2021 Draft Thread - Part II

[Ruzious]

I'm fine with Kispert at #15 but IMO Shepp got too cute and blew the #22 on a reclamation project with one year left on his rookie deal and a high upside play with low awareness. Both are Ernie specials.

The trade of dumping Westbrook's contract to rebuild around Beal also makes no sense. Either trade both or try to retool around both but once again Shepp and the front office are trying to thread the needle and its not going to work.

The Westbrook trade - in a vacuum - was solid, but... I have no idea where they're going - much less who's their point guard. It's a bizarre roster right now. If they don't get a good PG (has to be better than Dinwiddie), I don't get why Beal will want to stay for any reason other than money.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I like having no idea because it really is like the twilight zone around here now. Who knows what Tommy Shepherd’s going to do next? I sure don’t

[DCZards]

Kispert was a solid pick because he brings the shooting that the Zards desperately need. I would have taken a chance on Jalen Johnson tho.

I really like the Todd pick. I think he's going to turn out to be one of the steals of this draft...but we'll have to be patience.

[pcbothwel]

I'm fine with Kispert at #15 but IMO Shepp got too cute and blew the #22 on a reclamation project with one year left on his rookie deal and a high upside play with low awareness. Both are Ernie specials.

The trade of dumping Westbrook's contract to rebuild around Beal also makes no sense. Either trade both or try to retool around both but once again Shepp and the front office are trying to thread the needle and its not going to work.

The Westbrook trade - in a vacuum - was solid, but... I have no idea where they're going - much less who's their point guard. It's a bizarre roster right now. If they don't get a good PG (has to be better than Dinwiddie), I don't get why Beal will want to stay for any reason other than money.

Oh I disagree. Huff, Kispert, and Todd are here to replace Bertans and Bryant after 1 year. Why?
If Bertans is moved for expirings, then we would have ~25-30M in cap space next summer with:
Dinwiddie(4/80M)
Beal
Deni / Kispert
Rui / Todd
Gafford / Huff

[Dat2U]

Todd reminds me of an MPJ lite. Natural looking stroke and good athleticism at 6-9 but the lack of awareness, recognition on both sides of the ball screams project. Can get lost in the speed of the game. That's concerning. Definitely needs extended run in the D-league. Not a terrible pick at 31 but they could have done alot better IMO.

[Dat2U]

Kispert was 3rd remaining on my board when he was pick. Solid, safe choice. Will be a plus shooter who can attack closeouts. A bit more Wally Z than Joe Harris. Not a 3&D, just a skilled offensive minded SF.

[Ruzious]

I'm fine with Kispert at #15 but IMO Shepp got too cute and blew the #22 on a reclamation project with one year left on his rookie deal and a high upside play with low awareness. Both are Ernie specials.

The trade of dumping Westbrook's contract to rebuild around Beal also makes no sense. Either trade both or try to retool around both but once again Shepp and the front office are trying to thread the needle and its not going to work.

The Westbrook trade - in a vacuum - was solid, but... I have no idea where they're going - much less who's their point guard. It's a bizarre roster right now. If they don't get a good PG (has to be better than Dinwiddie), I don't get why Beal will want to stay for any reason other than money.

Oh I disagree. Huff, Kispert, and Todd are here to replace Bertans and Bryant after 1 year. Why?
If Bertans is moved for expirings, then we would have ~25-30M in cap space next summer with:
Dinwiddie(4/80M)
Beal
Deni / Kispert
Rui / Todd
Gafford / Huff

It's possible, but only if they get someone better than Dinwiddie at the point. He's only good enough to lose with, imo - just don't see a top free agent being impressed by that roster. Kispert helps, but he's a 1 dimensional player in the NBA. I doubt Todd helps even a little bit, tbh.

[Dark Faze]

I'm fine with Kispert at #15 but IMO Shepp got too cute and blew the #22 on a reclamation project with one year left on his rookie deal and a high upside play with low awareness. Both are Ernie specials.

The trade of dumping Westbrook's contract to rebuild around Beal also makes no sense. Either trade both or try to retool around both but once again Shepp and the front office are trying to thread the needle and its not going to work.

Beyond completely ignoring Winston, there's such little upside with Holiday. If he actually manages to play well, you're going to have to pay him market value. And you can't even trade him if he plays well because of that fact.

[Ruzious]

Todd reminds me of an MPJ lite. Natural looking stroke and good athleticism at 6-9 but the lack of awareness, recognition on both sides of the ball screams project. Can get lost in the speed of the game. That's concerning. Definitely needs extended run in the D-league. Not a terrible pick at 31 but they could have done alot better IMO.

Todd would have been a nice pick in the mid 40's; not at 31.

[NatP4]

I actually really love the roster construction. There’s a ton of shooting and basketball IQ on the wing now with Bertans/Deni/Kispert/KCP, and some serious athleticism in the frontcourt with Gafford and Harrell, both are studs. Beal is Beal, he’ll have more space than ever to work with, and they got rid of Mr. ball dominant high usage boat anchor Westbrook. I didn’t realize Aaron Holiday was such a good defender according to all the analytics, he’ll be a solid backup PG.

I also like that Todd offers some Rui insurance, if he never really makes the jump that they expect him to. Obviously, we have to wait and see on the starting PG, but landing Lonzo Ball could turn this into a really good team with a ton of flexibility moving forward, and plenty of youth.

[Ruzious]

I'm fine with Kispert at #15 but IMO Shepp got too cute and blew the #22 on a reclamation project with one year left on his rookie deal and a high upside play with low awareness. Both are Ernie specials.

The trade of dumping Westbrook's contract to rebuild around Beal also makes no sense. Either trade both or try to retool around both but once again Shepp and the front office are trying to thread the needle and its not going to work.

Beyond completely ignoring Winston, there's such little upside with Holiday. If he actually manages to play well, you're going to have to pay him market value. And you can't even trade him if he plays well because of that fact.

It could be even worse if they pay Holiday in order to justify trading for him. Tommy is probably spinning it saying, we got the player we wanted (Todd) and therefore got Holiday for free. It becomes a tangled web they they entrap themselves in.

[NatP4]

I’ll add that Holiday was 2nd&3rd on the Pacers in on/off differential in 18/19 and 19/20, in a large sample size of minutes. His 20/21 season was just a big throwaway. Seems like he’s actually a pretty good player.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Two things in life are certain, death and whinning on the Wizards board after the draft doesn’t play out exactly how one envisioned. Taxes some fortunate can get out with enough all the loopholes.

Kispert makes sense to me even if they end up trading Beal as I believe it help young players development to have a guy on the team that is a lights out shooter.we got by far the best shooter in the draft at 15, stop overthinking things.

22 to 31 was debatable, but it seem like there was a lot of subjectivity in the 18 to 35 range but at the very least we picked a nice potential pick.

[NatP4]

Did Joel Ayayi really go undrafted??

[nate33]

All in all it's been a very good day for the Wizards. Almost too much to digest. We're a different team. Yet... there was so much more possible for us in R2.

Guys with real promise went in the 50s tonight. Was it really not possible for us to get a shot in? I hope we are very active in the next 24 hours, b/c there are guys we definitely could use who did not hear their names called.

At least Sheppard doesn't subscribe to the "continuity leads to championship" philosophy that Grunfeld did. If your team stinks, change it!

[queridiculo]

I'm fine with Kispert at #15 but IMO Shepp got too cute and blew the #22 on a reclamation project with one year left on his rookie deal and a high upside play with low awareness. Both are Ernie specials.

The trade of dumping Westbrook's contract to rebuild around Beal also makes no sense. Either trade both or try to retool around both but once again Shepp and the front office are trying to thread the needle and its not going to work.

I'm really growing more and more tired of all of these draft picks wasted on stopgap point guards.

It's a Wizards tradition by now, what in the actual **** do they keep thinking with this.

[nate33]

You can clearly identify Tommy's failings with the draft: He gets locked in on guys, and doesn't factor the value of the pick versus the position where the player is picked very highly into the equation. It's a pattern now.

It's not smart, and the Todd pick was one of the most egregious examples of that mindset. We flushed a very valuable #22 pick down the toilet. The Holiday acquisition makes just about *zero* sense given how he's played to date, and even worse, is it an admission that a previous draft pick was wasted in Winston?

I don't like what he did with the #22 pick, but I disagree with this conclusion.

First of all, admitting Winston was a wasted pick isn't bad, it's good. Guys picked 53rd in the draft don't usually pan out. If it doesn't look promising right away, dump them an move on. There are only so many roster spots. (I question the wisdom of trading down from #37, but then again, nobody good was picked after #37 anyhow.)

Secondly, we can't know the value of the pick versus the position in the draft. For all we know, Isaiah Todd would have gone at #32 if we didn't take him at #31. Ultimately, we can't really evaluate Sheppard's failings until we see how these picks pan out.

[nate33]

The trade of dumping Westbrook's contract to rebuild around Beal also makes no sense. Either trade both or try to retool around both but once again Shepp and the front office are trying to thread the needle and its not going to work.

It makes sense if he already got buy-in from Beal.

[lastemp3ror]

All in all it's been a very good day for the Wizards. Almost too much to digest. We're a different team. Yet... there was so much more possible for us in R2.

Guys with real promise went in the 50s tonight. Was it really not possible for us to get a shot in? I hope we are very active in the next 24 hours, b/c there are guys we definitely could use who did not hear their names called.

At least Sheppard doesn't subscribe to the "continuity leads to championship" philosophy that Grunfeld did. If your team stinks, change it!

Had to sign in to upvote this and to reply to say.....EXACTLY. I was so sick of the stagnant teams that Grunsfeld put together that basically translated to teams that got booted after the first round of the playoffs. Although, I think they should trade Beal too. But I will put my faith in Shepard for now.

[payitforward]

Todd reminds me of an MPJ lite. Natural looking stroke and good athleticism at 6-9 but the lack of awareness, recognition on both sides of the ball screams project. Can get lost in the speed of the game. That's concerning. Definitely needs extended run in the D-league. Not a terrible pick at 31 but they could have done alot better IMO.

Todd would have been a nice pick in the mid 40's; not at 31.

This is the key point. He's a prospect, but he was certainly not worth the #31 pick in the draft given who was still on the board.

TBH, there are a few undrafted guys I'd take over him right now (either Champagnie, Sam Hauser...). I would have been incredibly happy if we'd traded down from 31 for the 2 Raps picks in the '40s -- which could have gotten us Sharife Cooper & Petrusev.

Todd has upside, however. So... hope for that to develop.