Should Wizards be Concerned with Alex Sarr

[Bornstellar]

Just remember how bad Gradey Dick looked last year up including the G League until Jan. Then all that practice started showing on games and things turned around and have continued this year.

Guys are super young....give them time

I think it's more so that nobody trusts the Wizards to develop anybody and having Poole and Kuzma as your veteran leaders is only going to lead to bad things for the younger players...

The Wizards, under new management, are developing their players very nicely. Bilal has been terrific in Year 2 (and is still only 20 years old). Carrington is in contention for ROTY. Kyshawn George had a terrible start, making just 2 of his first 22 3PA's over the first 5 games; but since then has averaged 15 points, 5 boards and 3 assists on a .584 TS% over the last 5 games.

Bilal is impressive, I really wanted the Spurs to trade for a pick to try and draft him last season. Was also really impressed with George and Carrington the other night. WAS has some nice young pieces

[Jamaaliver]

Sarr's offensive limitations definitely came up during pre-draft evaluations.

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Especially the concerns about his 3-pt shooting.

Spoiler:

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[Vampirate]

Sarr's offensive limitations definitely came up during pre-draft evaluations.

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Especially the concerns about his 3-pt shooting.

Spoiler:

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The form can be changed, however it's going to take a couple of years and hard work for results.

[hauntedcomputer]

Had some nice moves around the hoop and took on Wemby a couple of times. If he gives up on the three he'd be a useful player.

[Jamaaliver]

The form can be changed, however it's going to take a couple of years and hard work for results.

I'm just perplexed how a guy can play (semi) pro basketball for three consecutive seasons across three separate leagues under multiple coaching staffs and still have no discernible offensive skills.

[tbhawksfan1]

Maybe the old AAU thing has caught on in Europe. Seems all the recent Euro seven+ footers want to play guard

[ijspeelman]

The defensive tools (and somewhat the instincts) look for real. He has the mindset to be someone who can be a 1st option on offense, but I am unsure if he's going to get there w his shot selection and jumpshot.

I was talking w a friend about this draft and basically said if you can get a reliable starter at any draft slot, it is a win. To me, Sarr looks like he will be at least a starting center with good to great defense with the potential to space the floor down the line (even if the potential is low).

[Pattycakes]

The league got three solid future centers in the lottery this year, that should be celebrated.

Pick your poison, they all have something to appreciate.

[Vampirate]

The form can be changed, however it's going to take a couple of years and hard work for results.

I'm just perplexed how a guy can play (semi) pro basketball for three consecutive seasons across three separate leagues under multiple coaching staffs and still have no discernible offensive skills.

He's really a defensive only center at this point and for some unknown reason wants to shoot tons of threes, which makes me question his BBIQ a bit.

Wemby is not a great shooter himself but is way way farther ahead than Sarr is.

They have Bilal though so it's not all bad, and who knows, maybe Sarr breaks out next year.

Actually when I look at Sarr's shooting splits he has some range

.682/.333/.375/.667 on his 2s

It just so happens he just really really sucks at taking three point shots .167 which makes almost half of his total shots taken 47.1%

Essentially he needs to work on his inside the arc game more, he should not be afraid to take threes but the amount should be reduced to 20-25% of his total shots this season.

[Jamaaliver]

The league got three solid future centers in the lottery this year, that should be celebrated.

Pick your poison, they all have something to appreciate.

Only three?

Spoiler:

[AFM]

Dudes potential is insane

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[One_and_Done]

If the Wizards could go back in time and draft Castle, at this point you'd have to say they would. Actually I'm pretty sure every team with a top 5 pick wishes they had gotten Castle as of today.

[atlantabbq99]

Sarr looks like a 2nd round pick, but he is still young and hopefully his IQ will improve. When Jaren Jackson put up 40 on Sarr it was very concerning because Sarr just looked lost the whole game. Sarr's low IQ really stood out in that game

[FarBeyondDriven]

Sarr discourse really shows who knows ball and who doesn't

[GSWFan1994]

I think he's doing great taking into account he's playing basically the whole season as a 19 year old. He'll be 20 only in April.

He's very mobile for his size, and already a good defender, far better than what I expected for his age. Good passer as well. He's good at the open floor too, it's surprising his ability to put the ball on the floor and go.

Obviously he has a lot of flaws and shoots way too many 3s.

All things considered, I think this was the right pick for Washington (I thought that at the draft's time as well, my stance hasn't changed), who solely needed a cornerstone player to build around.

They still need 2 or 3 more pieces, one of them being a guy to be the best or 2nd best player on the roster, which I think will come via the next draft (even if they don't get Flagg, 3 or 4 other guys should be available), the other 2 pieces should be good enough to become rotation players in the future.

Sarr reminds me of Kevin Garnett in the way he's mobile on offense and defense, the way he can defend all over the court, the way he runs the floor, pass and the face up game... he's going to be very good 3 years from now, when he'll be only 22 still.

I think he has All-Star potential, perhaps borderline All-NBA too, though it's still too early to tell, I'd need to see at least 2 seasons from him to get a better sample size.

[Chuck Everett]

Not that concerned, provided he puts the work in.

[doogie_hauser]

The form can be changed, however it's going to take a couple of years and hard work for results.

I'm just perplexed how a guy can play (semi) pro basketball for three consecutive seasons across three separate leagues under multiple coaching staffs and still have no discernible offensive skills.

Bill Russell wasn't the most offensively gifted centre ever but definitely the greatest defensive player of all time, the greatest winner of all time and definitely a top 3-5 GOAT player.

As long as Sarr is excellent at the defensive stuff, especially rebounding and shot blocking, which he seems like he will be, Washington will be happy.

Two way centres/big men who can excel at both ends like Duncan, Chet, probably Wemby etc are the exception to the norm/freaks and no other up and coming 5 should be unfairly compared to those extremely rare and gifted talents.

[The-Power]

The league got three solid future centers in the lottery this year, that should be celebrated.

Pick your poison, they all have something to appreciate.

Only three?

Spoiler:

The poster wrote in the lottery. And then it can be at most three, yes.

[nate33]

If the Wizards could go back in time and draft Castle, at this point you'd have to say they would. Actually I'm pretty sure every team with a top 5 pick wishes they had gotten Castle as of today.

Not sure if serious.

Castle is managing a TS% of just .494 despite very low usage (only 14 points per 36 minutes). His 3P% is just 29% on low volume.

I still like Castle to pan out as a solid, Marcus Smart tier defensive role player, but I would have no regrets at all in passing on him at #2. You want a guy with more upside at #2 than a guy who will probably pan out as a 4th/5th starter.

I don't know if Sarr will pan out to be better than Castle, but I think his ceiling is MUCH higher.

[nate33]

So far, I think there is good reason to be optimistic that Sarr will have an Evan Mobley type of progression, after factoring that he was drafted one year younger than Mobley was.

This season is mostly a throwaway year. Any useful production is gravy. He is just too raw on offense. His defense is occasionally great, but also often suffers due to his lack of strength.

Next year, I expect him to be a pretty consistent force defensively like Mobley was in his rookie year, and his offense will come around enough so that he is merely "bad" and not a total liability forcing the team to play 4 on 5. That's about where Mobley was in his first season.

Sarr's third year will look something like Mobley's second year. He'll be a very good defender by then and at the high end of the projection, he might even sneak into earning a couple of DOPY votes. The offense will still be sub-par, but good enough in a low usage role.

Where he goes beyond that depends on his offense. If it never becomes reliably efficient, than he'll be a useful but not great player. Still a starter, but not a building block - a rich man's Nic Claxton. I can live with that in this draft. And there's a chance he gets considerably better and looks something more like JJJ.