payitforward wrote:It's rare, extremely rare, for a trade (of players for players -- not picks) to make you better.
Everybody was absolutely certain that our trade of Dinwiddie/Davis for KP was incredibly positive, almost transformative. That it made us a far better team.
After 71 games last year our record was 30-41. This year it's 32-39.
Sadly, there is no path for this team to improve in the next few years. We'd have to luck into drafting an instant superstar in R1 this year & an instant outstanding starter in R2 this year. Then do almost as well in the '24 draft.
Why play this tired game if building false narratives? Whats the end goal here? Another lame I told you so? No one saw KP as transformative. But we all recognized a talented player who was significantly better than the guys he replaced (except you, you apparently saw little different b/w Bertans & KP since both are 7-0 and dont rebound to your liking).
KP has been the best player on the Wizards roster this season (despite Beal having a solid bounce back year). KP is a big reason why we even have 32 wins. You can say its not any better than last year but I'd counter that the supporting cast is horrific and probably the worst of Shepp's tenure.
1. Todd - waisting a roster spot b/c of contract guarantees. Clearly not an NBA player.
2. Davis - was a replacement level G-league player to about a week ago
3. Huff - Carey was a waste of a roster spot that was thankfully released... only to sign this Laker reject
4. Bouyea - G-Leaguer
5. Cooks - career overseas guy. Wild he got a 4 yr deal.
6. Jackson - toolsy looking FA rookie but he's 24.
7. Nunn - corpse acquired in Hachimura deal
8. Gill - nice guy I guess. Fringe player
9. Gibson - Likely on his last deal unless Shepp wants to keep him another season
10. Goodwin - Delon clone who is unremarkable offensively but tries hard.
11. Avdija - regressed defensively, not progressed at all offensively. A significantly negative player atm.
12. Kispert - developing into a solid 8th man lol. Too low volume a shooter to really impact an offense like he should and a constant target on D. Solidly negative but shooting provides some value.
I just went through 12 guys. An NBA roster is 15 and two two-way players. The first 9 guys on the list shouldn't be playing for any NBA team but here we are. The next 3 are all solidly negative players. I suppose KP is supposed to make all these guys better?