Strongest Wizards squad there has ever been .

Yes we need more depth up front, but we have four months to solve that problem.

Yes Orlando and Cleveland look terrifying now, but there’s not a lot we can do about that.

We’ve gotten a lot better, and there are plenty of prospects to solve our remaining gap now that we have the money and roster spots to do it. Once we’ve done that our biggest problem is finding minutes for our guards – I’m not too worried about that.

So let’s hope for health, take the 3 or 4 seed into the playoffs, and then do some damage.

At least not right now. I think that the Wiz, Cavs, and Magic all need to have at least one more major move to be in a place to really be contenders.

Like the analysts said last night, Cleveland’s move can’t really be judged until we see what else they do. Right now they have Lebron and Shaq, but other than that, they have Mo Williams, Delonte, Boobie, and Big Z. That’s 3 combo guards and a jump-shooting statue. They have no true SG, no PF, and no depth.

As for Orlando, they got Vince, but I can’t say they’re better until we see how things unfold with their free agents. Like a lot of teams that make the finals, there team is falling apart. Turkgolu seems like he’s just going to follow the paper. We’ll see what happens with Gortat. And they traded 3 major contributors for Vince. Turkgolu+Gortat+Courtney Lee+Alston+Battie > Vince Carter.

We may end up being the 3rd, 4th, or 5th seed, but as of June 26, 2009 we are the most complete team in the Eastern Conference. We have 3 All-Stars, a legitimate defensive center, 3 former 1st round prospects. Our former 2nd round prospect might be our most naturally talented player, was straight from high school and is now 22-year old, 5th year vet. Oh, and we also added two starting caliber, versatile sharpshooters. Right now, our biggest hurdles are determining how to manage playing time for so much talent, add a 5th big man, and maybe consolidate some more of our assets into a better player for our 9 man rotation.

We always get the slew of so called wizards fans jumping off a building after every draft. But when it comes straight down too it what else could have possibly done? What? Trade Jamison for who, I know there were rumors Jamison for Amare, but those were shot down once Butler was a necessary piece for that trade. Really who else on this team is enough of a tradeable asset to make a blockbuster deal. And finally who out there is actually attainable, what blockbuster players are out there that can be traded for. I think the wizards have a decent shot at getting to the eastern conference finals. If haywood or mcgee play well they will have a look much like the orlando magic as a jump shooting team, a team which I think Cleveland is unable to defend.

but have lived in the area for awhile.

Overall, I think they did a decent job. I don’t like the core of the team as being good enough to ever legitimately challenge for a title, but they don’t have enough young assets on the roster to break up the core without going into a deep rebuild mode. Might as well see if this core can make one final run, and that was the gambit they made.

If guys with Miller and Foye’s skillsets were in this draft, they would’ve been solid top 10 picks. No, neither guy has been as good as expected so far, but you get more proven players that fit into the current “win-now” mode, and in Foye, you still have some upside. The trade by itself was fine, and it fills the shooting and playmaking questions that the roster had at times last year. It also gave them some depth to deal from. This was a weak draft. I didn’t even really love the point guard talent all that much. I’m sure the Wizards may be somewhat kicking themselves with Rubio falling, but he was a bit of a risk. Tyreke Evans doesn’t seem to have that much more of a skillset than Crittenton (he’s more ready to help, sure, but skillset wise, I don’t think Crittenton is that far).

That said, passing on any sort of big man with the 2nd round pick to save cash is sort of eh. They still have to add a big, and more than likely, the MLE will come into play. The chances of finding a far more skilled big man than a 2nd round rookie doesn’t seem that high in this market, assuming the Wizards limited resources. That said, to partly defend the decision here, well, there simply weren’t that many talented big men available at that point. If you assume the docs flagged Blair, which seems likely, then you are looking at Summers, Derrick Brown (Not exactly post players), Brockman and Taylor Griffin (undersized), and a few other guys. Now, I think it’s an eh move as I would’ve gambled on Blair, but I can sort of understand it if they flagged him.

It’ll be crucial for them to land some bodies to rotate in there, and in particularly, some physical bodies. You’ve got some long, lengthy guys (and I get a good laugh hearing Dan Hellie call Brendan Haywood a skilled big – he’s a solid defensive big, but his offensive game is limited). With Blatche, McGee, Jamison, Haywood, you’d like to get a physical aggressive rebounder into the mix. Assuming limited funds, I’m not sure what’s available. Joe Smith did briefly cross the mind.

I think the most crucial thing this coming season may be the development of trading Crittenton. His ability to run the offense, allowing guys like Arenas and Foye to focus on scoring, will be crucial with the way Flip runs the offense, IMO, while allowing Arenas/Foye to guard points and Crittenton to defend the 2. If Crittenton can settle down and be steady, they should be alright and be able to contend for the a 3-5 seed.

Looks like you removed the part about how this is your opinion only and that we as a community have diverse opinions, but I see valid criticism when I see it. Note sure that the comment was directed toward my earlier fanpost, but I agree and you are right that I shouldn’t have made a comment about how “Bullets Forever readers” seem to know better or have the same opinion.

Anyway, I agree with most of what you have said. We are better than last year and this is probably, on paper, the best Wizards (NOT Bullets) team that there has been so far. That said, however, the mere fact that Ernie improved our team does not excuse his failures this offseason. I really think Prada has it right in discussing how Ernie was trying to have it both ways and kind of ended up doing neither thing well.

Ernie wanted to add veterans, but he didn’t want to jeopardize our already screwed up salary situation to do it. So, we got 2 good players who fit our need and allowed us to shed a little salary but we didn’t address our defensive needs and we created a roster imbalance.

Then, Ernie sold our second round pick that could have been used to help fill a need that his earlier move created. No matter your feelings on the trade, selling the pick is indefensible. First, there were players available at #32 who would help address our needs on the front line. Second, the salary of the player slotted at #32 wouldn’t have been much so it was a CHEAP option that fits in with cost cutting. Third, it actually adds more developing youth and that isn’t a bad thing for the 14th and 15th roster spots. Fourth, not selling the pick did not in any way impair our ability to add an impact veteran to our front line with our last roster spot. Fifth, selling the pick didn’t make it any easier to sign that veteran because it AT BEST pays for 1 year of the veteran’s salary (veteran’s minimum * 2 due to luxury tax).

So, after Ernie committed us to paying the luxury tax at the trading deadline last year, he then refused to add additional salary to make us ALOT better, and instead added cheaper talent that still made us better. Then, instead of spending just a little bit of money on a player that could help us short term and maybe even long term in Blair he cheaped out and sold the pick. Those $2.5mil are chump change (its not even 5% of our current salary being paid) and will have to be spent on ONE YEAR of a player maybe as good as Blair instead of THREE YEARS of Blair. Ernie tried to have it both ways in the trade, then he tried to have it both ways by selling the pick – in the end he will have it neither way because we are still paying the luxury tax and selling #32 will cost us more than trading Blair would have (especially if 3 years down the line we sign some bum like Chris Wilcox for 3mil/yr)

The thing is, I don’t think Ernie thinks Blair would help the Wizards next year. I think he’d much rather have a McDyess or Joe Smith. I’m beginning to like the added flexibility that we’ve gotten this week. I like having 2 roster spots available with a few more expiring contracts. For the first time in several years, we can actually sign a free agent. So I’m ok with passing over Blair. I keep thinking Lonnie Baxter is a comparable guy to Blair.
Now if we don’t spend some money getting a veteran big guy, I will be upset.