2015 Draft Thread - Part 1

[Rafael122]

I don't think the fact that Witt doesn't like playing rookies -- or the broader specter of limited short term PT -- is a reason not to take a guy. We have youth in the backcourt and on the wing, but no young bigs. It's a huge longterm need. I wouldn't even mind if next year's pick spent much of the season in the D-League..... d-ing.

The Wizards big man rotation should be fine next year -- particularly if we add depth on the wing. Depth on the wing means more Pierce at 4, more Nene at 5,and Hump and Drew would be sufficient as depth. Omri Casspi would fit great. Maybe Gerald Green or Belinelli, or perhaps Alexey Shved as well.

We do have youth, but where's the depth? If Beal goes down, we have Webster, but he hasn't been healthy. I don't think management should go into this offseason and use the MLE. Maybe the BAE or something, but look at the roster:

PG - Wall/Sessions/Temple
SG - Beal/Webster
SF - Pierce/Porter
PF - Nene/Humphries
C - Gortat/Blair

Already 11 players on the roster. Unless Pierce retires or Webster gets moved, while Green would be nice, he'll also cost 4-5 million per year. I think for the most part the roster is going to stay the same.

I am "guessing" but here goes - I think we will see Nene play more backup C next year. I think Gooden will return at the vet min or BAE. I think Porter will finally move into the starting lineup - Pierce might start at the S4. I think Butler will be back as well. I am more sold on Bobby Portis from the board group think.

I think the Webster/Blair signings weren't good ones... but that is "only" $7.5M.

I think the "Beal Question" will loom large this off-season and probably into next.

Butler probably isn't coming back. I could see the Wizards sending both Webster and Blair to Philadelphia without anything coming back. Would probably have to add some 2nd round picks, but it's not like Webster is a bad player. He has a bad contract, and could help Philly with their outside shooting problem.

[dckingsfan]

Why don't you see Butler coming back? Gooden for that matter...

[Ruzious]

Boomking wants to move up for a big -- willing to trade a future pick. Not me, not a chance. A future R2 won't get us much, and trading a future R1 to move up a few spots is a foolhardy notion.

FAH thinks there'll be "legit PF prospects" where we pick. DR projects Portis gone to the Celtics at #16 and Looney gone as well. That leaves Harrell, Martin, Wood, Alexander & Upshaw as bigs who DR sees going in r1. I can't see Harrell, Martin or Wood as particularly promising.

Robert Upshaw looks to be a stud, but... he's been sent home from two college programs two years in a row. I'd love to have him in a trade-down, especially as a R2 pick. DR projects him to the Warriors at #30, and they can afford the risk I guess.

I do like Cliff Alexander off his numbers. Haven't seen him play much. Would we be reaching to pick him?

DR now projects Tyus Jones to go #19, where we pick. Jones is a quality prospect; I'd be happy to have him.

If Jones is gone, and we're left picking between Harrell and Looney, I like Boomking's idea to move up into the 10-12 range to get either Kaminsky or Turner - but I'm higher on both of them then others seem to be. To me, Kaminsky almost can't miss being at least a solid starter and has a higher ceiling than most think - so I'd lean toward him over Turner - who I think has a slightly higher upside but is less of a sure thing.

[gambitx777]

How different is Portis from Andray Blatche?

he is a professional without off the field issues
he has a brain

How many years did Blatche play? How many incidents did Blatche have?

Portis is not a professional yet. You can assume that he will not have off-court issues.

I asked the question to compare style of play. Not get into another character assault thread. Subjective attacks about who has a brain don't do jack for me. I could just as easily say the young man who is not yet 30 was smart enough to make over 8 million from the Wizards, succeed for two seasons with the Nets, play overseas in China very well, and now sign on to play in the Philippines.

I would never defend his choices but I HATE when people hijack a thought just to talk negative stuff.

Portis' height and his relative lack of athleticism remind me of Blatche.

Portis is a better defender than Blatche, better mobility too. I also feel like he has a better motor too. Also, I feel like he can be a much better offensive option.

[Ruzious]

I'm not sure you can evaluate or compare Blatche without going into his lack of professionalism. It certainly effected his conditioning - which was terrible at time and never particularly good. That and his poor shot selection make it hard to compare him, because we never knew what we were going to get from him. He certainly had a lot of skills for a player with his size and length and decent athleticism, but it's almost irrelevant.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

he is a professional without off the field issues
he has a brain

How many years did Blatche play? How many incidents did Blatche have?

Portis is not a professional yet. You can assume that he will not have off-court issues.

I asked the question to compare style of play. Not get into another character assault thread. Subjective attacks about who has a brain don't do jack for me. I could just as easily say the young man who is not yet 30 was smart enough to make over 8 million from the Wizards, succeed for two seasons with the Nets, play overseas in China very well, and now sign on to play in the Philippines.

I would never defend his choices but I HATE when people hijack a thought just to talk negative stuff.

Portis' height and his relative lack of athleticism remind me of Blatche.

I think their styles of play are almost exact polar opposites. Porter is on the way to becoming a great "glue player". He does all the little things that help a team win, even if his stat line doesn't end up looking that impressive. He plays good D, he avoids turnovers and fouls, he makes hard cuts, he spaces the floor, the ball doesn't stick to him, he gets back on D, he scrums for loose balls. Blatche is the opposite. He does things that look good when successful, but all of his failures really hurt the team. He is foul prone, a mediocre rebounder, he shoots too much at a low percentage, he doesn't defend, he allows himself to get out of shape, and he's a ball stopper.

Otto Porter or Bobby Portis?

I think you mean college player at Arkansas, but your post describes and mentions Otto.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

he is a professional without off the field issues
he has a brain

How many years did Blatche play? How many incidents did Blatche have?

Portis is not a professional yet. You can assume that he will not have off-court issues.

I asked the question to compare style of play. Not get into another character assault thread. Subjective attacks about who has a brain don't do jack for me. I could just as easily say the young man who is not yet 30 was smart enough to make over 8 million from the Wizards, succeed for two seasons with the Nets, play overseas in China very well, and now sign on to play in the Philippines.

I would never defend his choices but I HATE when people hijack a thought just to talk negative stuff.

Portis' height and his relative lack of athleticism remind me of Blatche.

Portis is a better defender than Blatche, better mobility too. I also feel like he has a better motor too. Also, I feel like he can be a much better offensive option.

I think Portis plays with more energy at both ends.

I don't see him playing as big. Andre can post up and has terrific handles. He can play some C.

Portis seems to be a face up four at this point. Gambitx777, I do think he's more mobile than Andray.

I can see him running the court very well. Unfortunately, I suspect he's going to be selected before 19. Big men go early.

[gambitx777]

How many years did Blatche play? How many incidents did Blatche have?

Portis is not a professional yet. You can assume that he will not have off-court issues.

I asked the question to compare style of play. Not get into another character assault thread. Subjective attacks about who has a brain don't do jack for me. I could just as easily say the young man who is not yet 30 was smart enough to make over 8 million from the Wizards, succeed for two seasons with the Nets, play overseas in China very well, and now sign on to play in the Philippines.

I would never defend his choices but I HATE when people hijack a thought just to talk negative stuff.

Portis' height and his relative lack of athleticism remind me of Blatche.

Portis is a better defender than Blatche, better mobility too. I also feel like he has a better motor too. Also, I feel like he can be a much better offensive option.

I think Portis plays with more energy at both ends.

I don't see him playing as big. Andre can post up and has terrific handles. He can play some C.

Portis seems to be a face up four at this point. Gambitx777, I do think he's more mobile than Andray.

I can see him running the court very well. Unfortunately, I suspect he's going to be selected before 19. Big men go early.

That's true, But there are a lot of big men this draft, and a lot of teams are going to draft "need" over talent, there will also be teams who take a wing or guard thinking they can get a decent big later on because it is such a deep draft. But Portis could very well be gone by 19, but Christian Wood is just as good and a very similar player. Plus his D is better.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I can hear it now. "And with the #19 pick, the Wizards select, Kyle Wiltjer"

Edited: He's coming back one more season. My bad....

[Sluggerface]

Portis is a better defender than Blatche, better mobility too. I also feel like he has a better motor too. Also, I feel like he can be a much better offensive option.

I think Portis plays with more energy at both ends.

I don't see him playing as big. Andre can post up and has terrific handles. He can play some C.

Portis seems to be a face up four at this point. Gambitx777, I do think he's more mobile than Andray.

I can see him running the court very well. Unfortunately, I suspect he's going to be selected before 19. Big men go early.

That's true, But there are a lot of big men this draft, and a lot of teams are going to draft "need" over talent, there will also be teams who take a wing or guard thinking they can get a decent big later on because it is such a deep draft. But Portis could very well be gone by 19, but Christian Wood is just as good and a very similar player. Plus his D is better.

I'm really high on Wood (I really think he's low on some mocks because of how bad UNLV was this year, but that Arizona game was eye opening.) really high on Looney as well. I still think we need a faceup 4 to replace Nene/Gooden asap. It's difficult for me to choose between the two though.

Looney has a sweet stroke, and seems like he'd fit into a team oriented style of basketball off the ball with Wall, but Christian has a talent for isolation scoring and has a knack for beating his man off the dribble, and I really think this team needs someone like that, even if Beal does develop into a go-to guy. He also has an extra year of experience, despite being only 6 months older than Looney.

Either one would be good pick @19 in my book.

[Ruzious]

Wood's more error-prone and takes more bad shots than both Looney and Portis - especially Portis. Wood turned it over 3.0 times per 40 minutes compare to Portis' 1.9 even though Portis scores about 3 more points per 40. Looney turned it over only 1.5, but that's not as impressive as Portis, because Looney didn't score a lot. None of these guys are going to do much as far as setting up their teammates - another thing that sets Kaminsky apart from them.

[payitforward]

Off the numbers, Portis is *significantly* better than Wood. Looney is too.

But Portis and Looney look likely to be gone when our pick comes up. And in any case it is hard to predict the future of players off of these small sample sizes. That's the problem in a world where you're drafting 19 year olds.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I wonder if there is any way to trade this year's drafted player PLUS future considerations for Bobby Portis? Or ...

Is there any way the Wizards can do like the Spurs did when they acquired Kawhi Leonard?

No team wants Webster, but I would strongly consider giving up Humphries if it would yield Portis. I like Humphries and respect him a ton, but this is about acquiring a future asset. If the Wizards bring back Gooden that freezes out Hump. Nene is also a player I would consider trading on draft night, but his expiring deal is probably one to save until next season at the deadline.

It's too bad the Wizards didn't develop Glen Rice Jr. into the decent talent that he might have been. He could have become the "George Hill" that enabled SA to trade with Indiana to acquire Kawhi Leonard's draft rights.

[Ruzious]

I wonder if there is any way to trade this year's drafted player PLUS future considerations for Bobby Portis? Or ...

Is there any way the Wizards can do like the Spurs did when they acquired Kawhi Leonard?

No team wants Webster, but I would strongly consider giving up Humphries if it would yield Portis. I like Humphries and respect him a ton, but this is about acquiring a future asset. If the Wizards bring back Gooden that freezes out Hump. Nene is also a player I would consider trading on draft night, but his expiring deal is probably one to save until next season at the deadline.

It's too bad the Wizards didn't develop Glen Rice Jr. into the decent talent that he might have been. He could have become the "George Hill" that enabled SA to trade with Indiana to acquire Kawhi Leonard's draft rights.

They're not going to trade Nene's expiring contract unless they give up the hope to acquire Durant.

As for Rice, it's too bad he failed to show the character and maturity to make it in the NBA, so far. Maybe he'll grow up eventually, and maybe he won't.

[gambitx777]

I have no Idea how any one can say that Looney is significantly better than Wood. Wood is a better Scorer, a better rebounder, and a better defender! He was on a bad team, put him with wall and he will get much much better. You can at least make a case for Portis being better.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Well DX has most of the guys I like gone by our pick, not surprisingly. Kaminsky, Dekker, Portis, Booker to name a few...


Where they are I like both Anderson and Martin. Interested to see how Martin measures. Porter's emergence in the playoffs is nice to see, and could make the need for adding either of these 2 less relevant, and maybe Jones would be a good choice although I think he could be gone before our pick also.

But as we start to lose some of the older vets like Nene, Gooden, Butler Webster, Pierce over the next year or 2 there will be front court roles to fill. Dez Wells in the 2nd could be good too.

I like the competitiveness in Anderson and Martin, and Wells.

[Sluggerface]

Wood's more error-prone and takes more bad shots than both Looney and Portis - especially Portis. Wood turned it over 3.0 times per 40 minutes compare to Portis' 1.9 even though Portis scores about 3 more points per 40. Looney turned it over only 1.5, but that's not as impressive as Portis, because Looney didn't score a lot. None of these guys are going to do much as far as setting up their teammates - another thing that sets Kaminsky apart from them.

A lot of that comes from the majority of Wood's possessions coming out of Isolation, and Wood being UNLV's only viable offensive option in general (Nobody on UNLV even came close to matching Wood's production, He was easily twice as good as their next best player). Wood posted a 7% higher usage rating compared to Looney. More turnovers/bad shots are only natural. He got to the line the most out of all three though, and his true shooting percentage was comparable to Portis.

[Ruzious]

Wood's more error-prone and takes more bad shots than both Looney and Portis - especially Portis. Wood turned it over 3.0 times per 40 minutes compare to Portis' 1.9 even though Portis scores about 3 more points per 40. Looney turned it over only 1.5, but that's not as impressive as Portis, because Looney didn't score a lot. None of these guys are going to do much as far as setting up their teammates - another thing that sets Kaminsky apart from them.

A lot of that comes from the majority of Wood's possessions coming out of Isolation, and Wood being UNLV's only viable offensive option in general (Nobody on UNLV even came close to matching Wood's production, He was easily twice as good as their next best player). Wood posted a 7% higher usage rating compared to Looney. More turnovers/bad shots are only natural. He got to the line the most out of all three though, and his true shooting percentage was comparable to Portis.

Fair enough. Do you think he's going to be strong enough to stop bigs from pushing him around and having their way with him in the NBA?

[Sluggerface]

Wood's more error-prone and takes more bad shots than both Looney and Portis - especially Portis. Wood turned it over 3.0 times per 40 minutes compare to Portis' 1.9 even though Portis scores about 3 more points per 40. Looney turned it over only 1.5, but that's not as impressive as Portis, because Looney didn't score a lot. None of these guys are going to do much as far as setting up their teammates - another thing that sets Kaminsky apart from them.

A lot of that comes from the majority of Wood's possessions coming out of Isolation, and Wood being UNLV's only viable offensive option in general (Nobody on UNLV even came close to matching Wood's production, He was easily twice as good as their next best player). Wood posted a 7% higher usage rating compared to Looney. More turnovers/bad shots are only natural. He got to the line the most out of all three though, and his true shooting percentage was comparable to Portis.

Fair enough. Do you think he's going to be strong enough to stop bigs from pushing him around and having their way with him in the NBA?

No, I don't, I'm not as worried about it though, given the direction the league is going with mobile bigs. Wood has great instincts and is a good shot blocker, the potential for rim protection is there. Between Looney and Portis, Wood actually had the best defensive rating out of the 3.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Sluggerface, I gotta watch scouting video on Wood and many, many others. I used to prefer to use statistics and intangibles like strength of competition, background information, and big games like the NCAA Tournament to shape my evaluation. I didn't like the eye tests that relied on measurables small or how I guy looked in one game.

For exsmple, back in the day Jared Jeffries was rated well above Carlos Boozer on draft night. Everything I evaluated said Boozer is better. Jeffries was the lottery pick. Boozer is still in the NBA. (I also had Boozer way ahead of Mike Dunleavy Jr. Stats proved me right.) Stats worked out on a LOT of other pospects. I busted on Morris Almond.

Now I have to give videos a look to do due diligence. Christian Wood might look better if I actually watch video footage of him playing. The DX videographer might be biased at times. I will also check out youtube.

Same of course on Looney, Portis. McCullogh, and others.

I am now convinced Tyus Jones is a good pick--kid has winning gene, big time! His stats aren't real impressive but his intangibles are way impressive.