Official 2023 Wizards OFFSEASON Thread

[NatP4]

Excited for the Deni breakout if Kuzma isn’t brought back.

[Frichuela]

I'd say it seems like a good bet that Kuzma will be let go. They're clearly looking to rebuild (either immediately or starting December 15th when Beal can be traded for recently signed free agents). And it makes little sense for a rebuilding team to pay Kuzma something on the order of $25M a year. So Kuzma is gone unless there are no strong offers from other teams and he can be resigned to a contract that gives him trade value.

Not going to count my chickens yet, but damn what a good feeling Kuzma's free agency from going it to almost being a soul-sucking inevitability he resigned here to be majorly in doubt now. He was going to get the bag here, then want to bolt as soon as he could, meanwhile taking minutes away from Deni (if he is still here too, which I think he will be) in a make or break year for him with this franchise.

Unless he is signed to a super reasonable deal and told he's going to be our 6th man, which would never happen from a locker room/ego perspective, let him be gone. Try to get an asset in a sign-and-trade if you can, but I'm fine letting him walk for nothing.

An option here is a S&T to the Knicks for Fournier and our 2024 1st pick back. Fournier has 1 year left and a smart organization would try to see if they can recoup some trade value for him (e.g. second rounder) by the trade deadline. Otherwise, nothing to lose, we buy him out and let him go.

[Frichuela]

Excited for the Deni breakout if Kuzma isn’t brought back.

We shall see. I hope so too. But it may be Deni is traded this offseason…

[nate33]

I'd say it seems like a good bet that Kuzma will be let go. They're clearly looking to rebuild (either immediately or starting December 15th when Beal can be traded for recently signed free agents). And it makes little sense for a rebuilding team to pay Kuzma something on the order of $25M a year. So Kuzma is gone unless there are no strong offers from other teams and he can be resigned to a contract that gives him trade value.

Not going to count my chickens yet, but damn what a good feeling Kuzma's free agency from going it to almost being a soul-sucking inevitability he resigned here to be majorly in doubt now. He was going to get the bag here, then want to bolt as soon as he could, meanwhile taking minutes away from Deni (if he is still here too, which I think he will be) in a make or break year for him with this franchise.

Unless he is signed to a super reasonable deal and told he's going to be our 6th man, which would never happen from a locker room/ego perspective, let him be gone. Try to get an asset in a sign-and-trade if you can, but I'm fine letting him walk for nothing.

I don't think he has to settle for 6th man. If he agrees to a descending deal that starts at around $20M and ends at $16M, I'd be okay resigning him. There are plenty of minutes for Kuzma, Deni and Kispert to share - particularly if Beal is moved and Kispert plays some SG.

Right now, the team has literally no young players capable of being a first or second option on offense. I'm fine with Kuzma soaking up some usage early on, and then being moved for value 2 years down the road when are youngsters are ready to take on a bigger role.

[nate33]

Excited for the Deni breakout if Kuzma isn’t brought back.

We shall see. I hope so too. But it may be Deni is traded this offseason…

If Deni is traded, it will be for another young guy with equivalent upside. I'm okay with that.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Excited for the Deni breakout if Kuzma isn’t brought back.

We shall see. I hope so too. But it may be Deni is traded this offseason…

If Deni is traded, it will be for another young guy with equivalent upside. I'm okay with that.

If we are indeed going to rebuild, it makes no sense to trade Deni. Give him one last year to really prove himself at 22, and if he doesn't, then you think about moving him. If he pans out, he's plenty young enough to factor into a rebuild.

Only chance I see him getting traded is for draft capital, and they see someone they love. Even still, I'm obviously pro-Deni development, so would really like for them to give him the year. I think he's set for his breakout, it would be a shame to watch him go do on another team.

[nate33]

We shall see. I hope so too. But it may be Deni is traded this offseason…

If Deni is traded, it will be for another young guy with equivalent upside. I'm okay with that.

If we are indeed going to rebuild, it makes no sense to trade Deni. Give him one last year to really prove himself at 22, and if he doesn't, then you think about moving him. If he pans out, he's plenty young enough to factor into a rebuild.

Only chance I see him getting traded is for draft capital, and they see someone they love. I'm obviously pro-Deni development, so would really like for them to give him the year. I think he's set for his breakout, it would be a shame to watch him go do on another team.

An example of the type of deal I'm thinking about would be Deni for Kuminga. I think it makes pretty good sense for both teams. Deni would be a great fit as a passing forward and versatile defender in their system - sort of a Draymond Green understudy, though without the ability to guard centers.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

If Deni is traded, it will be for another young guy with equivalent upside. I'm okay with that.

If we are indeed going to rebuild, it makes no sense to trade Deni. Give him one last year to really prove himself at 22, and if he doesn't, then you think about moving him. If he pans out, he's plenty young enough to factor into a rebuild.

Only chance I see him getting traded is for draft capital, and they see someone they love. I'm obviously pro-Deni development, so would really like for them to give him the year. I think he's set for his breakout, it would be a shame to watch him go do on another team.

An example of the type of deal I'm thinking about would be Deni for Kuminga. I think it makes pretty good sense for both teams. Deni would be a great fit as a passing forward and versatile defender in their system - sort of a Draymond Green understudy, though without the ability to guard centers.

But I want him to be our Draymond Green...

[dckingsfan]

Excited for the Deni breakout if Kuzma isn’t brought back.

Seems like there is rumblings now of a real rebuild. Going to be very interesting to see how this plays out...

[Jay81]

Ted could sign Chris Paul and try to run it back for the 8th seed….this years 8 seed is 3 games from nba finals

[NatP4]

I’m not sure if Kuminga is even a NBA caliber player at this point. No thanks

Avdija is going to shine with a bigger role

[EWINGtheory]

Just wanted to congratulate you guys, it appears you finally may get your wish and get good management and roster construction with realistic goals of where the team is and how to get where you all want.

No guarantee winger will have success but just to see that it appears leonsis is giving him full autonomy is very encouraging. Good luck this offseason at the draft and moving forward

[payitforward]

I remember draft day 2011 I was sitting Infront of this old box set my mom had from the 90s and I was begging for kawhi I had done pages on a message board that wasn't this one as to why he's the guy and if he's gone we should go for Burks or jimmer..... I was admittedly not a clay guy back then. Then we take vesley ....
I was broken
Then the 18th came around. I really wanted to trade back . I wanted to target guys like Marshon Brooks (not the Memphis one), Jordan Hamilton,, Kyle singler, bojan, or jimmy. I really liked bojan way better than jimmy in my draft research. But we took singleton ....

...feels like I'm a young man again watching the draft in my mom's sitting room.

Don't worry, gamby, you're still young to me!

What's really funny is that it sounds like you'd have been at least reasonably satisfied if we'd taken Jimmer Fredette & Jordan Hamilton in R1 that year!

Sigh..... Look I was just recounting it honestly lol. I was being honest and not using 20/20 hind sight. But you could absolutely argue that Jordan Hamilton and jimmer might have ended up better than vesley and singleton did. Lol

Good point!

[payitforward]

Just wanted to congratulate you guys, it appears you finally may get your wish and get good management and roster construction with realistic goals of where the team is and how to get where you all want.

No guarantee winger will have success but just to see that it appears leonsis is giving him full autonomy is very encouraging. Good luck this offseason at the draft and moving forward

Thanks, man! & it was nice to see the Knicks have such a solid season -- a team very much on the way up!

[Jay81]

Looking back...Tommy had a historically bad year. Almost as bad as ernies 2016

Signing beal
Drafted Davis
2nd round pick lol
Trading for will Barton
Not getting a 1st for rui
Not trading delon Wright
Not trading kuzma
Lying about rui/ deni



Sent from my SM-A515U using Tapatalk

[Frichuela]

Looking back...Tommy had a historically bad year. Almost as bad as ernies 2016

Signing beal
Drafted Davis
2nd round pick lol
Trading for will Barton
Not getting a 1st for rui
Not trading delon Wright
Not trading kuzma
Lying about rui/ deni



Sent from my SM-A515U using Tapatalk

Second hand car salesman at his best…good riddance.

[EWINGtheory]

Just wanted to congratulate you guys, it appears you finally may get your wish and get good management and roster construction with realistic goals of where the team is and how to get where you all want.

No guarantee winger will have success but just to see that it appears leonsis is giving him full autonomy is very encouraging. Good luck this offseason at the draft and moving forward

Thanks, man! & it was nice to see the Knicks have such a solid season -- a team very much on the way up!

No problem and back at ya!

[nate33]

If we are indeed going to rebuild, it makes no sense to trade Deni. Give him one last year to really prove himself at 22, and if he doesn't, then you think about moving him. If he pans out, he's plenty young enough to factor into a rebuild.

Only chance I see him getting traded is for draft capital, and they see someone they love. I'm obviously pro-Deni development, so would really like for them to give him the year. I think he's set for his breakout, it would be a shame to watch him go do on another team.

An example of the type of deal I'm thinking about would be Deni for Kuminga. I think it makes pretty good sense for both teams. Deni would be a great fit as a passing forward and versatile defender in their system - sort of a Draymond Green understudy, though without the ability to guard centers.

But I want him to be our Draymond Green...

I just think Golden State's system leverages Deni's strengths while hiding his weaknesses more than our system does. I think he is a better fit there than here. Likewise, I think Golden State's system is too complicated for Kuminga. He just doesn't play the read/react game very well. But Kuminga does have some interesting basketball skills that might work better in a more traditional pick-and-roll type of system.

I'm not even advocating for such a trade. I'm just saying I don't consider Deni untouchable. Moving him isn't necessarily a departure from a rebuilding plan as long as he is being moved for a pick/prospect with similar upside.

[pcbothwel]

Nate. Winger and co are making big moves that move us in a direction. Beal for Brown and Deni for Kuminga are valid trades… but they don’t set a direction.

[mhd]

Nate. Winger and co are making big moves that move us in a direction. Beal for Brown and Deni for Kuminga are valid trades… but they don’t set a direction.

Yup, trading Beal for Brown does nothing for us. It only delays the rebuild. I wouldn't want Brown on a longterm deal at the max. If we are trading Beal, it is for young players & draft picks.