Wizards 2019 Offseason Thread

[nate33]

what are the chances that if we end up with a top 3 pick, EG pulls an EG and trades it to dump wall and add a vet on a one year deal and a struggling young player on a rookie deal that will count as out pick this year and a pick swap or something.

Let's hope they miss the playoffs and Ted doesn't have EG making that sort of decision.

We need to use our pick, full stop. And we need to get a kid who can be a legitimate All-Star potential player with it. Can't **** this up.

What if beal told you, I like it here, but if wall stays I go. would you be willing to trade that pick to get wall gone if you have a chance to keep a proven all star in beal long term. ? im not taking either position im just saying.

No. You tell Beal that it's not possible to trade Wall at the moment so to hell with your ultimatums.

[nate33]

What if beal told you, I like it here, but if wall stays I go. would you be willing to trade that pick to get wall gone if you have a chance to keep a proven all star in beal long term. ? im not taking either position im just saying.

Bradley Beal's desires should have no bearing on using our lottery pick. If he wants out, and by all indications so far is that he wants to stay, then you find a trade similar to the one that the Clippers got for Blake Griffin last year.

No one's taking Wall's contract until he can play basketball at a high level and that ain't happening until Fall 2020 at the earliest.

IDK, i think there might be a team or two who if they have a high pick and we get 1 or 2 and they see a chance to get barret or zion. they might say hell ok lets take that contract. I'm not advocating it but im saying i wouldn't be shocked if the ping pong balls fell our way and we got at least one or two calls that were willing to think about taking wall off our hands for that pick.

Yes. I'm sure teams would absorb Wall to get Zion. But we would be stupid to do that.

[Zion Wembanyama]

What do y'all think about Wall for Wiggins?

[FAH1223]

What do y'all think about Wall for Wiggins?

Lol no way.

[nate33]

What do y'all think about Wall for Wiggins?

I'd do it.

As far as I'm concerned, Wall is done as an NBA player. He's not going to play next year, or rather, if he plays, he will be a shadow of himself. The year after that, he'll be 30 years old, coming off multiple knee injuries and a torn Achilles. For a guy that relies on athleticism, that's just not going to work out. And furthermore, I think the game has moved away from the ball-dominant point guard model anyhow.

I'd rather have Wiggins, who is insanely durable and is owed $46M less over the next 4 years. He may not be good, but he's only 23. Stardom certainly isn't in the cards, but it's possible that he figures things out well enough to become a competent role player. If nothing else, it completes the rebuild-on-the-fly. The new look Wizards would be much younger and more athletic, with some real upside. I could learn to like a lineup of the future that looks something like this:

PG Garland/Sato
SG Beal/Sato
SF Wiggins/Brown
PF Parker/Portis
C Bryant/Portis

28-year-old Sato and 26-year-old Beal would be the grizzled vets of that team.

[Wizardspride]

What do y'all think about Wall for Wiggins?

I'd do it.

As far as I'm concerned, Wall is done as an NBA player. He's not going to play next year, or rather, if he plays, he will be a shadow of himself. The year after that, he'll be 30 years old, coming off multiple knee injuries and a torn Achilles. For a guy that relies on athleticism, that's just not going to work out. And furthermore, I think the game has moved away from the ball-dominant point guard model anyhow.

I'd rather have Wiggins, who is insanely durable and is owed $46M less over the next 4 years. He may not be good, but he's only 23. Stardom certainly isn't in the cards, but it's possible that he figures things out well enough to become a competent role player. If nothing else, it completes the rebuild-on-the-fly. The new look Wizards would be much younger and more athletic, with some real upside. I could learn to like a lineup of the future that looks something like this:

PG Garland/Sato
SG Beal/Sato
SF Wiggins/Brown
PF Parker/Portis
C Bryant/Portis

28-year-old Sato and 26-year-old Beal would be the grizzled vets of that team.

[Dark Faze]

I'm not counting Wall out. I'll go on record as saying he's just as explosive in his return as we remember. My main concern is returning to Wall/Brad iso possession swaps.

But that's a ways away.

[Wizardspride]

I'm not counting Wall out. I'll go on record as saying he's just as explosive in his return as we remember. My main concern is returning to Wall/Brad iso possession swaps.

But that's a ways away.

I expect he'll lose a step but I very much doubt he'll be done (slow) as Nate believes.

[nate33]

I'm not counting Wall out. I'll go on record as saying he's just as explosive in his return as we remember. My main concern is returning to Wall/Brad iso possession swaps.

But that's a ways away.

I expect he'll lose a step but I very much doubt he'll be done (slow) as Nate believes.

He'll have flashes of great athleticism, but that will accompanied with a host of nagging injuries. He will never look quite right for any sustained length of time and we are always going to be saying: "if Wall can ever get healthy, watch out!" Meanwhile, his lack of offensive versatility will mean that we will continue to have to run the offense through him. The rest of the team will never fully master the decentralized offense that most teams play today.

Wall is the worst kind of player to be playing at less than 100%. When other good players are at 90%, they can redistribute their workload to other teammates and still be reasonably effective by picking and choosing their moments and matchup advantages. With Wall, he is worthless off the ball so he has to run the offense at all times, whether he is hurt or not. And if he is running things at less than 100%, the entire team sinks with him.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

I'm not counting Wall out. I'll go on record as saying he's just as explosive in his return as we remember. My main concern is returning to Wall/Brad iso possession swaps.

But that's a ways away.

I expect he'll lose a step but I very much doubt he'll be done (slow) as Nate believes.

He'll have flashes of great athleticism, but that will accompanied with a host of nagging injuries. He will never look quite right for any sustained length of time and we are always going to be saying: "if Wall can ever get healthy, watch out!" Meanwhile, his lack of offensive versatility will mean that we will continue to have to run the offense through him. The rest of the team will never fully master the decentralized offense that most teams play today.

Wall is the worst kind of player to be playing at less than 100%. When other good players are at 90%, they can redistribute their workload to other teammates and still be reasonably effective by picking and choosing their moments and matchup advantages. With Wall, he is worthless off the ball so he has to run the offense at all times, whether he is hurt or not. And if he is running things at less than 100%, the entire team sinks with him.

I agree. Even more troubling than a likely regression of his athleticism is the fact that the game has changed and his strengths, even when he is fit, no longer equate to sustained winning basketball.

Which sucks to say because I absolutely love the guy. Love his heart and passion. Love his commitment to DC (hear that Bryce H?).

My dream is that he completely reinvents himself while sitting out. Watch hours of video of Otto and Brad moving without the basketball. Remake his J so that he can be a catch and shoot threat. Set as a goal a reduction in primary assists and a doubling of hockey assists.

Watch hours of Igudala playing defense and aspire to be the most disruptive on the ball defender in the league.

[dckingsfan]

I expect he'll lose a step but I very much doubt he'll be done (slow) as Nate believes.

He'll have flashes of great athleticism, but that will accompanied with a host of nagging injuries. He will never look quite right for any sustained length of time and we are always going to be saying: "if Wall can ever get healthy, watch out!" Meanwhile, his lack of offensive versatility will mean that we will continue to have to run the offense through him. The rest of the team will never fully master the decentralized offense that most teams play today.

Wall is the worst kind of player to be playing at less than 100%. When other good players are at 90%, they can redistribute their workload to other teammates and still be reasonably effective by picking and choosing their moments and matchup advantages. With Wall, he is worthless off the ball so he has to run the offense at all times, whether he is hurt or not. And if he is running things at less than 100%, the entire team sinks with him.

I agree. Even more troubling than a likely regression of his athleticism is the fact that the game has changed and his strengths, even when he is fit, no longer equate to sustained winning basketball.

Which sucks to say because I absolutely love the guy. Love his heart and passion. Love his commitment to DC (hear that Bryce H?).

My dream is that he completely reinvents himself while sitting out. Watch hours of video of Otto and Brad moving without the basketball. Remake his J so that he can be a catch and shoot threat. Set as a goal a reduction in primary assists and a doubling of hockey assists.

Watch hours of Igudala playing defense and aspire to be the most disruptive on the ball defender in the league.

But this is about 2019 - and Wall won't be playing in 2020, right?

[popper]

Questions

do we have bird rights on Portis and how much do you think it would take to sign him?

Also, is there a way to retain Parker without picking up his 20 M option assuming he’s able to finish the season strong?

How much do you think Parker is worth?

how do you think this all plays out in context to our current salary structure?

[nate33]

Questions

do we have bird rights on Portis and how much do you think it would take to sign him?

Also, is there a way to retain Parker without picking up his 20 M option assuming he’s able to finish the season strong?

How much do you think Parker is worth?

how do you think this all plays out in context to our current salary structure?

Yes. We have Bird Rights on Portis.

I don't know what he would cost. That's the hardest question to answer in this offseason. There are so many free agents and so many teams with cap room. A lot will depend on how many top tier free agents (Kawhi, Kyrie, Durant, etc.) switch teams. If many do in fact change teams, then a lot of cap room will be devoted to those guys, leaving much less available for second tier and third tier guys. But if Durant, Kyrie, etc. stay put, then teams like NY, LA and the Clippers will have a boatload of cap room and nothing to spend it on, so they are likely to drive up the cost of second-tier free agents.

We can retain Parker without picking up his option, but to do so, he will become an unrestricted free agent and he will be just as likely to join another team as ours. We will have the Non-Bird Exception to use on him, which in this case means we could pay him as much as $24M a year. Essentially, cap issues won't be an impediment to signing him, but luxtax issues will be. I have no idea what he will cost. I think most teams (us included) are skeptical of Parker because of his track record of terrible defense and general disinterest. It's a pretty big red flag when a guy that young and talented is given away by two teams in two years. But the talent is there. All it takes is one team to believe in him and drive up the price.

I tried my best to detail in my original post how it plays out in our salary structure.

[rl25g]

If John Wall is rules out for the year before the season starts, does some of his salary not count towards the cap/lux tax?

I know there is the DPE but I'm wondering if there is any salary cap relief.

[Eli Babak]

No cap relief for injuries. Insurance pays some of his salary so team saves money that way I think.

[nate33]

If John Wall is rules out for the year before the season starts, does some of his salary not count towards the cap/lux tax?

I know there is the DPE but I'm wondering if there is any salary cap relief.

If John Wall is ruled out for the entire year next year, we can get access to the Disabled Player Exception which allows us to sign a player to a one-year deal at half of Wall's salary. However, the DPE player signed counts against the luxtax, as does Wall's salary, and since the luxtax is really our main obstable, we get no practical relief.

Wall's contract is insured. As I understand it, insurance is going to pay 80% of Wall's salary while he is hurt. His salary will still count against the cap and luxtax threshold, but it won't be coming out of Ted's wallet. So one can at least argue that Ted is saving $20-$30M in salary next year, so he should be willing to exceed the luxtax a bit.

[dckingsfan]

If John Wall is rules out for the year before the season starts, does some of his salary not count towards the cap/lux tax?

I know there is the DPE but I'm wondering if there is any salary cap relief.

If John Wall is ruled out for the entire year next year, we can get access to the Disabled Player Exception which allows us to sign a player to a one-year deal at half of Wall's salary. However, the DPE player signed counts against the luxtax, as does Wall's salary, and since the luxtax is really our main obstable, we get no practical relief.

Wall's contract is insured. As I understand it, insurance is going to pay 80% of Wall's salary while he is hurt. His salary will still count against the cap and luxtax threshold, but it won't be coming out of Ted's wallet. So one can at least argue that Ted is saving $20-$30M in salary next year, so he should be willing to exceed the luxtax a bit.

And since we are under the luxury tax this year, there won't be a repeaters tax. Or did we - I think we are really close?

Not including the first round pick we have $83,562,550 in salary for next year if Howard opts out and we let Parker go... $132 million is the Luxury tax line.

[BigA]

My dream is that he completely reinvents himself while sitting out. Watch hours of video of Otto and Brad moving without the basketball. Remake his J so that he can be a catch and shoot threat. Set as a goal a reduction in primary assists and a doubling of hockey assists.

Watch hours of Igudala playing defense and aspire to be the most disruptive on the ball defender in the league.

I think the only chance this happens is if John goes someplace else. IMO he needs to go to a team where he isn't the best player and recognizes that.

[payitforward]

For 2019 we need to bottom out.

I'd deal Beal for the highest pick possible. Could he get us Barrett or Morant? That's my target. A long term controllable and inexpensive talent that we can build around... and begin a true rebuild.

Bring back Wall slowly. Maybe get him a handful of games at the end of the '19-'20 season.

In '20-'21 he should be on a strict minutes limit, the meantime we can continue the tank and add one more key pick.

If we've drafted right by the '21-22 we could have reloaded with 4 fairly high lottery picks.

Agreed. This is my preferred plan too. Trade Beal for picks and bottom out...

Mine too. But, one question of Dat -- what is the role of John Wall in this? Are you suggesting that in '21-22, when he comes off that strict minutes limit, he is likely to be a key, functioning part of that rebuilt team?

Doesn't that seem unlikely? What's the usual profile for a 31-year old player whose excellence has been based on elite athleticism coming off of a major bummer of an injury that's kept him off the court for most of 3 years?

It strikes me that the strategy might better be to trade him at whatever point it becomes possible.

[payitforward]

What do y'all think about Wall for Wiggins?

I'd do it.

As far as I'm concerned, Wall is done as an NBA player. He's not going to play next year, or rather, if he plays, he will be a shadow of himself. The year after that, he'll be 30 years old, coming off multiple knee injuries and a torn Achilles. For a guy that relies on athleticism, that's just not going to work out. And furthermore, I think the game has moved away from the ball-dominant point guard model anyhow.

I'd rather have Wiggins, who is insanely durable and is owed $46M less over the next 4 years. He may not be good, but he's only 23. Stardom certainly isn't in the cards, but it's possible that he figures things out well enough to become a competent role player. If nothing else, it completes the rebuild-on-the-fly. The new look Wizards would be much younger and more athletic, with some real upside. I could learn to like a lineup of the future that looks something like this:

PG Garland/Sato
SG Beal/Sato
SF Wiggins/Brown
PF Parker/Portis
C Bryant/Portis

28-year-old Sato and 26-year-old Beal would be the grizzled vets of that team.

Absolutely! Do it asap. Then look to trade Wiggins -- it's a lot easier to trade a guy who can get on the court & play than one who can't!