After an extremely disappointing first half of the season, the Washington Wizards have been playing much better recently and have gotten themselves within three games of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards made a big move at the trade deadline to bring in Markieff Morris from the Suns, but it looks as though they are not done adding frontcourt help. The Wizards are expected to sign J.J. Hickson to a deal for the remainder of the season, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo! Sports.
Charania reports that the Wizards and Hickson are in advanced discussions and that a deal is expected to be completed soon. In order for Hickson to be eligible for the postseason, should the Wizards make it, Hickson would need to be signed before March 1, but that doesn't seem like it will be a problem.
Hickson was with the Denver Nuggets earlier this year but only received playing time when the Nuggets had frontcourt injuries. Denver has one of the deepest frontcourts in the NBA, and because of that, Hickson played in just 20 games for them this season. The Nuggets tried to trade Hickson but could not find a partner, so they agreed on a buyout so that he could seek playing time elsewhere.
The Wizards wouldn't seem like a fit for Hickson on the surface, but they did trade away two power forwards (Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair) in the deal that brought Morris in so they could use another body. Hickson may not receive much playing time behind Nene, Marcin Gortat, Morris and Jared Dudley, but he is a big body who could be very productive if they call on him. Although Hickson wasn't used much in Denver this season, he did still average 16.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per 36 minutes with them, so he certainly has the ability to help out a team like the Wizards.
Hickson was one of the less heralded players who were bought out, as guys like David Lee, Anderson Varejao and Steve Novak drew more attention. Some people, including Bobby Marks of The Vertical, believe that Hickson will be more impactful than any of those guys who signed immediately after being released by their former teams. As mentioned before, Hickson likely won't get major minutes in Washington, and he may not even be a regular part of the rotation, but he is a solid fill-in should they suffer an injury in the frontcourt.
