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Wizards fans are pretty much on the same page when it comes to the 8th spot in the 2013 draft. The premature consensus is that Ernie Grunfeld will be deciding between:
- C.J. McCollum
- Alex Len
- Shabazz Muhammed
- Cody Zeller
- One of Anthony Bennett, Otto Porter, Victor Oladipo
Nerlens Noel and Ben McLemore will certainly be off the board. It's likewise hard to imagine Victor Oladipo or Otto Porter lasting past the Pistons, provided there are no surprises in the lottery drawing, unless perhaps Trey Burke is available and the Brandon Knight experiment is over. Kelly Olynyk will almost certainly be there at No. 8. Len's draft stock has probably taken a serious hit with a microfracture injury. Bennett will probably be gone by the time the Wizards pick, but who knows? The Suns are a black hole of need but if Cody Zeller makes it past them....in any case, it's too soon to tell. In the meantime, more than a few will be quietly praying the Wiz don't end up with Mason Plumlee, Steven Adams or Rudy Gobert.
It may beggar belief that the team would consider using what may be their last Top 10 pick for quite some time on a point guard or shooting guard with John Wall and Bradley Beal firmly ensconced in the backcourt. At the same time, I remember the Arizona Cardinals taking a lot of crap for drafting Adrian Wilson with plenty of depth at SS.
Football isn't basketball, obviously, but I tend to agree with Umair and past sentiment here on the site; if a player is clearly a tier above any other player on the board, the draft is for best player available rather than need. It's just that the Wizards need in the frontcourt looking to the future would be TREMENDOUS.
Forty-one days. What say you?