Washington Wizards: 3 Things to Know About GM Candidate Troy Weaver

An Eye for Talent

Assembling the right pieces is one of a general manager’s top priorities. If Weaver’s track record is any indicator, he shouldn’t have any problem with that.

Weaver can take credit for helping land two of the biggest basketball talents of the 21st century. As an assistant coach on the Syracuse coaching staff, Weaver led the recruiting effort for Carmelo Anthony. Without Weaver’s recruiting and Anthony’s one year of collegiate basketball, Syracuse’s most recent National Championship banner would still read “1926”.

In his very first draft, just a few weeks after starting with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Weaver helped lead the push to draft a raw, ultra-athletic point guard out of UCLA in the 2008 NBA Draft. With the third pick, the Thunder selected Russell Westbrook.

Recruiting Carmelo Anthony to Syracuse is one thing, but drafting Russell Westbrook and developing him into a team centerpiece, an MVP, and a walking triple-double is something else entirely.

The draft didn’t always go well for the Wizards under Ernie Grunfeld. Developing the draft picks that did show some promise didn’t go much better, either. Weaver has a list of players drafted and/or developed in Oklahoma City that would make you think he could turn things around in D.C.

He hasn’t been bad in free agency, either. Although Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City, Weaver helped trade for and retain another perennial all-star in Paul George to replace him. Oklahoma City has also been able to consistently find good value via trades or free agency, most recently with Dennis Schroder and Nerlens Noel.

Although Sam Presti ultimately gets the credit for a lot of those moves as the Thunder GM, Presti reportedly handles more of the salary cap side of things while Weaver handles scouting and player relationship. If the Wizards want to attract top talent, there may not be anyone better suited for that job than Weaver.