penn State

F: Shavlik Randolph, Duke

F: Chris Singleton, Florida State

C: Garrett Siler, Augusta State

C: Kim Tillie, Utah

The players in bold signify those that are already on the roster, meaning that they’re virtual locks to remain on the team for the upcoming season. Beal was the first draft pick, Vesely is part of the future, Singleton is a promising small forward, and Mack is the only person available to back up John Wall. Basically, they’re here to stay. Assuming they are all on the roster, that brings the open slots to only 2 spots. Two spots for 10 players? Feel free to do the math. Using this knowledge, though, means we can even further slim down the amount of players who even have a shot of getting picked up by the Washington Wizards.

As the roster is currently assembled (including the four players in bold and Andray), the breakdown consists of:

3 Centers: Nene, Okafor, Seraphin

6 Forwards: Ariza, C. Singleton, Vesely, Booker, Blatche, Martin

4 Guards: Wall, Beal, Mack, J. Crawford

Based on that breakdown, the front court is completely stocked. 9 of the 15 roster spots are dedicated solely to players who are almost non-negotiable in their ability to play any positions other than the 4 and 5. Any power forward or center the Wizards signed would be looking at never seeing the court outside of the practice facilities. With that many minutes dedicated to youthful players and experienced veterans, there would be so many DNP-CD’s that I’d think Ernie would reason, “Why bother picking them up anyway?”

Furthermore, the small forward position is basically filled up as well due in large part to acquiring Trevor Ariza via the Okafor-Rashard Lewis trade. He and Chris Singleton are expected to consume the majority of those minutes, with Vesely also soaking up the last bit of them when he slides over from the power forward slot. Again, this just means that signing any forward is a futile effort.

The only thing the Wizards might even be considering is picking up another center. I say this because the front court, with Nene and Okafor, is an injury prone unit. Both players aren’t perpetually injured guys, but they always seem to have ticky-tacky injuries that prevent them from playing a full season. So, with Blatche being highly considered as an Amnesty International candidate, maybe the Wizards could pick up either Siler, Tillie, or Dendy to fill in for injury a few times during the season. I’m not banking on it, though.

Out of the Running? Dendy, Scott, Randolph, Brooks, Siler, Tillie

Where the Wizards could clearly use some help is at the guard positions, where there are only four players on the team who are to play an entire 48 minutes. Mack did nothing to help his cause last season in securing the backup point guard position so cannot be considered a perfect option as the first point guard off the bench. Crawford may have locked down the starting position for now, but Beal is going to eat into his minutes severely since he is the real future of the franchise. I actually think Beal is much better as the starter, whereas Crawford can bring instant offense off the bench, but I digress.

Another thing to note is the case of Tomas Satoransky, the other Czech on the roster. Satoransky is almost already out of the running since it’s been reported that he is going to be heading back overseas to play in Spain next season. In order for him to stay, he would have to perform so incredibly well that Grunfeld became convinced he is part of the playoff equation this season. I don’t predict that happening coming from a guy who has no jumper yet, so I’m assuming he’s gone.

Out of the Running? Satoransky

That leaves us with three players left in Earl Calloway, Steven Gray, and Ravern Johnson competing for two spots. If that’s the case, then it’ll be interesting to see which route the Wizards go with these final roster spots. They could choose Earl Calloway, the 6’3, 28 year old point guard who has played over in Europe for the past 4 seasons. Most recently, he averaged 7.6 points and 3.1 assists per game for Sevilla in the ACB League. Where he was teammates with Tomas Satoransky. His veteran presence and playing experience at the second best league in the world would be incredibly welcome for the young guards in Washington. Considering how young all the guards on the Wizards are, he might be the most logical choice as a guy who can play a Derek Fisher role in mentoring young players. If we’re talking about changing the culture in the locker room, what better way to do it than to bring in a professional like Calloway?

Then there is another intriguing prospect in the 6’5, 23 year old Steven Gray. Gray is interesting in that he’s been called “a west coast, guard version of Etan Thomas” by people smarter than me, and he has also played professionally over in Latvia. His specialty is the fact that he is a fantastic three point shooter. The Wizards were one of the absolute worst teams from long range last year, so he could be a nice addition as a stretch two guard. His athleticism may be a serious hindrance for him, and he couldn’t even guard Jimmer Fredette in college, but his character is that of a very nice guy, and he could add a nice presence in the locker room (again, we always go back to that).

Finally, we have Ravern Johnson, a 6’7, 24 year old guard out of Mississippi State who also happens to be a three point specialist. This young man is a definite deep threat, as evidenced by his college career where he shot 40% from long range on 7.4 attempts per game. Think Nick Young with less athleticism, and you’ve got Ravern; basically, he doesn’t contribute much of anything else except for his shooting. He may actually be the best one of them all if basketball were a three point contest, but it isn’t, so he’s not.

Either way, this is going to be very exciting to see who the Wizards decide on selecting throughout this Summer League (if they pick up anyone). Just to note, I think that Washington is going to select a big man to round out another one of the spots on the bench all year, and I think it is going to be LaRon Dendy. If Washington amnesties Blatche today, then it is likely they would be more receptive to adding another big man. Why we did not decide to draft one with the second pick will be peculiar if that’s the case, but that’s for another day.

In the Running: LaRon Dendy, Earl Calloway, Ravern Johnson, Steven Gray

Tags: Andray Blatche, basketball, earl calloway, gonzaga, laron dendy, nba, sports, steven gray, Summer League, vegas summer league, washington, Washington Wizards, Wizards