Player evaluation time has come again. You can find the evaluations from ’07-08 here. Up first for ’08-09 is Big Oily Pecherov. My thoughts and some images from the season are below, you can check on the full evaluation report on Bullets Forever.

I could cite some of Oleksiy Pecherov’s mediocre numbers, including his assist per 138.5 minutes rate, but they’re a moot indicator as to his value to the franchise. The 23-year old just didn’t get enough time on the court. However, when a guy’s player evaluation from last year can be easily recycled, a bulk of responsibility lies on his shoulders.

Rail if you will on the Wizards’ player development, or lack thereof, and whether or not Ed Tapscott stunted growth. The fact remains that if Pecherov gave more reasons for increased run, the minutes would have found him, especially in such an injury plagued year. The epitome of his season’s effort was more when he got blocked by the 6’2″ Boobie Gibson in the last meeting against Cleveland than the few positive moments.

Already behind a prideful veteran exempt from the bench (Antawn Jamison), a rookie with more fire and defensive instinct (JaVale McGee), a role player with court smarts (Darius Songaila), an inconsistent prospect with a much better skill set (Andray Blatche), and the occasional Etan Thomas sighting, the Ukrainian goof-ball dubbed ‘Big Oily’ was already in a position where working extra hard was a prerequisite for more time.

At one point, Pech seemed to want to rebound, which is more than you can say for many European big men with an outside touch. But it’s not encouraging that hustle on the glass decreased, while hovering around the arc increased, toward the end of the year, at least in practice as Kevin Broom highlighted on the Secret Weapon. I like Pechrov, but his comedic shtick isn’t much without meaningful contribution.

Imagine if Pech used the three point shot as a threat and not a crutch. Imagine if he became a great pick and pop big, opening up the lane for penetration. Imagine if Big Oily had a high defensive IQ. Imagine if he had the heart of Songaila. If you can conjure all of this magically happening over the summer, I’d say you need to come back to reality.

From: Deep Thoughts with Nick Young and Oleksiy Pecherov