2026 Draft Day Thread

[Paris41]

Whereas the FA signings are well below average, IMO. I would rather they just stick with what they do well.

It certainly seems like that’s the plan—acquire as many draft picks as possible and build through the draft.

If that’s your strategy, the bar for your draft selections is incredibly high. You have to identify and draft an MVP-caliber/top-10 player, surround them with high-level complementary talent, manage the timeline of the core, and put together a roster that actually fits. I’m skeptical.

[payitforward]

I was optimistic enough to buy a seat for the year.

Good for you!

[payitforward]

I doubt he’s on the roster this year. And I doubt that next year he gets in games. But mayyyyybe year 3?

Who are you talking about? Okpara? It seems likely he'll be a 2 way guy rather than regular 15, I agree. But, that is "on the roster" in my book.

I bet he'll get more minutes than Vukcevic got his rookie year, maybe as many or more than his 2d year.

[pcbothwel]

I hate the Trae deal but that is a separate issue. This FO has a pretty good draft record. The Bub pick was bad with Ware and McCain going right afterwards, but overall i think they've done a good job so i am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on a 2nd round guy i am not familiar with. I dont care what his stats look like.

One point of contention.
Can people stop touting McCain as some sort of draft steal.
McCain is a year and half years older than Bub and played in 1/3rd of the minutes.
Bub hasnt been good, but he's been going against NBA starters as a 19/20-year-old for the last two years. McCain has barely played, and when he has, he plays against backups and does NOTHING other than shoot 3's with above average efficiency.

He doesnt create/pass, rebound, or play defense.
Bub is bigger, younger, better passer/creator, and just as good of a shooter/scorer (I'd argue Bub is a better shooter).

[payitforward]

Go back 4 or 5 years ago when this team had Bradley Beal with a no trade clause. If you would have told me that in 4 or 5 years the roster would look this good, I'd be over the moon. Criticizing management when you know the hand they were dealt is hilarious. Any move can be critiqued, but this team is light years better than it was. I'm excited for summer league. Unsurprisingly, we got AJ and Peterson up first iirc. Wiz are must see TV.

Line me up 100% w/ prime on this.

What all this moaning is about -- when we just got the #1 pick in an exceptionally good draft, no less!! -- beats me.

[payitforward]

I hate the Trae deal but that is a separate issue. This FO has a pretty good draft record. The Bub pick was bad with Ware and McCain going right afterwards, but overall i think they've done a good job so i am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on a 2nd round guy i am not familiar with. I dont care what his stats look like.

100% -- not to mention that his stats look perfectly ok for a guy obtained near the bottom of the draft.

[The Consiglieri]

KeShawn Murphy
Another big who doesn't rebound well, can't shoot and isn't that good. Wonderful

An exhibit 10 signing -- for camp & the Gogo.

What all this negativity is about I do not understand. Maybe b/c we didn't manage a trade in R1 to bring us another pick?

Nah…getting another FRP wouldn’t have made any difference. The same folks would have complained even more loudly about who they used that pick on. It’s what they do.

We heard similar complaints about the drafting of Ky George.

Part of the problem is that after eons of drafts there are still individuals who focus all there attention on singular individual prospects, and nothing else, and when the team doesn't draft their dude, they lose their ----, and the reality is, the team almost never drafts "your dude," when we're talking picks outside the top 3-5. It is exceptionally rare. There are simply way too many prospects, and too many variables involved.

I always mention this every year but I do think we'd cut out about 50-70% of the angst if people just focused on the draft threads, on their tiers of dudes like Dat does, have your tier that you love best for slots 6-12 or slots 10-25, or slot 25-45 etc, build out your tier, making it 5-10 deep at every position (especially when we reach the 2nd round, where the pool of players can be as wide as 50-100 deep).....

If you have 10-15 guys your looking at positionally, instead of 2-3 guys your fixated on, you'll know the guy we take usually, and have a less inflamed response, but if you have your heart set on a Morris Almond, or the late great Brandon Clarke, and instead we draft someone like Johnny Davis or Troy Brown, well, you're gonna be pissed.

I don't say this to recommend the pick, it looks like the pick is both explicable, and kind of a reach and kind of, of a piece with 85% of 2nd rounders, a future irrelevant bust, which is true of nearly all 2nd rounders to begin with.

We'll see.

I don't begrudge people being cranky, I just wished they had a pool of guys at each position, instead of "their guy," so it could at least mitigate the risk of people losing their ---- over nothing every year in round 2 when 85-90% of these guys wash out entirely and the bulk of the other 15-20% are at best depth, with only 1-2 doubles, triples or home runs every other year or two or three.

[dckingsfan]

Whereas the FA signings are well below average, IMO. I would rather they just stick with what they do well.

It certainly seems like that’s the plan—acquire as many draft picks as possible and build through the draft.

If that’s your strategy, the bar for your draft selections is incredibly high. You have to identify and draft an MVP-caliber/top-10 player, surround them with high-level complementary talent, manage the timeline of the core, and put together a roster that actually fits. I’m skeptical.

Well, if it is the plan, then the Trae signing is inexplicably stupid.

We should be developing our youngsters that can play both sides of the ball.

[payitforward]

Everyone on this board “wants to be hopeful”. But we’re also fans of a franchise that hasn’t won 50 games in a season in more than 45 years....

True but entirely irrelevant. Winger & Dawkins aren't required to shoulder that history.

Neither Dawkins nor Winger had previously been the top basketball executive with final say over an NBA franchise before coming to Washington....

Not true. Winger was. But, more importantly, whom did you want to hire?

Wanting them to succeed is one thing. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on every single decision before they’ve proven anything is another.

Hey, everyone gets to have a point of view, & you often post really interesting stuff. Maybe if you had a concrete, substantive critical response to one or more of their moves it'd be easier to take your attitude seriously. For the moment, however, I just do not understand what you are complaining about.

Where are their false steps? What don't you like? Do you have another "genius" in mind who could have come in to the mess we were in mid-June '23 & "proven something?"

Is it that we took AJ instead of DP?
Is it that we took Okpara instead of Onyenso late in R2?

Or is it that we took Bilal instead of Dereck Lively, even though the next 4 GMs also passed on him?

Or instead of Vasquez? The next 10 GMs passed on him!

Is it that we picked Sarr?
Kyshawn George?
Or are you negative about the pick of Tre Johnson? Or Will Riley? Or Jamir Watkins?

Did you dislike swapping CJ for Trae? Was it a mistake to trade for AD, even though we didn't give much?

Is it that we should never have extended Trae? Is that it?

Or is it all about trading Deni? & & that you enjoy picking on Bub? What will you do, I wonder, if he starts getting better when he turns 21?

In short, what are you -- & the rest of you complainers -- moaning about? Please explain. I just don't get it.

[nate33]

I bet he'll get more minutes than Vukcevic got his rookie year, maybe as many or more than his 2d year.

I seriously doubt it. That dude is raw with a capital R. He is a total project on offense.

[AFM]

Talk to these fellas Tom.

[payitforward]

I bet he'll get more minutes than Vukcevic got his rookie year, maybe as many or more than his 2d year.

I seriously doubt it. That dude is raw with a capital R. He is a total project on offense.

Vuk only played 150 minutes as a rookie!

[doclinkin]

I hate the Trae deal but that is a separate issue. This FO has a pretty good draft record. The Bub pick was bad with Ware and McCain going right afterwards, but overall i think they've done a good job so i am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on a 2nd round guy i am not familiar with. I dont care what his stats look like.

One point of contention.
Can people stop touting McCain as some sort of draft steal.
McCain is a year and half years older than Bub and played in 1/3rd of the minutes.
Bub hasnt been good, but he's been going against NBA starters as a 19/20-year-old for the last two years. McCain has barely played, and when he has, he plays against backups and does NOTHING other than shoot 3's with above average efficiency.

He doesnt create/pass, rebound, or play defense.
Bub is bigger, younger, better passer/creator, and just as good of a shooter/scorer (I'd argue Bub is a better shooter).

Also important to note both Ware and McCain have been benched and then traded by the team that drafted them.

In one case due to an unwillingness or inability to learn his role and fit in on a tight run Miami team. And in the case of the other due to durability issues.

Whereas Carrington has proven one of the more durable players in the league, and at the least has added a 3pt shot at a high level, a weakness coming out of college. Remains to be seen how much upside is there. But attitude wise, he is noted as a spark plug for this squad.

[payitforward]

Talk to these fellas Tom.

I just did... if I'm the "Tom" you had in mind!

[payitforward]

One point of contention.
Can people stop touting McCain as some sort of draft steal.
McCain is a year and half years older than Bub and played in 1/3rd of the minutes.
Bub hasnt been good, but he's been going against NBA starters as a 19/20-year-old for the last two years. McCain has barely played, and when he has, he plays against backups and does NOTHING other than shoot 3's with above average efficiency.

He doesnt create/pass, rebound, or play defense.
Bub is bigger, younger, better passer/creator, and just as good of a shooter/scorer (I'd argue Bub is a better shooter).

Over his 1 & 2/3 years w/ the team that drafted him, McCain produced at about the level of Bub -- he improved w/ OKC. Far as it goes.

[tontoz]

I bet he'll get more minutes than Vukcevic got his rookie year, maybe as many or more than his 2d year.

I seriously doubt it. That dude is raw with a capital R. He is a total project on offense.

Clint Capela was raw on offense his whole career.

[payitforward]

I bet he'll get more minutes than Vukcevic got his rookie year, maybe as many or more than his 2d year.

I seriously doubt it. That dude is raw with a capital R. He is a total project on offense.

Clint Capela was raw on offense his whole career.

Well, if he turns into a Clint Capela level player, we'll all be very happy!

[DCZards]

Bub hasnt been good, but he's been going against NBA starters as a 19/20-year-old for the last two years. McCain has barely played, and when he has, he plays against backups and does NOTHING other than shoot 3's with above average efficiency.

He doesnt create/pass, rebound, or play defense.
Bub is bigger, younger, better passer/creator, and just as good of a shooter/scorer (I'd argue Bub is a better shooter).

Bub gets absolutely no love for becoming a 40% 3pt shooter—and possibly the Zards best 3 pt shooter. That may change when Bub shares the court with Trae and/or AJ and expands his 3pt marksmanship.

[Paris41]

In short, what are you -- & the rest of you complainers -- moaning about? Please explain. I just don't get it.

You do get it. I and several other posters have repeatedly given you substantive responses. The issue is that none of it seems to matter, because you refuse to view the current front office through even a slightly critical lens.

You cannot even acknowledge what the overwhelming majority of the board already has: Carrington was a bad pick. Instead, you characterize any mildly critical comment about him as “picking on” him, then try to turn every criticism of the pick into some straw-man argument about the Deni trade.

Winger never had final say on basketball decisions with the Clippers. Lawrence Frank was President of Basketball Operations and had final authority.

So let’s look at the actual record.

Was it a good move to trade five draft picks for an often-injured 33-year-old star who has publicly expressed skepticism about the team, has yet to play a game for Washington, and is now seeking a long-term extension?

Was it smart to sign Trae Young — a player acquired for essentially nothing five months earlier — to a four-year, $212 million contract when Zach Lowe has reported that Washington was not bidding against any other teams?

Do you think trading Deni Avdija for Carrington plus a likely mid-2029 first was a good trade?

Did you have AJ ranked above Boozer and Peterson as a prospect? What about Caleb Wilson?

Do you think Tre Johnson was a better pick than Collin Murray-Boyles? I am on record having CMB over Tre.

Do you think Carrington was a better pick than Jared McCain? I am on record having McCain over Bub.

Watkins and George look to be future quality rotation NBA players, great. TBD on Sarr & Coulibaly. Fortunately, they were able to convince Sarr to avoid Atlanta, otherwise….the draft record would likely take a major hit.

Obviously, the Wizards are intentionally rebuilding. That is why they are 50-196 over the last three seasons. Wins and losses are not a fair indicator of success right now.

But if we cannot evaluate wins and losses yet, then we have to evaluate process, asset management, draft decisions, and prior track record. So can you point to where Winger or Dawkins had a proven track record of success as the top executive over a franchise before Washington?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The Wizards BLEW the draft and WASTED THREE PICKS!!!!!

They underperformed for sure.