National Basketball Association

Ian Mahinmi Adds A Different Dynamic To The Washington Wizards

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Last season when Marcin Gortat was injured, the Washington Wizards struggled to find a big man to play a decent role. The offseason signing of Ian Mahinmi goes a long way to ensure against this happening again.

Every so often in life opportunity knocks and it is up to you if you answer it. Last season, while playing for the Indiana Pacers opportunity knocked for Ian Mahinm. Now he is playing with the Washington Wizards.

Through free agency, the Pacers lost two of their three frontcourt starters. Mahinmi answered the door in a big way, having a career year.

Roy Hibbert was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers as Indiana went into salary dump mode. David West then went championship chasing by signing with the San Antonio Spurs.

This left Indiana with no choice but to start Mahinmi, a career role player, in the center role. They had to be hoping that he could increase his career averages with this greater opportunity while they waited for Myles Turner to develop.

Well, Mahinmi certainly answered the call. He started in all 71 games he appeared in, achieving averages above his career numbers in all but free throw shooting. Not only that, he more than doubled some of the key numbers that can define a center.

As a result of this, Ian Mahinmi was a desired asset. The Washington Wizards needed a big man and made sure of getting their man. A four-year. $64 million pay day was good enough for Mahinmi.

To put it into perspective, Mahinmi’s earnings for his first eight years were just shy of $20 million.

So, why were Washington willing to pay so much to get their man? Because Mahinmi showed that with increased court time, he could compete against other centers in the NBA.

First 367 games

Ian Mahinmi played in the shadow of some of really good players in his time with San Antonio, the Dallas Mavericks and then in Indiana for his eight seasons. This means that was not able to show what he was capable of. In 367 games he only started 21.

He was also assigned to the Austin Spurs when in San Antonio.

His numbers for this period of his career were low as a result. In 15.1 minutes per contest, Mahinmi averaged 4.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.

These are numbers of a player who was buried deep in the roster and only played cameo roles on these teams.

Mahinmi has always chosen his shots well, his career field goal percentage is 53.6 percent. Unfortunately, the free throw curse of most centers is also on Mahinmi, only shooting 59.7 percent from the line.

Last season – 71 games

Last season Ian Mahinmi started 71 games. He became the first choice big man for the Pacers and did not let the team down.

Mahinmi averaged 25.6 minutes per contest, more than 10 minutes more than his career mark. In the time he produced, not DeMarcus Cousins numbers, but enough to help Indiana get a surprise playoff berth.

Mahinmi was able to average a respectable 9.3 points per game last season, shooting an impressive 59 percent from the field. Due to the huge disparity in playing time, it is difficult to compare per game.

The per 36 minute metric gives a greater insight into the improvement of Ian Mahinmi. Going into the start of last season Mahinmi scored 10.3 points per 36 minutes, last season he averaged 13.1. This is an increase of just less than three points per 36 minutes.

His rebounding numbers benefited from the extra time on the court. He collected 7.1 rebounds per contest. This translated into 10.1 rebounds per 36 minutes last season, improving more than one rebound per 36 minutes from 9.0 up to the start of last season.

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Next Season

So, what does this then mean for Washington? What will Ian Mahinmi bring to the table? He will bring a rim protection to the second unit which Nene was not able to for the past two seasons.

He gives Washington options due to the greater frontcourt depth that he provides. I can see the starting center still being Marcin Gortat and the starting power forward being Markeiff Morris.

However, when Mahinmi comes on, Gortat can slide to power forward for Morris to have a break, or the other way around.

He can also take some of the pressure off Gortat, who will be able to rest more now that he has a legitimate backup.

Ian Mahinmi is not going to be the answers to all of Washington’s problems. What he is going to do is play solid basketball, hopefully pushing the Wizards back into the playoffs.

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