Hughes: Monte Morris and Will Barton Could Help Wizards' Biggest Needs

Hughes: Morris and Barton can help Wizards' needs originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

The Wizards may still be in line for significant changes in the coming days, but they likely helped themselves in several ways with their trade on Wednesday to bring in point guard Monte Morris and longtime veteran wing Will Barton from the Denver Nuggets.

Perhaps the key word is 'likely,' as you never know until things actually play out. On one hand, the best player in the deal was arguably Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who was one of the few constants for the Wizards last season with his reliable 3-point shooting and above-average wing defense. Now he will be providing those things alongside Nikola Jokic, the two-time reigning MVP.

While Ish Smith was also included in the deal, the Wizards likely gained strength in numbers. They seem to have plugged their most obvious positional hole at starting point guard with Morris while also replacing Caldwell-Pope with someone who can play a similar role.

Beyond adding depth, they likely improved when it comes to 3-point shooting. The Wizards were the worst team in the NBA last year at making threes. Meanwhile, Morris comes over as a career 39.4% 3-point shooter. Only Rui Hachimura shot better among Wizards regulars last season.

Barton has knocked down 37.2% of his threes over the last three seasons. While that is about league average, it would have stood out on the Wizards last season, as only Hachimura and Caldwell-Pope shot a higher clip among their rotation players.

Morris, 27, also has a good contract, as he's due to make about $18.7 million over the next two seasons. At roughly $9 million per year, that's cheaper than some of the options the Wizards could have explored in free agency.

A reasonable expectation for Morris would be for him to start at point guard and simply do the job competently. He may not average 20 points or 10 assists per game, but he will run the offense, score efficiently and protect the ball. Morris' most encouraging stat may involve the latter, as he was fifth in the NBA last season with a 4.72 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Barton, 31, can also make plays for others in addition to scoring at a higher rate (14.7 ppg in 2021-22). Barton averaged 3.9 assists per game last season, solid for a two/three who isn't a particularly high usage player.

Where things get more debatable is on the defensive end. The Wizards were 25th in defensive rating, so they need major help and both Morris and Barton have drawn mixed reviews in that area. Defense isn't as easy to define by metrics and few players are consistently good defenders, relatively speaking, because of the skill level of NBA scorers these days and because of how the rules are skewed towards offense.

Wizards president Tommy Sheppard, however, has cited defensive real-plus minus in the past and both Morris and Barton show up well in that category. Morris was ninth among all NBA players last season, while Barton was 20th. Morris was No. 1 among all point guards, while Barton was second among all small forwards.

Another stat, though, tells a different story. Opposing players shot higher percentages against both Morris and Barton than they did against other players. For Barton it was +3.4 and for Morris it was +3.1. 

Whether the combination of the two will be enough to qualify as a net positive on that end of the floor, considering Caldwell-Pope is no longer on the team, is questionable. But having a capable defender at point guard is noteworthy, as the Wizards highlighted stopping the ball at the perimeter as a specific area to fix this offseason.

The Wizards also have more needs at point guard on their depth chart. They are expected to show interest in Delon Wright in free agency, NBC Sports Washington has learned. Other names to watch include Avery Bradley and Jevon Carter.

Time will tell just how much the Wizards helped themselves in Wednesday's trade. As they experienced last season, sometimes a track record of 3-point shooting doesn't translate when the personnel around a player changes. Defensively, they will hope the familiarity head coach Wes Unseld Jr. has with each player from his days as a Denver assistant makes for a smooth transition.

But there is a chance the Wizards helped themselves at least somewhat in addressing all three of their biggest needs; point guard, 3-point shooting and defense. That's not bad considering they didn't have to part with a draft pick, or take on an undesirable contract to get it done.