The Official 2023 Draft Thread

[80sballboy]

He was night and day. They called him up because he was dominating the G league all of the sudden after the all star break.

Make whatever you want of the last stretch with the wizards. That was a ton of garbage time randomness, some really good games, some not so good. The important part was after his high ankle sprain and the break, he got healthy and confident and was a totally different player. He’s gonna have a huge year 2.

Don’t believe me, look at the numbers, last 5 games in the G: 20.3 points 5.1 rebounds 2.5 assists 1.6 steals 1.6 turnovers. 50/52/75 shooting splits.

It's worth noting that Davis has several nagging injuries throughout the first half of the season, including a hip issue and a groin injury. Coaches have remarked that one of the reasons he played better late was because he was healthy. They also raved about how hard he works.

I'm glad NatP4 has stayed optimistic on Davis. I think we all fell into a bit too much group think in writing Davis off completely after a terrible rookie season. Let's at least see how he looks this year.

It's true that he showed something in the NBA over the last 10 or so games of the semi-tank. Three-point numbers were still horrible and because he's not a great athlete, he needs to work on about 100 things to improve in the offseason including getting stronger. My favorite part of his game other than defense, was that he showed the potential to be a secondary playmaker and averaged around 4 assists in his last five games. I'd like to see a slightly bigger and more confident version of him in SL.

[mhd]

This guy says Wes Jr really likes Cason Wallace:

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=LockedOnWizards

We really shouldn’t value WUJ’s opinion at all. Doubt he’s the coach after this year. Winger, Dawkins, and Schlenk should take the pick. WUJ also loved Davis last year too

[closg00]

He was night and day. They called him up because he was dominating the G league all of the sudden after the all star break.

Make whatever you want of the last stretch with the wizards. That was a ton of garbage time randomness, some really good games, some not so good. The important part was after his high ankle sprain and the break, he got healthy and confident and was a totally different player. He’s gonna have a huge year 2.

Don’t believe me, look at the numbers, last 5 games in the G: 20.3 points 5.1 rebounds 2.5 assists 1.6 steals 1.6 turnovers. 50/52/75 shooting splits.

It's worth noting that Davis has several nagging injuries throughout the first half of the season, including a hip issue and a groin injury. Coaches have remarked that one of the reasons he played better late was because he was healthy. They also raved about how hard he works.

I'm glad NatP4 has stayed optimistic on Davis. I think we all fell into a bit too much group think in writing Davis off completely after a terrible rookie season. Let's at least see how he looks this year.

In-fairness to the mob, it wasn't known until much later that Davis was injured, but why was he playing in the G-League with these injuries? However, because of his skillset & game, he appears to be an off-the-bench hustle player again, so I hope to see a new kid out there after working hard in the off-season.

[TGW]

The bar is so low for Davis, if he gets to even replacement level next season, that would be miraculous.

[doclinkin]

The main problem with Hendricks is that he is a role player. If we had a nearly complete team and we were looking to add one more quality starter at the PF position, I'd be pretty happy with him. He seems like a guy who you could plug into an NBA lineup almost immediately. If he fills out a bit more and improves a bit as a rebounder, he is a starter.

But that's not where we are. We are at the precipice of a complete rebuild. There is no player on our roster that projects to be one of our top 2 players 4-5 years down the road when we are (hopefully) back in the playoffs. We probably don't even have our 3rd best player, though there's a small chance that Deni develops into an Aaron Gordon tier guy or Kispert develops into a Bojan Bogdanovic tier guy.

We need to draft a guy who could conceivably become a star. That's not Hendricks.

I'm comfortable if the Front Office agrees with this assessment. Though of course it depends on the players that fall to us, since many outside of the top 3 or so fall into the category of role player.

Too the assessment of who has the raw materials to become a star is up for debate. I personally think Jarace Walker has upside potential to be a star. His defense and motor are elite, he has shown range and passing ability in flashes. Others will argue he is solely a high energy sub, I look at his high school game to see the sort of player he envisions himself to be, and suspect he will work to regain the skills he showed at that level.

If Ausar falls to us, so far his game has shown that he plays as a supremely athletic role player. But of course there is upside there in his athleticism. He is older than other prospects, but does look like he can transition to a ballhandling lead guard fairly smoothly.

Otherwise you may be looking at players who are mocked lower down. If we can auction off #8 for significant future return, and still pick up one of the following players I am interested.

Dereck Lively has the potential to grow into a star player in the current NBA metagame. Has shown passing ability and range. Given that we may be losing KP it would be useful to draft a player who can be an understudy in the High Post Center role that Wes likes to input.

Bilal Coulibaly. Youth and performance under pressure, he is developing quickly under more scrutiny than most Europlayers at any level. His upside is shiny.

I personally don't mind picking up an elite role-player who will not yet contribute to a radical change of fortune. Depending on who is available, this might not be the draft to get that guy. If we lose a number of games because we don't yet have our star, that improves our chances to land one the next time around.

[nate33]

The main problem with Hendricks is that he is a role player. If we had a nearly complete team and we were looking to add one more quality starter at the PF position, I'd be pretty happy with him. He seems like a guy who you could plug into an NBA lineup almost immediately. If he fills out a bit more and improves a bit as a rebounder, he is a starter.

But that's not where we are. We are at the precipice of a complete rebuild. There is no player on our roster that projects to be one of our top 2 players 4-5 years down the road when we are (hopefully) back in the playoffs. We probably don't even have our 3rd best player, though there's a small chance that Deni develops into an Aaron Gordon tier guy or Kispert develops into a Bojan Bogdanovic tier guy.

We need to draft a guy who could conceivably become a star. That's not Hendricks.

I'm comfortable if the Front Office agrees with this assessment. Though of course it depends on the players that fall to us, since many outside of the top 3 or so fall into the category of role player.

Too the assessment of who has the raw materials to become a star is up for debate. I personally think Jarace Walker has upside potential to be a star. His defense and motor are elite, he has shown range and passing ability in flashes. Others will argue he is solely a high energy sub, I look at his high school game to see the sort of player he envisions himself to be, and suspect he will work to regain the skills he showed at that level.

If Ausar falls to us, so far his game has shown that he plays as a supremely athletic role player. But of course there is upside there in his athleticism. He is older than other prospects, but does look like he can transition to a ballhandling lead guard fairly smoothly.

Otherwise you may be looking at players who are mocked lower down. If we can auction off #8 for significant future return, and still pick up one of the following players I am interested.

Dereck Lively has the potential to grow into a star player in the current NBA metagame. Has shown passing ability and range. Given that we may be losing KP it would be useful to draft a player who can be an understudy in the High Post Center role that Wes likes to input.

Bilal Coulibaly. Youth and performance under pressure, he is developing quickly under more scrutiny than most Europlayers at any level. His upside is shiny.

I personally don't mind picking up an elite role-player who will not yet contribute to a radical change of fortune. Depending on who is available, this might not be the draft to get that guy. If we lose a number of games because we don't yet have our star, that improves our chances to land one the next time around.

I'm not anti-Hendricks or anything. If we end up drafting him, I won't grumble about it. But generally speaking, in a rebuild, you want to first draft the long-term projects with truly high upside. At first, they don't help at all because they are projects (which helps you tank). But then, after 2 years of development, they start to turn the corner. And that's when you draft the plug and play role players who can play right away. At least that way, you avoid having to shell out big money to pay your role players, before your stars get to the end of their contract.

But mostly that's just being nit-picky. Obviously, you just want the best talent you can get. If they think Hendricks is just flat out better than Ausar/Black, that's fine with me.

[doclinkin]

I'm glad NatP4 has stayed optimistic on Davis. I think we all fell into a bit too much group think in writing Davis off completely after a terrible rookie season.

Not me. I said before we drafted him that he would struggle early. That if you draft him it's because you expect him to improve year after year. That the NBA talent he may have is the willpower to work and adjust.

[gambitx777]

He showed improvement, I think he was injured at the seasons start and struggled with the speed and athletic ability but he adapted showed improvement in the g league and off the bench


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[NatP4]

He showed improvement, I think he was injured at the seasons start and struggled with the speed and athletic ability but he adapted showed improvement in the g league and off the bench


Sent from my SM-G991U1 using RealGM mobile app

It was just the right storm probably. Groin, ankle, hip, normal rookie struggles, loss of confidence, birth of his first child. Wizards staff tried to change his entire jump shot. Probably didn’t help that the entire wizards fanbase turned their backs on him after one summer league game.

People were mad from the start, the team didn’t pick the guy they wanted, looking for first signs of failure to jump on him, developed their narrative, stuck with it once he started playing better.

He flipped a switch, was dominant in the G-league on both ends after the break, forced a call-up, had some great moments in the NBA to finish out the year.

Doc is spot on. His best NBA superpower is his work ethic/determination. He’ll be fine.

[gambitx777]

He showed improvement, I think he was injured at the seasons start and struggled with the speed and athletic ability but he adapted showed improvement in the g league and off the bench


Sent from my SM-G991U1 using RealGM mobile app

It was just the right storm probably. Groin, ankle, hip, normal rookie struggles, loss of confidence, birth of his first child. Wizards staff tried to change his entire jump shot. Probably didn’t help that the entire wizards fanbase turned their backs on him after one summer league game.

People were mad from the start, the team didn’t pick the guy they wanted, looking for first signs of failure to jump on him, developed their narrative, stuck with it once he started playing better.

He flipped a switch, was dominant in the G-league on both ends after the break, forced a call-up, had some great moments in the NBA to finish out the year.

Doc is spot on. His best NBA superpower is his work ethic/determination. He’ll be fine.

Yeah you can certainly learn to adjust and get better and he did that. Once those injuries healed up once the baby starts sleeping at night a little better, the wife/gf starts feeling better, life starts to be a lot less hard and this ease up. There was a clear point when you could see he was trending up.

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[dobrojim]

I'm glad NatP4 has stayed optimistic on Davis. I think we all fell into a bit too much group think in writing Davis off completely after a terrible rookie season.

Not me. I said before we drafted him that he would struggle early. That if you draft him it's because you expect him to improve year after year. That the NBA talent he may have is the willpower to work and adjust.

The one thing that impressed me a great deal about Davis was his ambidexterity (is that a word?).
He is not a player that depends on being able to (just) go right or left to be effective.

Of course that's being bit optimistic in saying he's effective at all. But if he reaches
that threshold, his neutrality on handedness could be a very useful trait.

[Hidden Eye]

The bar is so low for Davis, if he gets to even replacement level next season, that would be miraculous.

Davis starting over Morris this upcoming season isn't going to be hard to do.

[tleikheen]

The Locked on NBA draft has 1) Wembanyama 2) Henderson 3) Miller 4) Amen Thompson 5) Ausar Thompson 6) Dick 7) Walker 8) Cam Whittemore
It's a mock draft and I wasnt expecting Whittemore to slide down to the Wiz but he is UBER athletic and can SCORE .

[Rafael122]

KOC still has Ausar at 8, truthfully at the end of the day Houston and Orlando are the wildcards here when it comes to the Thompson twins. Orlando keeps things close to the vest, everyone thought Jabari was the pick and they ended up getting Paolo. It wouldn't shock me if Orlando drafted Black and throws everything in a spin.

[payitforward]

The Locked on NBA draft has 1) Wembanyama 2) Henderson 3) Miller 4) Amen Thompson 5) Ausar Thompson 6) Dick 7) Walker 8) Cam Whittemore
It's a mock draft and I wasnt expecting Whittemore to slide down to the Wiz but he is UBER athletic and can SCORE .

It would be hard to pass on him at 8, that's for sure! Kind of resonates with Nate's point about drafting for a high ceiling in the first draft of a rebuild.

Looks like that mock is unusual in having Gradey Dick so high -- which drops Whitmore to us.

[payitforward]

The bar is so low for Davis, if he gets to even replacement level next season, that would be miraculous.

Davis starting over Morris this upcoming season isn't going to be hard to do.

Yeah... especially if he can match Monte's 38.2% 3-point percentage, his .831 FT %, & his 5.4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio.

Is that what you think "isn't going to be hard to do"??

[NatP4]

KOC still has Ausar at 8, truthfully at the end of the day Houston and Orlando are the wildcards here when it comes to the Thompson twins. Orlando keeps things close to the vest, everyone thought Jabari was the pick and they ended up getting Paolo. It wouldn't shock me if Orlando drafted Black and throws everything in a spin.

I see a 0% chance Orlando takes Black. They need a pure shooter/scorer next to Suggs and Wagner, or another big.

Could see them jump up on Hendricks forsure

[machu46]

KOC still has Ausar at 8, truthfully at the end of the day Houston and Orlando are the wildcards here when it comes to the Thompson twins. Orlando keeps things close to the vest, everyone thought Jabari was the pick and they ended up getting Paolo. It wouldn't shock me if Orlando drafted Black and throws everything in a spin.

I see a 0% chance Orlando takes Black. They need a pure shooter/scorer next to Suggs and Wagner, or another big.

Could see them jump up on Hendricks forsure

Feels like something is up with the Black to Orlando thing. KOC, Sam Vecenie, and Adam Spinella all either mocking Black to Orlando or saying they've heard the buzz and think it's a real possibility all of a sudden.

I think they're likely locked in on Paolo and Wagner as long term building blocks; they may not see Fultz and Suggs as those guys and therefore don't really care how Black fits with Fultz/Suggs.

[NatP4]

I’m not buying it. Suggs is turning into a great player. He has nothing to do with Fultz at all. Maybe Orlando is trying to get us to move up for Black. Then they take Gradey Dick at 8 or something.

Of course, maybe they are sold on the much improved shooting from Suggs and more of an off ball role, and are looking specifically for a true PG.

[NatP4]

I would love it though. KOC still has Ausar dropping to us. That’s a home run at 8. Has Coulibaly going 9th. If we are picking from those two, you can’t mess that up.

For me at 8:

Yes: Ausar, Amen, Coulibaly

Meh: Walker, Black, Dick, Wallace

No: Hendricks, Whitmore

Acquiring one of 17/18/19 in a Beal trade is hands down Brandin Podziemski.