Wizards 2019 Offseason Thread

[nate33]

Sad when the best news of the offseason is that your best player is not eligible for the supermax. OK, EG getting fired was the best news.

That's a weird way of looking at it, but then again, it's totally accurate. Beal NOT making All-NBA is extremely GOOD news for the franchise.

That supermax contract isn't working like it's supposed to. What they should do is allow teams to pay qualifying players a supermax salary, but have it count against the cap and luxtax as if it was merely a max salary. That would actually solve the problem. Smaller market teams would be able to pay more to pay their guys, but if they're compelled to pay supermax salaries to guys not quite worth it (Wall, Kemba, Beal, Griffin) at least it doesn't cripple the future payroll structure so badly.

[dckingsfan]

Sad when the best news of the offseason is that your best player is not eligible for the supermax. OK, EG getting fired was the best news.

That's a weird way of looking at it, but then again, it's totally accurate. Beal NOT making All-NBA is extremely GOOD news for the franchise.

That supermax contract isn't working like it's supposed to. What they should do is allow teams to pay qualifying players a supermax salary, but have it count against the cap and luxtax as if it was merely a max salary. That would actually solve the problem. Smaller market teams would be able to pay more to pay their guys, but if they're compelled to pay supermax salaries to guys not quite worth it (Wall, Kemba, Beal, Griffin) at least it doesn't cripple the future payroll structure so badly.

EG getting fired was unbelievably good news. Beal not making All-NBA is more like icing. Dancing candles would have been if we jumped to the top 4 positions. Really would have liked those dancing candles...

[nate33]

Beal was next in line at guard, receiving one 2nd team vote and 31 3rd team votes. Beal's total vote count was 34 to Kemba's 51.

Read on Twitter

[payitforward]

Sad when the best news of the offseason is that your best player is not eligible for the supermax. OK, EG getting fired was the best news.

That's a weird way of looking at it, but then again, it's totally accurate. Beal NOT making All-NBA is extremely GOOD news for the franchise.

That supermax contract isn't working like it's supposed to. What they should do is allow teams to pay qualifying players a supermax salary, but have it count against the cap and luxtax as if it was merely a max salary. That would actually solve the problem. Smaller market teams would be able to pay more to pay their guys, but if they're compelled to pay supermax salaries to guys not quite worth it (Wall, Kemba, Beal, Griffin) at least it doesn't cripple the future payroll structure so badly.

EG getting fired was unbelievably good news. Beal not making All-NBA is more like icing. Dancing candles would have been if we jumped to the top 4 positions. Really would have liked those dancing candles...

Hmmm, interesting. I agree that EG being fired was the best news, but now I'm wondering: would I have preferred jumping to #1 (Zion) & have Ernie still be the GM? Or have Ernie fired & drop to #9 as we did....

Didn't take me long to feel out where I'd stand on that one -- bye bye Ernie, bye bye Zion. Nothing, but absolutely nothing, would have been more depressing than to looking at a few more seasons with Ernie running things (face down into the ground). Plus, the idea that he, that conceited bum, would be rewarded with Zion Williamson... it would have been hard to stomach that. Even with the fantastic high of Zion being ours.

[dckingsfan]

That's a weird way of looking at it, but then again, it's totally accurate. Beal NOT making All-NBA is extremely GOOD news for the franchise.

That supermax contract isn't working like it's supposed to. What they should do is allow teams to pay qualifying players a supermax salary, but have it count against the cap and luxtax as if it was merely a max salary. That would actually solve the problem. Smaller market teams would be able to pay more to pay their guys, but if they're compelled to pay supermax salaries to guys not quite worth it (Wall, Kemba, Beal, Griffin) at least it doesn't cripple the future payroll structure so badly.

EG getting fired was unbelievably good news. Beal not making All-NBA is more like icing. Dancing candles would have been if we jumped to the top 4 positions. Really would have liked those dancing candles...

Hmmm, interesting. I agree that EG being fired was the best news, but now I'm wondering: would I have preferred jumping to #1 (Zion) & have Ernie still be the GM? Or have Ernie fired & drop to #9 as we did....

Didn't take me long to feel out where I'd stand on that one -- bye bye Ernie, bye bye Zion. Nothing, but absolutely nothing, would have been more depressing than to looking at a few more seasons with Ernie running things (face down into the ground). Plus, the idea that he, that conceited bum, would be rewarded with Zion Williamson... it would have been hard to stomach that. Even with the fantastic high of Zion being ours.

Yep - but the trifecta would have been amazing. Beal, Zion and bye bye Ernie.

[DCZards]

Sad when the best news of the offseason is that your best player is not eligible for the supermax. OK, EG getting fired was the best news.

That's a weird way of looking at it, but then again, it's totally accurate. Beal NOT making All-NBA is extremely GOOD news for the franchise.

That supermax contract isn't working like it's supposed to. What they should do is allow teams to pay qualifying players a supermax salary, but have it count against the cap and luxtax as if it was merely a max salary. That would actually solve the problem. Smaller market teams would be able to pay more to pay their guys, but if they're compelled to pay supermax salaries to guys not quite worth it (Wall, Kemba, Beal, Griffin) at least it doesn't cripple the future payroll structure so badly.

Yeah...sucks that Beal got so close to making the all-NBA team only to not make it in the end. Making all-NBA is not easy and BB may never get that close again to making it. But I agree that it's definitely in the best interest of the Wizards franchise not to have to face the possibility of having both Beal and Wall on supermax contracts. I'm not even sure that's a realistic possibility.

At least now, the Zards can possibly figure out a way to re-sign Beal at a max salary without totally blowing through the salary cap and crippling the franchise.

And you're absolutely right about the supermax contract not working the way it should. Seems to me that the way it's been set up is penalizing both some players and teams.

[tontoz]

Realistically this franchise is already crippled. Beal making the supermax vs the max probably wouldn't rank very high on our list of problems.

[Illmatic12]

Realistically this franchise is already crippled. Beal making the supermax vs the max probably wouldn't rank very high on our list of problems.

They're crippled but not dead ... thanks to the low bar in the Eastern conference I've similarly lowered my expectations.
We have all of our first round picks moving forward. So at the very least , we can cycle in some cheap young players around Beal and make the next few years interesting.

If we can add a new Thomas Bryant/Troy Brown type prospect every season and mold those players into something interesting by the time Wall's deal is up, I'd consider that a positive direction for the franchise.

[tontoz]

Realistically this franchise is already crippled. Beal making the supermax vs the max probably wouldn't rank very high on our list of problems.

They're crippled but not dead ... thanks to the low bar in the Eastern conference I've similarly lowered my expectations.
We have all of our first round picks moving forward. So at the very least , we can cycle in some cheap young players around Beal and make the next few years interesting.

If we can add a new Thomas Bryant/Troy Brown type prospect every season and mold those players into something interesting by the time Wall's deal is up, I'd consider that a positive direction for the franchise.

Sounds like you haven't come all the way down from the high we got from EG's firing.

Now that he is gone we have to clean up the mess which is a Herculean task. Even with a series of good moves we are still a long way from that elusive 50 win season.

[Dat2U]

Realistically this franchise is already crippled. Beal making the supermax vs the max probably wouldn't rank very high on our list of problems.

They're crippled but not dead ... thanks to the low bar in the Eastern conference I've similarly lowered my expectations.
We have all of our first round picks moving forward. So at the very least , we can cycle in some cheap young players around Beal and make the next few years interesting.

If we can add a new Thomas Bryant/Troy Brown type prospect every season and mold those players into something interesting by the time Wall's deal is up, I'd consider that a positive direction for the franchise.

Current roster:

PG ??? / ??? / Wall (injured)
SG Beal / McRae / Phillip
SF T. Brown Jr / ??? / ???
PF ??? / ??? / ???
CE Howard / Mahinmi / ???

We is dead!

[Illmatic12]

Come on now, you guys know better. Brooklyn was in a worse situation a few years back and they’re now doing alright for themselves. Washington doesn’t have a high ceiling as long as Wall’s contract is on the books but no reason why they should roll over and act dead.

A fun lower-seeded East team is realistically around what we can hope for over the next 4 years, unless Wall fully recovers from his injury and comes back on a higher level of stardom (unlikely).

[payitforward]

Realistically this franchise is already crippled. Beal making the supermax vs the max probably wouldn't rank very high on our list of problems.

They're crippled but not dead ... thanks to the low bar in the Eastern conference I've similarly lowered my expectations.
We have all of our first round picks moving forward. So at the very least , we can cycle in some cheap young players around Beal and make the next few years interesting.

If we can add a new Thomas Bryant/Troy Brown type prospect every season and mold those players into something interesting by the time Wall's deal is up, I'd consider that a positive direction for the franchise.

Current roster:

PG ??? / ??? / Wall (injured)
SG Beal / McRae / Phillip
SF T. Brown Jr / ??? / ???
PF ??? / ??? / ???
CE Howard / Mahinmi / ???

We is dead!

??? has always been one of my favorite players. Especially the way he can back himself up...

[payitforward]

...A fun lower-seeded East team is realistically around what we can hope for over the next 4 years, unless Wall fully recovers from his injury and comes back on a higher level of stardom (unlikely).

Well, we can hope for anything. But I don't think we can expect any kind of playoff team either next year or the year after.

It seems hard to keep in mind, so I'll remind us: we won 32 games this year. & right now our roster looks like it'll be worse next year (largely b/c it seems unlikely we'd bring Ariza back & & at least questionable that we bring Dekker back)

For starters, to have any kind of chance, we'd have to hit on 2 guys in this draft & another 2 in the next. That's not impossible, obviously, but it would be a lot easier if we actually had 2 picks in each of those drafts!

Still, you're right, we can hope for it....

[Illmatic12]

...A fun lower-seeded East team is realistically around what we can hope for over the next 4 years, unless Wall fully recovers from his injury and comes back on a higher level of stardom (unlikely).

Well, we can hope for anything. But I don't think we can expect any kind of playoff team either next year or the year after.

It seems hard to keep in mind, so I'll remind us: we won 32 games this year. & right now our roster looks like it'll be worse next year (largely b/c it seems unlikely we'd bring Ariza back & & at least questionable that we bring Dekker back)

For starters, to have any kind of chance, we'd have to hit on 2 guys in this draft & another 2 in the next. That's not impossible, obviously, but it would be a lot easier if we actually had 2 picks in each of those drafts!

Still, you're right, we can hope for it....

Well you’re certainly entitled to your view , but I’m personally gonna reserve my opinion until after the offseason is over and we have a chance to review what moves have transpired.

I’ve seen way too many teams that were predicted to win 20-30 games on paper but ended up gelling together and outperforming expectations.

[DCZards]

It seems hard to keep in mind, so I'll remind us: we won 32 games this year. & right now our roster looks like it'll be worse next year (largely b/c it seems unlikely we'd bring Ariza back & & at least questionable that we bring Dekker back)

The Nets won 28 games in 2017-18 and 42 games in 2018-19.

Don't know how you can so quickly conclude that the Zards roster will be worse next year than it was this year when it should include an improved Brown, an improved Bryant (assuming we resign him), a healthy (presumably) Howard and a top ten draft pick.

And, at this point, we're not sure who the Zards might be able to sign as a free agent. (I'd like to see us sign Patrick Beverly.)

I don't think the Zards should bring back Ariza and I really don't care whether or not they bring back Dekker considering that he's an 8th or 9th man at best.

Yes, there are some big holes to fill but, hey, keep hope alive.

[Dat2U]

If the goal is to be the Nets, that lowly standard can be accomplished with or without Beal.

[nate33]

...A fun lower-seeded East team is realistically around what we can hope for over the next 4 years, unless Wall fully recovers from his injury and comes back on a higher level of stardom (unlikely).

Well, we can hope for anything. But I don't think we can expect any kind of playoff team either next year or the year after.

It seems hard to keep in mind, so I'll remind us: we won 32 games this year. & right now our roster looks like it'll be worse next year (largely b/c it seems unlikely we'd bring Ariza back & & at least questionable that we bring Dekker back)

For starters, to have any kind of chance, we'd have to hit on 2 guys in this draft & another 2 in the next. That's not impossible, obviously, but it would be a lot easier if we actually had 2 picks in each of those drafts!

Still, you're right, we can hope for it....

You (and others) keep bringing up the fact that we won just 32 games last year as if that is, without question, our baseline. The same basic team won 43 games the year before (with Wall missing half the season and playing hurt the other half, just like last year). The main difference is the 2017-18 team had Porter, which certainly helped them. On the other hand, our current team has an upgrade at PF (because anyone in place of Morris is, by definition, an upgrade), has Beal playing better than ever before, and by next season, I think Bryant will be as good, if not better than 33-year-old Gortat.

I'm not saying the team is a Eastern Conference favorite, but let's not act like 32 games is the team's ceiling. 35, 38, even 42 wins is possible.

[nate33]

(I'd like to see us sign Patrick Beverly.)

You can't think this way. Any player that is well known and established is going to cost too much relative to their production. Assuming we resign Bryant and Sato, or biggest priority is going to be one more starting-caliber forward (whether that's Parker, Portis or an MLE vet, I don't know). After that, we are talking vet-minimum contracts only, and maybe some Bird Rights re-signings of some of our cheaper free agents (Green, Dekker). Patrick Beverly isn't walking through that door.

[DCZards]

If the goal is to be the Nets, that lowly standard can be accomplished with or without Beal.

C'mon, Dat. You know that's not my ultimate goal. Don't diss me like that.

I want to advance in the playoffs and someday win a championship like any Zards fans would. I was simply pointing out the one year improvement of the Nets.

[Ruzious]

They're crippled but not dead ... thanks to the low bar in the Eastern conference I've similarly lowered my expectations.
We have all of our first round picks moving forward. So at the very least , we can cycle in some cheap young players around Beal and make the next few years interesting.

If we can add a new Thomas Bryant/Troy Brown type prospect every season and mold those players into something interesting by the time Wall's deal is up, I'd consider that a positive direction for the franchise.

Current roster:

PG ??? / ??? / Wall (injured)
SG Beal / McRae / Phillip
SF T. Brown Jr / ??? / ???
PF ??? / ??? / ???
CE Howard / Mahinmi / ???

We is dead!

??? has always been one of my favorite players. Especially the way he can back himself up...

Not to mention that he can start at 2 positions at the same time, so I won't mention it, but if I did...