WIzards poised to add key piece after climbing draft board

The Wizards’ draft outlook changed drastically when the team shot all the way from eighth to third in the draft.

The Wizards have six players with less than four years of NBA experience. Because of this, it was widely expected that the Wizards would trade their first round pick if they had stayed in the eighth spot. Having moved up to the third, however, their situation has changed.

Even in a subpar draft, the Wizards should be able to find some prime talent with the third overall pick.

John Wall and Bradley Beal are expected to be the team’s long-term starters at point guard and shooting guard. Every other position is a position of need. Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza are on the last years of their contracts and Nene’s health is always a question. Every other player still on the roster is a depth player.

While coach Randy Wittman has come out and said he always drafts for talent rather than for need, I think we can safely assume the Wizards will draft either a center, power forward, or small forward, who will fit easily into the roster.

The two names most experts keep listing are PF Anthony Bennett out of UNLV and SF Otto Porter Jr. out of Georgetown.

Conventional wisdom says that Nerlens Noel is likely to go first or second, meaning at least one of these players will fall to the Wizards and I would be shocked if they decided to look elsewhere.

What does each one bring to the table? Bennett is a dangerous scorer, especially from the paint. He has tremendous potential and the skill-set to play either PF or SF in the NBA. The Wizards were one of the league’s best defensive teams and one of the worst offensively. If you were to sit down and list everything the Wizards needed, Bennett would cross just about every box on that list. He has not been able to work out for teams because he just underwent shoulder surgery, but most analysts do not see this as any a cause for concern.

Porter is a hometown hero who the Wizards probably know very well as he played college basketball for Georgetown. He has a great mid-range game with a high basketball IQ. He is a great facilitator that would work well with Wall and Beal in the backcourt. He lacks power and his prospect as a top 3-5 pick are more a reflection of the draft than of his NBA potential. Still, Washington has a roster in which Porter could potentially thrive.

If given a choice between the two, I think the Wizards would take Bennett. Shoulder surgery notwithstanding, Bennett is seen as having the higher ceiling. The flexibility of his game would serve the Wizards well as they have so many potential holes on their roster.

Still, the Wizards will be satisfied should Porter fall to them as well. Either way, the Wizards stand to gain a major piece to their postseason puzzle on June 27.

Wizards Trade Carwford, Get Little in Return

In the days leading up to the trade deadline, it became clear that Jordan Crawford was not happy.

Crawford had fallen out of favor with head coach Randy Wittman and did not play in four straight games leading up to the deadline. On Tuesday he showed his displeasure on the bench, slouching and yawning throughout the game. After the final buzzer, he took off his jersey and threw it into the stands. Crawford clearly had to go.

And that was the problem.

It was obvious to everyone who saw video from Tuesday’s game that the situation between Crawford and the Wizards had reached the breaking point. He was useless to the team and had to be shipped.

Here’s a quick business tip: when negotiating a business deal, don’t appear desperate.

About an hour before Thursday’s trade deadline, the Wizards reached a deal with the Celtics to trade Jordan Crawford for Leandro Barbosa and Jason Collin. Both are on the final year of their contracts and Barbosa is out for the season with a torn ACL. Neither player will likely be with the Wizards next season.

For anyone wondering why general manager Ernie Grunfeld could not get anything better for Crawford, the team’s third leading scorer despite having his minutes slashed the last few weeks, you need look no further than last Tuesday as Crawford tossed his jersey. The bridge had been publicly burned for all of the NBA to see.

It is not hard to see why Crawford could fall out of favor with Wittman; he’s a complete egomaniac. He would be a great scorer coming off the bench, but he has the ego of a superstar. Still, the Wizards should have been able to get something for him. The situation was completely mishandled by both Wittman and Grunfeld.

By not playing Crawford at all for four straight games, the Wizards publicly distanced themselves from him. Now, he has no chance to showcase what he can do to potential trade suitors and they are telling the league that they are desperate to sell. As a result, his trade value plummeted.

Grunfeld needed to begin exploring trade possibilities as soon as he became aware of the growing rift between Crawford and Wittman. That’s not to say he wasn’t, I don’t know exactly when he began inquiring. What I do know is that the trade market must have been pretty low for the Wizards to walk away only with Barbosa and Collins. If that was all that was available, the team would have been better off holding onto Crawford and trying to trade him again in the summer.

That’s why they should not have publicly benched him.

Grunfeld had to trade Crawford because the team had publicly declared that his time in DC was over. Clearly, there was a disconnect between Wittman and Grunfeld. Wittman hurt Crawford’s trade stock and forced the team’s hand by benching him and Grunfeld did not step in earlier to find an equitable deal. Had they both been on the same page, Crawford would have been playing and Wittman would have been aware of whether Grunfeld would be able to trade him now or over the summer. Instead, it appeared as if neither of them knew what the other was doing.

Are the Wizards worse off today than they were with Crawford? No, but they aren’t any better either. They shipped off a distraction for two players who will make no significant impact and who will both be gone after the season. The Wizards missed an opportunity to gain some sort of asset because of another mishandled situation. While the team on the court continues to get better, the Wizards’ showed yet again that their biggest weakness remains their front office.

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Wizards Enter All-Star Break Wondering What If

Despite a disastrous start to the season, the Wizards enter the All-Star break feeling more confident after the return of John Wall. The Wizards have gone 10-8 with Wall and suddenly look like a competitive team.

 

It is easy to blame the Wizards resurgence on Wall’s return alone, but coach Randy Wittman did an incredible job laying the foundation for success. Defense has been a point of emphasis for Wittman and the stats reflect that. The Wizards currently rank sixth in the league in points allowed and ninth in rebounds per game. Defense kept the Wizards competitive in multiple games in which they were completely outclassed and outplayed. Upon Wall’s return, the resurgence brought upon the team’s current success. Even with Wall, the team still is not a great offensive team. They continue winning, however, because of the team’s commitment to defense.

 

Still, it is undeniable that Wall is the leader of the team and it makes one wonder what could have been had Wall been healthy this season. The Wizards’winning percentage since his return is .555, which would currently put them at seventh in the East just above Boston. The Wizards are currently playing at a playoff caliber pace.

 

Before the season began, the Wizards’ organization declared that this was a playoff team. Their current success does somewhat justify GM Ernie Grunfeld’s plan for this season so long as he does not ignore the lessons learned by their disastrous start.

 

The Wizards were not just bad, they were historically bad. The loss of Wall does not justify a 5-28 start. Wall’s absence revealed how weak his supporting cast really is. Nene’s health is a constant concern, Trevor Ariza is only effective when he is coming off the bench, and the Wizards have little depth at point guard.

 

Compare them to Chicago who has been without star Derrick Rose for the entire season. The Bulls are currently fifth in the east, the Wizards are 13^th. The Bulls have two players in the all-star game (Luol Deng and Joakim Noah), the Wizards have one player in the rising stars challenge (Bradley Beal). The Bulls have a strong supporting cast surrounding their undisputed leader; they are a playoff team even without him. The Wizards have a rag-tag team of bad contracts and draft picks that compiled the worst record in the league without Wall.

 

The pieces are in place for the Wizards to perhaps compete for a playoff spot, but there’s not enough there to be real competitors, even when Wall and Beal reach their full potential. There is still a long way to go for Grunfeld to bring a competitor to DC. If the Wizards can stay healthy next season, however, they can make the playoffs and that is definitely a step in the right direction.

Wizards "Settling" with Wittman?

On June 4, the Wizards held a press conference to announce what everyone already knew; that Randy Wittman would return next season as their head coach. While he only mustered an 18-31 record since taking over midseason, the move was not a surprise after the Wizards’ late season surge. The Wizards finished out the campaign winning six straight and eight of their last 10. The team finally seemed to respond to their coach which earned him at least another year. But with all the other candidates available, did the Wizards truly think Wittman was the best man for the job or did they just settle for the easy candidate?

In his career, Wittman has gone only 118-238 as a head coach. Any way you may look at it, a .331 winning percentage is not good. What’s more is that the team’s final eight wins may not be as impressive as they appear. They beat Charlotte twice, the worst team in the league, and Cleveland once, another bottom feeder. They beat Chicago once and Miami twice, but at first and second in the conference respectively neither team had much to play for and did not give their stars much playing time. Orlando was a complete mess without Dwight Howard and fell to Washington as well. So really of those final eight wins, there is only one that you can really point to as a legitimately impressive win, that against Milwaukee who desperately needed every win in their fight to climb into the playoffs. I’m not saying that winning eight of ten is meaningless, I’m just saying we should not be planning any parades just yet.

Coaches are fired far too quickly in my opinion in all the major sports. How many times have you seen teams fire a good/great coach and replace him with someone who is a clear downgrade from their former bench boss? When teams struggle, the onus always falls on the coach and sometimes organizations will fire him in a complete knee-jerk reaction without considering who will be available to take over. That is NOT what happened this season. Stan Van Gundy, Jerry Sloan, and Patrick Ewing are all available (as well as Phil Jackson, but I’m looking at realistic possibilities). Would any of these coaches be interested in Washington? I have no idea, but neither do the Wizards because they did not look for anyone other than Wittman. There were reports that both Sloan and Ewing were possibly interested in coaching Charlotte, a worse team and organization than the Wizards. If they’re interested in that job, then they could have been talked into at least considering Washington. Sure, Charlotte is owned by Michael Jordan which may be a draw for some, but by all accounts his management of the team is what’s keeping them in the basement. It is easy to foresee conflict between Jordan and someone like Sloan, but that’s not an issue here. Still, the Wizards will never know because they were content with Wittman.

My point is not that Wittman should not have been brought back, I just feel the Wizards never considered any other possibility. It looks like they did not do their homework. What would have been the harm in looking? Would it upset Wittman? He’s an NBA coach. He would have gotten out of coaching after his time in Minnesota if he could not handle criticism. Even if he did feel slighted, one need only point to his winning percentage to silence any complaint he might have. Would it upset the players? Possibly if the team really had rallied around Wittman, but if management explained they were out looking to make sure they had the best head coach available who would argue? It’s not a case of slighting your head coach, it’s doing due diligence to make sure your interim coach is the best man to take over the reins.

Wittman may well be the right man for the job, but I don’t think the Wizards know it. It seems like they just settled for what they had rather than even consider someone else. Part of this may be by design. There’s a difference between developmental coaches and competitive coaches. The Wizards may be keeping Wittman around to develop the players until they become ready to compete and then they’ll find someone else. Owner Ted Leonsis already did this with the Capitals when Glen Hanlon was replaced by Bruce Boudreau. So who knows? Maybe the Wizards know what they are doing after all, but something just doesn’t seem to fit when looking at their extension of an18-31 coach.