prime1time wrote:The NBA draft is when organizations get to decide who they are/want to be. Like how people know that such and such player is a Spurs type player or a Heat type player. For elite players this is irrelevant but for everyone else it is essential. Calling out our organization because our management/head coach want to talk about character traits is not only nonsensical it flat out misses the forest for the trees. That’s literally what the draft is about. For years we just drafted anyone without rhyme or reason. Kevin Seraphin, Trevor Booker, Kelly Oubre, Jan Vesely, Andray Blatche, Jarvis Hayes, Jared Jeffries, Tomas Satorabsky, Oleksiy Petreocvhov. What commonalities connects any of those players? Say what you want about Sheppard, at least he has a vision for who he wants the Wizards to be. Hard working, tough, high iq basketball players. You can criticize players but perhaps it makes more sense to criticize the vision. But to be fair, I think you should offer your own vision. I think this wizards team has a chance to be pretty formidable in a year or two. I think Sheppard has done a bang up job overhauling a terrible roster. And I question precisely how the posters criticizing him would have gone about building the roster. Ultimately I feel like some people complain because it’s all they know. Like the saying goes, when you’re a hammer everything looks like a nail.
I've laid out what I would do. But I can do it again if you wonder.
Personally I'm on board with much of what Tommy does, but he still gets mixed reviews for me. So far I like his trades and distrust his drafting. Some of this is a "time will tell" sort of thing. Rui and Deni will have to develop, we can give them time -- since, what's the alternative. But, while he has drafted character guys who love the game, he still has not put emphasis towards half of the court.
Defense wins championships. Character, well, character makes it easier to endure losing? Character avoids loopy cinnamon-challenge doofuses with more talent than sense. Okay. Fair. It avoids Bulletproof Andray Blatche etc. (Though frankly he was one of the better 2nd round pick ups as far as late production). And the wrong Glen Rice. Sure. So cool, get character.
But this is still a game played on both ends of the court. And one end we flat suck at. If I'm grading him by his own stated priorities, he failed. He said we need defense and rebounding and rim protection and energy in the front court. He said we need to improve on defense. Underneath and in perimeter defense. There were players in the draft who provided both. There are players after #9 who I feel may challenge for NBA all defense teams. Players with character and intangibles and all of that. This team needs talent and depth alike. He decided to keep talent, punt on depth.
I do feel like this team more than most has often taken a flier on overseas talent. If you look through our history in the time that Tommy has been a lead scout, we draft a higher % of foreign players than anywhere else. And commonly take them higher than mocks have them rated. It seems like a blind spot to me. An area of irrational exuberance, unproven by track record. Yeah we will sometimes hit on a bargain Satoransky. I recall waiting forever on La Bomba JCNavarro and was disappointed he only ended up as a trade chip. But we are constantly ending up with players you cited: Seraphin, Pecherov, Vesely, etc. When Tommy was our international scout. So yeah, some of us can still be frustrated with the 'new boss, same as the old boss' when we land a Iusuf Sanon, or whomever. We traded a chance for Bam Adebayo for a rental of Bojan Bogdanovic. Even now we have: Mo Wagner, Pasecsniks... (Rui, Bonga, Bertans). Tommy has a bit of a boner for the international player. For FIBA experience. I mean, fine can we just buy a him a Euroleague club instead of a G-League team?
If it were me, given the perceived value of the the guy falling, I would have seen if I could have sold high on unproven talent, to pick up quietly solid defenders and rebounders later. If I were drafting on potential I would have gone for the defending athlete with upside and potential. Defense is undervalued so players who contribute to your winning bottom line fall to later in the draft. I will be loudly cheering for Deni, and will hope we get the best from him and will find positive signs on his behalf, but I feel like if we had sold that pick and landed players later we would have gotten more value. Defense, rebounding, depth, and yeah, sure, even character.
We are not Miami, for developing talent or building a team, but my feeling is it's going to be maddening to battle a Bam/Precious front line for a while. Who do you want to bet on winning more over the next few years? Us with Rui and Deni. Or Miami with Herro and Bam and all. I know we got a good player with interesting upside. I like the kid. I can like him and still know in my bones we could have had a stronger result in our win column by trading back.
I wanted Isaiah Stewart. Saddiq Bey. Precious. Xavier Tillman. Daniel Oturu. Even Vernon Carey. I know there are players further back than 9 that will have teams shaking their head.
I like Tommy. I like character. I respect Euroleague experience for teaching team play at both ends. But. What is his plan for defense, beyond Brooks telling his players to try harder. And hoping what we already have gets better. As has been said before, hope is not a plan.
