LOS ANGELES — Eugene Omoruyi is a talker on the bench. As one of three Washington Wizards players on a two-way contract, he feels he has to be.
So he talks.
“I just talk,” he said Thursday morning before the Wizards faced the Los Angeles Lakers in the first game of their three-game road trip. “I give myself a mental check. I talk to guys on court because sometimes they can see things from their perspective, sometimes people need encouragement or don’t know where they went wrong or people need positivity — just talking. Me talking from the bench allows me to be a part of the game without being in the game.”
Lately, the 27-year-old from Nigeria has heard his number called more often as the Wizards deal with a pair of injured starters and experiment with rotations as a means of exploring their roster. Rookie Bilal Coulibaly will miss his second game with a pelvis contusion Thursday, and Deni Avdija is set to return after missing the past three games with a left heel contusion.
That means Omoruyi and his down-the-roster brethren — fellow two-way players Jules Bernard and Jared Butler, guard Johnny Davis, forward Patrick Baldwin Jr. and forward Justin Champagnie, who is nearing the end of a 10-day contract — all of a sudden have been receiving first-quarter minutes after four months of mostly playing in garbage time.
“Right now, it’s a lot of discovery,” Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma said, “trying to figure out what a lot of guys do, what they can do, what they can’t do, what they bring to winning basketball.”
The Wizards’ discovery phase presents unusual challenges for both the players and the front office and coaching staff evaluating them.
Omoruyi, whose time on court this season has ranged from 20 seconds (in a loss to Phoenix in December) to more than 23 minutes (in a loss to Phoenix in February), must show Washington he deserves a full contract without the benefit of ever really getting in a good rhythm. Meanwhile, interim coach Brian Keefe and Co. have to evaluate players who might not be playing their natural position, might play just a few minutes a week or may have played an exhausting G League game the night before.
Omoruyi, for instance, is often deployed as an in-game energizer and a big body Keefe can put on hefty centers such as Golden State’s Draymond Green, whom Omoruyi spent time guarding Tuesday night. He has averaged just 7.6 minutes, 4.6 points and 2.1 rebounds across 27 games this season. He has shot 49 percent from the field on 3.6 attempts, which is not quite the full data set a talent evaluator needs for a proper analysis.
The trick for the Wizards’ coaches and front office is to expand the evaluation period.
Keefe and General Manager Will Dawkins aren’t just judging Champagnie based off his paltry 9:52 of playing time across two games. They’re watching how the forward works in practice, how he communicates with his teammates and how he treats those around him.
“It’s obviously much better when you get to see a guy play — Gene and Johnny and Patrick have all gotten chances lately — but all those things encompass how you evaluate players,” Keefe said.
Omoruyi’s task is a bit more physical. The 6-foot-6, 235 pound forward has to stay prepared while sitting on the bench to get ready to go full-bore at a moment’s notice. He also has to take care of his body well enough that it can survive the demands of playing in the G League.
Players on two-way contracts can be active for only 50 NBA games. Omoruyi is at 43 — players can be active for a game and not play — and has played in eight games with the Go-Go.
Travel isn’t as cushy in the G League, in which commercial flights, late-night trains, buses and even sprinter vans are employed to get players where they need to go. This season, a group including Omoruyi played in a Go-Go game in Washington the night before flying to a Wizards game in Brooklyn with a turnaround so tight they arrived at Barclays Center to suit up just in time for tip-off. That was considered a simple travel day.
“I’m not going to throw one of my brothers under the bus, but he checked a bag for just a few hours in Brooklyn and the bags were delayed two hours,” Omoruyi said, smiling. “It’s the grind of being in the best league in the world. We know what motivates us, and that’s to be in the big leagues. Knowing there’s that ultimate goal ahead, you can do anything. I would walk to the game if I needed to.”
