The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[CrypticVillain]

I kinda like this trade

Edited October 25, 2013 by MLSKINS

[Destino]

OK more early thoughts:

 

The only downside is that If a good front court player was going to be traded this year the Wizards are out of the hunt as they just used their two best assets not named Bradley Beal to get Gortat.  Porter and Ariza are not the best assets in terms of a trade.  I don't think either would get as much as Okafor's big expiring deal and a pick.  

 

The Wizards didn't add any long term salary that I can see.  Gortat expires after this season, which could be good or bad.  Not sure if the Wizards keep the other two but, Marshall's remaining seasons are team options.  He's a hometown guy so maybe the Wizards are tempted to keep him around.  Brown expires at the end of the year.    

 

I read Malcolm Lee was part of the deal too.  Phoenix just unloaded their back court on us.  Two bad they didn't throw in one of the Morris twins instead.  

Edited October 25, 2013 by Destino

[abdcskins]

So we keep the first rounder if it is in the top 12? 

 

I sorta like Shannon Brown, not sure why.  Hope we keep him.

[Destino]

So we keep the first rounder if it is in the top 12? 

 

I sorta like Shannon Brown, not sure why.  Hope we keep him.

 

It's because he's an athlete and had spectacular highlight plays with the Lakers 

 

Related tweets:

1. David Aldridge ‏@daldridgetnt23m

   Pick protections for 2014 first-rounder Wiz are sending to Phoenix: top 12 next year, top 10 from 2015-19, then none.

   Details
2. David Aldridge ‏@daldridgetnt39m

   This was Gortat for Wizards' '14 first (protected thru 12). Wiz will not be keeping any of Marshall, Lee, Brown.

   Details
3. David Aldridge ‏@daldridgetnt49m

   Will be shocked if Okafor ever plays a minute in PHX. Suns didn't get him to play. Wiz could still have as much as $16M in cap room next yr.

   Details

I wonder if Marshall is bummed that the Wizards don't even want to take a look.  He's from Dumfries and played his highschool ball at Bishop O'Connell.  His home team was like "nah man, we good."  

Edited October 25, 2013 by Destino

[@DCGoldPants]

Marc Stein @ESPNSteinLine

Wizards can now plug a scoring center into their lineup, move Nene to the 4 where he belongs and still have $15+ mil in cap space come July

 

 

I want to like this. But then with Ernie...I want to hate it. I guess I'll just wait and see.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

And so it begins.....

http://www.bulletsforever.com/2013/10/25/5027846/kevin-durant-washington-wizards-john-wall

 

Here's your first Kevin Durant to D.C. semi-rumor

 

 

So ... is there a chance KD would want to return home? Who knows, but it is interesting that Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, the premier NBA reporter, brought up the Wizards unprompted when asked about the issue in a podcast with The Big Lead. (It's about 2/3 of the way through the podcast). Emphasis mine:

 

I think it's going to be hard for them to keep him and Westbrook, I really do. Especially if they're not winning titles. I think you look at the Harden trade, they don't have a lot to show for it right now. Kevin Martin left as a free agent, and I'm not sure Jeremy Lamb is going to be a big part of their future there. I don't know that he fits their culture, I don't know that he's going to be a big part of it. Maybe that'll change. Maybe he'll grow.

 

As long as they have Durant and Westbrook, they're going to contend and they're going to win a lot of games. But to me, the chance of them keeping him for the long, long term was, they're winning titles, they're getting to the Finals, they win a couple titles. Then, it's really hard to leave because you know that you have this championship group that you want to keep together. If that doesn't happen over the net few years with them, I just think it's much easier for him to leave. Not just for New York or LA, but 

a Washington, where he grew up, where John Wall is. I think it's going to be harder to keep them.

 

Jason McIntyre, the host, was stunned by the Wizards mention, so he followed up. Wojnarowski walked back from the previous answer a bit, but reaffirmed that the Wizards could be in the mix.

 

I'm just saying, when you look at Durant and the possibilities for him there, it's obviously New York, LA, the big markets. But he is from Washington and you'll have a ready-made backcourt of Wall and Bradley Beal, who's going to be a very, very good NBA shooting guard. To me, those are the challenges and the competition the Thunder face when he comes up.

Edited October 25, 2013 by BRAVEONAWARPATH

[Destino]

Well the Ernie angle on this is easy.  He's once again eating up this teams assets in order to save his own ass.  This is a shorter term version of the Okariza trade where he sacrificed a ton of cap room to cover up the horrible job he did finding front court players.  This time we have potentially surrendered a first round pick essentially to flip expiring contracts.  Ernie knew that there is no way in hell this team was making the playoffs with Booker, Seraphin, or Vesely starting a significant portion of the season. 

 

I'm just not sure I care too much about a mid round 1st when you consider how poorly the Wizards have been drafting in that range.  Pecherov, Shaggy P, McGee, and Singleton.  That's what Ernie has done with mid 1st round picks and I have no confidence that Ted will fire him so I would expect more of the same.  

And so it begins.....
http://www.bulletsforever.com/2013/10/25/5027846/kevin-durant-washington-wizards-john-wall

Well that would explain this:

[CrypticVillain]

^Good point 

 

lol

[No Excuses]

Mired in mediocrity. Trading draft picks for one year rentals. At least it is protected.

[Destino]

Update on the pick 

 

 

 

 (Washington, though, does have protections on the pick through 2019; if it doesn't convey to Phoenix next year, the pick is protected through 10 in the 2015 through 2019 Drafts, meaning Washington would keep it if it was one of the top 10 in any of those Drafts. If it has not yet been conveyed to the Suns by then, Phoenix gets the pick with no protections in 2020.)

http://www.nba.com/2013/news/10/25/aldridge-suns-wizards-trade/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpts

 

If I had to pick a winner in this trade it's the Suns.  They took on no additional long term salary and gained a pick.  The wizards filled an immediate need but likely got no long term value.  I still don't hate the trade however because... well because I want to watch them win more often.  Gortat is a massive upgrade over Vesely, Booker, or Seraphin.  

Edited October 26, 2013 by Destino

[Hersh]

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.

Edited October 26, 2013 by Hersh

[StillUnknown]

The curse dictates that the 2020 1st overall pick drafted by the Suns with our pick will be the next all-time great big man who will dominate the league for 15+ years

Edited October 26, 2013 by StillUnknown

[RonArtest15]

Typical Ernie.  Typical Wizards.  No doubt, this will blow up in our faces. 

 

Gortat (in theory) could be a one-year rental, all while we lose our 2014 pick in an absolutely LOADED draft.

 

I'm not mad at Gortat because I think he'll be servicable, but this deal absolutely sucks and reeks of panic. 

 

Grunfeld playing w. house money because he knows he's probabaly as good as gone.  Just change his name to YOLO.  SMH. 

[Quincy]

Why waive Brown? Wouldn't hurt to see what he can do...

[Going Commando]

The wizards can't afford Monroe, Wall, and Beal if they are all max contract players. 

 

They'd be mini-max players and their deals would be staggered a bit because Beal has three years left on his rookie deal.  They'd average 14 million per instead of 18, which saves you 10 million (Wall averages 16 million because he gets the extra year and thus an extra raise).  

 

That means we could use bird rights to go over the cap and sign Beal.  They could afford all three guys at max level by dealing Webster, letting Nene expire the year they sign Beal, and going cheap at everywhere else.  Not sure that would produce a very good team though

 

Update on the pick 

 

http://www.nba.com/2013/news/10/25/aldridge-suns-wizards-trade/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpts

 

If I had to pick a winner in this trade it's the Suns.  They took on no additional long term salary and gained a pick.  The wizards filled an immediate need but likely got no long term value.  I still don't hate the trade however because... well because I want to watch them win more often.  Gortat is a massive upgrade over Vesely, Booker, or Seraphin.  

 

Yeah, they won the deal.  Gortat really wanted out apparently.  They pretty much had to deal him.  Sounds like Brown and Lee were trade ballast.  What I'm finding for Brown's deal is that it's a 3.5 million fully guaranteed expiring.  I'm seeing Lee's contract at about 800 K expiring.

 

 Marshall might be worth keeping if he shows any utility whatsoever for no other reason than he'd be a cheap multi-year option.  More likely though, we'll decline his option.  So yeah, no real extra cap commitments coming out of this deal.  Plus if we deal our draft pick this offseason, that means no cap commitment for it.

 

Gortat's contract is identical to Ariza's.  We'll get a chance to kick the tires on him this season and think about an extension this summer if we can't get an upgrade.

 

The Polish Hammer is a nice player.  He's better than Asik.  He was probably the best center out there for us.  But it is just a quick fix unless he plays his way into an extension.

 

Phoenix had us by the balls.  We just could not have another losing year.  But that's what we were looking at if we didn't find a big.  Nene can not be counted on for more than 25 MPG and Seraphin and Vesely are not good options at C.  We needed a legitimate option at C to play 30 MPG or so.  Gortat gives us that, so Phoenix was in a position to get a first round pick.

 

And if Gortat actually works out here and we extend him, then he'll be worth the draft pick.  The pick protection is disaster insurance for a strong draft class.  It is extremely likely that we'll be sending them that pick this season because I think Gortat is the final piece to ensuring we at least get a late seed.  This looks like a very good and very deep draft.  But there is zero chance we'll have gotten a 5 man ready to go for us right now out of that pick.

 

Come to think of it, I really hope Gortat works out and we can extend him.  It'd give us the ability to think about dealing Nene and getting out of his dangerous contract.

Why waive Brown? Wouldn't hurt to see what he can do...

 

I think he's washed up.  He only played 11 MPG last season on an awful Suns team.  Rice is a better option long term, is cheaper, and he's shown enough that we owe it to ourselves to keep him and play him.  Temple is cheaper too.  Those guys should get the back up minutes at SG IMO.

 

I thought Brown's contract was guaranteed though.

[Going Commando]

Personally, I like the deal well enough.  I don't love losing a first round pick but I also won't care about it at all if it falls outside the lottery and Gortat plays his way into an extension.  I think both are possible.

 

We don't need more lottery picks.  IMO we can not afford to keep losing.  We needed to start winning this year.

 

We've got Wall and Beal and hopefully Porter is a foundation piece too.  That is all the young foundation you can handle.  So what we need is players that fill in the roster around them that are ready to go now.  We need cap space to sign starting caliber FA bigs.

 

We're going to be constantly scouring the market for quick fix bigs though.  That was the big danger of building a construction around a PG, SG, and SF.  This summer we have got to pick a direction at the spot and get a multi-year solution somehow.

[JoeWolf990]

Maybe Ernie's best deal ever.

I really like Gortat.

And we lose the lottery pick if we make the playoffs. Those franchise changing players are not going to be around in the 14-15 range. How many franchise changing players were drafted outside of the lottery the last 10 years? Not that many.

Grunfeld is a terrible drafter anyway.

Gortat is a low post threat when Nene gets injured again, which this team lacked last year. Gortat is a really good player. THis team will make the playoffs this year, believe that.

[Going Commando]

Also Gortat is the one I was hoping we would trade for, so I'm pleased we made it happen.  We've talked about Asik and Gortat, those were really the only two quality starting C options out there in trade at this point.  I preferred Gortat because he's a better player than Asik and he won't cost 15 million dollars next season.

 

I think the final verdict of this trade will come down to two factors--whether a big man that gets picked around 15 to 18 ends up being a quality player, and whether Gortat plays well this season and gets extended.  If a Willie Cauley Stein or Mitch McGary gets taken with or after our pick and ends up being a stud, then that'll suck.  Doubt that happens though.

[Hersh]

 

 

Phoenix had us by the balls. 

 

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.

[StillUnknown]

http://www.csnwashington.com/basketball-washington-wizards/talk/wizards-will-decline-options-vesely-singleton

 

 

The Wizards have made up their minds on whether or not to pick up the fourth-year options on the contracts of Jan Vesely and Chris Singleton. 

 

And the answer is no, CSN Washington learned late Friday night.

 

The team has until Oct. 31 to make the decision for the 2014-15 season. Singleton, who has missed the entire preseason because of surgery to his left foot/toe, is entering his third season along with Vesely who was taken No. 6 overall in the 2011 draft. Singleton was chosen 18th.

 

First-round rookie draft picks get four-year deals. The first two years are guaranteed. The next two are team options. 

 

They still could be re-signed by the Wizards but at lesser than their scale contracts. If they play well this season, they could command more than the scale on the free-agent market though that appears unlikely. 

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.

 

I remember when that idiot John Feinstein said Marshall would be better at running a team than Wall

[Destino]

I still think the biggest thing holding this team back this season, other than potential injuries, will be Wittman's horrible offense.  Hopefully Gortat will be allowed to run the type of pick n roll he ran with Nash but we don't seem to do much of that.  When Wall drives it's almost always a drive and kick situation.  Maybe I'm crazy but do you guys remember Wall getting a lot of assists to Nene or Okafor going to the rim?  I don't.  I'm not talking about the occasional lob city dunk but the pick n roll bounce pass, the kind of thing that's drawn up as opposed to a quick reaction.  When they were involved in a play it was usually getting them free around the foul line for a open shot.  

[Warhead36]

Good trade. Its basically a protected 1st for Gortat since Okafor wasnt playing this year anyway, and we sacrifice nothing in terms of cap flexibility.

Best case scenario: we make the playoffs, save our money, and go hard on Durant.

[StillUnknown]

Good trade. Its basically a protected 1st for Gortat since Okafor wasnt playing this year anyway, and we sacrifice nothing in terms of cap flexibility.

Best case scenario: we make the playoffs, save our money, and go hard on Durant.

 

It also removes the "our big was injured" excuse from Grunfeld's arsenal. If we don't make the playoffs for whatever reason, he has to be gone. Even if we lose, we win.

[Destino]

http://www.csnwashington.com/basketball-washington-wizards/talk/wizards-will-decline-options-vesely-singleton

 

The Wizards have made up their minds on whether or not to pick up the fourth-year options on the contracts of Jan Vesely and Chris Singleton. 

 

And the answer is no, CSN Washington learned late Friday night.

 

No surprise there.  Vesely can't get on the court and teams aren't going to jump at the chance to pay a guy 4.2 million to sit there and look goofy.  Singleton doesn't have an offensive game at any position and lacks the height or skills that could tempt teams to live with it.  

 

It will be interesting to see which 4 and 5s the team actually does bring back next season.  It's not entirely out of question for the team to lose all of them other than Nene. Gortat and Harrington may walk. Booker and Serapin aren't guaranteed to get qualifying offers.  Vesely and Singleton may not be wanted back at all, even for peanuts.  

 

Hopefully Ernie is fired because the thought that moron rebuilding those two positions almost entirely is terrifying.  

 

 

BTW, how much does Kendall Marshall suck? He gets no consideration by the Wizards even with all the sorry players on the team.

 

He can't score.  In the NBA people make a big thing about "pass first point guards" but there is a huge difference between passing being your first option and it being your only good option.  NBA defense gets killed by critics but it doesn't allow for point guards that aren't a scoring threat at all.

Edited October 26, 2013 by Destino

[TradeTheBeal!]

Gortat!  

 

I like it.