What Should the Wizards Should Do with the 5th Pick?

[pancakes3]

Ji makes our luck.

Jordan HIll would have a hard time getting on the floor between AJ, Blatche, and Songaila all vying for PF minutes. IT'd be a waste of a pick really. We'd get much more utility out of Harden. I'd really like to look into lawson, curry, or even teague. Those guys have pg handles, and a sg's stroke. They'd pair up well with N1 and/or Critter. They're just as talented as Harden and could play both guard spots whereas Harden would be hard pressed to play sf or pg even in spot minutes.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Jordan Hill only makes sense if: 1) You just don't care that Blair is a much better selection. (Like Millsap over Pecherov), and 2) The Wizards plan to move similar players.

I will go on record as saying I am astounded that after picking Blatche and McGee and Pecherov Ernie once again goes for length.


http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jordan-Hill-1222/

Clearly teams are valuing Hill’s upside quite a bit. He’s already a productive rebounder and has a lot of potential long-term as a defender, but his offense doesn’t stand out amongst his peers. He’s raw, but some teams see his physical profile and athleticism and assume he will be a player that develops into a bigger threat on the next level.

If the Wizards draft Hill I'm sure they'll regret it later and I'm sure the disparity between Blair and Hill will be just as vast as the disparity between Millsap and Pecherov.

And I will officially call Grunfeld a horrible GM when he makes the same dumb mistake again.

Arizona had Budinger and Hill and the team was crap.

Just because Blair looks fat and all the IMO dumb mock drafts rate him low, let's make the same damned, stupid mistake again and again and again. Boozer's not athletic. David West is not long and tall enough. Millsap played against nobody's and he's too short. Leon Powe shouldn't be drafted. Landry, he's not 6'10".

(EDITED TO ADD: Did anybody notice Dwight Howard did NOT dominate bulky guys Perkins and Big Baby in the playoffs? He stepped up at the end but he didn't beast either player. Also, did folks just watch the Lakers struggle and have to go seven games against a team that had Chuck freaking Hayes at C? Bulk bothers length to some extent. My reason for wanting Blair is the Wizards ALREADY HAVE MUCHO LENGTH. Wiz need a fatso bully in there IMO!)

I really feel like numbers mean absolutely nothing to the guys running the draft. Blair is so obviously good and better than the guys they've got rated high that it makes me more frustrated than slipping from 1st to 5th.

I don't think Hill will work, even if the metaphysical stuff doc posts say's he's got the angry, cpmpetitive temperment.

He's Not a baller like Blair.

[P'Oed]

So far the only names I've seen repeated here in regard to a trade for the #5 are Hamilton and Carter. Are we really limited to these 2 guys? I've kind of cooled down after last night and I'm realizing we might really be downplaying the value of this pick. A team that really needs a guard would jump at the chance to grab this thing from us. I'm really starting to believe we need to think bigger. We really might be able to make a run at a young, big named guy like Amare. Hell, I'm not as well-versed in the numbers or rules of the trade game like some of you guys are (every time I come on here I learn something new from you guys) but give me an Al Jefferson. Yes, I realize they have a lottery pick too but my point is let's not devalue this thing. If anything we should be trying to talk it up.

[mhd]

Jordan Hill only makes sense if: 1) You just don't care that Blair is a much better selection. (Like Millsap over Pecherov), and 2) The Wizards plan to move similar players.

I will go on record as saying I am astounded that after picking Blatche and McGee and Pecherov Ernie once again goes for length.


http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jordan-Hill-1222/

Clearly teams are valuing Hill’s upside quite a bit. He’s already a productive rebounder and has a lot of potential long-term as a defender, but his offense doesn’t stand out amongst his peers. He’s raw, but some teams see his physical profile and athleticism and assume he will be a player that develops into a bigger threat on the next level.

If the Wizards draft Hill I'm sure they'll regret it later and I'm sure the disparity between Blair and Hill will be just as vast as the disparity between Millsap and Pecherov.

And I will officially call Grunfeld a horrible GM when he makes the same dumb mistake again.

Arizona had Budinger and Hill and the team was crap.

Just because Blair looks fat and all the IMO dumb mock drafts rate him low, let's make the same damned, stupid mistake again and again and again. Boozer's not athletic. David West is not long and tall enough. Millsap played against nobody's and he's too short. Leon Powe shouldn't be drafted. Landry, he's not 6'10".

I really feel like numbers mean absolutely nothing to the guys running the draft. Blair is so obviously good and better than the guys they've got rated high that it makes me more frustrated than slipping from 1st to 5th.

I don't think Hill will work, even if the metaphysical stuff doc posts say's he's got the angry, cpmpetitive temperment.

He's Not a baller like Blair.

I disagree big time CCJ. I saw Hill 12-15 times this year. He IS A BALLER. Zona lost in the sweet 16 because THEY HAD NO DEPTH. Imagine if they had Brandon Jennings this year? They were counting on him, but he bailed like the other incoming freshman when Lute retired. They played 6 guys the whole year, and Hill/Buddinger/Wise all had to play 40 mpg. Hill will rebound. He's in fantastic shape. He has no injury concerns like Blair (who had two ACL tears in High School). He REBOUNDS like a mother. He's physical (something no big man aside from Haywood is) on the team. He scores with either hand (I've seen countless left hooks to vouch). He plays with passion. Great character.

Hill is a good defender. He schooled definite lotto pick Cole Aldrich this year. He destroyed Gonzaga's frontline. Hill is a more athletic Al Horford. Why wouldn't you want that?

[AgentOvechkin08]

I dont know why Blair is even considered an option for some of you even in a trade down scenario.

He is a fine player, dont get me wrong but he is probably going to give you Paul Millsap production if you get lucky. Problem is Millsap was drafted in the 2nd round (funny we could have got him).

You dont waste a pick on a guy like Blair because he is 6-7 strong and has a good wingspan.

If we stand pat or trade down and still pick, i would like to see Harden, Derozan, Evans etc.

Evans seems like a Larry Hughes type fit with Arenas, and Derozan is a project, but his potential is argueably the best in the draft. If he develops his skills further along with his gifted athleticism, he will be a future multiple all star. He dominated UCLA in the Pac 10 tourny.

I still think Harden compares to B. Roy in that he has excellent intangibles, may not have great athleticism, but "sneaky" athleticism, ala Paul Pierce. Also posted already but his numbers in his sophmore season compare to B. Roy's senior season, and ASU did not have a lot of great talent around Harden.

Harden also has a lethal shot, numbers may not show that but I saw alot of his games on TV and came away impressed.

[VictorPage44]

Harden is five years younger than B Roy.

[Rapsobsessed7]

well now im not 100% positive how these salary cap things work but what would happen with Marion, would we have to renounce him to take stevenson or would we only need to renounce Parker/Graham and then would that allow us to resign Delfino (we hold his rights) and go over the cap ?

If theres anyway to do the deal without bosh/bargnani and not our cap space i would love it as i said if we bought a late pick and drafted someone + traded #9 would that be enough or does stevenson have to be taken?

[AgentOvechkin08]

Stevenson is one guy i want OUT of here that is for sure, him and our bad but expiring contracts of Etan and James

[Joe_Wiz]

I once heard an interview with a diplomat who, years before, had negotiated a nuclear arms treaty with the Soviets. He said he was surprised by all the calls he received from people congratulating him -- before they knew the terms of the treaty. All of the calls to trade the pick make me think of that. Even if you have a specific trade in mind, you generally can't tell if the other team(s) would make the trade.

That being said, I think trying to find a good trade makes the most sense. We just don't need any more youngsters right now. I'd try to trade out of the first round. If there's no trade good enough, then take BPA.

As for what kind of trade, I'd keep an open mind. I think the smallest trade that could help us would be for an upgrade at SG. NY1 plus the #5 should theoretically get you a player better than NY1. Add in Blatche or McGee and you theoretically get a pretty good player, but you have to be careful trading a young big for an old small. For all three of those pieces, I'd expect someone clearly better than any of the three now, and somebody still in his prime. This assumes that we think we can give up either Blatche or McGee and still back up Haywood and Jamison adequately.

You might instead upgrade at the non-Gil point guard position. For Crit & the #5, I would hope for a decent veteran backup PG. Add in Blatche or McGee and I'd hope for someone who we'd be happy with playing significant minutes beside Arenas as well as all of the minutes behind him.

Like many of you, I'd like to see us add a top-notch big man to our roster. This might be possible, but I think it's going to be hard to improve in this arena. We already have an excellent defensive center, a 1st-rate offensive PF/tweener, and two promising but uncertain 7-footers. There are certainly better big men out there, but you aren't going to get them by trading peanuts. The ideal situation would be to trade Jamison + for a younger, stronger, better-defending big. But Jamison's age and contract are going to make that very difficult to pull off.

Blah, blah, blah. I'm not telling you guys anything you don't already know. I guess I'm just saying, I'm all for discussing the options and I love to read others' trade ideas, but in the end EG just has to (and I know he will) spend countless hours on the phone exploring options. Hopefully he'll come up with a good trade (or two), but in the end he could end up taking another project big with the #5. And though that's not what I want, I'm prepared for the possibility that that might be our best choice in the end.

[Joe_Wiz]

I forgot to mention -- I consider DeShawn, James, Etan, and Songaila all to be entirely tradable (two of these I'd like to see go, two I could take or leave). But I'm not sure any of them have any real (positive) trade value, so I did not factor them into what I posted above. They could still be part of a package to make salaries match or for the other team to take salary off our hands, but I do not consider them to be our main trading chips.

[Ji]

why are we trading our 5th for an upgrade at SG. Is a 31 yo RIP or a damaged Redd that much better than James Harden at this point? I dont think so

[AgentOvechkin08]

Ji, i think that Harden/Evans/possibly Derozan would be fine options at 5, but you never know

I really like Harden and am probably in the minority.

[Ji]

interview with Harden

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4166968

[Ji]

n the court, three things really stand out about Harden in the workout I saw.

First, he seems to have lost 10 to 15 pounds since we saw him last in the NCAA tournament. His face is thinner, his abs more chiseled. The improved physique and conditioning have given him an added quickness and explosiveness that you didn't always see at Arizona State.

"He reminds me a little of Brandon Roy," another NBA executive said. "When you watched him in college, he didn't look like an elite athlete because he was using his knowledge of the game, not his athleticism, to get by people. Then he gets to the combine and does really well in all of the athletic testing and everyone was wowed.

"Harden's like that. He's got sneaky athleticism."

He also has two other physical advantages that should help in the pros. While he's at the average height for 2-guards in the league (6-foot-5 ½ in shoes, according to his trainer) he has a 6-foot-11 wingspan that allows him to wreak havoc in the lane and a thick base that gives him the ability to post up smaller, weaker guards in the paint.

Second, Harden is showing a marked improvement in his 3-point shooting. While Harden would have been categorized as a good shooter already, he wasn't a dead-eye, either -- especially late in the season. You can see that he's been working on increasing his range and accuracy, and in the workout I saw, he was hitting just about everything he threw up there.

His form looks great and his release is quick. Over time he's going to need to continue to develop that skill. Since he doesn't have a super quick first step, he's going to need defenders to play him close on the perimeter to use his creativity to get to the rim.

Chad Ford is visiting many of the top prospects as they prepare for the draft.

• Blake Griffin: Looking like Superman
• Hasheem Thabeet: Not just a tall guy
• Insider: Daye, Collison and Brockman

Finally, Harden seems to be playing with a chip on his shoulder. After absolutely dominating the first half of his sophomore season, his play began to fall off in Pac-10 play. Teams were double- and triple-teaming him and at times he grew passive and would mentally fall out of games.

His struggles were compounded with a below-average (for Harden) performance in the NCAA tournament that had a number of NBA executives re-asking questions about his ability to dominate at the next level.

Harden took those criticisms to heart. "I know that when I go to the NBA, guys will be coming for you. That's why I'm working so hard right now. It gives you motivation to get better."

While there are a few teams that still are asking questions about Harden as a top-five pick, most of the executives I spoke with are convinced he's the real deal.

"Remember when everyone got down on Eric Gordon last year when his play slipped at the end of the season?" one NBA executive said. "All of the sudden people were acting like he couldn't play. Then he has a great rookie season and people forget about the problems."

We've had Harden ranked in the Top 5 of our Top 100 all year and after watching him work out, I think there's little chance he falls out of it. He's going to be more impressive than many would think in workouts. His slimmed-down physique and improved explosiveness should quiet any doubters. I think Oklahoma City is the team where he fits the best, but I also could see him on the Wizards in a backcourt with Gilbert Arenas. It's hard to believe he slips past both of those teams, unless they are picking No. 1 and No. 2.

[Ji]

Remember Horny for Zorny?

How about Hard for Harden?

I guarantee you besides Griffen, he will be the best rookie next year

[eltacoman]

his voice his style of talking kind of reminds me of Gilbert i think they will hit it off really quickly

Im down for Harden if we keep the pick

[DaRealHibachi]

The more I see of Harden, the more I want him on his team... He should be our SG for the future... Screw tradin the 5 for those old dudes mentioned around the board...

[AgentOvechkin08]

Harden would be my pick most likely unless a deal came around you could not refuse ala Bosh/Amare etc.

[HeroicKennedy]

why are we trading our 5th for an upgrade at SG. Is a 31 yo RIP or a damaged Redd that much better than James Harden at this point? I dont think so

Actually, they are. No offense to Harden, but in most drafts he wouldn't even be in the lottery. His max potential probably is a Hamilton/Redd. 2nd tier SGs who might make a handful of All-Star appearances but nothing beyond that.

Personally, I wouldn't be that gung-ho about adding the 5th pick if it meant taking on terrible contracts/players.

[yungal07]

Better off getting a younger player than a 31 year old with too much nba mileage under his belt, that's for sure. You're not getting the #5 unless we were to dump all our unwanted trash on you guys.