If you took over as GM today, what would you do?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Backwards thinking ignores or is unaware that Flip Saunders two years ago said John Wall may ALWAYS have to play with pain.

John Wall Injury: Flip Saunders Says Wall Will Never Be 'Pain Free' With His Tendonitis

http://dc.sbnation.com/washington-wizar ... p-saunders

"I don't think, with his situation, having tendonitis, that he's ever going to be pain free from that," said Saunders. "So I think what we're going to do is we're going to monitor it. That's the approach we're taking, but the reason we say day-to-day is because these things, when you go through them, all of a sudden you might wake up the next day and they might be good to go. That's why we're handling it that way."

TheKingOfVa360, I argued with almost EVERYONE about 6 years ago that the Wizards should avoid signing Gilbert because of his injuries. I listened to many people say I had it backwards then. Same people thought Nene for McGee was a great idea. Injuries would have made no deal at all preferable to having a chronically injured player.

John Wall's knee could be like Sean Mays. Or, it could wear down in time if not severely like Brandon Roy's it could become like Danny Granger. The dumbest thing the Wizards could do would be to pretend this is not as serious as it gets. Number one, he's hurt. Number two, he cannot shoot an outside shot. Number three, he's NOWHERE NEAR a superstar.

Wall is coming into a contract year in which he either becomes a max-contract player of he signs a qualifying offer next season. SInce the injuries will almost certainly delay by one season any progress, what the Wizards will end up doing is giving Wall a max contract next year. A QO means he will be unrestricted and out of DC in a year. That is the reality of what this injury has done. Wall could get all better and become this great player, but I say take what you've seen the first two years objectively. NOT a max player by a long shot. Also, his future with the Wizards is cloudy. Why not be PROACTIVE instead of REACTIVE for a change? Don't wait to the deadline like the Wizards did with McGee. Do like Presti did in trading Harden!

I listened to people say it would be a bad idea to trade Wall for the rights to Kyrie Irving and a future pick. Wrong they were. How would Wall look straight up for Lillard right now? I would trade Wall for what I can get because his knee problem is not just something new and passing. The Wizards have no more to show from how great Wall supposedly is than the Kings have to show for Tyreke Evans. Remember his 20/5/5 as a rookie? Wall is not any better IMO.

Trade Wall before the world starts calling him an underachiever who is chronically injured.

[AFM]

Clippers should trade Blake Griffin. And the Bulls should trade Rose.
The only concern I have about Wall is his shooting. Not his knee.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I was right about Arenas. That alone could have saved the Wizards from $111M over 7 years. I was also right about Nene, who will make $52M between this season and the three more to follow.

Maybe I'm wrong about Wall and perhaps he completely recovers as Griffin did. Derrick Rose isn't back and you have no idea about the stability of his leg over the remaining seasons of his career. Adrian Peterson is back better than ever from a ACL and IIRC MCL ruptures. OTOH jumper's knee is a different injury altogether. Time will tell.

What I know is there is no way I would invest max contract money into a questionable shooter who also has a questionable knee concern. I would take a sure lottery pick and a decent player in exchange for Wall, and go with the law of averages. Insurance agents ask about preexisting conditions for a reason.

The Wizards didn't know what I did about Arenas and Nene, and they seem to be ignoring Wall's knee problem of two years ago and the one now.

[TheKingOfVa360]

CCJ you are one of my favorite posters here but I firmly believe if you were a Bulls fan in the 80's you would have wanted them to trade Jordan when he got hurt in his 2nd season. Wall has shown flashes of being a superstar, if you can't see the potential then wait until he returns. Wall's assist ratio in his first two seasons compared to current players drafted in the last 6 years is 2nd best in the NBA only behind Ricky Rubio. Wall is a pure pg with elite athleticism. If he ever gets a jumper than he is a top ten player in the NBA overnight.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

MJ came in balling. He scored like 30 a night. Rubio's game is guile, crafty passing, pesky defense. He's not a burner. Most of all, Ricky's not a #1 overall-perceived-to-be-superstar.

Wall came in needing to find an outside shot. His game is speed and explosiveness. Take away his speed and he's a routine player. TKOV360, the first time they went head-to-head, Ricky Rubio outplayed Wall. I've seen Brandon Jennings, another young guy, outplay Wall. I've seen Darren Collison outplay Wall. Ty Lawson is flat better than Wall.

Wall is not in the class of a Jordan. This would be his third season if he recovers enough to play. He improved very little in year two.

All of that and a knee is why I would trade Wall. You guys may be right. I'm just not that impressed with Wall.

[Silvie Lysandra]

I agree with CCJ 100%. If I'm GM, I cut my losses with Wall ASAP but not because of his injury. Fully healthy, giving him the max would be questionable at best. He's not an alpha scorer and never will be. Which means you're projecting him to be someone like Gary Payton, but Wall's not an elite man defender yet. And that still means you have to find an alpha scorer somewhere, and I don't think Brad Beal's that guy.

I disagree that the Arenas deal was bad though. Arenas could have come back just fine from his knee IF it was managed correctly (while Wall's knee looks like it's going to bug him for the rest of his career). A torn meniscus is something that players come back from all the time with proper rest and treatment - neither of which he got with the Wiz. And the fact is, Gilbert Arenas was a TRUE SUPERSTAR, a first-tier alpha dog top 3 in the NBA scorer who was a consistent 27-30 ppg scorer on high pace AND volume AND efficiency (and this was with Arenas's bad shot selection at times). I will maintain to my dying day that Arenas was as good as if not better than LeBron, Wade and Kobe offensively (probably not current LeBron, who could average 40 ppg if he wanted to, but I think Arenas could have averaged 35 ppg if he really wanted to on a decent TS%) . Wall will never be a true alpha dog scorer, he's not an impact defender yet, and his passing is elite but not Magic Johnson/Jason Kidd/CP3 rare.

The Wall and Arenas comparisons are okay but they ultimately fall short, largely because John Wall can't hold prime Gilbert Arenas's jockstrap.

[nate33]

Discussing trading Wall is purely a waste of time at the point because we have no idea what his trade value is. If I could trade Wall for a top 3 pick this draft, I'd probably pull the trigger, but that's not really very likely.

What is likely is that Wall's trade value is probably near an all-time low right now with his injury concerns and with time running out on his rookie deal. I suspect we would get a much better return on a Wall trade if we waited until he got healthy. Therefore, I think it's imprudent to trade Wall "ASAP".

[Silvie Lysandra]

Unless Wall comes back and plays like Derrick Rose, he's not going to fetch a high return. The fact is, if John Wall's knee magically healed to the point where it's never a worry again, then we still have to deal with the fact that as it stands, John Wall is a bust. A 16/8 PG with average defense, no shot, meh handles, spotty Bball IQ and poor efficiency is a bust for a #1 pick. Now, maybe in year 3 he would have gotten better. Who knows. But knowing what we know now, he's still much more potential than production. And let's face it, the holes Wall has in his game are the holes that scouts were pointing out leading up to the draft.

So there's no point bellyaching about trading Wall at a low point in his value - because his value likely isn't getting much better, and it can definitely get worse (specifically, that he's lost his speed, which quite frankly is the only thing that makes him a starter in the NBA)

Right now, I'd trade Wall and Nene for pure cap relief if that's the best deal we could get. Draft Noel (best case) or Len (worst case) and START THE **** OVER.

[AFM]

John Wall is a bust?
These boards are ridiculous sometimes...

[WizardsWorld]

Call the TWolves and offer Crawford, Vesley, Ariza and lotto protected 1st for D.Williams and Ridnour(or Barea if they prefer).

Wall, Beal, DWill and our pick finally shows some future promise.

[Silvie Lysandra]

John Wall is a bust?
These boards are ridiculous sometimes...

He's not a Vesely-scale bust. But for a top 3 pick? He sure is. Compare Wall with Blake Griffin or Derrick Rose or Kevin Durant or LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony.

If you don't get a perennial All-Star out of your #1 pick, you either blew the pick or there wasn't a superstar that was reasonably on the board.

[hands11]

1. Start blogging about how smart I am and how accessible I am to the fans.

2. Upgrade the cupholders in the bathrooms.

3. Change the team colors so that they coordinate with the trademarks of my other businesses.

4. Work with the other owners and the league to engineer another lockout and grab more revenue from the players.

5. Use whatever cap space there is on solid veterans who actually can't play very well.

6. If an emerging young star becomes available, turn down the trade because we're capped out.

7. Institute "He a Bust" night, where all the great Wizards draft busts past and present can be honored with banners in the rafters of Verizon Center. A lucky fan would win a life sized Jarvis Hayes bobble head.

Excellent. Where do I sign. HOF post

[hands11]

step 1) Make sure Ted markets in the baltimore area. I live 45 minutes north east from baltimore and you dont see anything Wizards related despite my area getting every Wizards game on TV. Ted has the luxury of having two big cities for the Wizards yet he neglects one. When you combine DC and Baltimore you have one of the biggest markets in the NBA. Also the DC metro area is the richest in the nation. Ted has no excuse for not being able to bring in enough revenue so the team can spend on free agents and they should be able to afford paying luxury tax. I see a lot of captials stuff in my area but nothing Wizards related.

step 2) Immediately get rid of this medical staff and get one that knows what they are doing. Hire someone from the Suns or anything IDC the medical staff needs to improve.

step 3)Blow up the coaching staff. Get a new HC along w/ a shooting coach, bigman coach etc. Seeing our young guys not improve shooting and big men regress is just painful to watch.

step 4) Show to the NBA that we care about winning. The big name stars will see that there is a lot of endorsment potential judging the size of the media market, the population and how rich this market is. This should put us in a position to potentially trade Okariza and pieces like Seraphin for an established bigman to go w/ Wall/Beal/and hopefully Shabazz

Best plan so far by a mile in step 1 & 4

[hands11]

Clippers should trade Blake Griffin. And the Bulls should trade Rose.
The only concern I have about Wall is his shooting. Not his knee.

Good call AFM.

Looks like they finally figured out what was wrong with Wall and we have been painfully waiting through his recovery.

Here is what I would do.

Win now and stop this tanking for picks crap. The vast majority of draft picks are not ready to win anything for 3 years. Losing breads losing. We did our tank for assets. Now use them.

Wall is going to return soon and he is in his 3rd year. By next year he will be in his full prime.
Nene is a legit beast NBA AS level player. Next year he will be healed of the foot problem he should have rested last summer. Nene is ready to win now. Thats two legit studs with the experience to win.

Trevor A and Okafor are actually legit NBA player in a support role. I want to see more but Nene and Okafor looked like they may be a legit front court. If so, you can actually keep both Trevor A and Okafor one more year. Might even be worth resigning both for cheaper if you can find the right piece to add at SF, so you can go for it next year. Webster is a nice support piece. It would be awesome if he could emerge as more but I'm not holding my breath.

They need is a stud SF. Trade some of these spare parts and even a pick and go get it if it is out there. The window is now with Wall and Nene. I wouldn't wait. I would strike now. Those two are the best combo of NBA talent we have had in a long time. I would even offer up Beal for the right piece.

They should have traded Beal and whatever for Harden. That would have been gold to have Wall, Harden and Nene. They need to pull a Boston. Win now while you have Wall and Nene. Winning will wash the stench away and attract the money from this double city area as another poster mentioned. If you want to win in this league, you have to be willing to spend. Winning will also attract better front office people.

Once you get that momentum, then you can try becoming a SA or an OKC. No way they are going to build that from scratch. That takes to much precision and tones of time. Its to easy to end up in an endless rebuilding cycle while your assets don't pain out and move on.

Win now.

[hands11]

I agree with CCJ 100%. If I'm GM, I cut my losses with Wall ASAP but not because of his injury. Fully healthy, giving him the max would be questionable at best. He's not an alpha scorer and never will be. Which means you're projecting him to be someone like Gary Payton, but Wall's not an elite man defender yet. And that still means you have to find an alpha scorer somewhere, and I don't think Brad Beal's that guy.

I disagree that the Arenas deal was bad though. Arenas could have come back just fine from his knee IF it was managed correctly (while Wall's knee looks like it's going to bug him for the rest of his career). A torn meniscus is something that players come back from all the time with proper rest and treatment - neither of which he got with the Wiz. And the fact is, Gilbert Arenas was a TRUE SUPERSTAR, a first-tier alpha dog top 3 in the NBA scorer who was a consistent 27-30 ppg scorer on high pace AND volume AND efficiency (and this was with Arenas's bad shot selection at times). I will maintain to my dying day that Arenas was as good as if not better than LeBron, Wade and Kobe offensively (probably not current LeBron, who could average 40 ppg if he wanted to, but I think Arenas could have averaged 35 ppg if he really wanted to on a decent TS%) . Wall will never be a true alpha dog scorer, he's not an impact defender yet, and his passing is elite but not Magic Johnson/Jason Kidd/CP3 rare.

The Wall and Arenas comparisons are okay but they ultimately fall short, largely because John Wall can't hold prime Gilbert Arenas's jockstrap.

One of the worst mistake this team made was not trading Gil the year before his contract was up while everyone was drinking the Gil koolaid. Trade high. Buy low. They could have really gotten some assets. Instead they got a boat anchor.

Kobe, Wade and LeBron comparisons. Really ? I would have loved to have been the GM on the other side of the phone trading Gil to you.

As for what screwed up Gils knee from recovering. It was Gil. Not to mention the guy was mental.

[Dat2U]

MJ came in balling. He scored like 30 a night. Rubio's game is guile, crafty passing, pesky defense. He's not a burner. Most of all, Ricky's not a #1 overall-perceived-to-be-superstar.

Wall came in needing to find an outside shot. His game is speed and explosiveness. Take away his speed and he's a routine player. TKOV360, the first time they went head-to-head, Ricky Rubio outplayed Wall. I've seen Brandon Jennings, another young guy, outplay Wall. I've seen Darren Collison outplay Wall. Ty Lawson is flat better than Wall.

Wall is not in the class of a Jordan. This would be his third season if he recovers enough to play. He improved very little in year two.

All of that and a knee is why I would trade Wall. You guys may be right. I'm just not that impressed with Wall.

Head to head matchups mean squadoosh. The NBA is 5 on 5. Wall isn't completely at fault if his help never shows on D or his teammates brick open shots he's created. While Wall had plenty of bad games his first two years, he also had plenty of good ones where he statistically dominated his matchup. But It doesn't mean a damn thing without taking the entire body of work into consideration.

I don't think one can say for certainty how Wall will turn out. I think it's too early to even worry about a max long term extension. He hasn't earned anything close to that yet. He's certainly not in an ideal situation, he's likely to be rusty from resting the knee. The team is terrible and his questionable shooting only exacerbates the problem. If he raises his game and plays at a high level, I'll be real impressed. If he struggles but shows gradual improvement I may be more patient but if he's the same or regressed then certainly an extension may not be in our best interests.

[TheKingOfVa360]

John Wall is a bust?
These boards are ridiculous sometimes...

I was thinking the same thing, had to laugh Wall hasn't even had a chance to play a 3rd season. Plus his 2nd season was a locked out shorten year with no training camp. Even based on his first two year numbers he projects to be a future all star

[nate33]

One of the worst mistake this team made was not trading Gil the year before his contract was up while everyone was drinking the Gil koolaid. Trade high. Buy low. They could have really gotten some assets. Instead they got a boat anchor.

Ridiculous.

There was never an ideal time to trade Arenas. Before Gerald Wallace body slammed him, he was having another sensational year posting a PER of 24 while playing 40 minutes a game. The team was 39-34. There was no way they were going to trade him then. Once Arenas got hurt and required the dreaded microfracture surgery, nobody was going to trade for him, not when his contract was due to expire in a year (possibly before he played another game).

The only thing the Wizards could have done would have been to refrain from resigning him. And frankly, I'm unmoved by anybody's boasts on whether or not they were right on that issue. The bottom line is that nobody on this board truly had any idea of the true condition of his knee and what the medical experts believed was his ability to recover. We were just guessing.

[GhostsOfGil]

It was a shame that the clippers offered him 5/120. If it hadn't been for that, I think the wiz's offer would have been considerably lower.

[FAH1223]

It was a shame that the clippers offered him 5/120. If it hadn't been for that, I think the wiz's offer would have been considerably lower.

5 years $120 million? I don't think they offered him that. They offered him what they gave Baron Davis which was something like 5 years $65 million.

I think GSW offered something in the $90 million range.

Wizards offered the max $127 over 6 years... Gilbert took a 'cut' of $16 million and so he signed for 6 years $111 million.