Wizards Pre-Draft Summit

[APerna]

I apologize for the fact that the Wizards are no longer playing, but there is one bright side to the "unofficial" start of the offseason. It's time for the annual Pre-Draft Summit, led by myself (Andrew Perna). The pieces will be turned into articles, and will be part of a three-pronged attack of draft coverage on RealGM.

Thanks in advance for the answers, and please remember to try keeping the answers as tight and concise as possible.


1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick?


Thanks for taking the time, and contributing answers. We appreciate that you all help make RealGM what it is today!

[LyricalRico]

1. Not be injured.

2. They fired Eddie Jordan.

3. McGee and McGuire.

4. Blatche and Young underperformed, but that's not really a "surprise".

5. More confident than not.

6. To find someone to take the pick and give us a vet.

7. Nobody because we've traded it.

[fishercob]

1. Avoided catastrophic injury to Haywood and Arenas.

2. Hard to say that a 19-win team had strengths, though they did remain resolute, calm and classy in the f ace of extremely difficult and frustrating circumstances.

3. Javale McGee and Dominic McGuire.

4. I guess Blatche. I would have expected more from him at this poitn

5. Confident. I'm glad that Ernie is running things as opposed to some of us yahoos

6. An upgrade in the backcourt.

7. I expect the pick to be traded.

[miller31time]

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

Avoid injuries to our best overall player and our best defensive player.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

Antawn Jamison had a year on par with the best in his career. He was a warrior this season. Even though he never should have gotten the minutes he did (since we weren't making the playoffs anyway), you can't complain about him at all.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

JaVale McGee - when he was drafted, everyone and their mother was horribly disappointed with the pick. Then he stepped onto the court and we got to see his incredible athleticism and potential. In this, his rookie season, he put up one of the highest PER's among rookies (16.9).

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Ugh...take your pick. I was disappointed that Nick Young didn't develop a consistent and more well-rounded game. Andray Blatche was a let-down as well. Same issues - consistency and honing his talents.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

Not very confident, to be honest. This is not an easy project we have here in Washington. We're stuck between competing and rebuilding and I don't see a clear plan in place.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

Shooting guard is our biggest weakness right now. Defense is needed as well.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick?

Nobody. Trade the pick for a veteran shooting guard and hope that it leads to another trade that nets us a more defensive-oriented power forward.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

Playoffs???? PLAYOFFS?????

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
My mother always said, if you have nothing good to say... No actually the bench was really good. Unfortunately the bench had to start because of injuries.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season? McGuire. Crittendon, unfortunately since he will have to be cut for luxury tax reasons. Blatche.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season? Also Blatche. Maddeningly inconsistent. Stevenson and Thomas had injuries so don't really count.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason? I think the front office has painted itself into a corner as far as the luxury tax. We can basically sign one draft pick over the next three years unless drastic magical "bad contract disappearing juice" is liberally applied.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft? A doctor. We should get someone from Stanford who's also pre-med.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick? Best player available and then trade for luxury tax relief and a reliable two way veteran starting two.


Thanks for taking the time, and contributing answers. We appreciate that you all help make RealGM what it is today!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

They could have drafted Chalmers instead of McGee. Earlier, instead of signing Arenas and Jamison for all that money they could have signed Sessions for a lot less. The Wizards could have been solid at PG and been much closer to mediocre than what they ended up. At the very least the team would have won more games, had a much better future salary-wise, and had more options for the future.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

The dreaded p word, potential. McGee has great potential. Blatche is young and serviceable. Like closq (or was it pancakes?) I'm not ready to totally write off Young or Pecherov under the right tutelage. The strengths last season were very hard to pin down.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

Jamison

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Butler

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

On a 1 to 10, I give EG and co. a solid 4. Would have been a 2 except for Flip being hired.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

A GM that can draft for something other than potential.
A tough guy like Blair.
An athletic, defensive PG that makes few mistakes as a distributor. Lawson, Flynn, Collison pickem. Or, a potential replacement if Gil can't go. Curry.
Or, a shooting guard in case Nick's not the one. Harden, Henderson, Evans, I dunno.
What I do know: The Wizards need HELP.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick

Blair or Curry. 80% says Blair, 20% says Curry won't miss. My alter-ego says "Why not Harden?". Any of those three and I will not complain.

Anybody except the guy I'm pretty sure they'll pick, Jordan Hill.

[Halcyon]

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

I don't think they really could have done much, with all their injuries. The team obviously suffered from losing a superstar like Arenas again to injury, but moreso from the loss of Haywood, from a defensive standpoint. He was the defensive lynchpin that held everybody together on defense, but without him we completely fell apart.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

Hard to say. I guess we were somehow able to maintain some kind of team chemistry, despite being outmatched in talent almost every single game. And I guess we shoot free throws pretty well?

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

Dominic Mcguire. I didn't think he would play that much last season, even out of necessity. His game grew a lot from his rookie year. He has shown signs of being a very effective "glue" player.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Andray Blatche. Pretty disappointed he didn't mature last offseason to begin with, then didn't show much growth as a player in the regular season. He's seemingly leveling off already...

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

Semi-confident. The GM Ernie Grunfield is still better than half the GMs in the league, and I believe that Abe Pollin definitely wants to see a championship before he passes away. Luxury tax should not be as big of an issue as previous seasons, so Grunfield will do all he can to use that draft pick to swing for a quality veteran player. They've already hired a very competent head coach, so they are looking to win right away.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

Starting SG, Starting PF, backup PG. The order interchanges depending on the talent available.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick?

I am thinking James Harden is the most reasonable choice here. He was a highly touted HS recruit, and then was able to produce at ASU being the single-focus of opposing teams every night. He seems like a pretty cerebral player for a guy his age (coming out after 2 years) and would fit well next to Arenas. I assume we will trade this pick for a veteran player though.

[WizarDynasty]

Being better than half the GM's in the league means that you are constantly the ranked 15th or 8th seed in the playoffs. Wizards are not looking to better than half the teams in teh league. We want to be in the top 4.

[closg00]

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

A creative coach with a different offensive system

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

A nice group of core-players exist to build-around and make one last playoff run.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

D McGuire (Because he got the playing time) McGee despite the limited minutes

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Nick Young, Caron Butler

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

Trades: B, Drafting: C+

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

SG, back-up PG, PF

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick?

I am torn between the best available PF (Blair, Johnson, Clark), best available PG who can shoot (Curry, Lawson), or best available penetrating PG (Evans, Flynn)

My pick, James Johnson

Thanks for taking the time, and contributing answers. We appreciate that you all help make RealGM what it is today!

[DaRealHibachi]

1. Health, better coach, better player development...

2. Can't really think of any atm... We're were pretty weak this year... I guess the wins against CLE...

3. McGuire, easily MIP on the Wiz...

4. Butler, looked like he gave up...

5. Dunno, they didn't make any trades when they needed to, so not so confident...

6. Low post, defensive PF... Maybe a extra combo guard...

7. I like Harden for our team... He looks NBA ready to me... Also, any PF will do...

[Dat2U]

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

Our GM not standing pat in the previous offseason. Realistically acknowledging that Gil might miss some time and finding a quality G to replace his scoring in the short term. Not playing Songaila or Thomas at C in Haywood's absense. Maybe the biggest thing the team could have done to make the playoffs is change their medical staff & doctors a few years back. Our medical staff is the joke of the NBA.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

What strengths? Maybe the overconfidence by players, coaching staff and management that they can excel when healthy.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

McGee. Showed he could contribute immediately, then got regulated to the bench so 6-8 short armed Darius Songaila could play C.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Andray Blatche. Had his moments but tailed off as the year went on. Didn't improve from the previous season.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

Not confident at all. Management's refusal to acknowledge this is flawed team and its blind love & respect of Antawn Jamison and his lax effort on defense leaves me flabbergasted. Grunfeld is stuck in the past by continuing to refer to 2+ years ago when the Wizards were in 1st place in the East for a week. Were a mediocre franchise with a mediocre GM.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

A backcourt partner to Gilbert, whether its a SG or PG is for debate. A legit PF that can finally give us a better option at defending bigs and replace Jamison.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick?

My favorites in order are Curry, Evans, Lawson & Blair. DeRozan is intriguing but too raw. I'd sh*t a brick if we drafted Thabeet, Hill or Harden. Would love a trade up for Rubio or Griffin for the right price.

[pancakes3]

1. Quite honestly? nothing. But, i felt like we could have won just as many games, if not more, had we played McGee more minutes. We were a 19 win team from the get go so we might as well had developed the rookie talent along the way.

2. Some may disagree, but I thought we developed 2 players that will bey pivotal next season for our bench:
Andray Blatche - though inconsistent - continued to grow at a snail's pace and learned to play more like a big man.
Dominic Maguire - he is about as use on offense as Shane Battier, except twice as athletic on defense. I think he showed enormous promise as a defensive role player and could parlay that into a bruce bowen-esque career with us.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
Dominic Maguire

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Mike James. Nobody was hoping for a duplicate of his fluke season, but there were certain expectations to come in and be a serviceable point guard. He was an utter disappointment as a point guard, and was relegated to being a 3 point specialist while eating up 50 starts and 30 mpg that could have gone to developing Crittenton and Young. Frankly, even Juan Dixon would have been preferred. I guess the FO just wanted to get some utility out of their 6 million dollar blunder.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
Shaky at best. The management has sent a loud and clear message that they want to see how a healthy roster would fare before making any other huge transactions. The majority of the fans don't have as much confidence in the roster especially in comparing our "big 3" to other power trios around the league and would much rather see jamison dealt for a more traditional pf. this cognitive dissonance should put the fan base and GMEG (general manager ernie grunfeld) at odds, but the animosity is offset by a general feeling of hope that a healthy arenas brings.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
Shooting Guard. The talent flows deep and wide. There are some good guard prospects as opposed to PF (only really 3 solid prospects) - our other area of need. Stephen Curry, James Harden, and Tyreke Evans have been tossed around as prospects. 2nd rounders that the fans have interest in include Jack McClinton, Danny Green, and Dionte Christmas. Basically we want to shore up our 3 point shooting which would allow for better spacing for dribble penetration and slashing cuts.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick?
The cop out answer is "trade the pick" because there really isn't a prospect that wows us. Trading the pick allows us more flexibility to go after better prospects that aren't in the draft - like Rudy Fernandez, Azuibuike, or some other proven 2-guard talent.

If you twisted my arm on this one, I would choose Stephen Curry. We have an opportunity to pick a really special player. If he hadn't turned his ankle halfway in the season, he would have been able to carry Davidson to a sweet 16 berth, no question. Now with his ankle injury dropping his stock, we have the opportunity to buy low and we should definitely take it.

[Brenice]

1. The team obviously suffered from losing a superstar like Arenas again to injury, but moreso from the loss of Haywood, from a defensive standpoint. He was the defensive lynchpin that held everybody together on defense, but without him we completely fell apart.

That may be the case, I don't know. I think the team suffered without Arenas for the second straight year, and then you add Haywood being out compounded the problem. Butler didn't have it in him to play above his head like the previous season when only Arenas was out. I don't think he had it in him mentally to carry the team again like that knowing they wouldn't bust a grape in the playoffs even if they put in maximum effort during the season.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?

Dat took the words right out of my mouth, I'll just underline what he said, change their medical staff. It's been a joke for the better part of a decade with injuries lingering or leading to other injuries. You can't directly blame Gil's 2 year injury on them, but if you did it wouldn't have been the first time the finger was pointed at them.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?

Honestly nothing comes to mind. I'm either being lazy or realistic, take your pick.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?

Jamison surprisingly playing all but one game, continually plugging away and putting up double doubles despite playing 40 minutes a game in a lost year. Dominic McGuire was EASILY the most pleasant surprise, with McGee second only because coaches stubbornly wouldn't find PT for him.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?

Anyone and everyone in charge of player development (i.e. Tapscott, our interim coach promoted from player development who probably couldn't develop his own facial hair without screwing it up). Guys like Young and Blatche disappointed, but may have done better if they actually found a consistent role within the rotation.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?

My confidence in the front office has declined gradually every offseason since EG's hire. I still think he knows what he's doing, but I'm only about a 5 on a scale of 1-10.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?

In my mind we're a team that wants to make a serious run into and through the playoffs next year, so it would be nice to land somebody who can contribute this year. That may be asking a lot in this draft, though. Also anybody who shows above average skills on the defensive end, we don't necessarily need another "scorer".

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick?

Harden or Curry would be playing it safe, but I'd love it if they traded down to get Blair or up to get Rubio or Griffin (don't see the latter happenning though)

[MJG]

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?
Probably nothing. Maybe if we hired a non-quack medical staff a year or two ago, Arenas' latest setback wouldn't have been as debilitating, and he would've returned mid-December like was the original target. But even then, we probably only barely scrape into the 8th spot, so it's not like it would have mattered. I've seen others mentioning Haywood, but his injury was pretty much a fluke, and we likely couldn't have done anything to prevent it, so I can't blame the team for that.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Honestly, I'm having trouble thinking of much. You don't win fewer than 20 games by having strengths. The best thing I can think of is that the team stayed pretty strong throughout a wretched season, never giving up or throwing in the towel like many other teams in this kind of situation.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
McGee is the easy pick. A good chunk of the people here thought he was outright bust material, and even those that didn't figured he'd be more of a long-term project. Instead, he came out from more or less day one and did lots of good things. McGuire is the other option; his offense improved from "historically bad" to just "bad", which combined with his other multitude of skills, means he went from someone who looked like he might wind up out of the league to a solid role player.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Blatche. With an injury to our starting center and notable improvements in each of his prior seasons, you would kind of hope that this was the season where he got bumped up from role player to starter. Instead, his improvements were marginal at best, and following a mid-season injury, more often than not he played flat-out worse than he did last year.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
I'm fully confident in the front office's ability to lead us to 40-50 wins and the 4-8th seed for years to come.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
A quality guard. Ideally a SG, but a PG or combo would still be great.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick?
I'm not the draft expert many others are, but I like Curry as my pick. Beyond him, I'm kind of indifferent about the other guard choices: Harden, Evans, Flynn, DeRozan. Meh.

[Ruzious]

1. What could the team have done different to make the playoffs?
Nothing that wouldn't have crippled the team long-term.

2. Where were the team’s biggest strengths?
Their forwards.

3. Who had a surprisingly effective season?
McGuire - in the second half of the season.

4. Who had a surprisingly ineffective season?
Butler - became lethargic.

5. How confident are you in the front office heading into the offseason?
I'm not sure I'd feel "confident" about any NBA front office. Like most every fan, I think I know best.

6. What are the team’s biggest needs in the draft?
Talent with toughness, defense, 3 point shooting, and team speed.

7. Who would you like your team to select with the 5th pick?
I'd like to trade down to 17 with Philly - exchanging Blatche for Speights. Pick the best PG available at 17, and pick Danny Green with the 2nd pick in the 2nd round.

[spaceman_E]

All the answers seem to be spot on except

5. Very confident because you can't blame the front office for injuries.

6. A two-way PF upgrade with legit size (only Griffin would qualify). An upgrade at starting SG. A true PG who is ready to contribute next year (Lawson, Maynor, Collison top my list)

7. James Harden.