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Washington Wizards Rumors: Wiz Could Pursue Kendall Marshall

By Daniel Benjamin
Published on: 16:04 PST, Aug 28, 2016

The Washington Wizards potentially could use another point guard and may be inclined to pursue free agent Kendall Marshall, reports Ben Standig of Comcast Mid-Atlantic.

The reason Standig believes the Wizards could be in line for another point guard is due to the uncertainty of John Wall’s availability. Wall had two knee procedures this offseason and recently admitted to Standig that he wasn’t sure if he would be ready when the Wiz opened the regular season campaign in Atlanta on October 27.

Marshall was made available on the open market by the Utah Jazz on August 26, following their trade after being with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Jazz sent center Tibor Pleiss along with a couple of future second-round draft picks in exchange for the six-foot-four point guard.

Marshall is a pass-first guard who likes to get out in transition. He has also developed into a good three-point shooter when left open. The 25-year-old’s biggest issues are turning the ball over and poor lateral quickness, which was made worse by a torn ACL in January 2015. Marshall doesn’t get to the line that often either.

Marshall returned to the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers on December 11 against the Detroit Pistons, producing five points and six assists while committing just one turnover. However, the 2015-16 season turned out to be one of his worst of his career. Marshall averaged just 3.7 points and 2.4 assists in 13.3 minutes of action while shooting a career-worse 36.4 percent from the field, and 32.7 percent from the three-point line. He also had a career-low 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio.

For his career, Marshall averages 5.0 points, 4.9 assists, and 1.8 turnovers a game. He is just a 39.9 percent shooter though he has canned 37.0 percent of his attempts beyond the arc and 61.1 percent from the charity stripe.

If the Wizards don’t decide to go on the open market, they do have some in-house options. One option is Trey Burke, who the Wizards acquired this offseason by sending a 2021 second-round draft to the Utah Jazz.

Burke was considered to be one of the top offensive point guards coming out of Michigan in 2013, but he has yet to find his mark in the NBA. The 23-year-old has struggled to find consistency with his shot, making only 38.4 percent of his field goal attempts and 32.9 percent of his three-point attempts in his three-year career. He also doesn’t get to the line much.

Burke is coming off one of his best campaigns scoring the ball. He averaged 10.6 points a game while shooting 41.3 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from behind the arc in 64 last season. He also registered a career-best 1.071 scoring efficiency rating and a 0.483 shooting efficiency rating. However, Burke finished with a career-worst 1.85 assist-to-turnover ratio as he produced just 2.3 assists and committed 1.3 turnovers a game.

Rookie Tomas Satoransky is another option. Satoransky is not a proto-type point guard, but he spent the last two seasons at that position for Barcelona. The Wizards finally brought the six-foot-seven combo guard aboard, after spending the previous four seasons overseas. The 24-year-old was selected by the Wiz in the second round of the 2012 draft.

Satoransky averaged 9.6 points, 4.2 assists, and 2.9 rebounds in 62 games last season. He also shot 52.4 percent from the field and 39.0 percent from beyond the arc.

Satoransky will be able to post-up smaller point guards due to his height advantage. He is a good distributor and can score at the rim as well as off-the-bounce.

Additionally, per the Washington Post, the Wizards have brought in Casper Ware on a training camp deal. The 25-year spent the last part of the 2015-16 campaign with ASVEL Basket, leading them to the French League championship title. Ware was named the series MVP.

Ware is a shoot-first point guard, who has demonstrated the ability to score. He is not a great shooter by any means, but will launch shots from behind the arc at will. Ware has nine games of NBA experience, playing for the 76ers in 2013-14.

Starting shooting guard Bradley Beal can also play the point, if necessary.

[Photo by Chris Szagola/AP Images]

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