2025 Draft Thread

[The Consiglieri]

That is flat out nuts, from 26th to 18th in a matter of weeks. Like a trade up, earned not with assets but with the complete collapse of Memphis as a squad. There are a ton of interesting guys there: the tankathon people have us getting Sorber (which I'd love), in such a situation theathletic mocked Essengue, which I'd also love, espn projected Traore to go 18th last week erm, not great, though i would have loved that 8 months ago, cbs has clifford, which I'd hate, but suffice it to say, there's like 10 different guys I like projected to go between around 12 and 25. Really excited .

[J-Ves]

Looking at the Smart trade again, the Grizzlies got our 2nd rounder this year. They must have thought at the time that there wouldn't be much difference between our 2nd and their 1st. Oops.

We traded GSW’s 2nd rounder to them. Boston has our 2nd from a trade that happened years ago

[DukeLecker]

Washington Wizards has a history of great success with the 18th pick. Oleksiy Pecherov, JaVale McGee, and Chris Singleton. Doubt they pick a guy that matches these dudes careers.

[Frichuela]

Let’s Gooooo! The 18th pick for the pleasure of getting the leadership of Smart for 1.5 seasons. What a steal!

[AFM]

LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just as a reminder, we drafted Kyshawn 24th.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

That is flat out nuts, from 26th to 18th in a matter of weeks. Like a trade up, earned not with assets but with the complete collapse of Memphis as a squad. There are a ton of interesting guys there: the tankathon people have us getting Sorber (which I'd love), in such a situation theathletic mocked Essengue, which I'd also love, espn projected Traore to go 18th last week erm, not great, though i would have loved that 8 months ago, cbs has clifford, which I'd hate, but suffice it to say, there's like 10 different guys I like projected to go between around 12 and 25. Really excited .

Yes! That is great, there should be some.good players available at 18.

[dobrojim]

As we've now learned, the MEM pick is number 18. #sowizards now means something completely different.

[tontoz]

As we've now learned, the MEM pick is number 18. #sowizards now means something completely different.

We were hoping for an extra 1st all season and end up with 18. Plus we got another first round pick from last season. Now if we can get some lottery pick we will be looking good.

[dobrojim]

Not sure if this is superficial or obvious because
of position and size, but when I see Cade, I think
Harper is going to be very similar. That could be
a pretty good thing for whoever gets him.

[tontoz]

Not sure if this is superficial or obvious because
of position and size, but when I see Cade, I think
Harper is going to be very similar. That could be
a pretty good thing for whoever gets him.

I like Harper more than Cade, not as big but more skilled. I watched Harper a lot. His handles and finishing ability were really uncanny, like an NBA vet playing against college kids.

Harper shot 57% on 2s compared to 46% for Cade in college.

[payitforward]

Washington Wizards has a history of great success with the 18th pick. Oleksiy Pecherov, JaVale McGee, and Chris Singleton. Doubt they pick a guy that matches these dudes careers.

L.O.L. !!

[AFM]

McGee has more championships than our entire franchise’s history. Put some respek on his name.

[doclinkin]

Not sure if this is superficial or obvious because
of position and size, but when I see Cade, I think
Harper is going to be very similar. That could be
a pretty good thing for whoever gets him.

I like Harper more than Cade, not as big but more skilled. I watched Harper a lot. His handles and finishing ability were really uncanny, like an NBA vet playing against college kids.

Harper shot 57% on 2s compared to 46% for Cade in college.

On the flipside Cade shot 40% from 3 in college and shot 85% from the FT line compared to Harper's 75%. Otherwise their numbers are similar. Slight edge also to Cade on defense, more blocks and rebounds. Cade's 3pt shooting dipped in the NBA, I recall him as a standstill 3pt shooter without much jump. Maybe Harper can improve from outside since he has more wiggle to his game on offense and teams have to play him to drive.

[Northwest Roddy]

Wizards youngsters are all light in the cakes. I’m with CCJ on this. If we get the sixth pick, i say Queen and Sorber. Let’s bring back the beef brothers.

[doclinkin]

At 18 Tankathon has us with Sorber. I think we would all be ecstatic with a Harper/Sorber draft. We instantly get more physical, tougher, and smart.

I don't think Sorber falls that far though, unless the docs say he is likely to be out for most of the year with rehab. Suits us just fine but other teams might avoid him. Even with the turf toe surgery though I've seen him as high as 10 in many mocks. I would not be surprised if the Wiz actually traded up to get him. He fits their draft criteria precisely.

At 18, if we can't trade up, I think we are looking for talented players that fall for one reason or another. Or we reach for upside on a player ranked lower. I have my favorites at 18 but they don't tend to match what the Wiz generally do. Players that could slip some:

Knoeppel. Will measure slow and underathletic. Won't pop in workouts except in shooting drills. Though I doubt he falls to 18.
Kasparas. GMs will shy away from a PG who makes poor reads and gives the ball away while trying to force it. He'll slip unless he's killing the workouts.
Demin & Traore. Early buzz bumped them to the top of the mocks, both have steadily slid since then.
Liam McNeely. Recruited as a 3pt shooter, but can't shoot. Why is he this high on the boards?

I'm not sold on any of the above. Seems to me this a year to trade the bank to jump up to the late lotto, a position that is helped by our rise to #18. Or else its a year to deviate from the pattern and risk a pick on a late blooming upperclassman. Rasheer, Yaxel, Danny Wolf all fit every criteria except youth (smart, multi skill, multi position, long, good attitude). Give me one of those guys and I'll be alright. Of those 3 Fleming is the youngest at 21yrs. So, if not Sorber, maybe Sheer. Have them all in for a workout, interviews, battle it out, see who makes an impression.

[doclinkin]

Wizards youngsters are all light in the cakes. I’m with CCJ on this. If we get the sixth pick, i say Queen and Sorber. Let’s bring back the beef brothers.

If we get the 5-6th pick I want Khaman. Nobody is bigger than him. But otherwise yeah I'm team Beef this year. Sorber, DQ, CMB, I'd trade up from 18 if one fell within reach.

Watch on YouTube

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Wizards youngsters are all light in the cakes. I’m with CCJ on this. If we get the sixth pick, i say Queen and Sorber. Let’s bring back the beef brothers.

Thanks.

Seems darned obvious to me.

[The Consiglieri]

Wizards youngsters are all light in the cakes. I’m with CCJ on this. If we get the sixth pick, i say Queen and Sorber. Let’s bring back the beef brothers.

If we get the 5-6th pick I want Khaman. Nobody is bigger than him. But otherwise yeah I'm team Beef this year. Sorber, DQ, CMB, I'd trade up from 18 if one fell within reach.

Watch on YouTube

If we land top 2 in the lottery, about a 1 in 4ish chance, and we are in position to get one of those bigs, I would honestly be worried about keeping our first in '26. Adding basically a top 10 talent, and a top 2 talent, to a team with a good collection of complimentary young talent and bench options in Bilal, Sarr, Bub, George, and AJ, along with a vet or two of value could be a catalyst to 30+ wins.

I have assumed all along that there's zero chance, or the next number to zero that we'd risk our '26 pick in the '25-'26 season due to performance because in '23-'25 we've basically been quite easily an order of magnitude worse than any other team. However, when you consider that in the past year we added Sarr, Bub, George, AJ, as well as Middleton, and Smart, then you add Flagg or Harper, and a guy like Sorber/DQ/CMB to solidify the front court.....that could radically change the potential of the side in the same way some other shifts, and Deni made Portland significantly better than expected the past year.

I would actually rather go after ceiling project prospects like Sorber, Essengue, Beringer etc because I think they'd provide more long term upside/ceiling, and also be less risky in terms of immediate return (maybe Sorber's working his way back to health, plus he missed a decent chunk of his freshman season etc).

If we get guys like DQ/CMB I fear we're getting high floor guys that when combined with a star (top 2 pick), and a strong complimentary cast, might accidentally make us lose our first next year, which is a mega loaded class.

Gotta admit, I want this draft to be about collecting long term upside ceiling value, and not immediate lineup returns. As much as I kinda like DQ, or CMB, I'd rather risk a significantly lower floor, and higher ceiling prospect, than take the immediate returns they'd provide. To be fair, part of the reason is that I think they will have high utility but not a super high ceiling so it will be the worst of all worlds to me: bumping up our wins without adding a truly game changing player, it will just be a team changing player potentially. Not sure if you guys get what I mean, but hopefully you do.

Will be interesting to see how they look at it. Do they look for fit and floor, fit and ceiling, just ceiling? what?

[dobrojim]

^ So at 4-6, maybe Maluach ought to be the guy. I
would predict his impact would come in 2-4 years
much more than as a rookie. He's young, positionally
long, reportedly high IQ. He also may be limited in
terms of being ready to play big minutes right away.

[Northwest Roddy]

Wizards youngsters are all light in the cakes. I’m with CCJ on this. If we get the sixth pick, i say Queen and Sorber. Let’s bring back the beef brothers.

If we get the 5-6th pick I want Khaman. Nobody is bigger than him. But otherwise yeah I'm team Beef this year. Sorber, DQ, CMB, I'd trade up from 18 if one fell within reach.

Watch on YouTube

If our talent evaluators are positive on Khaman, i’d be all in. Mobley has Jarret. Greek Freak has Lopez. Sarr would have Khaman. Could you imagine the defense with Bilal, Kyshawn, Sarr and Maluach?

Also, he’s so young. Lots of time to improve. Sarr (and JD5) are ectomorphs and will never put on weight. Khaman is different and could be quite big and strong in a few years.

My concern is that watching him, he doesn’t have that innate timing for shot blocking. I believe one is born with it. He looks reactive to me. Not sure if that is right.

Also, he’s good for the 25-26 tank because he’s still so raw. Look at how few minutes Duke gave him.