Ian Mahinmi signing a symbol of strange offseason for Wizards

Ian Mahinmi was happy at the end of his introductory conference call with Washington reporters.

“I like you guys, no tricky questions,” Mahinmi said with a laugh.

Mahinmi spent almost 13 minutes on the line last week talking about his decision to sign with the Washington Wizards in the offseason. At the same time, Al Horford was holding up his new Boston Celtics jersey and smiling for photos. The two defined what was an odd offseason for the Wizards.

After leaving the Indiana Pacers and signing a four-year, $64 million contract, Mahinmi became the Wizards’ largest expenditure among unrestricted free agents in the offseason. For three years, they finessed their roster to have expansive salary cap room this summer. The Kevin Durant Dream died a rapid death. Hope for another maximum contract player like Nicolas Batum was based only in the lure of rooting for long shots. He predictably re-signed with the Charlotte Hornets. Re-signing restricted free agent Bradley Beal was common sense.

So, there was Horford, vaulted onto the open market when the Atlanta Hawks signed Dwight Howard. Horford’s decision came down to Washington and Boston. The Celtics gave Horford the largest contract in organization history. The Wizards signed Mahinmi, a career backup who will continue to be a backup and unexpectedly become the team’s face of the offseason.

The Wizards’ results the next four seasons are certainly not anchored in Mahinmi’s production. But, if he doesn’t play well and the Wizards miss the playoffs once again, it is the center’s name that will be referenced when the bungling of the offseason is mentioned.

There are many rationalizations to consider when assessing a player’s annual salary. The salary cap is chief among them, as is time in the league. But, players often don’t care about those things. Members of the Wizards’ roster will look up and note Mahinmi is their third-highest paid player next season, just a mere $1.013 million behind three-time all-star John Wall. Beal has the highest contract on the team now. Last season, both Marcin Gortat and Wall mentioned the salaries of non-teammates they thought were inferior to them. They are well aware of the bloated financial numbers that exist on their team and otherwise in the league now.

That’s the situation Mahinmi finds himself in during his first season with the Wizards. He arrives to his fourth NBA team to provide two things: better rebounding and defense. Washington could desperately use an uptick in each. A late-season improvement allowed the Wizards to finish 23rd last season in opponent’s field-goal percentage after being last most of the season. They were 25th in rebounding percentage.

“For me, being a Pacer for four years, everything was first getting stops, getting rebounds,” Mahinmi said. “That was the foundation of our game. We wanted to get stops and rebounds. My game has been built around that.”

The 6-foot-11 center is skilled at each. His defensive ratings the last four seasons were 98, 97, 100 and 100. Last season, he averaged 13.9 rebounds per 100 possessions. When Mahinmi’s minutes jumped to 25.6 last season, his offensive production increased and his defense remained at a high level.

Before joining the team, Mahinmi thought that the Wizards played hard. He called the 2014 playoff series between the Indiana Pacers and the Wizards one of the toughest he has played in (Mahinmi has been on a team that has gone to the playoffs in six of his eight seasons in the league).

“It’s never really easy to go and play the Wizards,” Mahinmi said. “You know from the start it’s going to be a tough game. Just a bunch of hard-nosed players. From the outside, before I got signed, I always enjoyed playing against D.C. because you knew you were going to be up for a challenge.”

That was the culture that held under former coach Randy Wittman until last season, when Wittman repeatedly called the team “soft” in his public comments. The scrappiness that had vaulted the Wizards toward the top of the league in defense evaporated for the majority of the season.

So when the marquee names they wanted during the offseason shunned them, the Wizards decided to focus on their most basic flaws. At the end, it cost them a lot to pay Mahinmi for his help to cover them up.