Bullets Forever, a Washington Wizards community

In the unlikely case that Rubio slips past Sacramento, it appears that Washington will not hesitate to pick him if they feel like he’s indeed the best player on their draft board. The prevailing sentiment at the moment is that Rubio is not in a position to return to Joventut, and that he may have lost some of the leverage he once had by keeping his name in the draft and suing his former team.

Many feel like Rubio would be a good fit in Washington playing alongside Gilbert Arenas, but Rubio’s camp apparently does not agree with that notion at all.

One team that could reportedly help Dallas move up high enough to pick [Jordan] Hill is the Washington Wizards at #5, a team they already have a history with making draft-day deals. The two teams swapped Antawn Jamison for Jerry Stackhouse and the #4 pick (Devin Harris) back in 2004, a move that worked out well for both parties.

Dallas can offer either the non-guaranteed contract of Jerry Stackhouse to help the Wizards reduce payroll next year (while taking someone like Mike James or Etan Thomas off their hands) or they can help the Wizards by providing a veteran like Josh Howard or Jason Terry if it’s experience and scoring punch they are after. Either move would allow the Mavericks to stay flexible from a financial standpoint as they look towards the free agent class of 2010. They can also dangle their first round pick (#22).

I just spent the day with him in San Francisco on Monday. All I can say is wow. The physical tools are amazing and the workout he goes through everyday is the most grueling I've ever seen. Griffin looks like he's training to be a Navy SEAL. However, what was really impressive was the basketball part with former Spurs head coach Bob Hill. He's much more skilled offensively than you think. Excellent ball handler and nice stroke with some three point range. And he's a nice, grounded kid with a very cool family. I was super impressed.