2025-26 Lineup Thread -- How's it shakin out?

[nate33]

I think Richaun Holmes is in the mix though no one else seems to. Better than Kelly O to help teach toughness, pick setting, etc. though Olynyk gives more outside shooting.

I can think of 12.9 million reasons why Holmes is not in the mix over Olynyk.

Olynyk is under contract for $13.4M. Holmes is only owed $500K of guaranteed salary and then can be bought out.

The other issue is roster size. As of now, barring any trade or major buyout we absolutely have a minimum roster size of 13:
Middleton
McCollum
Smart
Kispert
Olynyk
Sarr
Coulibaly
Tre Johnson
Carrington
Riley
AJ Johnson
George
Champagnie

Other potential guys are:
Holmes (Under contract for $13.M, but only $500K guaranteed)
Colby Jones (Under contract for 2.2M but money is unguaranteed)
Anthony Gill (Under contract for $2.5M but money is unguaranteed)
Vukcevic (RFA with a $2M cap hold)
Our #43 pick.

We can keep 15, plus 3 two-way guys

[penbeast0]

Fair enough.

[Dark Faze]

You can't bench CJ. He's too good. Still an efficient 20ppg guy. Disrespectful. Just buy him out if you're not willing to start him.

All the other vets you can justify benching.

[penbeast0]

Can start CJ and bring Bub off the bench but if we are trying to turn Bub into an NBA PG, seems better to start him. With Tre, just don't know if force feeding him into the starting lineup like we did with Sarr last year is a club policy decision or whether he has to earn it (and no, I don't think Sarr had earned it when they gave him the starting job). I do think it's better for the team if CJ comes off the bench as he is probably our best offensive engine but a poor defender.

And not thrilled with buying him out either unless he's willing to give the team a good discount. He's an expiring, but one I might resign at a reduced number next year for just the bench role I was suggesting.

[nate33]

You can't bench CJ. He's too good. Still an efficient 20ppg guy. Disrespectful. Just buy him out if you're not willing to start him.

All the other vets you can justify benching.

He wasn't that efficient.

He averaged 23 points per 36 minutes on a .550 TS%. He avoided turnovers which helped boost his ORtg to 110.

By comparison, Poole averaged 25 points per 36 of a .591 TS%, but his higher turnover rate knocked his ORtg down to 109. So basically, Poole had higher shooting efficiency and about the same overall offensive efficiency on slightly higher usage despite having worse teammates who couldn't draw any defensive attention.

And McCollum just got a year older and a little further into his decline. He doesn't defend anymore either.

[DCZards]

I think CJ would accept/understand coming off the bench at this point in his career. Of course, I have no way of knowing that for sure.

[joshuacf]

Wayyyy to many wings at the moment even assuming Watkins spends the year in the G-League...

Who gets moved is the question. Kispert is the obvious answer because he isn't a Dawkins pick, but I think moving him and his $54m contract is going to be tough.

Middleton is completely untradeable. I'm sure there will be deadline day suitors for CJ but that's a ways off from now.

At least one of Bilal/Kispert/George/Champagnie/AJ are out in the cold as it stands currently.

[Benjammin]

My guess is one of the wings will be moved before the season starts, likely for a big man. But it's also partly a feature, not a bug, that the Wiz will be weak at the 4 and the 5 to help the tank (and yes, I know how that worked out last time).

[Frichuela]

My guess is one of the wings will be moved before the season starts, likely for a big man. But it's also partly a feature, not a bug, that the Wiz will be weak at the 4 and the 5 to help the tank (and yes, I know how that worked out last time).

Yep, as clear as day.

I also want Kispert gone. His minutes should go to the under 21 brigade.

[smoothSeph]

My guess is one of the wings will be moved before the season starts, likely for a big man. But it's also partly a feature, not a bug, that the Wiz will be weak at the 4 and the 5 to help the tank (and yes, I know how that worked out last time).

I’m sure they’ll test the hell out of George, Riley, Champagnie at the 4. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Watkins there some too.

[penbeast0]

Riley? I doubt it, he was a skinny guy who wasn't very physical in college. More likely George, Champagnie, and Coulibaly though, to be fair, it's going to be pretty positionless ball with no true PG and only Sarr (and Kelly O) as a big.

[gambitx777]

I'm free agency I would see if I can get aldama but he might be too expensive

If not I'd look at Garza, Sharpe, Tony Bradley, Kai Jones and bol bol.

Id also hunt some undrafted free agents

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[9 and 20]

Wiz getting out rebounded by 10+ every game. A feature, not a bug, though.

PG:
Bub/AJ/McCollum/Smart
2,3, and 4:
Bilal/KG/Tre/Middleton/Champagnie/Kispert/Riley
C:
Sarr/Olynyk/Vuk

Unless the young guys all take significant steps forward (Bilal, looking at you mon ami), we're going to be as bad as last year or maybe worse.

[closg00]

Bub will start. Without him the offense won't flow. CJ isn't a pg.

PG: Bub
SG: CJ
F: Coulibaly
F: Middleton
C: Sarr

Rotation: Johnson, AJ, Smart, Kispert, Kyshawn Riley, Champagnie, Olynk

I do think it will be made clear to the vets that the goal is to develop the young players. So I expect guys like CJ, Middleton and Smart won't play as much as they are use to.

Bub isn’t a PG either. I see that Dawkins doubled-down on Bub being our PG of the future, mistake and I hope I am wrong.

[prime1time]

Bub will start. Without him the offense won't flow. CJ isn't a pg.

PG: Bub
SG: CJ
F: Coulibaly
F: Middleton
C: Sarr

Rotation: Johnson, AJ, Smart, Kispert, Kyshawn Riley, Champagnie, Olynk

I do think it will be made clear to the vets that the goal is to develop the young players. So I expect guys like CJ, Middleton and Smart won't play as much as they are use to.

Bub isn’t a PG either. I see that Dawkins doubled-down on Bub being our PG of the future, mistake and I hope I am wrong.

They haven't doubled-down on anything. We have to figure out what we have. Bub is going to get a chance. If he fails he fails. But I'd also point out that it's clear that we don't intend of having a traditional style pg. 1-5 everyone will be initiating offense. So the notion that Bub isn't a real pg is kind of irrelevant lol. The reason it's relevant for CJ is that there's no benefit in making CJ the pg. We are developing Bub. CJ will be gone soon. His main job is to mentor.

[dckingsfan]

Wiz getting out rebounded by 10+ every game. A feature, not a bug, though.

PG:
Bub/AJ/McCollum/Smart
2,3, and 4:
Bilal/KG/Tre/Middleton/Champagnie/Kispert/Riley
C:
Sarr/Olynyk/Vuk

Unless the young guys all take significant steps forward (Bilal, looking at you mon ami), we're going to be as bad as last year or maybe worse.

Yeah, don't see it. Just having two veteran guards will change that. I don't see Bilal or Sarr getting worse or Champagnie for that matter.

My "projection" (predicting and hoping at the same time). This is the year that Vuk breaks out. He will be 22 in his 3rd year.

Now, we will know we are tanking if we play the veteran guards sub 20 minutes per game - otherwise we are going to add to our win total. My "early" prediction is at least into the mid-20s (unless Keefe works his magic and minimizes the time played by the vets).

[dckingsfan]

I'm free agency I would see if I can get aldama but he might be too expensive

If not I'd look at Garza, Sharpe, Tony Bradley, Kai Jones and bol bol.

Id also hunt some undrafted free agents

If we are trying to tank... we just let it be, right?

[bsilver]

They will have to address rebounding. Sarr and Olynyk are two of the worst rebounding centers in the league. And we don’t have a PF to make up for it. Champagne is good at SF and Bub at PG, but we’re still pretty pathetic. Champagne may be our best SF and still might not get much PT.
We’re trying to be bad, but still need some balance. It’s not fair to the fans, players, and coach to put out a team getting greatly out rebounded every game.

[dckingsfan]

They will have to address rebounding. Sarr and Olynyk are two of the worst rebounding centers in the league. And we don’t have a PF to make up for it. Champagne is good at SF and Bub at PG, but we’re still pretty pathetic. Champagne may be our best SF and still might not get much PT.
We’re trying to be bad, but still need some balance. It’s not fair to the fans, players, and coach to put out a team getting greatly out rebounded every game.

I don't think this FO "cares" what the fans think. Don't get me wrong, they want the fans - they just don't care about the fans' opinions as they go through this rebuilding phase.

They may feel they must lose and try for the '26 draft and this is the best way to do it.

But yeah, they don't have a good defensive rebounder on the team. It is going to be a bit ugly (see Nate's trade proposal for Isaac - I think it does happen for this very reason. But I have been surprised before

[gesa2]

Bub will start. Without him the offense won't flow. CJ isn't a pg.

PG: Bub
SG: CJ
F: Coulibaly
F: Middleton
C: Sarr

Rotation: Johnson, AJ, Smart, Kispert, Kyshawn Riley, Champagnie, Olynk

I do think it will be made clear to the vets that the goal is to develop the young players. So I expect guys like CJ, Middleton and Smart won't play as much as they are use to.

Bub isn’t a PG either. I see that Dawkins doubled-down on Bub being our PG of the future, mistake and I hope I am wrong.

They haven't doubled-down on anything. We have to figure out what we have. Bub is going to get a chance. If he fails he fails. But I'd also point out that it's clear that we don't intend of having a traditional style pg. 1-5 everyone will be initiating offense. So the notion that Bub isn't a real pg is kind of irrelevant lol. The reason it's relevant for CJ is that there's no benefit in making CJ the pg. We are developing Bub. CJ will be gone soon. His main job is to mentor.

The only thing we are doubling down on is that we want to know what our players can grow into. We have at least 2 years before we are playing to win more than playing to develop winning players. Plenty of time to fill in the holes. We also want the roster to stay flexible to play around whoever we decide to pick with the #1 pick next year