The minutes and workload of John Wall and Bradley Beal were a careful consideration of the Wizards throughout the 2016-17 season, from the very beginning when Wall was on a minutes limit coming off two offseason knee surgeries through the trade deadline when they brought in pieces to help, all the way to the end when the Wizards exhausted all of their options in a Game 7 loss to the Celtics.
So, naturally, that storyline persisted in the aftermath of it all. Even Celtics guard Marcus Smart remarked after Game 7 how Wall, in particular, had worn down and that "his legs were gone."
Wall, Beal and head coach Scott Brooks all addressed the issue while contemplating why they fell just a few shots and defensive stops short of the Eastern Conference Finals.
All three parties admitted that players were weary by the end, but couched those statements carefully.
"I think we was fatigued, but that's not an excuse," Wall said.
"I'm not going to be naive and say we weren't tired and that exhaustion didn't play a little factor," Beal added. "But at the same time you still have to be mentally tough to fight through it."
"You can say maybe we did run out of gas a little bit," Brooks said. "But that's nothing to look back at and say 'that's the reason.' Tip your hat off to them. They played well."
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Wall did not set career-highs in average minutes per game or in total minutes played, though he did rank fifth in the NBA in the category. Those numbers, however, were affected by the minutes restriction he had in the first few weeks of the season that dictated he could not play in both legs of a back-to-back set.
Beal did reach personal highs in minutes and minutes per game, but that was in part a product of him finally being healthy for a full season. After four injury-affected seasons, Beal sees getting through 2016-17 relatively unscathed as a source of pride.
The Wizards did several things to ensure Wall and Beal would not be harmed by playing so much. Under the direction of a new training staff, Brooks kept some practices short and gave players more days off than they had in years past. That included the day before Game 7.
"We had a couple of days off, so I knew we could go with guys longer. John and Brad had great games. I probably played them maybe two or three minutes than I probably should have," Brooks admitted of Wall, who played 44 minutes, and Beal who played 45.
"But you can see body language and you talk to them throughout the game and in a long timeout. I was still comfortable playing them those extra minutes. I had confidence in our bench all year. Our bench has been good. In the playoffs, you always cut the minutes down a little bit because of the days between games. We don't do as much on the court when we do have practice days."
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Ultimately, the minutes of Wall and Beal bring focus onto that second unit that Brooks referenced. The backup point guard position was a work in progress all season and something they addressed around the trade deadline by signing Brandon Jennings. It will remain a point of emphasis this offseason.
The Wizards never had a true backup shooting guard, though they were able to give Beal a rest at times by playing Wall with other point guards. The acquisition of Bojan Bogdanovic gave them a backup three-point shooter, though he wasn't a perfect one-for-one for Beal.
There were times this season where the Wizards knew playing Wall and Beal as much as they did was not ideal.
"I think we definitely can use that help a little bit," Beal said of upgrading the backup guard position. "We played 45 and [44] minutes… That does wear on you eventually. But I think it's definitely something that [general manager] Ernie [Grunfeld] will be looking into."
Both Wall and Beal agreed that by the end it was a situation of mind over matter, that them being tired was no reason to cite as to why they fell short of their ultimate goal. Brooks knows that and appreciates it as a coach.
"One thing I love about John is his competitiveness. He's not going to make an excuse, even if he was tired. In a playoff game, in a Game 7, you should play until you're tired. You don't want to leave anything in the locker room, you want to leave it on the floor. I think all of our guys did that," he said.
Still, playing heavy minutes is not ideal. The question is how the Wizards address that problem. Can Tomas Satoransky step up and fill the backup point guard role? Do they need to acquire a true backup shooting guard? Beyond the future of free agents Otto Porter and Bogdanovic, that may be the Wizards' most pressing offseason question.
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