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June 28, 2012 Pick N Pop: Wizards Draft Bradley Beal

By: Willis and Bohlin

1.) How would you grade the Wizards draft?

Grade: B+
Bohlin: The Wizards made a significant addition to their roster last night by selecting Bradley Beal with the third overall pick of the 2012 NBA Draft. Beal, widely regarded as the top SG prospect in the draft, will be able to step in and contribute at the shooting guard position immediately. I believe that John Wall and Bradley Beal will work extremely well off of one another and will finally give the Wizards the stability they have been searching for in the backcourt since the days of a healthy Gilbert Arenas and Larry Hughes.
Their selection of Tomas Satoransky in the second round makes sense when you really look at it from the front office’s perspective but fans were not as sold on the Czech born guard. Their argument has merit, there were players left on the board who could have helped this franchise continue to turn the corner. A Doron Lamb, Quincy Miller or Will Barton would have pleased the fanbase more so than taking a guy no one had ever heard of prior to his workout in DC two weeks ago. Satoransky is the definition of a draft and stash player. I do like the fact that he plays in the ACB league in Spain, at least we know that he is facing quality competition in Europe while we wait for him to hopefully make his way over to the states. Currently the Wizards have 12 players signed for next season and 8 of them are still on their rookie contracts, this selection affords the Wizards the opportunity to seek out a veteran in free agency to take Satoransky’s place on this year’s team.
Grade: C
Willis: Does a C seem a little harsh? Yeah, a bit, but whatever because in my book a C means you’ve half-assed something, which is exactly what Ernie did with this draft. It’s like Ernie hit a potential RBI double (drafting Beal), but got thrown out at second because he was so shocked about getting an actual hit that he jogged to first. That’s the story of Grunfeld’s career; he may do something right, but he’s got to make at least one dumb move every single draft. In this case, it was botching the second round pick for a kid who the Wizards may never see.

That being said, I like the Bradley Beal pick a lot, and the Wizards have officially bolstered their backcourt for the future and addressed their perimeter shooting woes. Beal should be able to stroke it from everywhere on the court, and the Wizards amazingly have an in and out game now. It’s not the best in the league, to be sure, but Beal makes it much better.
2.) Bradley Beal; your thoughts on him and John Wall?

Bohlin: Beal is the perfect complement to our franchise point guard. His smooth stroke and quick release will only help Wall’s game as a whole. Opposing defenses will no longer be able to completely disrespect the Wizards ability to knock down shots from behind the arc with any consistency. Beal’s presence should free up the lane a bit for Wall to do what he does so well, penetrate and get into the paint causing defenses to react to him.

I believe that this newly formed Wizards backcourt is going to cause problems for the rest of the Eastern Conference sooner rather than later. With two super talented guards to match up with the plethora of bodies we have in our front court rotation we are one step closer to relevance outside of the DMV. I am excited to see this pairing come together and cannot wait for the first time #2 and #23 take the floor together wearing the red, white and blue.

Willis: Rather than talking more about Bradley Beal and what his shooting brings to the table, I’m going to go a different route in getting people excited for the upcoming season. Think about this: multiple times a year for the next 2-3 seasons, John Wall and Bradley Beal are going to be facing off against Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters. Four players on two different teams who play in the same conference and going about things in an entirely different manner. I think these two backcourts are actually the future of the Eastern Conference, and considering their closeness in draft position and age, the comparisons are going to be constant and unending. Whereas Irving is a shooter, Wall is a speed demon slasher. Waiters is an attack the basket kind of guy, but Beal is a shooter like Irving. I couldn’t be more excited for these matchups next year, and you should be just as estatic.

Another matchup to look forward to? Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner of the Philadelphia 76ers. These two are another youthful backcourt combination that Washington is going to constantly face off against. Turner was drafted right after Wall, and Jrue Holiday is still a very young player who is developing into a stud. The backcourt matchups are all over the Eastern Conference, and we’re in for a fun ride from here on out.

3.) Tomas Satoransky: Great Czech? or Greatest Czech?

Bohlin: Great Czech. Washington D.C. has quickly become a hotbed for Czech basketball. Of the four Czech born players to ever make it to the NBA the Wizards now have one on their roster and own the rights to another. Tomas Satoransky, a 6’8” combo guard who last played for CB Sevilla in the Spanish ACB league, is an interesting prospect. I had to do some research on him in the last 12 hours as I will admit I had a sparse amount of knowledge about his game outside of the fact he worked out for the Wizards two weeks ago. The more I read up on Satoransky, the more I don’t mind this selection.

Judging from the scout’s perception of Satoransky he is a skilled player with a high basketball IQ from his experiences playing against high-level European competition. When will we see Satoransky suit up for the Wizards…if he ever suits up for us? I wish I had a better answer to that question; the honest answer is we have no idea. He may never make it over to the states and play for us, that’s the risk you run drafting a foreign player with the hopes of keeping them in Europe for extra seasoning. Could a Doron Lamb, Quincy Miller or Will Barton filled a role with this Wizards team? Sure they could have. No point in looking back at it now though, the pick has been made and we have to live with it. Here is hoping that Satoransky eventually makes it over to D.C. and is able to contribute to this franchise in some way.

Willis: Greatest Czech. After screaming incoherently upon hearing Mr. Silver announce Tomas Satoransky’s name instead of all the people I wanted to see in a Wizards uniform, I eventually resigned myself to the fact that this was just another Ernie move. This had to happen, or our GM wouldn’t be Ernie Grunfeld because Ernie makes incredibly dumb moves all the time. Tomas Satoransky had better be the best Czech player ever, because Washington essentially just took Vladimir Vermeeko all over again. We’re going to stash him away and hope he develops into more than what he already is: an athletic but skinny non NBA ready two guard who can’t shoot. Don’t we have enough of those? Does Ernie not realize that the European Union is collapsing!? How is Ernie not fired yet?

Seriously, nothing against Satoransky, I’m sure he’s a very nice kid, but good teams don’t do this. The Oklahoma City Thunder picked up Perry Jones III very late in the draft, and the Wizards took a guy we’re likely never going to watch play. Don’t tell me that it’s because of a lack of roster space, because if you don’t think Doron Lamb is an upgrade over Jordan Crawford, or Quincy Miller isn’t an upgrade over Chris Singleton/Andray Blatche/anyone on our roster, you’re kidding yourself. Good teams don’t do this, and the gap between the Oklahoma City Thunder’s front office an ours is enormous. Getting value in late round picks is always a staple of good ball clubs, and we just proved why the Wizards are so inept. The San Antonio Spurs aren’t doing this, either. We could have saved money, upgraded at a position, and addressed a shooting need all in one pick. Instead, we made ourselves look just as bad as always.

4.) Do the Wizards make any more moves this offseason?

Bohlin: In short, yes. Will any of these moves grab national headlines? Probably not. I expect the Wizards to make a few more minor additions to the roster between now and the beginning of training camp. Personally, I would love to see James Singleton have a chance to make this team out of camp as I believe he earned himself at the least the opportunity to stick with the Wizards after his performance to round out last season. We will see what Ernie and Co. choose to do in free agency now that we have added our SG of the future. It is possible we have seen the last of players like Roger Mason Jr. (The other Great 8!) and Mo Evans in the Wizards red, white and blue. Both are free agents this summer and might want to look to latch on to a contender as they are both entering the twilight of their careers.

Willis: If we don’t, then we’re leaving Wizards fans with an incomplete team that isn’t good enough to win now. July 1st is the date to look out for, because that’s when NBA free agency begins and there’s a lot more fluidity in the market. Honestly, I wouldn’t be shocked if Ernie makes a big splash in free agency by ridding our team of Andray Blatche and a first rounder for a slightly past his prime star wing player, or something like that. It seems like a dumb move now, but Ernie Grunfeld is in win-now mode, whether we like it or not. He has skipped the rebuild and dove directly into the playoff push position. Ted Leonsis himself has said that we’re not going to be a lottery team next year. Is it a flawed plan? You betcha, but our biggest need is at the three now and Ernie is a sly maneuvering GM so expect him to mortgage the future for the now.

Nene, Okafor, Ariza, Beal and Wall is going to compete, but it’s not going to contend, which is the ultimate goal. I look for Ernie to go after a small forward who is capable of defending, rebounding, and hitting the three point shot. We’re going to need to be deep at that position if we expect to guard the absolutely stocked amount of small forwards in the Eastern Conference like Danny Granger, Paul Pierce, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Gerald Wallace, etc. If we can find a 3/4 man, we’re going to grab him, and the playoff push will have officially begun.

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June 19, 2012 A Case for Drafting: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist

By: Willis

We all know by now that the Wizards have the third pick in the draft, and as a wise spider-based superhero once said, “With great draft position comes great responsibility.” Or something along those lines. In this segment of A Case for Drafting, we finally check out Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the other player who the Wizards will hypothetically select on June 28th. Kidd-Gilchrist, the youngest but arguably most important piece on the National Championship winning Kentucky Wildcats, is the type of guy who can develop into a multifaceted NBA player. His intangibles are what make him great, though his on the court prowess is in no way scoff-worthy.

Strengths

Where do you begin with a young man like Michael Kidd-Gilchrist? He is such a well rounded player and individual that it’s difficult to pinpoint one exact thing that he does incredibly well. But while watching film of this guy, the one skill that’s often overlooked yet remains a crucial element to MKG’s game is his defense. Almost unarguably, Anthony Davis was the defensive catalyst behind that championship Kentucky squad, but great defensive teams consist of more than one part. If Davis is 1a, then Kidd-Gilchrist is 1b on that roster when it comes to defense. On the defensive end, MKG has not only the physical attributes (6’7 1/2 with a 6’10 wingspan), but the passion and mental will to become a prolific defender.

Often tasked with guarding the toughest perimeter players, MKG held his own nearly every contest. He possesses incredible footwork which allows him to move laterally better than almost any player I’ve seen coming out of college. MKG stays in front of the player he is guarding (be it one through four, mind you) almost always, a credit to his side to side speed. It’s a skill that takes years of refinement at the professional level in order to become as good as MKG already is at it. He’s going to be able to defend just about anyone at the next level, and that’s could potentially be his bread and butter.

MKG also has a very good instinctual blocking and stealing ability, which typically goes hand in hand with players who possess high basketball IQ’s. Kidd-Gilchrist knows when to jump in order to contest a shot, and doesn’t really bite on the pump fake moves. He was also great at swatting the shots of players who managed to penetrate into the lane. MKG is actually quick enough that he can provide help defense and switch off his man at will strictly because of his strength and quickness; he can recover whenever he needs to.

What else does MKG do well? Fills the passing lanes and rebounds. Were deflecting passes and balls a skill, MKG would have led the NCAA in that statistic. He is constantly disrupting the lane and punishing other team’s for their sloppy or late passes. His 7.4 rebounds per contest also put him in the upper echelon of perimeter rebounders. There are very few players who can grab that many boards with Anthony Davis mopping the glass, bu MKG is in a select group. He simply has a nose for the ball.

Again, all of this goes back to his team-first mentality in that MKG will do whatever it takes to win a basketball game. His work ethic is what scouts gush on and on and on about, and that same work ethic is what turns good players into great ones. Shaquille O’Neal once said (in one of his smarter moments), “Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly.” This applies to MKG in that his work ethic may very well take him to heights his natural athleticism and competitiveness can’t.

Weaknesses

In the NBA, most top 5 picks don’t have incredibly major red flags when it comes to scoring; Kidd-Gilchrist is the exception to that rule. There basically isn’t a whole lot to like about him on the offensive end, and scouts have serious concerns about his ability to develop into a second or third (or even fourth) option at the next level.

His jump shot is weird looking, let’s just get that out of the way now. It has a hitch in it where, despite being right handed, Kidd-Gilchrist shoots the ball from the left side of his body. No, it’s not Desmond Mason shooting free throws, but it isn’t aesthetically pleasing. He also tends to kick his legs out on his jumper and fade a bit, which may further exacerbate the issue. Kidd-Gilchrist might actually already realize that his shot is bad, and it could be why he took the least amount of shots on his team at 18.6%. He can make the midrange jump shot, but not nearly consistent enough to justify using it on the offensive end anytime soon. And while he can occasionally hit the three point shot, he is not going to be good at it off the bat in the NBA. MKG needs to put hours upon hours into the gym (which he does already) in order to develop a consistent jumper.

The bulk of his offense came on back downs, put backs, and transition points (again, this speaks to his great basketball instincts) when Kentucky rushed the ball up the court. At the professional level, he is going to have a very hard time backing down more athletic, similarly sized wing players and the put backs might be limited against taller defenders. That leaves him with transition buckets and drawing contact, which doesn’t scream out “lottery pick” to me.

Another thing that you notice when watching MKG is that he isn’t a very good ball handler, and as such struggles with pull up shots and beating men off the dribble. He has yet to develop the ability to blow by a defender on his way to the rack, despite being quick and agile enough to do so. It simply isn’t pretty when he’s forced into an isolation situation, and more often than not MKG will pass the ball off after failing to get past his man. Shouldering past your opponent and rising up in the lane is something that lots of small forwards in the NBA have a natural instinct for strictly based on athleticism, and yet it’s a skill MKG is going to have to learn.

Upside

MKG and Andre Iguodala are eerily similar on the basketball court. They’re both athletes (though Andre is overwhelming in that category) who do a whole lot of the intangible things correctly on the court. Coming out of college, Iggy Pop averaged 12.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 4.9 assists (MKG averaged 11.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 2 APG). Both players were on teams chock full of NBA talent(Andre’s Arizona squad had Channing Frye, Luke Walton, Salim Stoudamire, Mustafa Shakur, and Hassan Adams), and as a result were asked to do things other than score in order to win games. In the NBA, it took Iguodala about two to three years in order to develop into what could be considered a third option on the floor. Despite being the second and third look throughout his career, Iguodala excels more at being a complimentary piece rather than an offensive scorer, and that’s exactly how I can see MKG panning out.

Downside

MKG’s downside isn’t really that bad. A lot of websites have Gerald Wallace as his downside, meaning he’s a guy who, through sheer will and determination, will score points and hit the boards hard. I think that’s certainly reasonable, as Wallace is a very strong defender and, while not being a major scoring threat, could still play a major part on a championship team. He’s a guy that plays basketball the right way and physically can hang in the NBA, so MKG’s downside is limited.

Why He’s a Good Fit in the District

From an offensive basketball standpoint, not necessarily all that well. Were Washington to select Kidd-Gilchrist, they’d be adding an offensively inept player to an offensively starved team. MKG won’t be a scoring threat anytime soon, so a John Wall kick out isn’t going to help out at all. That’s not to say that down the road MKG won’t turn out to be a fantastic player and fit for the Wizards, it’s just conceding that his skill set currently doesn’t work with this roster. There are enough paint scoring presences in Seraphin, Nene, Booker and Wall (he’s not scoring from outside of 8 feet too often), that adding MKG would make the team very one dimensional. I’m not sure if that’s the best idea.

He would, however, be a major addition in terms of transition scoring with his steals and speed. He and John Wall would work very well together in that regard, as they both excel at that aspect of the game. Last year, Washington was third in the league in fastbreak points at 17.9 per game, so I’m not certain that they can get a whole lot better at doing that if we’re being honest. Sacramento was the second best, so it’s not as if more transition points means more wins. It’s a crapshoot. Washington already gets out in front against people, and what they really need is scoring.

Still, MKG is a guy who would bring a winning pedigree to a losing team, and that intangible has to be taken into consideration. Kidd-Gilchrist works out and works out the right way, and if any of that rubs off on Andray Blatche or John Wall, the Wizards are going to get a whole lot better at basketball.

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June 1, 2012 Grown Men Getting Excited Over Ping Pong Balls: NBA Draft Lottery Night ’12

By: Bohlin

The alarm went off at 7:15 am, I dragged myself out of bed and began my usual morning routine to get ready for my job that I actually make money from. Then it hit me, the day I’d been waiting for since February had finally arrived. Today we found out if the Wizards were going to be adding the Unibrow to end all Unibrow’s to its roster.

Needless to say, this put a little pep in my step that normally would be nonexistent on a Wednesday where I had to go into the office. I dawned my John Wall t-shirt under my shirt and tie for perceived good luck and embarked on what I need would be my least productive day at work to date. There was a hint of something in the D.C. air that morning, I’m not talking about whatever smell is emanating from the Potomac River nowadays either. It took a moment for me to realize that it was hope.

For Wizards fans, however, hope takes on a different kind of meaning. Sure, we all hoped that, potential hair club for men spokesman, Adam Silver would pull the Wizards logo out of an envelope and the #1 pick would be ours. Just as many of us, the realists who know our draft history at least, were hopeful that we would not get screwed and fall as far as we possibly could and be left picking 5th. Leaving diehards like myself reeling all day long at the notion of Ernie Grunfeld having to wait until four of the more sure fire prospects were off the board to make our selection. Or what I like to call it, the Andre Drummond/ Perry Jones III nightmare.

The tension mounted as the day bore on. Finding myself more unfocused than ever at my desk I took to playing the mock lottery machine on ESPN.com thinking this would be an effective way to pass time. Four out of my first five attempts at the machine resulted in the Wizards landing the top pick. It got to the point where I was unsure if I wanted to continue playing as I thought everything from I don’t want to jinx it to maybe ESPN caters this to your IP address so your local team wins more.

Not wanting to be “That guy” I stopped playing the game and took to Twitter for my NBA related entertainment. The last two hours of unproductive activity flew by and only a 50 minute commute home on the Metro stood between me, some beers with the guys and what I hoped would be another turning point in Wizards franchise history. We convened at Clyde’s in Alexandria, because here at The DC Dime we like to keep it classy, and settled in for what would either be unparalleled elation or utter disappointment.

As a Wizards fan I’ve come to expect either the best or the worst and nothing in between. Shockingly enough, the in between is exactly what happened Wednesday night. The slots started coming in and everything was going as expected as we closed in on the dreaded 5th pick. The envelope is opened and its not the Wizards! Next slot comes off and we’re not the 4th pick either!

Going into the commercial break they show the remaining teams and place arrows next to Washington and New Orleans indicating we’d secured a spot in the top three. At this point we’ve all had a few adult beverages and one of my colleagues looks over at me and says “What the hell do those arrows mean!?!?” After calming his irrational fears the break was over and we were back to the lottery. I was on the edge of my bar stool as they opened the next envelope…

The Washington Wizards were selecting third. While it wasn’t the rights to the Unibrow, the slot where the Wiz landed was more than fine with me. Especially after Charlotte slid to the 2nd pick and it set in that the Unibrow wouldn’t be playing against us in the Southeast division I felt even better. New Orleans won the lottery for what I would assume were #BasketballReasons, as technically the team hasn’t been handed over to Tom Benson yet and are still owned by the league.

I began to think about who our options would be at #3 and felt good about who would be there. Then I realized that Michael Jordan is picking ahead of us and there is no set in stone second pick in this draft. Meaning the same man who took Kwame Brown over Pau Gasol would have to make a tough decision, immediately I felt better about our positioning. As quickly as it started it was over and with it was a day’s worth of worrying over falling to the fifth pick AGAIN.

We finished our beverages and left the bar, and at least I felt great about the way the evening turned out. This wasn’t just due to the silly oysters I had either. This was legitimate feelings of joy that we weren’t in a position where it was expected for our front office to screw this up.

Since then its come out that the Bobcats will look at “At least six players for the 2nd pick.” This seems like far to many to me when there are really only three options (MKG, Beal and Robinson). Having possibly one of the worst owners/executives in NBA history picking directly ahead of us is a great thing for Wizards fans. For all we know he’ll take another Tar Heel just to sell tickets.

We are officially within four weeks of the NBA Draft at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ (Which shouldn’t be awkward considering it may be the last NBA sponsored event in the state for quite some time). Over the coming weeks we will see a plethora of prospects come through the Nation’s capital for a chance to audition in front of our coaches at the Phone Booth.

This is a draft where we cannot afford to miss on our pick and not land an impact player going forward. Ernie and the rest of the Wizards brain trust will have their work cut out for them over the next month in setting up their draft board and targeting prospects. Personally, I am hoping for either Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Bradley Beal. But I am equally thankful there are no Euro’s at the top of this years draft for Ernie to become infatuated with.

What were we left with after Wednesday nights events? The same thing I woke up with that morning, hope. It’s going to be a fun next four weeks and The DC Dime will be with you the entire way up until draft night on June 28th.

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May 31, 2012 No, The Lottery Isn’t Fixed; Losing Still Is Not Fun

By: Willis

It took about 30 seconds for my Twitter news feed to start erupting with NBA fans crying foul and spewing off conspiracy theories about how the league is rigged. The theory that the NBA Draft Lottery is rigged is a fun one to play around with (thinking of David Stern as a mastermind of a huge plot is scandalous; Americans love scandals), but the reality is that it simply has no basis nowadays. For starters, think about how many people were watching the entire sequence of events go down.

What we watch on television is not a real time drawing of the balls. We’re seeing the made for television version, where team owners, friends/family/Dan Gilbert’s son, sit around waiting unknowingly for the entire lottery to play out. That’s great for television and suspense, but it doesn’t allay some of the concerns that the average viewer has when he sees New Orleans pop up as the first pick. What they should know, however, is that the lottery actually already finished up over an hour beforehand.

Journalists (who one would presume have at least an ounce of integrity) and representatives from each team are literally locked into a room while the process happens. Everyone in the room gives up their cell phones, pagers, communication devices, and electronics upon entering in order to maintain secrecy. They all watch as the hopper is loaded up with 14 ping pong balls and winning combinations are drawn out, and there’s essentially no way it can be rigged. Each person in the room would have to be in on the fact that the league somehow jury rigged the balls or the machine in such a way that New Orleans got the winning combination right off the bat. It’s not only impossible, but it is highly improbable. The actual reason as to why New Orleans won the coveted prize of Anthony “The Brow” Davis in getting the first pick, is actually pretty standard.

Charlotte may have had a 25% chance of winning, but they also had a 75% chance of failure. Their odds of landing it were less than 50%, which in school is below failing. Sure, other teams had an even lower chance (New Orleans had a 14.4% chance of winning), but at that point everyone has pretty bad odds. The Wizards had an even higher chance to win, but they didn’t because it’s a lottery system in which luck plays the biggest factor and statistical odds were still working against them. For the winners, it’s great. But for the losers, it’s considered a bogus win. I can’t even say I blame people for being upset.

The NBA owns the New Orleans Hornets, for Pete’s Sake! I’m not even sure if their GM can actually make trades yet. It’s a serious conflict of interest and it leaves open the door for plenty of naysayers to question motives, tie loose ends, etc. I, for one, became a tad bit disenfranchised with the NBA after the whole Chris Paul debacle last offseason. It was disappointing to hear that the league could veto a trade because of hurt feelings and unfairness. Should, then, the league be allowed to say “No way they should get the number one pick; do over”? No, they can’t do that, and it’s why to a rational eye the NBA lottery system is clearly not rigged. NBA owners may have been upset with the outcome (because Dan Gilbert may be a moron), but the smart ones weren’t saying it was a con job.

That doesn’t mean I can’t be upset. New Orleans seems to be catching some serious breaks with regards to talent lately (though they still had a brutal record that was only marginally better than the Wizards last year…), and I can’t help but be a little off put. They got a bunch of talent and picks with the departure of Chris Paul directly at the hands of David Stern. And now they get a franchise power forward and transcendental talent like Davis? What gives! Sure, the Wizards have had two first overall draft picks in the past 12 years, but whatever, because we didn’t win this time.

Speaking of the Wizards: once we can get over the fact that we lost out on the Davis sweepstakes, the reality sets in that this is an extremely talented draft class and the third overall pick is still a coveted piece. The Wizards may not get Davis or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, but there are a whole lot of ballers that might fit better than both of them would, anyway. For example, a shooter like Bradley Beal will likely still be on the board. Instead of grabbing someone like MKG, who is not likely to develop into an offensive threat right away, Beal could be the guy who provides an immediate upgrade over Jordan “Trey Day” Crawford at the shooting guard position.

Or, conversely, since Booker, Seraphin, Nene, and Jan aren’t lighting the world on fire with their performance, the Wizards could nab someone like Thomas Robinson to further bolster the front court. Not to mention that he’s a D.C. native and might play even harder for his only remaining family member in his little sister. There’s nothing wrong with grabbing talent, and Robinson is about as gifted as they come in this draft (and in all of basketball). He’s another guy I would be just fine with taking.

The Wizards could even trade the pick and package some bad contracts and players in exchange for some legitimate talent! Would it be outlandish to suggest that they swap picks with Portland and acquire Nicolas Batum and another talent at the two guard later in the draft? Portland might be more receptive to taking on the contract of Andray Blatche or Rashard Lewis as well.  The acquisition of two players for the price of one pick makes a lot of sense, and it’s something that Grunfeld might want to look into.

What I’m basically saying in this reactionary piece is that Wizards fans should relax.We should realize the NBA lottery is not rigged, acknowledge the disappointment we had in not winning the Unibrow sweepstakes, and accept that our number three pick is actually a very versatile thing that, no matter what, should bode well for the future of this team.

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May 29, 2012 The Weekly Link Up

By: Willis

0 In case anyone missed this, the Washington Post has an updated preview of next year’s Terrapin basketball schedule. Unfortunately, only one game against Duke. Fortunately, however, only one game against Duke for a young Terrapins squad…

0 ESPN clearly believes that since the Terps are running low on guards, Albany transfer Logan Aronhalt is going to play a very large role for them next year. I have my doubts about how talented this guy is going to become, but I hope he can provide at least some scoring.

0 Casual Hoya has written a nice eulogy on Jason Clark and his career at Georgetown. I’ve watched that kid play since high school, and it’s great to see how much he has matured over the years and became a well-rounded individual.

0 SB Nation decides to expound upon why the NBA Draft Lottery coming up Wednesday is going to drastically affect the actual NBA Draft. They have some not-so-surprising concerns about the Wizards and how well certain prospects fit within our system.

0 The Examiner has decided to torture Wizards fans with a little glimpse into what Kentucky Wildcats prospect Anthony Davis could mean for the Washington Wizards, comparing him to a current playoff player on a contender….and now I’m freaking out…

0 MLive via the Washington Post explains to us what the Washington Wizards could learn in following the sound advice of the Celtics and the Spurs in terms of team formation…whatever.

0 And finally, WUSA9 believes that the Wizards should try and recruit one of the best coaches to ever grace the hardwood in Jerry Sloan. Convincing him that we’re the future might require him to be a bit on the senile side…

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