Ranking The Washington Wizards Lottery Picks Since 2010
Since the 2010 NBA Draft, the Washington Wizards have made a total of six selections in the top 14 picks of the draft. Multiple times they have selected just outside the lottery (Twice at 15th overall), and a couple of years they didn’t pick in the first round at all due to previous trade obligations.
When evaluating the Wizards’ recent history of lottery picks you quickly notice the variance in production. While there were ‘face of the franchise’ caliber players selected some years, there were also duds many fans wish they could forget.
This evaluation will consider the player selected and how he panned out for the Wizards. We also have to factor in things like who the Wizards passed on and if the franchise got the most out of the player selected.
While a couple of players listed are still building their NBA careers, they are able to naturally slot in between the best picks and that one pick that didn’t work out at all. That bad miss is where things begin when ranking the Wizards lottery picks since the 2010 NBA Draft.
Related Story. Wizards Least Likely to Return Next Season. light
No. 6 – 2011 NBA Draft: Wizards select Jan Veselý sixth overall
Veselý is, in a way, the lowest-ranked lottery pick by default here. We don’t need to do much explaining or dive into many stats to show the difference between him and the upcoming players.
With Veselý, it’s short and simple. He was as bad of a miss as you’re going to see in the top ten of an NBA Draft. After being selected by the Wizards, the Czech forward failed to ever even flash the upside that would make a team take him so early in the draft.
When it was all said and done, Veselý played in a total of 162 NBA games over the course of four seasons. He last played in the NBA as a member of the Denver Nuggets during the 2013-14 season.
Following his retirement from the NBA, Veselý went on to produce overseas for a number of years. The list of players that were selected after the Wizards took their guy makes this decision go from bad to horrific.
Future Hall of Famers were picked after Veselý like Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson. Potential Hall of Famer Jimmy Butler was also passed on by the Wizards, as were multi-year high-level producers like Kemba Walker, Nikola Vučević and Tobias Harris, to name a few.
Simply put, this one will always be bad.
No. 5 – 2013 NBA Draft: Wizards select Ottor Porter Jr. third overall
It first must be acknowledged that the next couple of guys can arguably go in a few different directions. While we have some young players we’ll discuss shortly, Otto Porter Jr. got the ‘edge’ to rank lower than both of the upcoming players for a few reasons.
When the Wizards took him third overall, it was widely agreed upon around the league that he was as NBA ready as prospects come. While not the highest upside pick, everyone labeled Porter Jr. as a safe selection that would be around for years to come.
He has remained in the NBA for all these years, too. In the right role, he can be an X-Factor like he has been at times for the Golden State Warriors. When in Washington, though, things simply didn’t come together how they needed to after the team took him third overall and slotted him alongside players like John Wall and Bradley Beal.
It also hurts his ranking when you consider he was the ‘safe’ pick, yet the face of the NBA today was the high-risk high reward guy in that draft (Giannis Antetokounmpo).
What if the Wizards didn’t put so much value on how their pick would fit alongside their already constructed core? Things could be wildly different if they valued potential a lot more in the 2013 NBA Draft. Other players that edge out Porter Jr. career-wise but were taken after him include Rudy Gobert and CJ McCollum.
If this selection was in the mid to late lottery instead of right at the top of the Draft, a case would be made for a higher ranking for the very solid Porter Jr.