RealGM

Just offering this up as a spot to lay bare various idiotic mistakes you're man enough (or chica tough) to own up to.

I thought Opec would be a decent fit for the EJ offense & scheme (though I think I wanted Rondo that year, unless I have my years mixed up).

I always thought Kwame would find a way to turn it around. Until he quit on the team.

I still always think Blatche will find a way to turn it around. Though now in my household he's become a verb for f--king up out of laziness or procrastination. As in: somehow I got a water disconnect notice, I must have Blatched on paying it.

Pretty sure I can find a few more of these things.

Oh damn where do I start.

I thought:

Kwame would be a decent bigman

Blatche resigning was great

Etan Thomas resigning was great

Sheed for Strickland was a good trade

Michael Adams was a great point guard

Jordan was coming back to actually "teach" the young guys

and so many more...I just can't remember alll of them.

--Mike Sweetney would be in the discussion for NBA rookie of the year. I just knew he'd be a good pro.
--Morris Almond would be a very good SG, much better than Nick Young.
--Adam Morrison would be a solid scorer at SF.
--Steve Blake could run a team better and was therefore a better PG than Gilbert Arenas (2003 or 2004)
--Quincy Douby would be a solid combo guard and a player that could help the Wizards.
--After Yi Jianlian was signed as a Wizard FA, I thought the guy might be pretty good.
--Javale McGee had all star potential and would definitely be a good NBA player (last year)
--Javale McGee would be an absolute bust, and gave Wizards a draft grade of F (the night he was drafted)
--John Wall is not a good competitor
--John Wall might be a bust
--Andray Blatche would be a better PF than Jamison because Andray had size and the ability to defend (2009)
--Marcus Fizer would be a good NBA PF.

For every one of these I remember off the top, I'm sure there are 5 others, even more, over the years.

Mine are definitely Blatche related. I thought he would be better than Jamison once he got minutes. I also thought his new contract was a great signing and a bargain, I even remember writing that post the day it was inked...

Now, I wouldnt actually mind Jamison back again.

Oh yeah, and rather embarassingly, I thought that trade of the 5th pick to Wolves to get Miller and Foye was good for us and would give us enough weapons help us go deep in the playoffs again with Arenas coming back from injury.

Ugh.

What me wrong? Never. At least none I want to admit to.

I never liked Kwame.

I always knew James White would never become anything.

I told you on draft night that Brandon Roy would be out the league in a few years.

And yall need to stop sleeping on Hassan Whiteside!

Dat, your boy Whiteside put up some numbers tonight. I see where he did terribly in D-League. I wondered if this was the Kings' way of trying to trade the guy or what? He had a lot of blocks and rebounds against Denver tonight. He's still just 22 years old.

Could Hassan Whiteside soon join the ranks of Ryan Hollins and Ekpe Udoh in the, "We can play Javale even or better" club?

Ugh Javale, earlier in the season I actually genuinely thought he had turned it around and would break out, and completely lose the dumbass lable.

I guess a leopard just can't change its spots. Especially when its the dumbest leopard who ever lived.

The most recent for me was Jordan Crawford. I really did think he was going to be a great running-mate for Wall and take a big leap in his sophomore season.

Instead, he looks worse than ever.

I really liked Fizer, too. That was a big mistake.

I drank the Kwame kool-aid.

I still watch Lin and wonder how he's played as well as he has, and yet he keeps doing it. He's still proving me wrong.

On the whole, I don't go out on many limbs with the draft and I've been pessemistic about all things 'Zards for a few years, so my recent track record has been good.

I was a believer in Blatche until this year. I also still think he'll be successful in the NBA yet, but it won't be in DC.

I was also in favor of the Mike Miller/Randy Foye trade. I still believe that trading for veteran depth was a good strategy at that time, there's no way you can justify passing on both Steph Curry and Ricky Rubio for veteran depth.

I also defended Grunfeld for too long. I still think he needs a pass for the Gilbert Arenas era (pre-gungate) but this rebuild is badly, badly flawed and the Vesely and Singleton picks look pretty bad so far. And the corrupted culture is clearly his fault.

*I thought Mack would be an ok to decent back-up by now, boy was I wrong.

* Very worried about JaVale

I didn't like using two picks on Booker. Book is a fine, but limited energy guy, but I am keeping an eye on Lazar Hayward (OKC) and Whiteside (SAC), and a bunch of guys taken after Booker. Dat may still end-up being right about Whiteside.

I had Singleton right up there with Faried. I was 50/50 on drafting one or the other. Thought Faried was just hint better but we really need a SF. Oops.

Didn't like Kawhi. Knew he could rebound but didn't think he could score. He's shooting a lot better than i imagined.

Though Jordan Crawford could be a solid back up PG. Not sure what I was thinking of.

Didn't totally give up on Blatche until he came into camp out of shape after the lockout.

I man up and admit when I am wrong but on the main draft issues, even going back to Kwame I feel vindicated. Kwame year I wanted to trade for two firsts and either select Battier with Troy Murphy or Batter with Zach Randolph. I told Zach Randolph personally at Pete Newell's his roookie season I thought he'd be an all star some day. Took 7 years, but he got there.

The very next draft, when Boozer slipped to round two I said I thought he was better than Kwame and certainly the best player on his team. His teammates Mike Dunleavy and Jay Williams were vastly overrated on draft night.

Thought Jay Williams had no business being a top-10 pick. Never bought the hype with him.

Thought Millsap was a better than Pecherov.

Many knew about Blair but I am sure I posted at least 50 posts about him before he was passed over in round two. We knew by then after the Millsap slip up.

Knew along with Dat and several others trading the fifth for Miller and Foye had disaster written all over it.

Knew Singleton and Vesely couldn't shoot or rebound and said neither would contribute like Leonard, Faried, or Brooks.

With doclinkin and many others, felt Klay Thompson would be a good pick (but I didn't want him for character issues due to the drug arrest and school suspension--could be a knucklehead on a team full of them). No doubts on draft night his game fit the Wizards' needs.

Years back when at draft time almost nobody cared for these players I thought they'd earn NBA roster spots: Steve Blake, Marquis Daniels, Brad Mlller, Steve Novak

Actually said before he was drafted Novak would be one of the greatest shooters in the NBA. Most gratifying to see him get to a team that truly understands how efficient a scorer he is. I believe Novak, Chandler, and Jeffries are the real keys to Jeremy Lin's success. Without them, Lin is still in D League IMO.

Despite missing on Fizer, I am very happy that since Faried I've seen the NBA accept compact, underzied players. I felt strongly all these guys would make it in the NBA: Jared Dudley and Craig Smith from the same Boston College team. Leon Powe from Cal. Thought Lonny Baxter would make an NBA roster. Who knew about his off the court mindset? Recall watching Songaila compete against Baxter and Boozer, thinking Songaila belongs in the league.

Forget who hates my style of making wild predictions and being wrong sometimes, or worse, coming back to say I told you so. That's what I do. Here are my own thoughs 3/6/12

1. Doug McDermott is going to be a better NBA player than a guy he went to HS with, and who his dad coached, named Harrison Barnes.
2. This year's grossly underrated players on draft night will be Kevin Jones, Marcus Denmon, Reggie Hamilton, Jae Crowder, Scott Machado, Damian Lillard, Draymond Green.

Instead of signing a veteran FA, I am 99% certain the Wizards can draft an NBA starter-worthy player in round two: Scott Machado. Machado's improved shooting from three, his over 3:1 assist to turnover ratio, his good defense, and the fact that his team shot over .500 for the season (1st), and scored over 83 points per game (1st); let me know he will be even better in the NCAA.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1087 ... f-the-year
http://www.rgj.com/article/20120219/SPO ... -Wolf-Pack

--Machado is a much better player than Kendall Marshall.

--Machado is a player that wouldn't be a bad pick after about #10 in round one. He is the guy people will talk about next season like they talked about Fields last season and Brooks so far this season. Scott Machado. I think Machado will probably be a guy like Darren Collison but better. He's an NBA starting PG. Way too quick for players to keep in front of them. He will get to the lane at will. He will be a tremendous passer. Unlike Jeremy Lin, Machado won't have turnover problems.

My favorite players in this draft are the underrated guys: Tyler Zeller, Scott Machado, Jae Crowder, and Doug McDermott (who won't turn pro but I think is ready for the NBA).

Sorry for the rant, but I am very confident about predicting draft picks. Boggles my mind that scouts rarely see things the way I do.

I thought the combo of Wall, Nick and Crawford was going to be something to reckon with this year.

I projected:

Baltche=Next Garnett
Pecherov=Next Dirk
Nick=Next Kobe
McGuire=Next Rodman
McGee=Next Camby
Vesely=Next AK47

Among many other "dead wrongs," I was optimistic about the Ike Austin trade.

I was just thinking over the weekend that this might be a fun thread, but was going to entitle it "Morris Almond, Richard Hendrix, Paul Millsap and Dajuan Blair walk in to a bar..." Of course to honor my man CCJ and remind ourselves of all the times we've been very right or very wrong.

Draft picks:

I loved Corey Brewer and Tyrus Thomas. I thought they had Pippen/Marion potential. Eesh. I thought Lamarcus Aldridge was soft and would be an ordinary rotation big.

I defended EG, the Miller/Foye trade, Dray, etc. way too long. With respect to the Wizards, I talked myself in to a lot of stuff that I wouldn't have believed if I weren't such a hopeless fan.

I was so very wrong on Kwame. I thought he was turning the corner in his 3rd season and would become an exceptional defender and at least an average offensive player.

I was a little late in giving up on Blatche. I was fooled for too long.

Other than that, I've mostly been guilty of simply being a bit too optimistic about all of our players. I considered NIck a legit starter rather than a 6th man type. I considered Haywood an average or slightly above-average starting center when he is probably a bit below average.

Like nate, I thought Kwame was turning the corner in his 3rd season. I still sometimes wonder what might have happened if he hadn't broken his foot before year 4. That season, Eddie Jordan planned for Arenas, Jamison and Kwame to be his "core scorers". Kwame got hurt, so the third "core scorer" designation fell to Hughes.

- Thought Booker was a bad pick and wouldn't amount to anything
- Thought Tony Allen was going to be a big time player
- Thought the Sheed trade was good
- Thought Arenas was going to work well with Wall
- Thought Arenas was going to put Orlando over the top
- Thought Blake was going to do well in LA
- Would have picked Oden over Durant