Kevin Seraphin

[DallasShalDune]

I'm pumped for him to be on the roster next year. I hope he is truly signed! We need him to contribute if we want a hope of making the playoffs this year.

He'll at least be better than N'Daiye if he plays this year. And probably Armstrong.

[bsilver]

I can't wait to see him also. He'll definitely get his chance this year for no other reason than McGee has shown he can't defend NBA centers. I doubt we would have taken on Hinrich if EG felt we already had adequate interior defense. Seraphin already has the developed body so we won' have to wait until he gets stronger like others his age. As others have said, there are examples of 20 year old big men who have contributed. Not to say he has Cousins' abilities, but Cousins is no older and he'll get plenty of playing time.

[lupin]

does anyone know how big Seraphin's language barrier is? he's already raw, but not understaning/speaking English will probably slow the learning process down even more.

[willbcocks]

He's French, he'll pick English up in a snap. He already knows the word 'smash' and the hand smash motion, so he's basically halfway there.

[Induveca]

I wouldn't worry too much about the language barrier. People 25 and younger in Paris seem to universally speak decent English. Over 25 less likely. It's almost guaranteed a worker at a movie theater, McDonalds or a young waiter/waitress speaks English in Paris.

It's unspoken but the French seem to have embraced a need to speak English due to the UK and US dominating the tourism and import/exports of the country. The number of uk/us language schools over here is staggering.

Also near 80 percent of television is voiced over in French or subtitled from American shows. Most popular music is in English etc. Point being Seraphin has been working on his English for a while. Based on his press conference comments and my experience over here I suspect he speaks english pretty well.

[rockymac52]

I agree with that assessment. I've been in Brussels for the summer, and spent a week in Paris as well, and I don't speak a lick of French and have gotten by just fine with English. Yeah, most of the time that means dealing with vendors or people who deal with customers all day, but still, I'd say 9/10 people I talk to here speak English pretty damn well.

I suspect Seraphin stuck to French for his first press conference for the most part simply because his English isn't great, and he was just more comfortable speaking in his native tongue and thus making sure he said what he wanted to say and didn't come off as an idiot.

[Three34]

Seraphin really has signed. Rookie signings normally go unreported in this way.

[Hoopalotta]

Seraphin really has signed. Rookie signings normally go unreported in this way.

Somehow our beat writer knows nothing about this:

Mike Lee Said: The Wizards now have about $5 million left to fill out their roster, which now stands at 11 -- it could be 12 as soon as Seraphin negotiates a buyout with his French team, Cholet.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizard ... the-w.html

Well, I'll take Sham's word over Lee's (which really is a biting indictment of Lee if you take your nomenclature at all seriously).

While he's a respectable locker room reporter, GMEG could probably infiltrate Lee's apartment and put salt in the sugar urn without detection until creme brulee was served to dinner guests.

[doclinkin]

Seraphin really has signed. Rookie signings normally go unreported in this way.

I'll believe it only when our man Sham updates his Salaries index with all the figures and the like. The Salariy site is and has always been phenomenal. (Okay except the last two months while you were updating, of course). Why is it you're the only cat with accurate information on salaries? You have a 'mole' jammed way deep up the...? uh... rephrase that: you have a spy in the league front office?

[verbal8]

Well, I'll take Sham's word over Lee's (which really is a biting indictment of Lee if you take your nomenclature at all seriously).

While he's a respectable locker room reporter, GMEG could probably infiltrate Lee's apartment and put salt in the sugar urn without detection until creme brulee was served to dinner guests.

Lee is pretty disappointing on his grasp of the CBA and the business side of things. But overall I think he does a decent job.

[Rafael122]

Lee is a step up from Carter, but that's not saying much. This is just lazy reporting though, it doesn't kill him to pick up the phone and call them and just ask if he's signed.

[rockymac52]

I think Lee is at a bit of a disadvantage becuase he writes for the Post and has to be a lot more professional than the other Wizards bloggers do. But yeah, I agree with the general consensus of him doing a solid job, but never actually bringing up very interest points or breaking news. I feel like the other bloggers do a lot of insight and read message boards such as realgm, whereas I think Lee goes off what he sees and reads from big credible sources more often. Lee always seems a couple steps behind.

[Three34]

I suppose it's possible that he hasn't, but what I can tell you for sure is that the league circulates official salary documents. And on them, they show Seraphin as signed. It would be a first for that document to be wrong, although I guess the remote possibility exists.

[b-ball forever]

From all the articles I've seen it sounds like he's gonna go to the NBA this year.

There was a small report on him on the french national news last night :
http://videos.tf1.fr/jt-20h/kevin-serap ... 51739.html

Says he's working out 5 hours a day during his holidays despite the injury, trainer says that he wants Seraphin to become like Joakim Noah, and has potential to be better then him (on offense in particular).

[REDardWIZskin]

Lee's twitter updates are pretty informative, if your on you should follow him.

[WizStorm]

Latest from Michael Lee...
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizard ... -wiza.html

Kevin Seraphin signs with Washington Wizards, reaches buyout with French team
The Wizards roster will soon be at 12 players after first-round pick Kevin Seraphin's contract is validated by the league office in the next few days. Seraphin recently reached a buyout agreement with his French club, Cholet, with the Wizards paying $500,000 to free him from his obligations, according to his agent, Bouna Ndiaye.

As the 17th overall pick, Seraphin can sign a two-year deal worth about $2.7 million, with the Wizards holding team options for the next two years. With Josh Howard expected to sign a one-year deal Thursday, the Wizards payroll now stands at roughing $53 million, which still gives them about $5 million to fill out the roster.

[Three34]

Told you.

[dobrojim]

Well, I'll take Sham's word over Lee's (which really is a biting indictment of Lee if you take your nomenclature at all seriously).

While he's a respectable locker room reporter, GMEG could probably infiltrate Lee's apartment and put salt in the sugar urn without detection until creme brulee was served to dinner guests.

Lee is pretty disappointing on his grasp of the CBA and the business side of things. But overall I think he does a decent job.

I think ML is solid. The situation here though is that he can only know
what is leaked around the Wiz FO. I don't see the Post sending him over
to Paris to investigate the possibility just so they can get a scoop on
a mid-level 1st rnd pick a day or 2 ahead of someone else.

edit to add - moot point. Glad to hear KS is a done deal.
I like the team makeover. We should be in the mix for a 5-8 seed.
Then again, I've been known to be irrationally exuberant at times before

[JonathanJoseph]

Well, I'll take Sham's word over Lee's (which really is a biting indictment of Lee if you take your nomenclature at all seriously).

While he's a respectable locker room reporter, GMEG could probably infiltrate Lee's apartment and put salt in the sugar urn without detection until creme brulee was served to dinner guests.

Lee is pretty disappointing on his grasp of the CBA and the business side of things. But overall I think he does a decent job.

I think ML is solid. The situation here though is that he can only know
what is leaked around the Wiz FO. I don't see the Post sending him over
to Paris to investigate the possibility just so they can get a scoop on
a mid-level 1st rnd pick a day or 2 ahead of someone else.

edit to add - moot point. Glad to hear KS is a done deal.
I like the team makeover. We should be in the mix for a 5-8 seed.
Then again, I've been known to be irrationally exuberant at times before

Man, that highlight video in ML's post are sure drool-worthy.

I think 5-8 seed sounds right. 5 seed if everything goes right, 8 seed more likely.

[verbal8]

Well, I'll take Sham's word over Lee's (which really is a biting indictment of Lee if you take your nomenclature at all seriously).

While he's a respectable locker room reporter, GMEG could probably infiltrate Lee's apartment and put salt in the sugar urn without detection until creme brulee was served to dinner guests.

Lee is pretty disappointing on his grasp of the CBA and the business side of things. But overall I think he does a decent job.

I think ML is solid. The situation here though is that he can only know
what is leaked around the Wiz FO. I don't see the Post sending him over
to Paris to investigate the possibility just so they can get a scoop on
a mid-level 1st rnd pick a day or 2 ahead of someone else.

edit to add - moot point. Glad to hear KS is a done deal.
I like the team makeover. We should be in the mix for a 5-8 seed.
Then again, I've been known to be irrationally exuberant at times before

I don't mind him getting scooped on signings.

I guess the thing that disappointed me was his poor understanding of Trade Exceptions and cap space(the simple answer is you have one or the other).

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2010/06/what-the-draft-means-for-the-w.html (at the end of the post)