Given Chance, Kevin Seraphin Proves Worth
Follow
By DERON SNYDER
As it turns out, Nene and Brian Cook weren’t the only bigs Washington acquired when it traded JaVale McGee, Nick Young and Ronny Turiaf. The Wizards also got the new-and-improved player who was buried on their bench. Wednesday’s game against Indiana presented more evidence of the discovery, yet another exciting chapter in “The Evolution of Kevin Seraphin.”
Seraphin scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds in the loss, continuing an impressive stretch of play since the trades March 15. He actually provided a glimpse of the future three games earlier, when he broke out for 14 points and nine rebounds in the Wizards’ shocking upset of the Los Angeles Lakers.
But the 6-foot-9 forward/center from French Guiana really took off after McGee’s departure. Seraphin played 1 minute, 35 seconds — with zeroes across the board — in the Wizards’ last game with McGee on the roster. Seraphin started the next game, contributing 12 points and nine boards in 29 minutes. He has reached double figures in scoring in 10 of the Wizards’ 13 games since the trade and recorded the first three double-doubles of his career.
“For a young man who just started playing basketball five years ago, it’s amazing,” said Nene, the player to whom Seraphin compared himself after being selected 17th overall by Chicago in the 2010 draft.
