A lot of teams use the annual NBA Draft how it’s supposed to be used: a way to spruce up rosters by selecting talented young players from various universities and overseas. As a result, teams usually end up with a younger lineup than they had before.
That’s if you want to be all conformist about it.
The Wizards decided this year that they’d take their own little nihilistic spin on what the draft is supposed to be about, eschewing that whole “younger” part of the plan and drafting, well, nobody. First, they traded their highest selection — the fifth pick of the first round — with some role players to Minnesota in exchange for guards Randy Foye and Mike Miller, both over the age of 25. Minnesota used that choice to select Spanish guard Ricky Rubio, and followed that selection with another guard, Jonny Flynn of Syracuse, both of which are upside guys who can and will probably be just as good as either Foye or Miller over the long haul.
But the Wiz’s next move was the real headscratcher. Pittsburgh rebounding machine DeJuan Blair had somehow miraculously fallen to the second round. Anyone who watched the team last year knew that if there was one clear thing that the Wizards needed in the draft, it was someone who could hit the glass. Blair — who was a consensus lottery pick seemingly no longer than two weeks ago and possibly the best pure rebounder in the draft — outclassed everyone on the boards at times last season, leading all of Division I in offensive rebounds per game. It was as good a situation as the Wizards could have hoped for — a stud rebounder who would be motivated by the snub of not being selected in the first round and would fill a glaring need for the team.
That’s Blair just crushing Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet in the video above — Thabeet was the second overall selection last night. Looks good, right? A no-brainer?
So with that pick, Washington selected a shooting guard from Central Florida, Jermaine Taylor — and then traded his rights to Houston for cash.
Alright, just to recap: the Wizards a) traded a pick that they could have used for a young promising guard for two older, mid-range guards and b) for all intents and purposes, traded the chance at a sure-fire player they needed badly for $2.5 million.
As you can imagine, Wizards fans and beat reporters were less than thrilled. We’re not sure what the front office saw during last season’s wretched campaign that would make them think that adding younger players with potential wouldn’t be necessary this year.
