2025 Draft Thread - Part 3

[The Consiglieri]

Despite what we might think of his play or contract, Beal is clearly one of the good guys in the NBA and players and agents around the league know that he doesn't deserve to be "condemned" like that. It would also put our youngins in the middle of a truly funky situation.

Is that really the kind of culture that we want the Zards to become known for? That's a bad idea that would set our rebuild back.

I'm not taking him on no matter what. But Good Guys? A good guy would have quietly told the team he was going to bail (though admittedly, the FO/Ownership, should have known, like I did, that he was always going to get the bag, then demand the trade once he was appropriately completely done with losing) early enough to allow us to figure out the best way to rebuild without him, getting a decent trade done. He did literally the worst thing humanly possible:

1. He lied about his bull---- desire to stay here, to get the bag (and got a lot of you guys to believe that nonsense, while only a minority, like me, knew he was full of ----).

2. He got the ridiculous max his play never merited. No home town discount whatsoever (understood, but still, not a nice guy move, just a normal self-interested move).

3. He then managed to get it sweetened by our idiot owner with the NTC.

4. He only demanded a trade, when his contract, and his play meant, he would be impossible to move for a good deal to rebuild around.

5. He activated his NTC, so he could direct his own trade, which guaranteed that we would get the worst of all possible offers.

He is, when it comes to fanbases, an absolute mother------. He laid waste to the city, napalmed the survivors, and salted the earth for good measure.

The only reason we survived this, with some semblance of a plan intact, was the grand mal idiocy of the Suns to add so many pick swaps, and our decision to hire a GM/Front Office team with an actual CV, and a history of actually running a tear down properly, unlike all the idiots we've employed since Ferry departed.

Beal might be known as a good guy around the league, might be a good guy to Ted, might be good to his teammates, but to the only people that matter in DC, the poor, totally ----ed over fans following this Clippers East/Charlotte North/"Aint's" of the NBA ---- show for the past 10, 20, 30, 40, 45 years, he was a terrorist/bank robber, holding up the franchise for a ridiculous contract he never deserved, adding components he never should have had that went off like C4, the second we tried to move him, and then making sure to activate his trade demands at literally the worst time possible in his career to make such a demand.For fans, the only aspect of Beal that mattered is that last sentence: for a franchise that has been one of the 5 or 6 worst in sports in this country for the past 45 years, he quadrupled the pain of said fandom, and for what?

No, he's a scumbag, when it comes to fandom, I don't really give a ---- if he treats valet's well, strippers at the club well, the owner well, or other multi-millionaire athletes well, the only thing that ever mattered is that he worked well with the FO to help the team during his time here, and at the most critical point, the only point that mattered during his decade here, he indulged his most self and most destructive interests humanly possible. So ---- him.

I have as much hate towards Beal as just about anybody, and You've written another brilliant post. But I always thought the departure of Beal was driven by Dawkins and Winger. Beal didn't fit in their plans. I'm guessing Beal would have stayed with the Wiz and made us miserable until the last year of his contract.

I don't think so, I may be wrong about how much of the effort to move was him vs the new FO, but I'm pretty clear that he wanted to move to a space of his choosing, and because our idiot FO gave him the only non-LeBron NTC apparently, he could choose and dictate the deal. How much of the trade was Beal wanting to win vs the FO wanting to rebuild without his contract on the books, I'm not really sure, but I think his ideal move was keeping the bag, and winning elsewhere, and that's why he wanted to go to the Suns. Turned out that was lucky for us, as almost any other quality teams he might have wanted at the time, would not have completely imploded in this fashion.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I will be glad when this draft is over.

Endless speculation is waring on me.

[Rafael122]

Have any players been brought in for a workout or is the combine now pretty much where all the stuff takes place? Draft is in 2 weeks.

[tontoz]

Have any players been brought in for a workout or is the combine now pretty much where all the stuff takes place? Draft is in 2 weeks.

As far as i know the only guys projected in the lotter that have actually done workouts are Fears and Kon. I find that strange.

Most of the guys we've had in for workouts are guys ive never heard of.

[Rafael122]

Have any players been brought in for a workout or is the combine now pretty much where all the stuff takes place? Draft is in 2 weeks.

As far as i know the only guys projected in the lotter that have actually done workouts are Fears and Kon. I find that strange.

Most of the guys we've had in for workouts are guys ive never heard of.

For reference, these are the lotto picks we worked out last year:

Risacher, Sarr, Castle, Buzelis, Clingan, Williams

I would assume any lotto talent outside of Harper and Flagg will be brought in over the next week to 10 days. Or it's possible they're all just waiting for the domino effects of KD being traded.

[80sballboy]

Workouts I've heard about on X/Twitter:
Selton Miguel, Jyare Davis, Silas Demery Jr.

Here it says Fears, Jamir Watkins, Micah Peavy, Dylan Caldwell, Joson Sanon, and Basheer Jihad. Most are undraftable players.
https://hoopshype.com/lists/2025-nba-draft-workout-tracker-where-are-prospects-working-out/
https://wizofawes.com/washington-wizards-pre-nba-draft-workouts-take-shape-headlined-sec-standouts

[BMagic]

FWIW

Read on Twitter

[dckingsfan]

I will be glad when this draft is over.

Endless speculation is waring on me.

Right there with you brother... this is getting mind numbing.

[pcbothwel]

Well. Might as well put my rankings up.
- Dont get too bogged down in the Tier description as I was just trying to show my thinking.

Tier 1: All-NBA caliber player for more than half of career. You Kill to acquire and build the team around, no matter what. Worth WAY more than the Max. I.e. Lebron, Jokic, Giannis, etc
Tier 2: All-Star Caliber Player for more than half of career. May have a couple All-NBAs. Worth the Max. I.e. Donovan Mitchell, Booker, Sabonis.
Tier 3: All-Star Caliber Player in Prime of career, but mostly a high end 3rd piece. These guys sometimes make an All-NBA team, but not usually and routinely become bad contracts as they are usually given the Max. I.e. Beal, Jaylen Brown, Julius Randle, etc
Tier 4: Starters on contender and may make an AS team or two. Conversely, these guys can sometimes be UNDERPAID as the Tier 3 guys are the ones that really get the bump. I.e. Derrick White, Deni, FVV, Holiday, Desmond Bane, etc
Tier 5: Starter on a playoff team, but usually shine off the bench for a contender. Won’t make an AS games, but will have a productive/long career. These guys routinely find the most success as fringe starters later in their career. I.e. Jordan Poole, De’Andre Hunter, MPJ, OG, Harrison Barnes, etc
Tier 6: Usually a 6th-8th man on a playoff team, but can be a starter on a sub .500 team. I.e. Dillon Brooks, Grayson Allen, Buddy Hield etc

Tier 1:
Flagg

Tier 2:
Harper

Tier 3.5(Tier 4, but have X factors that could be 3)
Tre
Fears

Tier 4:
Ace
Essengue
Maluach
VJ
Traoré
Bryant
Coward
Jakučionis

Tier 5:
Sorber
Clayton
Kon
Wolf
Fleming
Gonzalez
CMB
Beringer
Richardson

Tier 6:
Demin
Riley
Powell
Queen
Newell
Penda
Clifford
Thiero
Saraf

Guys Im looking at in the 2nd:
Kalkbrenner
Kam Jones
Broome
Yang
Raynaud

Priority UDFA:
Jamir Watkins
Hunter Sallis
Ryan Nembhard
Izan Almansa

[Gig18]

I will be glad when this draft is over.

Endless speculation is waring on me.

Hey CCJ, didn't mean to not respond to you before the last draft thread was locked. No, I remember seeing greendale's handle, but it's not me. I'm jusst Gig18
Annnnd old enough to go back to Earl. So, yeah, Jack Marin, Kevin Loughery, then later Kevin Porter, Truck Robinson, Mike Riordan, Phil Chenier. they all surrounded Wes and E during my younger years.
Was just looking at an old photo of Marin. Heck he even looks a little facially like Kon Kneuppel...

[9 and 20]

The solution here is to negotiate with Beal. Tell him we're not going to waive him, nor play him at all and condemn him to being under contract and missing out on 2 seasons of his career, unless he works with us to find a new destination with a team willing to pay him a reasonable salary commensurate with his ability.

Despite what we might think of his play or contract, Beal is clearly one of the good guys in the NBA and players and agents around the league know that he doesn't deserve to be "condemned" like that. It would also put our youngins in the middle of a truly funky situation.

Is that really the kind of culture that we want the Zards to become known for? That's a bad idea that would set our rebuild back.

You are missing the point. We don't have to make that threat overtly. It's just implied. It's the leverage we have to work with.

The ultimate goal here is merely fairness. If Beal wants to go play for the Lakers, it's not fair for the Lakers to only pay him the vet minimum of $2M a year (with us paying the remaining $53M a year of his salary) when Beal is clearly worth something more like MLE money on the open market. If he is worth $15M a year, then the Lakers should pay that and we would only have to pay the remaining $40M a year of Beal's salary.

Beal gets his money either way. This is just a measure to make sure the Wizards aren't subsidizing the Lakers.

4D chess - go out of our way to subsidize the Lakers and get the #1 pick next year.

[9 and 20]

FWIW

Read on Twitter

This means a trade or Essengue then. I liked that Essengue video. Get him in a trade down to 8 or 9. Him, Demin, Bilal, Sarr would be a gaggle of arms and legs on defense. Might struggle to score 80 points but we'd look hilarious so win-win. Plus the tank geared up and ready to go for next year.

[Dat2U]

I'm not comfortable with the skill level if he's a F. The length is really good but he's less than 200 lbs so C may not be ideal. His best attribute is F mobility with
C length but the C-like skill means he can't take advantage of that benefit offensively. The Giannis comparison does not exist - Noa's face up game appears to still be in its infancy stage.

I tend to believe he is one of those, 'can do a little of everything, but not really excels at anything' types. Defensively, while he's long, he's not a true rim deterrent. And while mobility is good, the motor could use some juice. I'd pass because he doesn't have one thing he can truly rely on - and I don't know the FT rate is translatable. He could really struggle offensively to start out his career and I still question how good his hands are.

He is a defensible pick as a project at 18 but I wouldn't be too interested. I would probably freak out if he was the pick at 6.

He is a freak athlete with great measureables, and he plays with a good motor and puts up good numbers and a good on/off differential despite having no refined basketball skills whatsoever. You gotta love that he can produce despite not knowing what he is doing. That speaks to his competitiveness, basketball instincts, and willingness to be physical.

Essengue is a massive project with a high ceiling and a low floor. Like with any project, the real question is his character and work ethic. He has so much work ahead of him, both on his strength and on skill development. I'd like to know more about his background. How long has he been playing basketball? Is there a good reason that his skills are so undeveloped? How hard does he work in practice? These are questions that need to be answered with interviews and background checks more so than watching film. Without access to that type of research, I don't really know how to grade him.

At this point, I'd have to place Maluach ahead of him on my board just because I know Maluach has a firm floor as a rotation big. But if the Wizards end up drafting Essengue after extensive interviews and background checks, I'll be open-minded.

That’s my deal. He’s not my guy. And if he was I’d rather get him on a trade up from 18 or back from 6. But saying what a guy ‘is’ or is not seems short sighted when you consider he started his pro season at 17 years old.

If you pick him it’s because you know a teenager has a lot of development ahead of him. If a kid this young is producing at a high level and carrying his team into the playoffs —and actually improving on his shortcomings in the most important games— then you can reasonably project him to continue to improve with big league trainers and coaching.

He was off my radar most of the season but he is doing the Bilal thing of peaking when it matters most.

Again the only nit I pick with the Dat assessment on drafts is that there’s no curve for grading by age. Tough to say a guy will be this or that compared to another player when they’re actually performing at a higher level than the comparator was at the same age.

My same deal with Sorber/Wolf. Thomas Sorber as a freshman in the Big East (3rd toughest conference) outperformed Wolf as a freshman in the Ivy League. Compare the freshman Wolf’s 62% FT percentage and sad 48% 2FG to Sorbers 72% FT and 60% 2FG against far tougher opposition.

Younger. Bigger. Producing similar numbers this year as Wolf this year but at an earlier age. Me I’m betting on the improvement of the young guy who comes in with an already veteran game. If the numbers are close, take the younger one. Especially if he’s already a better defender.

I adjust every year but I generally lean frosh over upperclassmen in most cases. I think the main difference in our viewpoints is I don't really consider potential outlier development anymore. It happens but its rare enough where you'll be burned far more times than not expecting. There are a 1000+ guys that never made the Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam skill leap. It speaks to an incredibly rare work ethic that can't be known just by looking at film or hearing stories about how they are a gym rat.
.
The best players land in one of two categories. Elite skill (pass, dribble, shoot) or a freakish combo length/athleticism combined with being highly skilled in or two areas.

So I've got to a point in my draft analysis over the past 25 years of some hits and plenty of misses with a clear track record of seeing the most skilled players rise to the top.

No matter how young a guy is, by the time he decides to goes pro, if he's not functionally skilled in any area and is not a clear cut rim running C - I have major concerns. There is not a good track record at all.

Sorber is younger than Wolf & Queen. He'll also never have the offensive skill those to have despite being younger but he may find value defensively to offset some of that. I've liked all 3 during the draft cycle and that's not to say Sorber doesn't have some offensive tools - its just Wolf & Queen do things bigs rarely do. I will just err with guys who can pass, dribble, shoot like the Wizards front office and of course any Amen's, Ausar's or Zion's where their athleticism is undeniable and their skilled in one or two areas.

[NatP4]

This is pretty interesting. Essengue’s BPM figure in Eurocup competition at 18 years old is extremely impressive. Doesn’t look great for Traore.

Read on Twitter

[payitforward]

I don't like to see 2 of my favorite posters arguing in excessively personal terms.

And as to Brad, I can't see that he did anything wrong. If someone offers you a quarter billion dollars you take it. Nothing to criticize as far as I can tell.

For that matter, I wouldn't mind if he came back to play a year here & passed the points record. He's not good enough any more that he'd threaten the tank.

We have a genuine & long-term scope of interest now. We are actually rebuilding. Doing the right thing. Which provides enough substantive material for thought that there's no real need for the outpourings of frustration that could not be avoided for such a very long time.

To me, in other words, this forum -- all of you guys -- has become more interesting than it ever was since the day doc suggested I join. These are the goo times. There's no guarantees we'll succeed, but we are for sure working at it. The goal is unquestionably to become a perennial contender & to win a title. At least one.

As to this draft, you never know, but it does look like we should get one exceptionally useful player, maybe two -- &, who knows, maybe even a 3d one! Even the wide range of speculation about who it might be... even that is interesting to follow & to participate in.

[AFM]

I don't like to see 2 of my favorite posters arguing in excessively personal terms.

Appreciate it, but WizD and I aren’t arguing.

[payitforward]

Of course you aren't! & you better not try to either!
For I have spoken!

Have I ever told you about the time I tried to become GM of the Golden State Warriors?

This was in the mid-70s, when I was a mere youth in my early 30s.

[Jay81]

Of course you aren't! & you better not try to either!
For I have spoken!

Have I ever told you about the time I tried to become GM of the Golden State Warriors?

This was in the mid-70s, when I was a mere youth in my early 30s.

Are you really 82?

[Benjammin]

All I know is that the quality of content and interesting people in this board is inversely proportional to the success of the Wizards.

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

[gesa2]

All I know is that the quality of content and interesting people in this board is inversely proportional to the success of the Wizards.

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

Let’s hope that relationship doesn’t hold going forward!!!