Wiz of Awes
Fansided

Washington Wizards Rewind: Ranking the past five lottery selections

By Jack Skolnik

NEW YORK - JUNE 24: NBA Draft prospects pose for a group photo prior to the NBA Draft at Madison Square Garden on June 24, 2010 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
NEW YORK - JUNE 24: NBA Draft prospects pose for a group photo prior to the NBA Draft at Madison Square Garden on June 24, 2010 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /
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Washington Wizards Jan Vesely
Washington Wizards Jan Vesely (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

5. Jan Vesely (2011 NBA Draft)

Lottery Odds: 4th best odds (11.9%)
Selection: 6th overall

The Wizards’ worst lottery pick of the last decade should not come as too much of a surprise. Jan Vesely is a name that will always leave a sour taste in the mouths of Washington Wizards fans.

Going into the 2011 draft, the Wizards had a fair amount of work to do, but they at least had their next franchise star, John Wall, to build around.  Wall was coming off a stellar rookie season, and the Wizards were ready to add the right piece next to their budding star.

The lottery was not overly kind to the Wizards, though, as they fell from 4th to 6th, but they still had an excellent opportunity to find an impactful player.

The 2011 draft went as expected. Kyrie Irving went number one, Derrick Williams went number two, then a few bigs were taken. The Wizards were left with some solid options at six.

Now, in hindsight, it’s easy to trash old draft picks with cries of “we picked [bad player] one pick before [good player]!” Sometimes, that [good player] wasn’t even on anyone’s radar. But with the Vesely pick, there were a few options the Wizards were mulling. And boy, do they hurt.

The first one was courtesy of ESPN’s Jay Bilas, who stated right before the Vesley pick that he believed the Wizards were about to pick San Diego State Forward, Kawhi Leonard.

Skip to 1:00 minute to hear the quote:

The other player who was quite popular in the Wizards’ draft room was a young shooting guard from Washington State. But the Wizards’ didn’t take future NBA champion and multi-time All-Star Klay Thompson.

Unlike Leonard and Thompson, Vesely was a huge dud and quite possibly the worst draft pick in Wizards history. Ove the course of three seasons, Vesely averaged just 3.5 points and 3.4 rebounds in 141 contests for the Wizards.

From the very beginning, it was apparent that Vesely wasn’t the right fit next to Wall. He never really fit the schemes and development plans that the Wizards coaching staff had at the time and were doomed from the start.

Remembering Jan Vesely isn’t fun, but luckily every pick on the list after this one went significantly better.

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