Official Wizards Draft Thread: Version 2.0

[closg00]

Yep, I am beginning to think that Ernie's best-case scenario draft would be to take Greene with the first pick, Sharpe with the second, then invite back-up PG candidates to Summer League.
That is my official prediction. If Greene is gone, then he will take whoever else may have dropped, perhaps Rush.

[forbes20]

With Blatche as the backup pf, Young as the backup sg, I'd look for a backup sf or center... no pg at 18.

Check out some of the video highlights on the draftees at this fox site:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8275062?MSNHPHMA

After checking out the Bill Walker highlights, this guy reminds me a lot of Caron Butler. He has a mans body (compared to the Douglas-Roberts guy from Memphis), he is quick, athletic, and finishes strong. He is also in the Maggette mold. If he has a clean bill of health, then he is attractive to me as sf backup.

I wasn't overly impressed with Alexander, Jordan ("Jordan has below average hands, a lackluster motor and human athleticism"... ahhh Kwame), Arthur, or Speights ("doesn't have the greatest work ethic or IQ for the game"... ahhh, ... Kwame). Greene looked pretty decent, but I was most impressed with Walker. Batrum sounds pretty good, and his photos look like a Rudy Gay clone,... apparently his game is also similar.

I'd be fine with Greene, Batrum, Walker, or Hibbert. I'd like Gibbons in the 2nd , but he won't last(saw him at the Jordan classic the year LeBron was there, and the dude literally jumped out of the gym.. crazy athlete.

All this draft is talk is bascially moot... seeing how if we resign Arenas and Jamison, then 4 out of 5 positions are locked up long term (arenas, bulter, jamison, Haywood).... anyone we get is going to be backup material,.. also seeing how we invested last year in Nick Young as our backup sg for the next year or so.... I'd look for a backup sf or center...

[BigA]

<snip> just saying, seriously, Juan Dixon excepted, what good ever came outta Baltimore?

I nominate these.

[doclinkin]

A couple things that Ernie said that caught my ear were:

1) His theory is BPA.
2) He doesn't think the workouts mean that much.

Enlarging on the second point, EG said that workouts for him are mostly to get to know the player. He wants to sit down and talk to the kid and see how he responds. The thing is - I don't know if that means he's more or less likely to pick somebody he didn't get to talk to during a scheduled workout. Interesting.

Seems to me the presser was essentially setting up the fans for the idea that the Wiz will try to sell off the pick. Don't getcher hopes up.

Blase' as usual, Ernie seemed a bit dismissive of the draft's ability to help the team as it stands now. The best talent in the draft is young puppies, untested, who will require work to get up to speed. We already have depth of youth, and a good balance of vets & prime of life players to offset those rookies. Other teams may be trying to rebuild or need young talent to develop, or are stocked with old vets and need to get younger.

He said _if_ we keep the pick we'll take best player available, regardless of need -- though that's the smart chess move statement to warn Teams drafting lower not to hope the Wiz will let a guy slip just because he doesn't fill a need. That threatens every position, may as well try to trade up or we may even take your guy.

That, and the lack of activity in the Wiz workout sessions suggests that the Wiz have a deal lined up if all goes as they think it will. Sounds to me like the guys they like are sure to go earlier and they didn't have the assets to move up compared to what other teams may be able to offer. Especially since 2/5 of our starters won't be inked by draft day, no way to even tempt a team into giving a cherry deal.

GMEG doesn't want to waste an asset by sitting a player overseas to develop -- where if he does well he might be offered a contract bigger than the salary scale of a 1st round pick. And what's the point of paying a guy to fill a salary cap slot/endanger the lux tax, just to develop him for a couple years before he produces. Makes me curious what GMEG thinks the team need is and what deals he has sketched out in principle, or what odds he's playing on teams drafting later who want that midrange 1st rd pick.

Interesting. I still hope we pick up other picks if we trade out. I have faith Ernie can steal a player later in the draft once the smoke has cleared.

Quoting myself, unpardonable sin, but. The other thing I neglected to cite from the GMEG presser was the idea that the Wiz are only allowed to send 4 players under contract to the SummerLeague games. Since Blatche said he's willing to play (they can't force him since he's a 4th year player) the Wiz already have their 4: Dray, Pesh, DMac, Nick.

Any player they draft wouldn't be allowed to take the floor with them unless they hadn't yet signed a contract. And I can't see any agent allowing their draftee to risk injury without already having the deal inked.

Another reason why the Wiz would prefer to deal the pick. Less time to get the young guy on the same page as the coaching staff much less up to NBA speed or familiar with his benchmates. Likely another wasted year as far as his contract/production are concerned, from a strickly bidness point of view.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Wonder if the Wizards could trade the #18, plus the conditional first from Memphis, plus Pecherov to the Grizzlies for Crittendon or Lowry and the 28th?

[Soup's Uncle]

Wonder if the Wizards could trade the #18, plus the conditional first from Memphis, plus Pecherov to the Grizzlies for Crittendon or Lowry and the 28th?

I'd do that in a second.

[dobrojim]

I don't like the deals that have us bringing in more players than we give up.
The roster for the most part is already crowded. Re AD - trading him could
be risky since we don't have depth at PG. In favor of that is that as a somewhat
higher paid player, we could afford a 2 for 1, but the obvious guy to do that with
is ET, who probably doesn't have much value right now, possibly negative value
in fact.

GMEG didn't say so (and shouldn't if he believes) but I wonder (again, yes I'm
stuck on him) if Hibbs isn't ready to contribute sooner rather than later.

Green sounds like AB which to me means we'd have to wait AT LEAST 2-3 years
to expect him to crack the rotation. Chalmers might do it sooner.

[nate33]

Wonder if the Wizards could trade the #18, plus the conditional first from Memphis, plus Pecherov to the Grizzlies for Crittendon or Lowry and the 28th?

If Chalmers is still there at #18, I'd rather just draft Chalmers and be done with it. Chalmers is a defensive PG like Lowry, only instead of a hard-nosed penetrator, he's a deadly three-point shooter. Six of one, half-dozen of the other. Indeed, in this offense, I think I prefer the shooter. But the big difference between the two is that Chalmers will be locked into a rookie deal for 4 years. Lowry's contract is up in 2.

If Chalmers is gone, then maybe I make this trade. The only problem is that AD would become redundant. Maybe we swap AD for Cardinal in exchange for them letting us keep the Memphis pick. Either that or we should shop AD for a veteran defensive SF with a contract expiring in 2009 or 2010.

[dobrojim]

good points ^

I'd be happy with Chalmers as the pick

one other thing though going back a couple a pages or so re the Per projections.
That analysis really questioned the possibility of taking Rose ahead of Beasley.
I guess time will tell how that projection pans out.

[Wizardspride]

There's only two guys I covet... Hibbert and Greene.

And if Greene becomes what I think he will, then Caron will be expendable in a few years.

[closg00]

Cool, Jonathan Givony is doing a pre-draft chat on Ivan's blog tomorrow -11AM

NBA Draft Preview
Who will Chicago select No. 1 overall, Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley? Following last season's radical trades, which players could be on the move Thursday? And whom is Ernie Grunfeld likely to select for the Wizards?Draftexpress.com's Jonathan Givony takes your question and gives you the latest info before the draft.

[fishercob]

David Falk just said on the John Thompson show that he hoped the Wiz do not draft Hibbert, given they already have three big guys (presumably Brendan, Blatche and Etan). He also said he expects Hibbs to be gone by 18.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

I don't remember who we were working out before last year's draft. I seem to remember Nick Young being a BPA who dropped and we didn't necessarily see as being there when we picked. Did we work him out before we picked him?

Just trying to get a sense of where EG's head is at, esp if somebody we didn't work out drops to us.

Count me in on the Greene bandwagon, but I got a feeling he's gone before us.

[TheKingOfVa360]

I hope we can grab Chalmers, we need a back up PG. If we can't get him we need a defensive wing like Chris-Douglas-Roberts.

[TheKingOfVa360]

I wonder if he wasn't black and was from Baltimore would you think the same thing.

Yep! It's a deeply-held prejudice generally against all things Baltimorean. Honestly, what good ever came outta Baltimore?

He's actually a really good guy with no "thug persona". He has a great, tight-knit family and a warm personality.

That's alright then.

Ok sounds good to me, I hate Baltimore also

[Ruzious]

I hope we can grab Chalmers, we need a back up PG. If we can't get him we need a defensive wing like Chris-Douglas-Roberts.

CDR is a heckuvan offensive player. I don't think his defense is considered good.

[80sballboy]

I don't get it with Donte Greene. If I wanted a jumpshooting, finesse big 3, I'd wait to the second round and draft Ryan Anderson.

[newslowsad]

Thoughts on Jonathan Wallace or Sean Singletary in the second?

[LyricalRico]

I don't get it with Donte Greene. If I wanted a jumpshooting, finesse big 3, I'd wait to the second round and draft Ryan Anderson.

Bingo. At least Anderson can rebound. How does Greene go from being the next Tim Thomas to now being considered by some to be a guy who could make Caron expendable? Ernie holds one press conference, says absolutely nothing, and now all of a sudden Greene is a better prospect than he was a week ago. I don't get it.

Not saying he doesn't have potential but he's EXTREMELY one dimensional. He's not just an offense only guy, he's a jumpshot only guy (took 50% of his shots last year from 3pt range). If we didn't have Nick Young I'd be more interested, but at this point I'd pass on him. I'm sure EJ wants him, though. At 6'10 he'd make a great jumpshooting center!

[newslowsad]

Shame that Chalmers will probably be gone by the time we pick.

Do we really need Arthur, another PF, when Blatche, now that Etan is back, should be backing up AJ?

I feel like we are weakest at PG and SF. We need another PG period. It would also be great to have someone to backup Caron.

If Ernie still has his heart set on getting rid of Etan after next season, then a big man like Hibbert would be great. If we go that route, we could grab a PG in the second.