Washington Wizards: Don’t Drop Ball on John Wall
Washington Wizards point guard John Wall had the best season of his career, in his seventh year in the NBA. The team now must focus on building the right unit behind him, to support his rise to superstardom and MVP-level player.
The Washington Wizards experienced a magical season. It was an absolute delight for their fans to watch their journey, from the auspicious 2-8 beginning, to being one game away from the Eastern Conference Finals.
Yet, they were able to achieve such success without having a primary backup for John Wall.
That’s why I would be very much surprised if Brandon Jennings and Trey Burke are here next season. Jennings came out guns blazing, and then for whatever reason started playing scared.
While in fairness to Burke, we didn’t get much of a chance to see his true worth or potential. One reason for that, is because Washington didn’t get much garbage time, since they couldn’t rely on their bench.
As for Tomas Satoransky he is too slow, and not ready to be Wall’s primary backup. I’m not saying he’s slow in comparison to Wall, because that would apply to everyone on the team. He’s too slow when taking the ball up the court, and in turn making a decision, allowing the defense more than enough time to set plays.
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Bottom line, Sato is an offensive liability, because he allows the defense too much time to see what plays the Wizards are about to run.
Before the trade deadline I strongly advocated, and I was in the minority of one, that we should acquire the Bulls’ Rajon Rondo. He had fallen out favor with Coach Fred Hoiberg, and was sitting on the bench collecting DNP-CDs.
But, a strange thing happened on the way to the Garden, as Rondo lit up the Celtics, stealing two games in Boston, during the first round of the series. And I firmly believe had Rondo not been injured, that eight-seeded Chicago was taking down first-seeded Boston.
So take Rondo off the board. His value has gone up, and his coach’s has gone down.
I also suggested Ricky Rubio, who was also on the trading block, and was playing backup for Minnesota at the trade deadline. You can also take him off the board, because he’s only looking for starter minutes now. And Washington obviously isn’t looking to downgrade.
I still believe all roads to the Eastern Conference Finals lead through Boston. Boston has the number-1 draft pick, and all signs point to Danny Ainge picking Markelle Fultz.
What’s interesting about that, is although Fultz played point in college, he recently said, that Isaiah Thomas and himself would make an amazing backcourt. Fultz is looking to start, and already has developed Ainge’s mentality, because Ainge plays positionless basketball, as we witnessed during our series against them, where Al Horford was sometimes playing center, as well as forward, and even sometimes point.
For those of you who like to play armchair GM, it’s looking more and more like Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox is moving up boards to three, and the Sixers have the third pick in the draft this year. The Kings have the 5th and 10th picks, and have already said they plan on trading at least one of their picks. They might even trade both to get the third pick.
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Ainge already has a good relationship with the Kings after Boston acquired Thomas. No disrespect to Vlade Divac, but look what happened with DeMarcus Cousins. He was traded just so the Kings wouldn’t have to pay Cousins a max contract, which was his due after he made an All-NBA team. This year they traded him before the All-NBA team selections came out.
Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised whether it’s with the Celtics or with another team, that Divac makes another lopsided deal not in the Kings’ favor.
Although Fultz said, he’d only work out with Boston, it’s been reported that he would work out with the Kings this weekend. When news got out, Boston said, Fultz would workout with the Kings closer to the draft.
No one knows exactly what Boston is going to do, but we do know that their owner already said he’s not trading their pick. Meanwhile Ainge said, there’s going to be “significant change” in the makeup of Boston’s lineup.
Fultz will go one, and although Ainge won’t trade the pick, I do see Ainge trading a star player.
And Thomas who can sign a max extension this summer, dramatically changed his tune.
During last year’s Summer League, Thomas said, Boston better bring out the “Brink’s Truck” for him because everyone else is getting paid. And that was before they reached the ECF.
Now Thomas is saying that he’s willing to wait, if that means helping the team get better. Translation: I know what I said last summer, but after talking to Ainge, I’m leaving money on the table this season so we can get an All-Star caliber player.
Ainge is greedy, he’s trying to build a superteam to beat the Cavaliers. Ainge wants to win a championship now, he’s not into ‘let’s wait a couple of years’, we have a young team, and they’re still developing.
So while the Wizards have been playing checkers, they need to start playing chess. Boston is building a team to take down the Cavaliers, they’re not worried about and don’t believe in Washington. Well, they best start believing.