Grade the Wizard's Draft

[LyricalRico]

John Wall + restocking the frontcourt = A

I'm definitely liking the direction the team is going. Scrappy, athletic players with high motors. It's also clear that Ted's fingerprints were all over this draft and the moves made. I can't wait to see what happens next!

[cdouglas]

I spoked too soon because I was going by what others were saying on the board. I rather wait after the summer league to rate this draft. because I haven't seen any of them play yet.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

I hate these threads. Nobody has any idea how well we drafted. It's impossible to know.

The only thing we can say is that Booker was probably available at #30 so we effectively wasted our #35 pick to move up. Other than that, I grade it an Incomplete.

+1

If Seraphin comes over and Booker actually shows something we will all be singing a different tune. Or they could suck terribly. Until then I withhold judgement. Grade the trades, but you can't grade the picks yet, what are we another branch of BSPN?

[Zonkerbl]

I think everybody's unhappy with the draft mainly because they value Heinrich at $zero. EG has wanted Heinrich for some time and probably considers him the center piece of the trade.

I give EG an A. What is this team's biggest weakness during the EJ era? Lack of defense, lack of athleticism, lack of strength and grit and toughness.

At PG, he added John Wall -- defense, athleticism, grit. A.
At SG, he added Heinrich -- defense, grit. B+
At PF, he added Booker. defense, Larry Johnson athleticism, super super strong, super gritty, super tough. A+.
At center he added Seraphin -- defense, athleticism, strength. B.

Losing the money tied up in Heinrich's salary only counts if Heinrich isn't the player you really wanted. If Heinrich plays big minutes the next two years how can you complain?

Wall/Heinrich
Arenas/Heinrich
Thornton/????
Blatche/Booker
Wookie/Seraphin (assuming he comes over)

Resign Josh Howard to a cheaper contract and you have a pretty decent squad.

[Soup's Uncle]

Dig it. A from me. We got Wall, we got a solid player/leader/defender in Hinrich. I dig booker, I dig Seraphin...he'll come over and play this year.

I dig the philosophy. Hustle guys, energy guys. I'm tired of these soft dudes who play no D. Gilbert better get on board.

[MF23]

I give EG's draft an A.

Wall could become a top 5 player and that's honest he has everything needed to reach that.

Seraphine and Booker are no nonsense on the court. The 2ndrdr is athletic, long and at that pick you take a chance on upside. Like DA said the organization was tired of being pushed around on the court and they accomplished picking up pieces that will help Blatche and McGee become a physical front court.

I would have liked Damion James because he'll be a steal where he was drafted even if I knew he'd be available at Atl's pick.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Because you realize at the end of the day, both Seraphin and Booker, and even N'Diaye are your kind of player.

Seraphin is that slightly undersized, but really strong and really athletic rebounding big you've always wanted us to draft.

Booker is drawing Milsap/Blair comparisons (who wouldn't want a taller, more athletic Blair/Milsap with big-time finishing ability?).

I dunno why you don't think Wall will be a superstar - I know Cousins will likely be a consistent 22/12/3 presence in the NBA, but we just aren't in a position to overthink this - it would have been like taking Melo or even Wade over LeBron in 2003 (granted, I'd rather have Wade than LeBron, but that's less a talent issue and more an intangibles issue), or taking Okafor over Dwight.

Chaos, you know me well.

If Seraphin turns out to be the real deal in a couple years and if Wall IS the superstar virtually everybody else in the entire world thinks he'll be; then this draft was an A.

We already know that Booker's a scrapper who was worthy of a late first or early second, but he should find a niche. So what if he went 5-10 picks too early.

N'Diaye is like somebody else pointed out--another Jarvis Varnado. (But he was off the board). Can't fault EG for going there if Hamady N'Diaye doesn't stick. I always like guys like him, Stephane Lasme, etc.

Dust all settled and smoke cleared this draft wasn't that bad.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I give it a B.

Three tough, physical players (Hinrich, Seraphin, Booker); two of whom are from all accounts elite athletes. And, the Wizards still have a little cap room to play with to further flesh out the roster or facilitate trades between now and the trading deadline.

The difference between Seraphin/Booker and previous EG projects is that the previous projects needed to develop NBA skills *and* NBA strength/girth. Previous EG picks were long and spindly; these guys are stout and strong. Seraphin already has the NBA body. If he has good hands and good coordination, he should be able to contribute with bench minutes on a young rebuilding team from day 1.

Now, I don't have any illusions that Booker will morph into a pure SF. He's a long way off from developing that kind of offensive skill set. But, imagine active SF/tweener PF scorers having to deal with both Thornton *and* Booker playing physical, chest-to-chest perimeter defense: grabbing and clawing, Artest-style, with the best of 'em. Now, imagine Hinrich playing gritty D on the ball at the top. With "Nene 2.0" handing out stiff forearms underneath. Flip may not have to resort to as many gimmicky zone defenses with the second unit to hide the softies.

Bottom line: acc. to DA, the Wizards are "tired of getting pushed around." The projective starters (Wall, Arenas, Blatche) compete with skill, speed and/or dexterity, but that new second unit can come in like a bunch of bullies. That's what *I'm* talking about. So, I give the Wizards a "B."

Right now it's Hinrich and Booker, with I guess a resigned Singleton, while Seraphin continues to play abroad on the three-year deal he signed back in August. But I get DA's bottom line, keynote.

[keynote]

^
CCJ, I don't know how Seraphin's deal is constructed, but I've read that he only has a $500k buyout clause. So, presumably, he could break that 3-year deal, with the Wizards paying the buyout fee (since thats' the max that NBA teams can pay, anyway). So, unless EG decides that Seraphin is better off in Europe for another season or two, I figured Seraphin would be playing for the Wizards this year.

[leswizards]

I apologize if this has already been posted, but MSN says the Wizards are winners from last night:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/lists/good ... o=11367219

As for me, I haven't graded the draft because I don't know what to think. It seems to me that were players available at 12-16 who would have a legitmate shot at winning the SF position this season, and I am kind of the opinion that it would 1 SF with talent is better than 3 PFs or Cs who are projects. I believe a package of 17th, 30th and 35th, should have been more than enough to move up to 12-16th, but I guess you never know.

[hands11]

It would help if there was a summary on page one with the players we got, where, etc.

[ChampionRed]

As a Rutgers fan and someone who lives in New Brunswick. I havewatched N'Diaye these past 4 years and here is what I can tell you about him. What you can expect is a good shot blocker, rebounder, and hustle player. He can pump up the crowd with his energy and attitude as well. However, with that comes the stupid fouls from trying to block EVERY shot, and the over the back calls from trying to recklessly grab every rebound. His bball iq is pretty low and expect him to pick up a few technical fouls when he's out there due to his hot headed temper when he gets rattled. He has no finesse to his game but if he can develop in the NBA, he can be solid. Notice I didn't mention his offensive game..He virtually doesn't have one. It consists of dunks and put backs but that is about it.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

With a little decent tutelage sounds like he could be our Birdman, and for the 57th or something pick that ain't bad. I'm not holding my breath, however.

[willbcocks]

I hate these threads. Nobody has any idea how well we drafted. It's impossible to know.

The only thing we can say is that Booker was probably available at #30 so we effectively wasted our #35 pick to move up. Other than that, I grade it an Incomplete.

+1

If Seraphin comes over and Booker actually shows something we will all be singing a different tune. Or they could suck terribly. Until then I withhold judgement. Grade the trades, but you can't grade the picks yet, what are we another branch of BSPN?

What's the point of discussing potential picks for 250 pages and draft day moves for 150 pages if we can't then evaluate what we 'realgm gms' have thought of with what our GM has done?

Obviously the immediate post draft grade won't be the only grade this draft ever gets, but nevertheless it's one, and I think quite important.

[WizStorm]

As a Rutgers fan and someone who lives in New Brunswick. I havewatched N'Diaye these past 4 years and here is what I can tell you about him. What you can expect is a good shot blocker, rebounder, and hustle player. He can pump up the crowd with his energy and attitude as well. However, with that comes the stupid fouls from trying to block EVERY shot, and the over the back calls from trying to recklessly grab every rebound. His bball iq is pretty low and expect him to pick up a few technical fouls when he's out there due to his hot headed temper when he gets rattled. He has no finesse to his game but if he can develop in the NBA, he can be solid. Notice I didn't mention his offensive game..He virtually doesn't have one. It consists of dunks and put backs but that is about it.

Thanks for the 1st hand review. All i'm hoping out of the guy is a defensive role player off the bench that can infuse some energy and intensity when the team is getting knocked on it's heels. Sounds like he could fit the bill, although the low BB IQ is a bit scary.

[closg00]

As a Rutgers fan and someone who lives in New Brunswick. I havewatched N'Diaye these past 4 years and here is what I can tell you about him. What you can expect is a good shot blocker, rebounder, and hustle player. He can pump up the crowd with his energy and attitude as well. However, with that comes the stupid fouls from trying to block EVERY shot, and the over the back calls from trying to recklessly grab every rebound. His bball iq is pretty low and expect him to pick up a few technical fouls when he's out there due to his hot headed temper when he gets rattled. He has no finesse to his game but if he can develop in the NBA, he can be solid. Notice I didn't mention his offensive game..He virtually doesn't have one. It consists of dunks and put backs but that is about it.

Thanks for the scouting report, sounds-like N'Diaye might help us with some help-D, energy, and extra fouls, but certainly not an answer for back-up Center.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

^
CCJ, I don't know how Seraphin's deal is constructed, but I've read that he only has a $500k buyout clause. So, presumably, he could break that 3-year deal, with the Wizards paying the buyout fee (since thats' the max that NBA teams can pay, anyway). So, unless EG decides that Seraphin is better off in Europe for another season or two, I figured Seraphin would be playing for the Wizards this year.

Yep.

All I know is what I read from DX's scouting report that the guy's a bench player abroad who needs to learn nuances of the game, particularly on offense. He's supposedly a good man defender with tons of athleticism, like the other French-league guys already prospering in the NBA.

[jimij]

Overall I give the draft a B. I like the players we acquired and as others have done, I question if we overpaid a little to get them.

Personally, I really like the Hinrich trade. I still think he's a valuable rotation player and will have trade value either to a team in need of a PG or as an expiring next year. If we are able to trade Arenas (which I don't want to see happen) then he gives us insurance.

I love the Seraphin pick regardless of how it turns out. I would have liked to have seen us trade up a few spots and grab Patterson but don't realistically know what that would have cost.

The Booker pick is the head scratcher. I certainly wanted him with the 30 or 35 and 23 seems to be overpaying for him. However, what I'd really like to know is did we make the trade before the pick or did we do it after Minny had already picked him? If they picked him and we then made the godfather offer of the 30 and 35 picks to get the guy EG really wanted, then I'm OK with it. If instead we bought the pick and had them draft Booker for us then I think we overpaid because I'm not convinced that he would have gone before 30.

I'd really like to know exactly how that went down.


Oh yeah and then there's that Wall guy - I think I might kind of like him. If I'm grading the draft on the talent acquired, I give us an A on him alone, if I'm grading it on EG's performance it get's the "B" since he just got lucky with ping pong balls and thus get's no credit for the Wall pick.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

Hollinger is drinking the Wizards kool-aid, saying "no one had a bigger day than the Wizards". It's easy to be that optimistic when you haven't been an actual Wizards fan for the past couple decades...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/ian_thomsen/06/24/draft.wizards/index.html?eref=sircrc

Does make a decent point, Booker is going to make Blatche's life hellish in practice, and that may be just what Blatche needs.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I apologize if this has already been posted, but MSN says the Wizards are winners from last night:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/lists/good ... o=11367219

As for me, I haven't graded the draft because I don't know what to think. It seems to me that were players available at 12-16 who would have a legitmate shot at winning the SF position this season, and I am kind of the opinion that it would 1 SF with talent is better than 3 PFs or Cs who are projects. I believe a package of 17th, 30th and 35th, should have been more than enough to move up to 12-16th, but I guess you never know.

leswizards, I agree with you on the SF part, too. An alternate route would have been to get physical toughness with James at 17. He's more of an animal on boards than even Booker, and he's a legit SF.

My feeling is Wall with Anderson at 17 is a nasty backcourt for years to come. I think Booker would have been there at 30. Pittman or Zoubek at 35 would have filled the banger role.

My team's not as athletic as what EG got but I think there's a reason the Spurs got Anderson at 20--highly skilled scorer/shooter. Just like they got Blair last season--highly skilled rebounder. Once again they got my favorite (okay Anderson was my second after Cousins) player in this draft. If Washington had got Anderson and Wall I would have been ECSTATIC.

(mhd, Anderson did have twice the assists of Mo Almond in NCAA play. I think he's quicker and not as selfish a player--but has a weaker frame than Almond.)