Hersh

The problem with this team isn't going to be the starting five if they stay healthy. Gortat will be good and Beal will improve throughout the season so no worries about one game. Now, ignoring the fact that the roster is so poorly put together with a lot of SFs, the real problems are that the bench is terrible and the coaching staff has never shown the ability to develop anyone. There is some serious overvaluing of players on this teams bench. Back up PG Maynor isn't an upgrade from last year and can't shoot. Back up SG Temple shoots under 40% and is on his 6th team in 5 years. If Glen Rice Jr can actually play SG versus SF, I have no idea why he isn't the one getting minutes immediately. Back up SF Webster is easily the best player on the bench and a good rotation player. This is where the construction of this team really hurts. What happens when Porter comes back? How can the team justify giving Webster the contract he got given the number of SFs on the team and lack of depth everywhere else and than cut his minutes? Ariza is unlikely to be traded so now it's up to a poor head coach to figure out a rotation. Back up PF: Harrington, a 15 year vet who is coming off major surgery. If he can get back to close to his old form he will be solid offensively, but not sure if he plays any defense. Back up C: Seraphin. Could be a solid rotation player, but not if he is given 4 minutes a night. Vesley shouldn't even be on a NBA roster and Booker just didn't pan out. Just saw the post about Nene being injured. If Nene or Gortat miss an extended amount of time, bye bye playoffs.

If you consider the trade, I would figure the Gortat trade wouldn't have happened so it's conceivable an okafur/1st round pick would have been used to acquire back court help. Regardless of who that ended up being, the Wiz would have one of the best front courts in the league. Also, depending on the trade, Porter wouldn't have been drafted. I think that team is fighting for the 4 seed cause the Pacers would take a major hit given their roster and I'm not sold on the Knicks for anything. It's not that I don't think Beal won't be really good or that Wall won't be great, but to suggest that one would never make that trade or that no GM would ever make that trade is simply not credible.

Yeah...right.

Are you actually Ernie Grunfeld?

The Okafor/Ariza trade is still a terrible trade. First, we give another team massive cap space a year early and get no draft pick out of it. Second, if the Wiz don't make that trade at all and just let Lewis' contract expire, they don't need to trade the 2014 draft pick cause they have a lot of cap space to either sign somebody outright or absorb a contract plus pick up another pick if someone is trying to create their own cap space. It's not even about whether Gortat has a good season or not, it's about the Wiz mismanaging assets in an attempt to simply make the playoffs as the 7th or 8th seed. I don't think anyone expects to find a superstar there, but find a couple of good rotation players or maybe one starter out of the 6 picks or whatever number it is. There is basically nothing to show out of any of those picks.

Another problem with EG is that he doesn't seem to know how to posture that the team is operating from a position of strength. I still can't believe he didn't get a 1st round pick when helping New Orleans clear cap space. I wish we knew what the negotiations were like and what was offered initially.

I think it's tough to really judge the trade right now because of the protected nature of the pick traded. However, I don't think just making the playoffs only to get eliminated in the first round is a good reason to get rid of a valuable asset for Gortat. I would feel differently if it wasn't supposed to be the best draft in years or if it was the 2015 first round pick instead. If the Wiz were going to move this particular pick, I would have tried to do it early in the off season and couple it with Nene's contract. People thinking the Wiz currently will have all sorts of cap space to offer a max contract isn't exactly right if this team wants to have any depth at all. The constant missing on 1st round picks by EG has really put this franchise in a terrible position.

Completely the fault of Ted and EG. They put out the playoffs or bust and every team knows it so it immediately puts the Wiz at a disadvantage when making a trade. Couple that with EG being in charge of making the trade and who knows what other, potentially better, opportunities were our there. BTW, how much does Kendall Marshall suck? He gets no consideration by the Wizards even with all the sorry players on the team.

Awesome, trade a 1st round pick in a potentially loaded draft class for a one year rental. I would much rather have the pick back, have Ernie get fired at the end of this season and a new GM to use the pick and the cap space. I don't believe you give up 1st round picks just to try to be the 7th or 8th seed in the playoffs. Terrible trade if it only brings moderate success for one season.

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Rush was amazing. You definitely do not need to be a racing fan at all because it's a lot more than race scenes. Great (true) story, great acting and has to have best director and best film nominations locked up. I don't think you even need to be a sports fan to appreciate it. Ron Howard has to be up there as one of the best directors ever.

The Blacklist series premiere was excellent tonight. Highly recommend it.

You guys seem to be forgetting that this team has NO ability to develop a front court player.

We are obviously going to disagree on Ariza's value. At the end of the day, I think it's more important to get Porter minutes than to get minutes for a player that won't be here after this season. Especially since this team is only competing just to make the playoffs. I am aware of why some of the vets struggled with Wall out which is a major reason they are overvalued and why this roster continues to be flawed. Only one playmaker on a team is terrible. Do you think they team has improved that in anyway over the off season?

You are vastly overrating Ariza. It's one think for Beal to have struggled more when Wall was out of the lineup being that he was a rookie, but it's another for veterans to play poorly when Wall is out of the lineup. Almost all of Ariza stats are trending down over the last 4 years and if he's not apart of the long term future, I'd rather see the #3 pick take most of those minutes. Webster played well and hopefully it isn't his peak since he's still young and has had other comparable seasons. The problem I have with the roster is that this is basically the team we are looking at for the next few seasons and there will be a serious lack of depth on the front line. Not to mention this team could get caught in the 6-8 range of the playoffs which is the worst spot to be in unless you have salary cap space. It seems like Ariza should have been a movable asset for a big man to add depth where depth is needed. It's redundant to have as much small forward depth as this team does.

First off, you completely ignored what I said about "if the goal is to win now." My comments about Porter started when Destino had him as the third string SF on his depth chart. A third string SF is basically not going to play at all. That would be fine if the Wiz were a top four team in the east year after year, but this team has sucked year after year. Second, of course there no absolutes and everything is based on the perspective of which team is drafting. Third, we have to stop pretending that the Wizards have all these good players. This team was terrible last year and guys putting up good numbers on a bad team, doesn't make them good players. Webster and Ariza are decent players, but we should have expectations that the #3 pick in the draft should be able to take minutes away from them. I don't see how it's a good idea for the three of them to be splitting minutes at one position. Given what the Wiz have now, this is how my depth chart would be: Wall-Maynor Beal-Webster Ariza-Porter (to start the season) Nene-Harrington Okafor-Seraphin

I would only agree with this if Porter was drafted to be a scorer. However, all the talk is that Porter is supposed to do everything else. He's supposed to be a glue guy rebounding, defending, passing, generally being able to play without the ball in his hands. These are things he should be able to contribute right away. If winning right away was the goal and Porter won't be part of winning right away, the pick should have been traded or someone else who could contribute now should have been drafted. After all, Porter wasn't the guy with the most upside of this draft according to all the experts.

Big minutes was probably a little strong, but I would say he should be getting 20 minutes per game.

A second unit of Maynor, Temple, Ariza, Harrington and Seraphin will scare nobody. If anything, Webster should be coming off the bench to provide scoring for the second unit. BTW, if Porter doesn't play big minutes, let alone not start, than it's a completely wasted draft pick. #3 picks need to contribute pretty much from day one. My hope is that Porter is good enough to start and Webster and Rice Jr come off the bench as some scoring SG/SF combo.

I'm more worried that injuries will hit again and Ted will use that as an excuse to keep them another two years.

Harrington might be a decent pick up if it's a one year deal. Anything longer would be a mistake. BTW, it's kinda funny reading how this player or that player might be good IF HEALTHY. We seem to have an unusually high amount of players like that. I'm not as big a fan of this off season as others seem to be. We brought in a back up PG who, statistically speaking, isn't an upgrade. We have 63 small forwards after the most predictable 1st round pick in the draft. (I'll give EG credit for Rice in the 2nd round if he or Webster can play SG) The back up big men all still suck and now we are looking at a 15 year veteran to come in after missing all of last season to help out.

Sharknado is epic. It's so hilarious and terrible at the same time, you won't be able to stop watching it.

I second the thought that it doesn't make sense to offer him a max deal right now. Play a full season to insure your health and the ability to help the Wizards really win first. If I'm Wall I sign it as fast as possible coming off a knee injury.

Does Porter have the handle to be a point forward? I haven't seen enough of him to know.

I should rephrase. It's always good for the young guys to get practice, but it's meaningless to try to draw any conclusions as to whether a guy will meaningfully contribute to the team next year beyond being at the end of the bench.