Wizards 2019 Offseason Thread

[nate33]

I'm trying to figure out of any of the LA guys can be shifted into a two-way player slot. As far as I can tell, it's only possible if a special clause is included in their original contracts when they were drafted.

If none of the 3 guys can be 2-way players, and assuming McRae and Schofield won't be 2-way players, and assuming Justin Robinson won't be a 2-way player because we need a PG on the roster other than Sato, our roster is going to get really crowded.

There's room for 15 guys on the regular roster, plus two more 2-way guys. If Sato and Bryant are resigned we will already have the following players taking up roster spots:

Active Roster:
1. Wall
2. Beal
3. Mahinmi
4. Bryant
5. Sato
6. Howard
7. Hachimura
8. Brown
9. Wagner
10. Schofield
11. McRae
12. Bonga
13. Jones
14. Robinson

2-Way
1. Phillips
2. Mathews

That leaves room for just one more guy - presumably somebody with the MLE exception, or Jabari Parker, or a warm body we received by trading the Markieff TPE (like Ilyasova).

I think we're going to want at two or three more vets, not just one. Somebody from the Active Roster is going to have to be cut, if not two guys. The only non-guaranteed contracts are Robinson and Jones (well, Schofield too). Robinson seems like he is more needed since Sato is the only actual PG on the roster. So I think Jones is likely to be cut (sorry PIF). I suppose Mathews could be released and Robinson demoted to 2-Way status. He would only be able to join the team for 45 days, maybe 15-20 games, but he may only be needed if Sato or Beal gets hurt, so that might not be a problem.

We can also release Howard and hope someone signs him before he clears waivers, thereby saving about $2.1M off the cap.

We can release Mahinmi as well, but we might want to keep that contract around as ballast in case an interesting Trade Deadline deal becomes available.

By the way, this is why I believe we are no longer poised to sign Johannes Voightmann. There just aren't enough roster spots, not unless some of those Lakers contracts are flipped.

[Illmatic12]

I'm trying to figure out of any of the LA guys can be shifted into a two-way player slot. As far as I can tell, it's only possible if a special clause is included in their original contracts when they were drafted.

If none of the 3 guys can be 2-way players, and assuming McRae and Schofield won't be 2-way players, and assuming Justin Robinson won't be a 2-way player because we need a PG on the roster other than Sato, our roster is going to get really crowded.

There's room for 15 guys on the regular roster, plus two more 2-way guys. If Sato and Bryant are resigned we will already have the following players taking up roster spots:

Active Roster:
1. Wall
2. Beal
3. Mahinmi
4. Bryant
5. Sato
6. Howard
7. Hachimura
8. Brown
9. Wagner
10. Schofield
11. McRae
12. Bonga
13. Jones
14. Robinson

2-Way
1. Phillips
2. Mathews

That leaves room for just one more guy - presumably somebody with the MLE exception, or Jabari Parker, or a warm body we received by trading the Markieff TPE (like Ilyasova).

I think we're going to want at two or three more vets, not just one. Somebody from the Active Roster is going to have to be cut, if not two guys. The only non-guaranteed contracts are Robinson and Jones (well, Schofield too). Robinson seems like he is more needed since Sato is the only actual PG on the roster. So I think Jones is likely to be cut (sorry PIF). I suppose Mathews could be released and Robinson demoted to 2-Way status. He would only be able to join the team for 45 days, maybe 15-20 games, but he may only be needed if Sato or Beal gets hurt, so that might not be a problem.

We can also release Howard and hope someone signs him before he clears waivers, thereby saving about $2.1M off the cap.

We can release Mahinmi as well, but we might want to keep that contract around as ballast in case an interesting Trade Deadline deal becomes available.

By the way, this is why I believe we are no longer poised to sign Johannes Voightmann. There just aren't enough roster spots, not unless some of those Lakers contracts are flipped.

They can cut Jones and extend an offer to bring him back with the Go-Go, leaving open an opportunity to make the roster in the future.

Who is Mathews?

Edit: per Katz/Standig we should expect Dwight to be a buy-out

[nate33]

Who is Mathews?

Read on Twitter

[nate33]

Edit: per Katz/Standig we should expect Dwight to be a buy-out

[80sballboy]

Edit: per Katz/Standig we should expect Dwight to be a buy-out

That's fine with me. Heard rumors for weeks about that. Even if he's healthy, that's still a 25-win club with Beal. Adding Parker and/or Jeff Green? BFD. Might as well take your lumps, attempt to get a few more picks and well, if you can't sign Beal to an extension....time to cut bait before you won't get much back in return.

[gambitx777]

I think Shep has something up his sleeve . Jones McRae can be cut and I would not be shocked if we didn't seen Ian or Howard on the team for long. Which would make plenty of room for JV he's not going to cost much he's younger than both Ian and Howard and he can shoot pretty good which will help our spacing. And he seems to be a willing and active defender and moves well.

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using RealGM mobile app

[Gig18]

Edit: per Katz/Standig we should expect Dwight to be a buy-out

That's fine with me. Heard rumors for weeks about that. Even if he's healthy, that's still a 25-win club with Beal. Adding Parker and/or Jeff Green? BFD. Might as well take your lumps, attempt to get a few more picks and well, if you can't sign Beal to an extension....time to cut bait before you won't get much back in return.

I don't know. I would like to see if Howard could contribute. He only played a couple of games with us last year, but he could still rebound, block shots and hit shots around the hoop.
Getting rid of him before the season saves, what? $5 mill? $6 mill? I know most people scoff at this, but there may be a market for him on that cheap of a contract once the season starts and contenders are looking for pieces ...

[payitforward]

Ahhh, nate, you already got into this while I was thinking about mine... Gotta go cook dinner; back at it in a bit. you left out simmons i think -- or at least the fact that we might get a player back for him....

So... this has been such a whirlwind. What's our roster so far? What's our salary load so far?

Beal, Wall, Mahinmi, Howard & Brown: 5 guys = just over $90m total. Rui = $3.74m (unless the #9 rookie contract has changed from last year). Wagner, Bonga & Jones (if we pick up his option) = $3.8m -- that's @ $98m for 9 guys.

Assuming no oddities, it seems clear that Schofield & Robinson will make the team -- i.e. that's what Sheppard intends. That takes us to between $100 & $101m, & we're up to 11 players.

Unless something very nasty happens, we'll re-sign Sato & Bryant: lets assume $15m this year for the pair of them -- putting us at 13 players & @ $115-116m.

Jordan McRae & Tarik Philip have unguaranteed deals at $1.6m & $1.4m respectively, but we don't know whether they'll be with the team. "Ding...." we hit 15!

Perhaps we won't pick up Jemerrio Jones's extension. Perhaps we won't pick up one or both of McRae & Philip. & everyone is saying we're trying to deal Howard. If all of that happens, we'll be back down to 11. We're presumably trying to deal Jonathan Simmons, whom I didn't mention for that reason. Maybe for a pick rather than a player....

We have Matthews on a 2-way. Maybe one of Armoni Brooks & Corey Davis, Jr. will get the other one.

Kind of stunning that 10 young players are involved with the team now (11 if you include Sanon). Who'd have thunk it?

[Dat2U]

That's fine with me. Heard rumors for weeks about that. Even if he's healthy, that's still a 25-win club with Beal. Adding Parker and/or Jeff Green? BFD. Might as well take your lumps, attempt to get a few more picks and well, if you can't sign Beal to an extension....time to cut bait before you won't get much back in return.

I don't know. I would like to see if Howard could contribute. He only played a couple of games with us last year, but he could still rebound, block shots and hit shots around the hoop.
Getting rid of him before the season saves, what? $5 mill? $6 mill? I know most people scoff at this, but there may be a market for him on that cheap of a contract once the season starts and contenders are looking for pieces ...

There's no guarantee Howard can play. He only played 9 games for a reason and he had a setback while recovering. He's already been told before by docs he would never play again because of his back and he proved them wrong. However, to expect him to keep bouncing back from his back problems is alot to ask.

Its clearly Bryant's starting job at C, it makes sense to move on.

[Dat2U]

I'm trying to figure out of any of the LA guys can be shifted into a two-way player slot. As far as I can tell, it's only possible if a special clause is included in their original contracts when they were drafted.

If none of the 3 guys can be 2-way players, and assuming McRae and Schofield won't be 2-way players, and assuming Justin Robinson won't be a 2-way player because we need a PG on the roster other than Sato, our roster is going to get really crowded.

There's room for 15 guys on the regular roster, plus two more 2-way guys. If Sato and Bryant are resigned we will already have the following players taking up roster spots:

Active Roster:
1. Wall
2. Beal
3. Mahinmi
4. Bryant
5. Sato
6. Howard
7. Hachimura
8. Brown
9. Wagner
10. Schofield
11. McRae
12. Bonga
13. Jones
14. Robinson

2-Way
1. Phillips
2. Mathews

That leaves room for just one more guy - presumably somebody with the MLE exception, or Jabari Parker, or a warm body we received by trading the Markieff TPE (like Ilyasova).

I think we're going to want at two or three more vets, not just one. Somebody from the Active Roster is going to have to be cut, if not two guys. The only non-guaranteed contracts are Robinson and Jones (well, Schofield too). Robinson seems like he is more needed since Sato is the only actual PG on the roster. So I think Jones is likely to be cut (sorry PIF). I suppose Mathews could be released and Robinson demoted to 2-Way status. He would only be able to join the team for 45 days, maybe 15-20 games, but he may only be needed if Sato or Beal gets hurt, so that might not be a problem.

We can also release Howard and hope someone signs him before he clears waivers, thereby saving about $2.1M off the cap.

We can release Mahinmi as well, but we might want to keep that contract around as ballast in case an interesting Trade Deadline deal becomes available.

By the way, this is why I believe we are no longer poised to sign Johannes Voightmann. There just aren't enough roster spots, not unless some of those Lakers contracts are flipped.

If we were trying to win next season, here's how the roster looks:

G Satoransky ... xxxxxxx ... Robinson ... Bonga
G Beal ... xxxxxxx ... McRae ... Phillip
F xxxxxxx ... Brown Jr ... Jones
F xxxxxxx ... Hachimura ... Schofield
C Bryant ... xxxxxxx ... Wagner ... Mahinmi

INJ: Wall
Buyout: Howard

The good news: Our third string is stacked!

The bad news: Were still two starters & five rotation players away from being good!

5 guys, 2 of them RFA's are worthy of minutes in a rotation next year. You can probably get by with McRae as backup 2 but that still leads another 4 spots to fill.

[payitforward]

...assuming Justin Robinson won't be a 2-way player...

His contract is for 3 years, & it's partially guaranteed. Moreover, I'm pretty sure there was a deal in place for him from before the draft.

In interviews, he's said that his agent got calls about being drafted in the 40s but they told everyone they didn't want to go to their teams. They were thinking about what the best fit was, & they'd determined it was the Wizards. To me that means that Tommy told Robinson's agent that the Wiz would sign Robinson immediately post-draft, & they worked out the terms in advance.

...our roster is going to get really crowded.

There's room for 15 guys on the regular roster, plus two more 2-way guys. If Sato and Bryant are resigned we will already have the following players taking up roster spots:

Active Roster:
1. Wall
2. Beal
3. Mahinmi
4. Bryant
5. Sato
6. Howard
7. Hachimura
8. Brown
9. Wagner
10. Schofield
11. McRae
12. Bonga
13. Jones
14. Robinson

2-Way
1. Phillips
2. Mathews

That leaves room for just one more guy - presumably somebody with the MLE exception, or Jabari Parker, or a warm body we received by trading the Markieff TPE (like Ilyasova).

I think we're going to want at two or three more vets, not just one. Somebody from the Active Roster is going to have to be cut, if not two guys...

The only non-guaranteed contracts are Robinson and Jones (well, Schofield too). Robinson seems like he is more needed since Sato is the only actual PG on the roster. So I think Jones is likely to be cut (sorry PIF). I suppose Mathews could be released and Robinson demoted to 2-Way status. He would only be able to join the team for 45 days, maybe 15-20 games, but he may only be needed if Sato or Beal gets hurt, so that might not be a problem.

No, see above: Robinson is partially guaranteed. They really like him. Schofield will get a guaranteed contract too. They paid $3m to acquire him a week ago!

You are right that Jones is the most likely candidate -- a bad idea IMO, but not something to go into in this post.

But you're wrong about "the only non-guaranteed contracts," which may make a difference. Both Tariq Philip & McRae are signed to non-guaranteed 1-year deals. Given where Tommy's been taking the team, I wouldn't at all presume either of these guys will be with us.

Could be wrong of course, but what it looks like is that he wants to look at a bunch of young players. If you're not one of those, then I think he'll be looking at veterans with better resumes to fill out the roster. The first guys off the bench need to be more solid & predictable than McRae or Philip.

If Tariq is cut, I suppose he might be a candidate for a 2-way deal, but... he's going to turn 26 in August. I wouldn't spend a 2-way on him. McRae is 28.

We can also release Howard and hope someone signs him before he clears waivers, thereby saving about $2.1M off the cap.

We can release Mahinmi as well, but we might want to keep that contract around as ballast in case an interesting Trade Deadline deal becomes available....

If Howard is bought out & Philip & McRae are released, we are down to 12. Jones might be released & then become our 2d 2-way along with Mathews. Then we're at 11. Off the top of my head, that's at @ $111m.

We could sign a MLE guy, a Room guy, & a vet minimum guy (maybe even two of them) & squeeze in under the tax line -- no?

I might have this all wrong.

[DCZards]

I don't know. I would like to see if Howard could contribute. He only played a couple of games with us last year, but he could still rebound, block shots and hit shots around the hoop.
Getting rid of him before the season saves, what? $5 mill? $6 mill? I know most people scoff at this, but there may be a market for him on that cheap of a contract once the season starts and contenders are looking for pieces ...

I'm with you on Howard. The Zards were one of the worst rebounding teams in the NBA last season. Let's not overlook or forget that. Right now, Howard is far and away the best rebounder on the roster. Until they sign another good rebounder (and shotblocker), I'm for keeping Howard around.

There are few things more frustrating and demoralizing for a team (especially a young team) than getting killed on the boards night in and night out.

[TGW]

Maybe Sheppard knows Howard is a cancer in the locker room and doesn't want him anywhere near the young players. I bet that's the reason why Howard is about to get bought out.

[DCZards]

Maybe Sheppard knows Howard is a cancer in the locker room and doesn't want him anywhere near the young players. I bet that's the reason why Howard is about to get bought out.

How do you know that Howard's a cancer in the locker room? Have you ever been in the locker room with him?

Someone who has been the locker room with Dwight, former teammate Kemba Walker, doesn't think he was a cancer.

https://clutchpoints.com/hornets-news-kemba-walker-says-dwight-howard-not-locker-room-cancer/

[SUPERBALLMAN]

I gotta say, I am liking Sheppard. After years of Grunfeld dealing away our draft picks... Sheppard this off-season with only a number 9 pick has restocked the team with essentially 5 picks, and another future 2nd rounder.


Bonga

Watch on YouTube

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Jones

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

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Wagner

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Admiral

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Hachimura

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[TGW]

Maybe Sheppard knows Howard is a cancer in the locker room and doesn't want him anywhere near the young players. I bet that's the reason why Howard is about to get bought out.

How do you know that Howard's a cancer in the locker room? Have you ever been in the locker room with him?

Someone who has been the locker room with Dwight, former teammate Kemba Walker, doesn't think he was a cancer.

https://clutchpoints.com/hornets-news-kemba-walker-says-dwight-howard-not-locker-room-cancer/

Right...four teams in four different years and it's about to be five. Yea, I'm sure he's a real positive in the LR.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Free agency is about to begin. Here is a list of players I would take a look at...


Kevon Looney
Mike Muscala
Richaun Holmes
Tyler Lydon
Cam Reynolds
Henry Ellenson
Mario Hezonja
Glenn Robinson III
Noah Vonleh
Nick Stauskas
Jerian Grant
Rodney Hood

And I would look to retain our own FAs Satoransky, Dekker, Bryant

[Illmatic12]

I'm trying to figure out of any of the LA guys can be shifted into a two-way player slot. As far as I can tell, it's only possible if a special clause is included in their original contracts when they were drafted.

If none of the 3 guys can be 2-way players, and assuming McRae and Schofield won't be 2-way players, and assuming Justin Robinson won't be a 2-way player because we need a PG on the roster other than Sato, our roster is going to get really crowded.

There's room for 15 guys on the regular roster, plus two more 2-way guys. If Sato and Bryant are resigned we will already have the following players taking up roster spots:

Active Roster:
1. Wall
2. Beal
3. Mahinmi
4. Bryant
5. Sato
6. Howard
7. Hachimura
8. Brown
9. Wagner
10. Schofield
11. McRae
12. Bonga
13. Jones
14. Robinson

2-Way
1. Phillips
2. Mathews

That leaves room for just one more guy - presumably somebody with the MLE exception, or Jabari Parker, or a warm body we received by trading the Markieff TPE (like Ilyasova).

I think we're going to want at two or three more vets, not just one. Somebody from the Active Roster is going to have to be cut, if not two guys. The only non-guaranteed contracts are Robinson and Jones (well, Schofield too). Robinson seems like he is more needed since Sato is the only actual PG on the roster. So I think Jones is likely to be cut (sorry PIF). I suppose Mathews could be released and Robinson demoted to 2-Way status. He would only be able to join the team for 45 days, maybe 15-20 games, but he may only be needed if Sato or Beal gets hurt, so that might not be a problem.

We can also release Howard and hope someone signs him before he clears waivers, thereby saving about $2.1M off the cap.

We can release Mahinmi as well, but we might want to keep that contract around as ballast in case an interesting Trade Deadline deal becomes available.

By the way, this is why I believe we are no longer poised to sign Johannes Voightmann. There just aren't enough roster spots, not unless some of those Lakers contracts are flipped.

If we were trying to win next season, here's how the roster looks:

G Satoransky ... xxxxxxx ... Robinson ... Bonga
G Beal ... xxxxxxx ... McRae ... Phillip
F xxxxxxx ... Brown Jr ... Jones
F xxxxxxx ... Hachimura ... Schofield
C Bryant ... xxxxxxx ... Wagner ... Mahinmi

INJ: Wall
Buyout: Howard

The good news: Our third string is stacked!

The bad news: Were still two starters & five rotation players away from being good!

5 guys, 2 of them RFA's are worthy of minutes in a rotation next year. You can probably get by with McRae as backup 2 but that still leads another 4 spots to fill.

Hmm. I know of an old friend who can fill at least 3 of those open positions ..




But really though , he wouldn’t be a bad clubhouse vet to add for the min , if we can clear a 15th roster spot (I’d waive J Jones and add him to the Go-Go roster for the season)

Per the athletic

Garrett Temple, wing
Unrestricted free agent

Where is the shooting on this roster?

Bradley Beal. Maybe Bobby Portis — depending on if the restricted free agent returns or not. And is that it? If the Wizards don’t find marksmen elsewhere, the offense will bog down to the bottom levels of the league. So, how about adding Temple, who made $8 million with the Clippers and Grizzlies last season and who is already a known commodity?

One of interim GM Tommy Sheppard’s main missions for the summer is to bring in hard workers and, as they are called colloquially, “character guys.” The Wizards, for whom Temple played from 2012 to 2016, certainly consider the 33-year-old wing firmly in that category. He won’t be as cheap as, say, bringing Jeff Green back on another minimum deal, which is a possibility no matter what happens the rest of the offseason, but he also may not cost the full MLE.

[closg00]

A couple of things about the roster thus-far. While I am encouraged by Tommy's moves, we lack a rim-running paint protector, lock-down defender, and spark plug scorer. We did get some shooters though.

[nate33]

If you have 5 or so hours to kill, Nate Duncan's 3-Part mock free agency podcast is a really interesting listen:

Read on Twitter

Obviously, they don't know exactly where the big free agents are going to go, and their decisions dictate the rest of the market, but it does give a pretty good idea of the supply/demand dynamics of the offseason.

In their scenario, Durant and Kyrie went to Brooklyn, Kawhi stayed in Toronto, Klay stayed in Golden State, Kemba stayed in Charlotte, Butler stayed in Philly, and Russell went to LA. The interesting thing was that with the Knicks and Clippers striking out, both teams elected to keep their powder dry rather than overpay on second tier guys. They pretty much stalked around the market offering fairly lucrative one-year offers to players, but that didn't really have much of an effect in bidding up the cost of key second tier free agents who wanted longer term deals. (Also, they didn't affect the RFA market because you can extend a 1-year offer sheet to a RFA.) As a result there was less total money chasing free agents and many of the free agents got less money than I expected. And that's with Kawhi, Kemba and Butler staying put and not soaking up cap room.

Milwaukee managed to retain Middleton ($30M), Brogdon ($20M), Lopez ($13M) and Hill ($4M). Philly retained Butler, Harris, Redick and Mike Scott, and even added Seth Curry.

In this mock, Detroit ended up offering a 3-year $24M offer to Sato. The guy representing the Wizards inexplicably declined that offer and went on to sign Ish Smith to a 2-year $8M deal. Another alternative PG option for us, Corey Joseph, got 3 years $21M in Phoenix.

As predicted, the center market was pretty cheap because of the high supply and limited demand. Favors went to the Celtics. Horford to Dallas. Cousins to Sacramento. Valanciunas and Zubac stayed put in Memphis and LA respectively. Noel went to LA for the Room Minimum. WCS went somewhere, I can't remember. There just wan't any demand for Bryant when his name was called. Thomas Bryant was ultimately retained for 3 years $14M. Frankly, if that was the market dynamic, I would have locked up Bryant for 4 years. That guy is going to be a major value at that price. I'm convinced he will get better and better.

I haven't finished the third part yet so I don't know where guys like Jabari and Jeff Green went.