How do you fix this team?

[Rafael122]

So in other words, keep Wall, N1, Booker, and Seraphin definitely. Those are our tier i guys.

Tier ii/bubble guys: McGee, Baltche, Crawford, Ndiaye, Evans

Don't let the door hit you on the way out: Lewis, Howard, Martin, Shakur, Jianlian

Yi should be in a different category. The "I'd pack your bags and drive you to the airport myself" category.

Hamady should be in the 3rd tier. He's only useful because he's Kevin's buddy, but other than that?

Evans is gone after this year. Crawford I'd keep. Everyone else can be traded if the package is right.

[Ruzious]

I agree with your analysis, nate. Only quibble is on Young. I'd keep him if he comes cheap. He's not worth sacrificing a shot at a max salary player, though. A lot depends on that new CBA. If there's a Houston provision, the Wiz can dump Lewis and have plenty of money to re-sign Young and go shopping for talent. If they're stuck with the cap situation as things stand now, then Young's gotta be real cheap.

They need to find a new home for Baltche.

I had forgotten about the Houston provision possibility. Theoretically, how would that work - would it be effective just on the last year of a bad contract?

On the positive side with Young, he'll be an RFA (assuming the CBA doesn't change that this offseason), so at least there's a possibility of a sign and trade - possibly to a team under the cap that doesn't need to give us much - if any - salary back and could give us a pick or 2.

[AnotherFinn]

Hamady should be in the 3rd tier. He's only useful because he's Kevin's buddy, but other than that?

Hamady is defence minded hard worker with positive attitude and he does not mind contact. Yes his offence sucks, but I have more faith that he will work on that than McGee starting to play good defence...

[TGW]

Houston provision....care to explain?

[nate33]

I agree with your analysis, nate. Only quibble is on Young. I'd keep him if he comes cheap. He's not worth sacrificing a shot at a max salary player, though. A lot depends on that new CBA. If there's a Houston provision, the Wiz can dump Lewis and have plenty of money to re-sign Young and go shopping for talent. If they're stuck with the cap situation as things stand now, then Young's gotta be real cheap.

They need to find a new home for Baltche.

When I disagree with you, I usually find myself being wrong, but I'm going to go ahead and do it anyhow.

While obviously I'd prefer to sign Young really cheap, I'd have no problems paying him $5M a year if that's what it took to keep him. I might even go up to $6M a year. I think he is a legit player, a quality starter in this league. Our team is way too bereft of talent to let quality young starters walk away.

If our concern is 2012 cap room, I'd retain Young and then do what it takes to dump Blatche for a 2012 contract.

[verbal8]

This is nowhere near plan A, but could signing Kenyon Martin to a one year deal help the Wizards?

He seems like at this point he would likely be looking at the LLE. The Wizards could offer him more in exchange for just a one year deal. I can think of a number of bigs(Kurt Thomas, Camby, Ratliff, McDyess) who have lost athelticism, but been effective at roughly the same point in their careers.

He would provide legit starting competition for Blatche at PF. And would probably work pretty well paired with McGee.

[Ruzious]

Houston provision....care to explain?

There was an Allan Houston rule in a previous CBA. He had a huge contract for his era but got a career-threatening injury - so his contract was a burden on the Knicks. I think that rule protected the Knicks from the luxury tax - and didn't actually provide salary cap benefits, but my memory is sketchy. I think the thought for the upcoming CBA is for a rule that would let you reduce the cap effect of certain burdensome contracts.

[Nivek]

Well shoot. I just looked it up, and the Houston rule applied only to luxury tax consequences. It allowed teams to release a player and get out from under luxury tax consequences from that player's deal. The team still had to PAY the player the money remaining, but they wouldn't have to pay luxury tax. In my defective memory, I thought they'd also gotten cap relief, but not so.

Kinda funny, but although the rule was casually dubbed "The Houston Rule," the Knicks didn't use it on Houston -- they used it on Jerome Williams instead. Go figure. If I recall correctly, Dallas ended up paying Michael Finley something like $37 million to go play for the minimum in San Antonio.

I'm still hoping there'll be an opportunity at cap relief from the upcoming CBA. The union should favor it. Teams could create some cap room and pay someone new. Probably won't happen, though.

[Nivek]

While obviously I'd prefer to sign Young really cheap, I'd have no problems paying him $5M a year if that's what it took to keep him. I might even go up to $6M a year. I think he is a legit player, a quality starter in this league. Our team is way too bereft of talent to let quality young starters walk away.

If our concern is 2012 cap room, I'd retain Young and then do what it takes to dump Blatche for a 2012 contract.

That's where we differ. I don't think he's a starter on a good team. On a crappy team? Sure. But not on a good team.

That said, at $5 million per, I'd sign him and pawn Blatche (of course, I'd pawn Blatche whether I signed Young or not, but that's a different conversation). I'd definitely try to be creative and front load the contract as much as possible. That creates more cap space down the line, makes it more palatable to bring him off the bench when/if he doesn't work as a starter, and makes him easier to deal if necessary.

[LyricalRico]

This is nowhere near plan A, but could signing Kenyon Martin to a one year deal help the Wizards?

He seems like at this point he would likely be looking at the LLE. The Wizards could offer him more in exchange for just a one year deal. I can think of a number of bigs(Kurt Thomas, Camby, Ratliff, McDyess) who have lost athelticism, but been effective at roughly the same point in their careers.

He would provide legit starting competition for Blatche at PF. And would probably work pretty well paired with McGee.

I wouldn't mind adding KMart, but I think he's still above the LLE price range. I'd consider signing him for a 1 year MLE size deal if were able to deal Blatche and draft a PF prospect with our lotto pick.

But I fully expect him to be looking for a longterm deal and that nixes it for me.

[hands11]

If Kevin develops that gives the zards a lot more options. I like that Kevin is 275. I like his footwork and his hook shot, I like his help defense. Give him some burn over the next twenty games, if he becomes starter material then you can have McGee come off the bench or trade him for some similar athletically gifted but boneheaded young player.

Seraphin has the inside track to be the starting center. I think that is pretty clear. The kid is mean, strong, and quick quick quick on his feet. For that matter, I think Booker has shown the basic drive. power and quickness to be a key player also. It is clearly Dray and McGee who need to grow up and get focused. Right there they have three really quick players. McGee for his height is amazingly quick and has great leaps.

That's the kind of competition you want on a young team. Hopefully they are all get better. I actually think benching McGee at this point would be the best thing for him. He is actually pretty prideful. A benching at this point would help provide him the fuel he needs to put in a good summer. Not that I don't think he will work hard anyway but this would help him really focus.

From there, it's just a matter of how you play them or who you move. I like the idea of McGee off the bench.

I think they are in a good position. Just because they are not winning now doesn't mean they don't have good respects. This is a team playing 4 rookies and McGee who is still a young big man.

[Wizards2Lottery]

Blatche probably has zero trade value but ship McGee out of here as soon as possible. Cash in while his trade value is still high. He has no clue on what to do on the court and it's not because of the coaching. **** idiot.

[fugop]

This is nowhere near plan A, but could signing Kenyon Martin to a one year deal help the Wizards?

He seems like at this point he would likely be looking at the LLE. The Wizards could offer him more in exchange for just a one year deal. I can think of a number of bigs(Kurt Thomas, Camby, Ratliff, McDyess) who have lost athelticism, but been effective at roughly the same point in their careers.

He would provide legit starting competition for Blatche at PF. And would probably work pretty well paired with McGee.

I wouldn't mind adding KMart, but I think he's still above the LLE price range. I'd consider signing him for a 1 year MLE size deal if were able to deal Blatche and draft a PF prospect with our lotto pick.

But I fully expect him to be looking for a longterm deal and that nixes it for me.

I'd love to bring in Kenyon Martin, if only to beat the hell out of Blatche and McGee and whatever other soft big we have lurking next season. That said, I bet he goes ring chasing.

[verbal8]

I'd love to bring in Kenyon Martin, if only to beat the hell out of Blatche and McGee and whatever other soft big we have lurking next season. That said, I bet he goes ring chasing.

A one year deal with the Wizards actually puts him in a decent position for ring chasing. Basically every vet the Wizards(Jamsion, Butler, Haywood, Arenas, Hinrich) have had the past couple years has ended the season on a play-off team. If there wasn't a trade market and the Wizards weren't going to the play-offs, I could see them buying him out if there was no trade materializing.

[W. Unseld]

My only addition to this is I think Howard is better than he's shown here so far. That injury takes a while to recover from and he's been off the court a while. He might be worth another 1 year flier if it could be done cap-wise.

[nate33]

My only addition to this is I think Howard is better than he's shown here so far. That injury takes a while to recover from and he's been off the court a while. He might be worth another 1 year flier if it could be done cap-wise.

It's worth consideration, but I'm not optimistic

Assuming Young is signed to something like $5M a year, and the cap remains unchanged (or salaries are retroactively reduced along with a reduction in the cap), we will have about $5M in cap room. We can either use that cap room for a BOYD trade, to frontload Young's salary, or to retain a veteran mentor like Howard. Given our abundance of youth already on the team, I'm not really in love with buying another mid to late round pick. Maybe a BOYD to move up from #20 to #12 or so is worth consideration, but that's about it. I think the best use of our cap room might be to work out a Nick Collison style front-loaded deal for Young. I just don't think a guy like Howard will be a priority. I'd rather try and sign whatever Hilton Armstrong type vets we can find with the vet minimum.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

nate, I rarely consider cap matters and such. Still, I find it hard to believe a 22ppg, highlight reel SG is only going to command $5M.

[verbal8]

nate, I rarely consider cap matters and such. Still, I find it hard to believe a 22ppg, highlight reel SG is only going to command $5M.

His season average is 17.9 He compares pretty closely to Wes Mathews who signed for a deal starting at $5.7 million/year.

[Ruzious]

nate, I rarely consider cap matters and such. Still, I find it hard to believe a 22ppg, highlight reel SG is only going to command $5M.

His season average is 17.9 He compares pretty closely to Wes Mathews who signed for a deal starting at $5.7 million/year.

Eh, Matthews was coming off his rookie year (and he wasn't even drafted) where he averaged under 10 PPG. Unfortunately, I think CCJ is right.

[Nivek]

I think CCJ is right about Young's future compensation, which is why I think ultimately the Wizards will be better off letting him leave.