Is Melo Trimble the Right Pick for the Washington Wizards?

Washington Wizards management only has one draft pick in this year’s NBA draft to help improve the roster. Is Maryland point guard Melo Trimble the right choice?

The Washington Wizards currently have the 52nd pick in June’s 2017 NBA Draft. As always, there are plenty of players to pick from and the team has a variety of needs.

As has been stressed all season, the Wizards need to improve their bench. They also need to improve it cheaply considering their salary cap constraints. For these reasons, expect the team to draft a player that is “NBA ready” instead of a project player, or someone who could stay overseas.

Specifically, a backup point guard is of top concern. John Wall, despite missing four games this season, played the fifth most minutes during the regular season.

As the postseason wore on, it was clear that Wall’s energy had decreased, and he was exhausted late in games. As the team’s leader and best player, it’s important that the Wizards support Wall by bringing on reliable backcourt help.

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They attempted to do this during the 2016 offseason by trading for Trey Burke. That didn’t work out too well as Burke struggled to keep the second unit in rhythm and eventually fell out of the rotation. He is a restricted free agent this summer, and has little chance at resigning with the team.

The team also brought over 2012 second round pick Tomas Satoransky to play both guard positions. Satoransky played well in spurts, but will need time to develop into the player the team needs.

On March 1st, Washington attempted to finally shore up the backup point guard position by signing ex-Knick Brandon Jennings, who agreed to a buyout with his former team. Jennings showed flashes early on, but eventually became just as unreliable as the others.

He didn’t show the same aggression from earlier in his career and season, and struggled on offense and defense. Jennings is now a free agent, and is likely to sign with a new team this summer.

So here we are. Little money. Few tradeable assets. And yet a big need for a point guard to lead the bench, and play alongside Wall or Bradley Beal at times.

And with the 52nd pick the Wizards take…

Melo Trimble?

The #Wizards predraft workout list for Tues includes Melo Trimble pic.twitter.com/W9kCE1TYrH
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) May 29, 2017

After meeting with Melo Trimble early in the process, sources told InsideDMVSports that the Wizards are high on Trimble. For a variety of reasons, he should be available at the 52nd pick.

With him included on the list of workout participants, the speculation only grows stronger.

This wouldn’t be the first time that the Wizards had drafted a player from the University of Maryland. In 2002 and 2003, the Wizards drafted University of Maryland stars Juan Dixon and Steve Blake, respectively.

Having won the school’s first NCAA Basketball Championship, they were two of the most popular players in school history. The picks brought added excitement to the Wizards, and fans came with.

Trimble won’t bring that same excitement, but could potentially fill a need.

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Coming out of high school, Trimble was one of the highest touted players in America, and one of the most prolific to come out of the DMV area in the past few years.

In 2014-15, he had an outstanding freshman year that put him on pace to be a mid 1st round draft pick.

Averaging 16.2 points per game, he was second in the country in scoring by a Division I Freshman point guard. Number one was D’Angelo Russell, who would go on to be drafted number two overall by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Despite the obvious riches from being a top-20 pick, Trimble decided to return to school for his sophomore and junior years. He had the opportunities to move up the draft boards over the last two seasons, but instead with more games played, more of his weaknesses became apparent.

After shooting 41% from three-point range his freshman year, Trimble shot 31% in his last two seasons.

One of his main weakness according to draft experts is his poor small wingspan, at 6’2″. For comparison, Damian Lillard is very close in height to Trimble, but has just under a 6’8″ wingspan according to DraftExpress.

Trimble’s short wingspan could provide the Wizards similar defensive issues as they just saw with Trey Burke running the show.

Still, Trimble played well enough offensively in college to warrant a meeting and workout. He’s shown toughness, heart, and clutch abilities against Michigan State and Wisconsin.

Depending on how the first 51 picks of the draft play out, Trimble is certainly worth consideration at pick 52. The Wizards need a guard who can run a team and score, and Trimble fits both needs.

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That being said, if possible, I wouldn’t mind the team trading up for a player with a higher ceiling. It certainly feels like we know who Trimble will be in the league, and it probably doesn’t approach Sixth Man of The Year levels.

Fans of every team, Wizards included, want their team to draft the “next Draymond Green” with their second round picks, but that cannot be expected. Grunfeld and his team have made so many poor draft choices over the years and the likelihood of drafting an All-Star player this late is already extremely slim.

Assuming management is comfortable with having Satoransky being the main backup point guard, it’s possible they look for a project big man or possible bench scorer. Still, finding productive players is hard this late in the draft.

Other players connected to the team thus far include Josh Hart, Nigel Hayes, Frank Mason, Tyler Dorsey, and Cameron Oliver. The latest mock draft from Draft Express has the Wizards taking Oliver at 52.

Next: Washington Wizards: DeMarcus Cousins or the Dirty Dozen?

While the 52nd pick may not seem like a big deal, the team must be able to at least draft a player who can contribute positively for a playoff team. Too many times in the past the team has not progressed as expected because of poor decisions on draft day.

The Wizards made great progress this season, and they need to start off the 2017 offseason by hitting on their late second round pick.