After some initial stumbles, Nick Young, Dominic McGuire and Oleksiy Pecherov helped the Wizards survive an injury-plagued regular season. Playing out of necessity, each made contributions while taking successful baby steps in his rookie season.
But now, with the Wizards healthy and the postseason approaching, the trio is at the end of the bench. In Wednesday’s 109-95 win over Boston, the 22-year-old rookies did not play.
“Hey look, I hate not playing them,” said Wizards coach Eddie Jordan. “But this is a time where it’s business time. They may get some spot minutes but we have our eight or nine guys that we’ve talked about. We have to get those guys in sync and playing together, and that’s the object of the game right now.”
It was the first DNP (did not play) — coach’s decision for Young since Dec. 13, and came just 10 days after scoring a career-high 27 points and being entrusted with the final shot in a 126-120 overtime loss at the Los Angeles Lakers.
As the season has progressed, so has Young’s offensive arsenal, which includes 3-pointers, explosive drives to the basket and a deadly step-back jumper. His defense has been spotty, however, and the return of Gilbert Arenas from knee surgery has created a logjam in the Wizards backcourt, ably staffed by veterans Antonio Daniels, DeShawn Stevenson and Roger Mason.
McGuire and Pecherov were in the rotation in February and March. But the return of Caron Butler from a hip injury and the reliability and productivity of Darius Songaila have left few minutes in the front court.
McGuire had played 29 straight games before sitting out against Boston. The 6-9 forward has established a niche as an energetic rebounder and defender. But in three outings in April, McGuire took only one shot and grabbed just one rebound in a combined 18 minutes.
The 7-foot Pecherov has had his moments as a long-range shooter, but hasn’t made a field goal in his last four appearances, going a combined 0 for 7 from the floor.
To get more quickness on the floor, Jordan experimented with a three-guard unit Wednesday night and liked the results.
“I thought that was pretty neat,” said Jordan. “That gave us a little spark and changed the game a little bit for us. In that eight/nine-man rotation, maybe DeShawn plays a little small forward. There really isn’t any prototypical small forward, other than Caron [Butler], in our lineup.”
