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UPDATE: So much for this! The Wizards traded their second round pick to New Orleans for Tim Frazier. Eat Arby’s.
The longer a draft goes, the more unpredictable it becomes. As such, it’s impossible to have any sort of consensus regarding who the Wizards could take with the 52nd pick in the draft. Still, it’s interesting to see who different mocks have the Wizards taking with their second round pick:
- DraftExpress: Devin Robinson - Forward, Florida
- NBAdraft.net: Aleksandar Vezenkov - Forward, Bulgaria
- Reid Forgrave, CBS Sports: Thomas Bryant - Power Forward, Indiana
- Gary Parrish, CBS Sports: Cameron Oliver - Power Forward, Nevada
- ESPN: Kyle Kuzma - Power Forward, Utah
- Sports Illustrated - L.J. Peak - Guard, Georgetown
Position shouldn’t matter much when it comes to taking someone this late in the draft. If you can find someone useful, take them. Still, it is a bit interesting to see how many big men are suggested as the pick for the Wizards, given their roster situation.
Washington could use some young blood in their frontcourt, but it would be tricky for any prospect to find playing time right away with all the veteran options currently on the team. On the other hand, a guard would have a better chance at finding a spot in the rotation backing up John Wall or Bradley Beal right away, but that’s a lot of faith to punt into late second round pick right away.
The track record for the 52nd overall pick in recent years is not great. Seven of the 17 players selected at that spot since 2000 have not yet played a single minute in the league. Of the ten who have played in the NBA, only two (A.J. Price and Darnell Jackson) have played over 100 games in the league.