2026 Pre-Draft Thread Part V

[Benjammin]

The draft intel is that Morez is in high demand fwiw and Yaxel may be falling somewhat. If I had to guess Mara goes first, then Morez, and last Yaxel of the Michigan bigs. I'd settle for taking Hannes if Justin is traded, but not for Riley.

[Zonkerbl]

Trade Riley to Milwaukee for #13.

Draft DP at #1
Draft Morez at #13

PG Trae/Bub
SG DP/Tre
SF Bilal/Kyshawn
PF AD/Champagnie
C Sarr/Morez


The premise here is that an off ball dirty work guy like JC is actually more needed than another on ball creator with suspect D like Riley. There’s enough creation with Trae, DP, Tre and Kyshawn; not to mention AD and Sarr, who are more than mere roll men.

Ugh but then you're putting *all* your PF eggs in the AD basket. Champagnie is great but not a starting 4. But yeah that's a solid guard rotation and a solid frontcourt, but you're still leaving yourself the task of finding the long term solution at the 4. I think the premise of this whole conversation is that AD will show what is needed at the 4 but that we can't assume he'll be healthy all season, so we still need to cover that position as if he's not there.

What is Morez Johnson? Chopped liver?

I hope not because he's the long run solution in this scenario

[tontoz]

The draft intel is that Morez is in high demand fwiw and Yaxel may be falling somewhat. If I had to guess Mara goes first, then Morez, and last Yaxel of the Michigan bigs. I'd settle for taking Hannes if Justin is traded, but not for Riley.

Yaxel has better top 10 odds than Morez.

[Benjammin]

Morez is really more of a 4/5 combo than a pure 4 fwiw. I'm simply going by the chatter on X that more teams are angling to get Morez in the early teens than Yaxel. Yaxel seems like more of a "pure" 4 than Morez fwiw.

[payitforward]

I'll tell you once, I'll tell you a thousand times..., there *must* be a strong, physical, defensive rebounding presence at the four....

Always a good idea, of course.

OTOH...

...to rebound against Giannis, Randle, Mobley, Banchero, Jalen Johnson, Tobias Harris, you have to bring the muscle. George is going to be dominated by these players on the defensive glass....

...you do understand that Justin Champagnie outrebounds Randle, Banchero, Johnson, & Harris
-- & is even with Mobley?

Right?

Giannis does get about 2 more boards than Justin per 40 minutes, however. True.

[Zonkerbl]

and yet with Champagnie at the 4 the zards were still absolutely annihilated on the boards last season so maybe Champagnie's per 40 stats are not a great indicator. yeah he's a better rebounder than George, what does that tell you about George being the answer at the 4? Because it's not Champagnie

[nate33]

and yet with Champagnie at the 4 the zards were still absolutely annihilated on the boards last season

That’s actually not true. I’m phone posting right now so I don’t have time to look it up, but the massive rebounding differential pretty much ended once Champagnie started getting regular minutes.

Edit:
With Champagnie on the floor, we got 48.8% of the available rebounds. We were still out rebounded, but not by much considering the general skinniness of our entire roster.

With champagne off the floor, we got 45.6% of the available rebounds. A total disaster.

[thricethefun]

I've decided I want DP over AJ. I know there is a risk with DP but I think his skillset is more contusive to winning a championship and that's the ultimate goal.

[queridiculo]

The draft intel is that Morez is in high demand fwiw and Yaxel may be falling somewhat. If I had to guess Mara goes first, then Morez, and last Yaxel of the Michigan bigs. I'd settle for taking Hannes if Justin is traded, but not for Riley.

Yaxel has better top 10 odds than Morez.

I don’t buy it, NBA teams don’t fall all over themselves drafting 24 year old rookies.

Could easily see him outside of the lottery.

[Frichuela]

As I posted before, if we trade for another 1st and none of the Michigan bigs are available, Zuby Ejiofor would be a great get for us. Strong defender and great fit next to Sarr.

[tontoz]

The draft intel is that Morez is in high demand fwiw and Yaxel may be falling somewhat. If I had to guess Mara goes first, then Morez, and last Yaxel of the Michigan bigs. I'd settle for taking Hannes if Justin is traded, but not for Riley.

Yaxel has better top 10 odds than Morez.

I don’t buy it, NBA teams don’t fall all over themselves drafting 24 year old rookies.

Could easily see him outside of the lottery.

[Zonkerbl]

and yet with Champagnie at the 4 the zards were still absolutely annihilated on the boards last season

That’s actually not true. I’m phone posting right now so I don’t have time to look it up, but the massive rebounding differential pretty much ended once Champagnie started getting regular minutes.

Edit:
With Champagnie on the floor, we got 48.8% of the available rebounds. We were still out rebounded, but not by much considering the general skinniness of our entire roster.

With champagne off the floor, we got 45.6% of the available rebounds. A total disaster.

yeah I guess it would be more accurate to say the zards were getting absolutely annihilated on the boards until Champagnie was on the floor, when they improved to just bad. Still not acceptable. To cash in on their ability to get stops the zards have to get to 50% or higher and they're not getting there with Champagnie or George. I bet with AD healthy they will be in the 51-52% range.

[PaulinVA]

Read on Twitter

[payitforward]

and yet with Champagnie at the 4 the zards were still absolutely annihilated on the boards last season so maybe Champagnie's per 40 stats are not a great indicator. yeah he's a better rebounder than George, what does that tell you about George being the answer at the 4? Because it's not Champagnie

I've been talking up the idea of trying to get Morez Johnson since early in this draft cycle, so I don't disagree.

As to Champagnie, he's an absolutely terrific player -- every bit as good as his identical twin Julian, who is a starter on a far far better team than ours!

All the same, it's fair to say that he's better suited for the 3 than the 4.

If AD is to be a Wizard for a while, he'll start along with Sarr, hence our two starting bigs would be in place. If AD is traded, that provides another opportunity to add a 4. As well, in this draft there will be talent at our R2 picks.

The real problem we face -- the hole in the roster at 4/5 -- is Vukcevic. He is simply not an NBA-level player.

I'm hoping there'll be a useful replacement available at1 or both of our R2 picks. In most drafts I'd say that was highly unlikely, but not in this one. Onyenso, Okpara, Keita, Castro, & some others are promising prospects.

Now, if AD is NOT to remain a Wizard, then the question does move front & center (as it were) what we do at 4 & 5 long term.

[tontoz]

Read on Twitter

With also had the 18th pick in that draft and picked Chris Singleton. Both Singleton and Vesely were out of the NBA after 3 seasons.

[Dat2U]

Read on Twitter

[closg00]

Thanks for all the hard work Dat

[Dat2U]

34 1st rd quality prospects .... only 14 2nd rd quality guys. Deep class in terms of two-way/G-league level talent. NIL killed 2nd rd depth.

[Benjammin]

Vuck at 3 million as a fifth big on a team is not a problem. The problem is the Wizards only have two bigs, one of whom is 34 and the last few seasons he plays fewer than half his team's games. That is a problem not solved by Justin or Kyshawn. If this team is serious about competing they need two more bigs. Maybe one of those guys can be a second round big or late in the first round guy. Maybe it's someone they use their TPE or MLE in part to get. And maybe they get into the top 20 of the draft and get someone.

But Julian Reese and a Marvin Bagley type guy are not going to cut it. AD at best will play 60% of their games, will be load managed and might not play back to backs.

Sent from my Pixel 10 Pro XL using Tapatalk

[Dat2U]

With A.J. the pick....

I set my eyes on two guys to trade back into the 1st rd to get.

Ebuka Okorie & Morez Johnson Jr.

Bait: Justin Champagnie, Bub Carrington

If he slips into early 2nd or even very late 1st: Zuby Ejiofor

Bait: Late 2nds/Jaden Hardy, Cam Whitmore

Mid/early 2nd trade ups: Bruce Thornton & Ugonna Onyenso

Bait: Late 2nds/future 2nd