Tim Frazier to Washington: Wizards Find Their Backup Point Guard
After a lackluster season from their bench, the Wizards may have found the piece they were looking for to start improving their bench production.
As we are just hours away from the 2017 NBA draft, we have been preoccupied with the spectacle that is the NBA off-season. These past couple days have been filled with a multitude of rumors, league sources, Woj bombs, and a slew of trades involving both players and draft picks.
Subsequently, Wednesday night was no exception, when reports came out the Washington Wizards traded their 52nd overall pick in the draft in exchange for New Orleans Pelicans guard Tim Frazier. Washington will use their existing $2.3 million trade exception from their acquisition of Bojan Bogdanovic to eat Frazier’s $2.1 million salary and New Orleans creates some cap relief.
For Washington, the need of a backup guard was evident for a huge portion of the season as they struggled to find someone to run their lackluster bench unit. During the course of the season, the Wizards primary backup point guard changed from Trey Burke, to rookie European guard Tomas Satoransky, and ended with veteran Brandon Jennings manning the second unit. Unfortunately, all three of these players couldn’t separate themselves from one another, had little-to-no impact and as a result John Wall played extended minutes the entire season.
As for the actual trade itself, I think the Wizards got away with a steal by acquiring Frazier. At pick 52, the reality of finding your backup point guard for the future is more than unlikely. A 26-year old Frazier who has had success running an NBA offense is better than any late 2nd round pick the Wizards could have drafted.
In my off-season preview, I highlighted Ernie Grunfeld’s tendency to devalue his second round pick, so here’s a look at Washington’s past second round pick history…
- 2014: Traded Jordan Clarkson for cash
- 2015: Traded to acquire Andre Miller from Nuggets
- 2017: Traded to acquire Tim Frazier
- 2021: Traded to acquire Trey Burke from Jazz
…do you see the trend?
So what has Frazier done? Last season, Frazier started in 35 games for the Pelicans and averaged 7 points and 9 assists during his time as a starter. Once Jrue Holiday was healthy, Frazier went back to the bench where he finished the season averaging 7.1 points, 5.2 assists, shot 40 percent from the floor and 31 percent from three.
It also should be noted Frazier put together 7 double-doubles and also one triple-double this season as well. Although Frazier may have some room for improvement when it comes to shooting, he is more than capable of running an offense and finding his teammates.
All in all, the Wizards may very well have their best backup point guard playing under John Wall since Ramon Session in the 2015–16 season. However, the Wizards cannot stop here as they must continue to bolster their bench and put players next to Frazier. This trade will mean nothing if Washington stays content with their current roster, but for now this is certainly a good start for the Wizards.
