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Washington Wizards Mailbag Monday: Bradley Beal’s Max Contract, Backup Center Dilemma, More

By Ben Mehic

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As always, if you’d like to be featured in the next edition of Washington Wizards Mailbag Monday, feel free to send us a question @WizofAwes.

We appreciate everyone who submitted questions today.

They come from Twitter and Reddit.

Is there even anything going on with the Wiz recently besides the practice facility news? Not to mention the Redskins dumpster fire drawing my attention away… -via playoff-wittman

Speaking of the Washington football team…incoming shameless plug…I just wrote a short piece on why D.C. sports fans should appreciate the Washington Wizards.

It’s almost September, so the Wizards should be back in the news pretty soon, but right now it’s pretty dry.

Before the start of training camp, the team typically signs a handful of players to non-guaranteed deals. Right now, we have Jaleel Roberts and Toure’ Murry on board. Over the next few weeks (or days), expect them to sign a few more players.

But yeah, that’s about it. There’s nothing going on that we know of. Ernie Grunfeld does a solid job of keeping his cards close to his chest, so he might be making a move or something, but we haven’t heard anything.

They recently finished mini-camp in Los Angeles too. Besides that, it’s been super quiet. Maybe…too quiet.

Even though Tomas Satoranksy was a second round pick, he has all the tools to become very valuable. 6’7″, 23-year-old point guards don’t come around often.

More importantly, though, Satoranksy has played at a high level of basketball for the past several years. We’ve all seen players dominate in college and then fail to succeed in the NBA. Satoranksy has played against grown men for years.

With that said, given his experience overseas, he should be ready to contribute immediately.

Remember, this isn’t your typical rookie. He’s 23 and has plenty of experience playing against top-level competition. Not many other prospects can say that.

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To put it in perspective, Satoranksy should be more ready than Shelvin Mack was back in 2011.

Of course, it will take him some time to adjust to the NBA.

The speed of the game is a lot faster, but probably less physical than it is overseas.

That should work to his advantage.

As far as his abilities, I think he’ll become a solid rotation player in the NBA. He’s not the prospect that Nikola Mirotic was a few years ago, but he could certainly become a backup guard in the league.

He’s improved his jumper, he’s great at running in transition and his defense is underrated. All of those things will make him a solid contributor in the NBA. He’s also capable of playing along side John Wall, Bradley Beal and probably even Otto Porter. Satoranksy is versatile, to say the least.

By the time he comes over, the Washington Wizards will have a hole to fill at the backup point guard spot. It should be a seamless transition, really.

Do they *need* a backup center? Not necessarily.

According to several reports, Randy Wittman is planning (and hoping, really) on having Nene play that position. While I’d expect Nene to start along side Marcin Gortat, you could also expect Jared Dudley to come in for Nene early in the game.

Nene isn’t going to be too happy about playing backup center, though.

The big Brazilian has expressed his displeasure about playing center and I don’t think it will change anytime soon. He’s just not comfortable playing it, even though the position isn’t very deep nowadays. It makes no difference, but I digress.

But if they do think they need a backup, then DeJuan Blair is almost certainly gone.

They’re reportedly interested in free agent Ryan Hollins. They have zero spots open. If they want to sign another big, say Hollins, then Blair will probably be traded or waived.

While I believe Blair is capable of contributing — he’s a good rebounder and knows how to use his size — he’s not a good defender nor scorer. He’s one dimensional.

Players like Blair are available through free agency and the NBA D-League. At this point, I don’t know if there’s anyone better though. It might be best to give him a shot during preseason and then go from there.

It’s a business and Bradley Beal knows that. So, to answer your question: no way. The Washington Wizards shouldn’t give him a contract now because it wouldn’t make any sense.

For the Wizards to maintain enough flexibility for next off-season, also known as the summer of Kevin Durant, they can’t give him the max deal right now. Beal and his representatives know that, I’m sure. He’s going to get the max from Washington; it’s really an inevitability.

They’d be willing to sign him to an extension now, but not for the max. That doesn’t matter, though, because he’ll become an unrestricted free agent next year.

If he doesn’t sign a max deal with Washington, he’ll agree to an offer sheet with a different team and Washington will match. See: Gordon Hayward and the Utah Jazz.

Beal isn’t the type of dude to get pissed about that sort of thing. He’s not someone I’d worry about disrupting the team’s chemistry. He’s going to get the contract. It’s just a matter of time.

Next: Wizards' Beal Is Preparing For All-Star Season

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