Official 2023 Wizards OFFSEASON Thread

[NatP4]

We were supposed to hire Jay Wright instead of WUJ(Brunson’s former coach), so maybe?

Also, didn’t KCP have a team option for 13 million that we could’ve declined?

A creative GM could’ve made it work, a good portion of this board actually preferred Tyus Jones, but maybe that was just for cheaper cost?

Some people even preferred Kuzma over Brunson….

[dobrojim]

So we hire a good new GM either Kenny Smith, Bobby marks, Becky Hammond, that chick in Boston or Bob Myers.

They trade Beal on the spot to Miami
Beal
For
Jovic, Lowery, oladipo, 2023,2027,2029 firsts and 2 seconds.

We sign and trade Kuz anywhere for a TPE and future picks.

We trade our pick back with the nets for their two late firsts and a future second.
Now we have 3 later firsts and possibly 2 seconds depending on how that Boston pick goes. We should have 18, 21,22, 42 and 59. We draft Carson Wallace, Bilal Coulibaly, Brandin Podziemski, DeRon Holmes II, and if we get that 59 pick like we should take a flyer on Emoni Bates.

We trade/dump/ buy out or what ever Todd, cooks, and gill.

We re sign KP

That leaves us with
Guards
Lowery, Morris, wright, wallace, Oladipo, Goodwin, davis
Wings
Kispert, jackson, Coulibaly, podziemski, bates
Bigs
KP, Gafford, Deni, Jovic, Holmes II, , Huff

We have some house keeping to do. I would say Lowery, oladipo, and Morris need to go via trade or buy out. That gets us to 15. Huff and Jackson can go to free up two more spots and the two ways.
Or
We can use the two ways on huff and Jackson again and keep one of Lowery or Morris.

That's puts us in a decent spot with a good jump on future draft capital with a lot of young talent !

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That didn't age well. I have liked Oladipo's game for a while but at this point, signing or trading
for him would be pretty risky.

[nate33]

Really wanted Brunson last off-season. Was calling for a S&T of Kuzma for Brunson. What a difference that would’ve made…..

Brunson signed w/ the Knicks as a FA "last off-season." If he'd come here on the same deal, w/ Kuz going out, we'd have been @$9m into the luxury tax this season. Ditto the coming season & for a few more seasons.

Of course, we wouldn't have made the trade with Denver in that case. We'd have re-signed KCP instead. So make that @$12m into the lux tax. While being one player short of 15 -- more lux tax!

In any case, Brunson would have had to want to come to the Wizards. Does that seem likely to you?

Capwise, it might have been feasible.

Undo the KCP trade and we save $4.75M. Refrain from signing Wright and we save another $7.8M. That's $12.5M extra to work with. That almost totally bridges the $14.7M gap between Brunson's salary and Kuzma's salary.

IIRC, we had about $400K in luxtax room at the start of this season, so if we instead did the Brunson deal, we would be $1.8M above the luxtax. We could have addressed that by refraining from signing Gibson and just playing Carey Jr.. (Note, we also would have retained Ish Smith in this scenario, which addresses our backup PG depth and allows us to leave Goodwin on a 2-way deal.)

The lineup would have been:

PG Brunson/Smith
SG Beal/KCP
SF Avdija/Kispert
PF Porzingis/Hachimura
C Gafford/Porzingis
End of bench: Goodwin, Gill, Carey Jr., Davis, Todd

It looks even better if Tari Eason was drafted.

At the Trade Deadline, we could have done the same Hachimura trade to restock our 2nd round pick stockpile (because we didn't plan to resign Hachimura at an open market price) and then slip Eason into his place. That gives us a pretty lean and mean roster of good, cheap players around Beal going forward:

Porzingis - $35M?
Brunson - $26M
KCP - $14M
Gafford - $12M
Avdija - $6.2M
Kispert - $3.7M
Eason - $3.5M
Goodwin - $1.9M

That's $102M for 8 good players. The luxtax threshold is $162M so that fits Beal's gargantuan salary plus $12M remains for our draft pick and 4 vet minimum guys. (Obviously, we would still look for a Beal trade.)

[doclinkin]

We were supposed to hire Jay Wright instead of WUJ(Brunson’s former coach), so maybe?.

No. Brunson's dad is a coach for the Knicks. The Knicks were docked a draft pick for tampering because the conversations about Jalen heading to NY happened before the FA season opened. Brunson wasn't going anywhere else. Jay Wright would have been a nice hire for other reasons. We were never getting Brunson.

[NatP4]

Also called for a Derrick White for Kuzma or Rui swap whenever he requested out of SAS.

People shot it down because White was shooting a low % from 3 in like 20 games to start the year, now he’s one of the best guards in the league on one of the best teams.

[payitforward]

Really wanted Brunson last off-season. Was calling for a S&T of Kuzma for Brunson. What a difference that would’ve made…..

Brunson signed w/ the Knicks as a FA "last off-season." If he'd come here on the same deal, w/ Kuz going out, we'd have been @$9m into the luxury tax this season. Ditto the coming season & for a few more seasons.

Of course, we wouldn't have made the trade with Denver in that case. We'd have re-signed KCP instead. So make that @$12m into the lux tax. While being one player short of 15 -- more lux tax!

In any case, Brunson would have had to want to come to the Wizards. Does that seem likely to you?

Capwise, it might have been feasible.

Undo the KCP trade and we save $4.75M. Refrain from signing Wright and we save another $7.8M. That's $12.5M extra to work with. That almost totally bridges the $14.7M gap between Brunson's salary and Kuzma's salary.

IIRC, we had about $400K in luxtax room at the start of this season, so if we instead did the Brunson deal, we would be $1.8M above the luxtax. We could have addressed that by refraining from signing Gibson and just playing Carey Jr.. (Note, we also would have retained Ish Smith in this scenario, which addresses our backup PG depth and allows us to leave Goodwin on a 2-way deal.)

The lineup would have been:

PG Brunson/Smith
SG Beal/KCP
SF Avdija/Kispert
PF Porzingis/Hachimura
C Gafford/Porzingis
End of bench: Goodwin, Gill, Carey Jr., Davis, Todd

It looks even better if Tari Eason was drafted.

At the Trade Deadline, we could have done the same Hachimura trade to restock our 2nd round pick stockpile (because we didn't plan to resign Hachimura at an open market price) and then slip Eason into his place. That gives us a pretty lean and mean roster of good, cheap players around Beal going forward:

Porzingis - $35M?
Brunson - $26M
KCP - $14M
Gafford - $12M
Avdija - $6.2M
Kispert - $3.7M
Eason - $3.5M
Goodwin - $1.9M

That's $102M for 8 good players. The luxtax threshold is $162M so that fits Beal's gargantuan salary plus $12M remains for our draft pick and 4 vet minimum guys. (Obviously, we would still look for a Beal trade.)

My head's spinning!
Eason (taken at #10) would be $4.8m as a rookie & just over $5m in the coming season. My addition puts the above list at $104m. $155.5m w/ Beal & a R1 pick.

Todd is guaranteed, so that's $157.35 for 11 players. We have multiple R2 picks, so add 2 @ $1m each. We might slide under the lux tax w/ a couple of vet minimum players.

Or we could have ditched KCP & signed Wright to give ourselves a little more flexibility.

Obviously, Brunson in & Kuz out makes for a better team! But, why would he come here over NY? Well... I doubt he would.

[Dark Faze]

Also called for a Derrick White for Kuzma or Rui swap whenever he requested out of SAS.

People shot it down because White was shooting a low % from 3 in like 20 games to start the year, now he’s one of the best guards in the league on one of the best teams.

Being fair, Monte has been better than Derrick offensively. That being said, Derrick is better defensively but is also locked into 17+ mil a year for the next 3 seasons.

We've got great value at guard off-setting Brads contract atm. The fact that people still think (rightly or wrongly) that we need better guard play is interesting.

[NatP4]

Also called for a Derrick White for Kuzma or Rui swap whenever he requested out of SAS.

People shot it down because White was shooting a low % from 3 in like 20 games to start the year, now he’s one of the best guards in the league on one of the best teams.

Being fair, Monte has been better than Derrick offensively. That being said, Derrick is better defensively but is also locked into 17+ mil a year for the next 3 seasons.

We've got great value at guard off-setting Brads contract atm. The fact that people still think (rightly or wrongly) that we need better guard play is interesting.

They need another player that can break down the defense and force rotations and be a playmaker, that is forsure. Not sure that Derrick White is that guy, but they also just lack talent in general at every position.

[nate33]

Also called for a Derrick White for Kuzma or Rui swap whenever he requested out of SAS.

People shot it down because White was shooting a low % from 3 in like 20 games to start the year, now he’s one of the best guards in the league on one of the best teams.

I was banging the drum for a Kuzma/White trade. It would have been perfect.

[gambitx777]

So we hire a good new GM either Kenny Smith, Bobby marks, Becky Hammond, that chick in Boston or Bob Myers.

They trade Beal on the spot to Miami
Beal
For
Jovic, Lowery, oladipo, 2023,2027,2029 firsts and 2 seconds.

We sign and trade Kuz anywhere for a TPE and future picks.

We trade our pick back with the nets for their two late firsts and a future second.
Now we have 3 later firsts and possibly 2 seconds depending on how that Boston pick goes. We should have 18, 21,22, 42 and 59. We draft Carson Wallace, Bilal Coulibaly, Brandin Podziemski, DeRon Holmes II, and if we get that 59 pick like we should take a flyer on Emoni Bates.

We trade/dump/ buy out or what ever Todd, cooks, and gill.

We re sign KP

That leaves us with
Guards
Lowery, Morris, wright, wallace, Oladipo, Goodwin, davis
Wings
Kispert, jackson, Coulibaly, podziemski, bates
Bigs
KP, Gafford, Deni, Jovic, Holmes II, , Huff

We have some house keeping to do. I would say Lowery, oladipo, and Morris need to go via trade or buy out. That gets us to 15. Huff and Jackson can go to free up two more spots and the two ways.
Or
We can use the two ways on huff and Jackson again and keep one of Lowery or Morris.

That's puts us in a decent spot with a good jump on future draft capital with a lot of young talent

Hey, if you're gonna dream up stuff that has absolutely no chance to happen, why don't we get the #1 pick & Wemby?

Then Brooklyn can just give us their two R1 picks, because they feel like being nice....

What part of any of that has no chance of happening?

The heat have a history of trading for guys on big deals.

The nexts are strapped picks wise and are looking down the barrel of a rebuild they are perfect trade back candidates and two 20s picks for a top ten is fair.



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[payitforward]

I would say that the Beal trade is unrealistic. Maybe 3 years ago, we might have gotten that kind of haul, or at least something approaching it, but I don't think Brad is worth 3 first round picks, 2 second round picks, a R1 pick from '22 plus a couple of other players.

OTOH, I don't see any point in arguing about that subject -- how would either of us be proven right or wrong?
We'll see what Brad is worth when he's traded -- if he's traded!

I was also thinking that your trade down with the Nets was a little too good (for us) to be true -- but rereading I see it was a *future* second you have them throwing in. If it's a few years out, then I take it back. In fact, assuming we are trading back from 8 (i.e. no lower down), we might could even get their #51 this year in the deal.

[NatP4]

Man, I really wish we had a player like Jimmy Butler. His basketball IQ and competitiveness are completely insane. The gap between him and a player like Bradley Beal is massive.

The playoffs have been very entertaining, and have made it so blatantly obvious that the wizards are nowhere close to a winning culture.

[gambitx777]

I would say that the Beal trade is unrealistic. Maybe 3 years ago, we might have gotten that kind of haul, or at least something approaching it, but I don't think Brad is worth 3 first round picks, 2 second round picks, a R1 pick from '22 plus a couple of other players.

OTOH, I don't see any point in arguing about that subject -- how would either of us be proven right or wrong?
We'll see what Brad is worth when he's traded -- if he's traded!

I was also thinking that your trade down with the Nets was a little too good (for us) to be true -- but rereading I see it was a *future* second you have them throwing in. If it's a few years out, then I take it back. In fact, assuming we are trading back from 8 (i.e. no lower down), we might could even get their #51 this year in the deal.

A friendly chat then lol I actually formed that trade with you in mind.

Jovic hasn't played well or at all really. He's in the Davis boat. I would assume you have Davis as a negative or at least no/natural value asset so I considered him a young salary filler. Lowery and oladipo are cooked done. Just numbers on a spread sheet, savings or trade ballasts. So beals still worth more than a alary dump inmo. The seconds are just toss ins. This year's first is 19. The other two sure it be nice but that's negotiable and probably would be pretty well protected. So all in all I'd say it's fair but I see what you mean. I'd take a little less too but not much less.

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[Kanyewest]

Man, I really wish we had a player like Jimmy Butler. His basketball IQ and competitiveness are completely insane. The gap between him and a player like Bradley Beal is massive.

The playoffs have been very entertaining, and have made it so blatantly obvious that the wizards are nowhere close to a winning culture.

Butler has hacked the code in drawing fouls- guys like Lillard/Beal/Harden free throw rates have dropped since the new rule changes. Butler seems to be getting to the line more than ever.

Weirdly enough, Beal did beat Butler in the playoffs earlier in his career lead by playoff Nene.

[NatP4]

Man, I really wish we had a player like Jimmy Butler. His basketball IQ and competitiveness are completely insane. The gap between him and a player like Bradley Beal is massive.

The playoffs have been very entertaining, and have made it so blatantly obvious that the wizards are nowhere close to a winning culture.

Butler has hacked the code in drawing fouls- guys like Lillard/Beal/Harden free throw rates have dropped since the new rule changes. Butler seems to be getting to the line more than ever.

Weirdly enough, Beal did beat Butler in the playoffs earlier in his career lead by playoff Nene.

Led by prime all star John Wall. The last time wizards basketball was fun.

[Kanyewest]

Man, I really wish we had a player like Jimmy Butler. His basketball IQ and competitiveness are completely insane. The gap between him and a player like Bradley Beal is massive.

The playoffs have been very entertaining, and have made it so blatantly obvious that the wizards are nowhere close to a winning culture.

Butler has hacked the code in drawing fouls- guys like Lillard/Beal/Harden free throw rates have dropped since the new rule changes. Butler seems to be getting to the line more than ever.

Weirdly enough, Beal did beat Butler in the playoffs earlier in his career lead by playoff Nene.

Led by prime all star John Wall. The last time wizards basketball was fun.

Stats from the series. Beal pretty solid.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2014-nba-eastern-conference-first-round-wizards-vs-bulls.html

[NatP4]

Butler has hacked the code in drawing fouls- guys like Lillard/Beal/Harden free throw rates have dropped since the new rule changes. Butler seems to be getting to the line more than ever.

Weirdly enough, Beal did beat Butler in the playoffs earlier in his career lead by playoff Nene.

Led by prime all star John Wall. The last time wizards basketball was fun.

Stats from the series. Beal pretty solid.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2014-nba-eastern-conference-first-round-wizards-vs-bulls.html

Hang a banner. Beal was pretty solid in a 1st round playoff series against the Derrick Rose-less Chicago Bulls, 9 years ago.

[FAH1223]

Watch on YouTube

[payitforward]

Man, I really wish we had a player like Jimmy Butler....

Jimmy is my candidate for MVP this year. He's had an extraordinary season -- beyond anything he's ever done. & he's done plenty!

[Kanyewest]

Man, I really wish we had a player like Jimmy Butler....

Jimmy is my candidate for MVP this year. He's had an extraordinary season -- beyond anything he's ever done. & he's done plenty!

https://streamable.com/z4a2o1