Glen Rice Jr.

[montestewart]

Rice will probably want Booker's number too.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Little bit of Blatche, little bit of Crittenton. Another tweener.

Wolters played at a high level for four years. Games against Wroten, Ross, Burke, Canaan, and NCAA near-leadings stats in points, with great pure passing ratio and much better defense than Burke are part of why I liked him. Insurance against a Wall or Beal injury made him a logical choice.

Once Bill Simmons heard about Philly getting him he raised their grade to "A".

Arsalan Kazemi produced wins at Rice then Oregon. He plays intelligently on the boards and is a superior defender and an efficient offensive player.

Porter, Olynyk, Kazemi WOULD HAVE BEEN a great draft.

GR III rides in cars with people who fire guns. His dad has been I. The news for criminal behavior. The guy was disciplined by different coaches before getting kicked off the team.

Way to go, Wizards. Bravo.

Checkered past yes, but by all accounts he's turned it around. As Nate mentioned, Caron wasn't exactly a cuddly puppy.

Caron went to jail several times and he turned it around by the time he finished HS. He went from dealing drugs to working WITH THE SYSTEM and raising his grades before going to U Conn. He turned it around in order to be the one to make his family proud. Butler didn't get kicked off his COLLEGE team.

Rice III was born rich and privileged. He got kicked off his college team in 2011. His dad was beating up his mom's BF around the same time Rice III was riding with a shooter. The only thing the guy turned around was his fortune, because he played extremely well in D=League play.

The Wizards have once agains shown they don't understand good chemistry. They had good swing men in Webster and Ariza, but they draft swing men in Porter and Rice. Instead of looking to bring in a playmaker they pass. Instead of considering Noel to be a better prospect than Porteer, and one who fit a team need better, and one who would keep continuity they go for change.

Or, they plan on just keeping Porter because they don't wan't two rookies.

What a dumb FO. There's no way both Webster and Ariza come back. They still need a playmaker besides Wall. They passed over Muscala, Franklin, and others to get a potential gangster. Just great.

[80sballboy]

(from USA Today)

UPDATE: The Wizards got this pick from the 76ers for the Nos. 38 and 54 picks, USA TODAY Sports' Jeff Zillgitt reports. Rice slipped likely because of off the court issues that led to his dismissal at Georgia Tech. But he was dominant in the D-League, where he led the Rio Grande Valley Vipers to the championship, and he can play both wing spots. He could be the steal of the draft. Grade: A

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Make sure his boys know about the DC firearms policy. Tell them if they ride like Delonte West they will have a lot easier time in court.

[hands11]

This dude is a straight up thug. Hope they can handle him, because we haven't had luck with disciplinary problems in the past.

On top of that they passed up a much better player who will have a terrific career in the NBA.

This is a very sad day for me. I knew he screwed up about Millsap, Blair, Curry, and Faried.

This one's worse IMO.

It was so close CCJ. So close.

[FAH1223]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KsliRvRTiw[/youtube]

[crackhed]

i think there's enough character on the team today to get in his face if he acts up, but the big red flag for me is his defense. lets not forget we're just spectators in this play

[Ruzious]

I'm actually impressed that EG targeted somebody (anybody) enough to trade up to get him in the 2nd round. And he was an improving player who got bigger, more skilled, and obviously more mature. It stings now - seeing as the player I was hoping for was there at 38 and went 39th, but I'll keep an open mind. I think it does say - with the picking of Porter and trading up for Rice that it's considerably less likely that Webster returns - and they're more likely to use the MLE on a PF.

[CaPtaiN eYeSaNo]

I'm ecstatic! this is great, exactly what I wanted them to do. the potential reward is well worth the possible risk.

[BarnabyJones]

Anyway, who among us hasn't fired off a few rounds from a moving vehicle? It's a hell of a lot safer than firing from a parked car.

[gambitx777]

This is not as bad of a pick as the Thomas Sataransky pick was.

[BruceO]

Most of the time I agree with you CCJ, but this time I like the picks. Yes like you I liked wolters but if I had the benefit of work outs would be open to other players.
In regards to noel. Five teams passed on him, sixth team picked him only to trade him. The suns with their medical know how passed on him. He has defensive potential but in the near I don't like him defensively in the post until I know he can have the weight and strength not to be backed down.. How long will that take? At 200 pounds his knees are fragile.. And 50 or something more pounds and it's disaster waiting to happen. He also will never ever be a scorer.. He'll only play one side of the game and this is why len who already has the weight required, already is a better scorer or shooter than noel with ever be went before him and rightly so. It wasn't an assessment made by us only but by others as well.

On the second round pick it guess we can squabble about it but we moved up for a player who showed exceptionally well in d league and I believe will be able to back up both wing positions. His combine numbers were good athletically with a 40 inch vert, good length. He shot a high clip from NBA three, not college three and was an efficient scorer.. He was top five in efficiency and was up there above lamb and next to almond. He is actually compared to almond who you loove.
I understand he has character issues and hope they have gone away. It seems to me that after he got those issues he did the right thing and went through the adversity without entitlement.. Like they didn't play him at first and prioritized others before him but when he got his chance he scored if I'm not mistaken 35 points and pulled down 15 rebounds (has to reconfirm) and was the best player in the finals.. Not a bad start for a second rounder who won't have any physical limitations.

I understand disappointment for not getting who we wanted but I'm not going to blame rice Jr

[doclinkin]

Eh. I'm happy with GRJR.

This squad needed shooting in the worst way. And one thing you can say about GRJR's boy is that he's been involved in shooting in the worst way...

But seriously folks. I can see him as our primary back-up 2-guard before the year is out. In this squad we don't really need ballhandling so much as off ball movement and efficient scoring. And as far as perimeter scorers go this kid has EFTC in spades. !!!11!!!!!

As far as upside he is built like a brownstone rowhouse. Can maybe lean up and add speed but more likely to add strength, reminds me of a Caron Butler type, far stronger than he looks at first glance. I'll be intrigued to see how he develops with Sammy Cassell teaching him post-up footwork and bangery trickery.

And he's got legit range out to deep. With his inside/outside talents, why he's the tweener 2/3 version of Anthony Bennett. But that's a real position in the NBA: swingman. Okay indifferent defense would relegate him to 6th man status maybe. But he's got the tools to be a good defender, stays active on the boards, aware -- he just needs drills on positioning, stance and foot work, plus technique in team defense, all of which comes from real time experience and maturity. Good thing is, unlike Bennett, he knows he needs to work on that. It's no shock. Still he seems slow to read situations, so it may never be a real strength. Strange considering he's headsup and aware on offense, nice passer, etc, but I guess that's common (Bennett, Nick Young etc). Maybe it's fixable with repetition and insistence. He does have good numbers on steals, blocks, defensive boards, he's just got no intensity, nor foresight in rotations, and crappy technique backpedaling to stay in front of his man.

But on the other side of the ball, I'm happy. In OP2 and GRJR we just upgraded our offense with skilled scorers who were born and raised ballers since infancy. We added range to open the floor for John to attack and kick, and in GRJR we added an alley oop target as a perimeter guy swooping in back door (and with OPedos we added a smart and tall passer who can swing the ball to him on the skip pass for hockey style assists all around) . I'm liking what it looks like in my head.

[doclinkin]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KsliRvRTiw[/youtube]

Watching the interview he seems like a sweet kid, maybe with a learning disability, I get a Nick Young vibe, if less happy go lucky. As for the troubles he'd been in he does not project like CCJs nightmare of a recidivist thug, just a kid who was probably easily swayed by the people he is surrounded by. But definitely seems to, at least right now, cherish the second chance and opportunities given to him. I'd worry a little bit about how he'll react to NBA money, though it helps a little that he'll be making 2nd round money, still, he was happy for that $500 a week in the D League. Funny, doesn't sound like the son of a multimillionaire, daddy Glen may have made him earn his own way. Or may have spent his millions as so many NBAers did.

However being easily influenced by the people who surround him is not a bad thing when you surround him with humble and hardworking players like Otto and Beal with their midwestern family values, or with and dedicated and focused superstars like Wall. I like that this young perimeter core can grow up together, ideally babysat by guys like Nene and Okafor. Seems like they'll have good fun enjoying each other's company, which tends to keep you away from a large entourage of hangers on.

An added benefit is that GRJr has a large fraternity of NBA 'uncles' like Jalen Rose who have the clout and status to be able to check him a bit if he's getting off kilter. Now that he's a professional, he'll be able to ask for help from any number of former players. I like that he learned already to treat the game like a profession, take it seriously and listen to advice. Add this to the Georgetown alum who work with Otto and we have a good foundation for some powerful positive mentorship forthgoing. A good culture. And having grown up as a kid in the game he knows the old guard of veterans, in a way that many young kids don't. Values the lessons of a guy like Sam Cassell, has seen him play in person.

I like that he sees himself as a 2-guard despite having to make do as an occasional PF in the small ball DLeague.

[rockymac52]

CCJ, this post is aimed primarily at you, but it applies to plenty of other people on this board as well.

I understand if you don't like Rice as a prospect. I also understand if there were other prospects that were still on the board that you liked a lot, and would have preferred over Rice. However, I'm getting very annoyed with some of the things that have already been said around here.

CCJ, you need to come out right now and post exactly who you think we should have drafted instead of Rice. I don't need any explanations, as you've already given them in the past, I just want a simple list of every player that was still available that you would have drafted over Rice.

My fear is that you, and many others on this board, will suffer from some serious revisionist history if Rice doesn't end up being a good NBA player. We've seen it with this team plenty of times before. For example, we all whine about how we drafted Vesely over Leonard and Faried. But that's not fair, because it's a lot easier after 1 or 2 seasons in the league, to pick out those two names as guys who were overlooked in the draft that ended up being very good players, certainly better than the player we picked. But it's not fair to ignore all of the other prospects that were taken after Vesely. I know that in this particular case that many of us had targeted Leonard and Faried before the draft, so it's not complete revisionist history, but it's still questionable.

If Rice doesn't work out a few years from now, I don't want to be hearing about how Ernie made a terrible trade, and more so, how we passed on Player A and Player B. If you give me a list of the players who you would have preferred right now, then we can go off that list in the future to confirm your beliefs. Also, let's say there's 10 guys you would have drafted instead of Rice. And let's say 3 of those guys blossom into very good NBA players, while Rice struggles, and the other 7 guys struggled as well.

I will seriously be pissed off if I have to listen to you and everybody else here blame Ernie for the trade and Rice pick, and talk about how we could have had any of those 3 players (or perhaps, 2 of them if we didn't trade the 54th pick). I don't want to give you the opportunity to pick and choose whichever players end up being steals and go around parading about how you knew they'd be great and you would have picked them at the time, especially if 70% of the players you would have picked instead turned out to be busts as well. If you say that 20 guys taken in the 2nd round are sleepers and are gonna be good, then pretty much no matter what a few of them are going to end up being steals; it doesn't take any skill to do that.

So please, CCJ (and honestly everyone else), if you're not happy with the Rice pick, then do us all a favor, and man up, and post a list of all of the players you would have drafted instead, preferably ranked in the order that you would have picked them. Otherwise, STOP COMPLAINING!

[payitforward]

Doc seems to like Rice because he gets "...a Nick Young vibe" off of him. I smiled at that!

RockyMac -- CCJ *did* list his preferred players. Or, more important, he said he'd have *kept* Wolters and drafted Kazemi at #54 (where in fact he went). I would have done that as well. Time will tell us whether that would have been better than trading up for Rice.

Another question is whether it would have been preferable to pick Muscala in place of Wolters -- CCJ, would you have done that? Or prefer Wolters? Or 50-50 on the subject?

[payitforward]

Look, at least in Rice we've finally got a player who doesn't need a shooting coach!

[slowhand33]

CCJ, this post is aimed primarily at you, but it applies to plenty of other people on this board as well.

I understand if you don't like Rice as a prospect. I also understand if there were other prospects that were still on the board that you liked a lot, and would have preferred over Rice. However, I'm getting very annoyed with some of the things that have already been said around here.

CCJ, you need to come out right now and post exactly who you think we should have drafted instead of Rice. I don't need any explanations, as you've already given them in the past, I just want a simple list of every player that was still available that you would have drafted over Rice.

My fear is that you, and many others on this board, will suffer from some serious revisionist history if Rice doesn't end up being a good NBA player. We've seen it with this team plenty of times before. For example, we all whine about how we drafted Vesely over Leonard and Faried. But that's not fair, because it's a lot easier after 1 or 2 seasons in the league, to pick out those two names as guys who were overlooked in the draft that ended up being very good players, certainly better than the player we picked. But it's not fair to ignore all of the other prospects that were taken after Vesely. I know that in this particular case that many of us had targeted Leonard and Faried before the draft, so it's not complete revisionist history, but it's still questionable.

If Rice doesn't work out a few years from now, I don't want to be hearing about how Ernie made a terrible trade, and more so, how we passed on Player A and Player B. If you give me a list of the players who you would have preferred right now, then we can go off that list in the future to confirm your beliefs. Also, let's say there's 10 guys you would have drafted instead of Rice. And let's say 3 of those guys blossom into very good NBA players, while Rice struggles, and the other 7 guys struggled as well.

I will seriously be pissed off if I have to listen to you and everybody else here blame Ernie for the trade and Rice pick, and talk about how we could have had any of those 3 players (or perhaps, 2 of them if we didn't trade the 54th pick). I don't want to give you the opportunity to pick and choose whichever players end up being steals and go around parading about how you knew they'd be great and you would have picked them at the time, especially if 70% of the players you would have picked instead turned out to be busts as well. If you say that 20 guys taken in the 2nd round are sleepers and are gonna be good, then pretty much no matter what a few of them are going to end up being steals; it doesn't take any skill to do that.

So please, CCJ (and honestly everyone else), if you're not happy with the Rice pick, then do us all a favor, and man up, and post a list of all of the players you would have drafted instead, preferably ranked in the order that you would have picked them. Otherwise, STOP COMPLAINING!

When these NBA GMs make their picks they don't get to pick four players. They pick one. It is easy to pick four players because your chances are 4 times higher that one of the four will work out. I think that all of you GM want to be should pick 1 player and let your reputation stand on that one selection.

So many of you throw out so many possibilities and when one or two of them hit you say that they were the ones that you would have picked. But, how about the other 8 that you mentioned who never did anything. Those are quickly forgotten and never mentioned again.

[fishercob]

Pasting my thoughts from the draft thread:

I've never seen Glen Rice Jr play. But the arguments I'm seeing against the pick have to do with (a) that he isn't someone else or (b) his position. Everyone crushes our brass for not playing the value game -- buying low, selling high, etc. Well, isn't that exactly what we're going for here? Rice is a supposed first-round talent who had some issues. So we scoop him up deep in the draft and see what he's made of. He purportedly has owned up to his missteps and was very productive in the D-league. Maybe he establishes some value and is part of a trade package down the road or ends up filling a need here. Certainly seems like a reasonable risk.

As to position, relax a little bit. The Wizards need talent, position be damned -- especially in round two. At this point last year lots of us here were pretty sure that the Wizards were going to be the worst perimeter shooting team in NBA history. Ariza shot much better than anyone expected. Webster came out of nowhere. Beal exceeded expectations. Free agency and trading is still ahead of us, so there will be plenty of opportunity to add backup guards and bigs. Not to get all handsy, but we just have to sit back and watch things unfold a bit.

[Dat2U]

Outside of Jamaal Franklin, Glen Rice Jr. was the highest player on my board. I have absolutely no problem with Ernie trading up for him. Sure, I would have had no problem staying at #38 and taking Pierre Jackson or even Jeff Withey, but I can't get upset regarding the choice Ernie made here.

Good pick, a potential steal. And as I've been saying since we landed the #3, it likely means Martell Webster isn't coming back. I think Rice is a 3/2. He can play some 2, but he's really a 3. I wouldn't be surprised to see some small bet sets where either Porter or Ariza slides to the 4 with Rice at the 3. Rice has a chance to immediately step in and contribute too. He's probably more ready than many of the prospects folks might have been disappointed we missed on.