It’s very late, but after letting everyone else talk for most of the night, I need to briefly weigh in.
First, what an utter cacophony the NBA Draft has turned into. U.S. Soccer may have blown up Twitter on Wednesday with most people pretty much saying some form of the same thing – GGGGGGOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!! – but draft night just has way too much going on at once. If you had blinked while on Twitter, had gotten up to get a drink or gone to the restroom while watching ESPN, you might’ve missed the Wizards swap their 30th and 35th overall picks for No. 23 and No. 56. And just the sheer volume of other trades was confounding. Don’t ask me who went where. I know the Wizards picks, that Greg Monroe went to Detroit (hope he’s friends with his former Georgetown teammate, DaJaun Summers), and that Greivis Vasquez is now the most famous Venezuelan Terrapin in Tennessee. But nothing else.
The Wizards stuck to a pretty succinct draft strategy. After taking John Wall, a foregone conclusion, the Wizards thought/hoped they could get a pair of more relatively mature, polished and experienced big men with picks 30 and 35, specifically Quincy Pondexter and Trevor Booker. But when Booker went at No. 23 and it was clear Pondexter wasn’t going to last until 30, Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld and co. pulled the trigger on a trade to make sure they at least got one of them instead of losing both. Size and defense appear to drive the selections of Kevin Seraphin and Hamady Ndiaye, and there’s no arguing that. The Wizards proved last season that energetic, athletic wing-types, such as Cartier Martin, can be found at almost any time. No need to get them in the draft.
Speaking of Seraphin – since Grunfeld can’t – the deal that also landed the Wizards Kirk Hinrich is rooted in logic. Not only did it land Seraphin, but Hinrich, who is well worth his $9 million salary next season, is expected to be the mentor for Wall, just as he’s done for Derrick Rose, and one might argue he’s done a pretty good job, too. Plus, he’s another player whose reputation falls more toward defense and character, both key attributes to the team the Wizards are trying to build. It would seem to pave the way for Randy Foye‘s exit at the very least, and certainly the speculation about the future of Gilbert Arenas will grow, too.
All Wizards discussions eventually end up back on the subject of Arenas, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Whatever the plan is for the re-emergence of Arenas either sometime this summer or just prior to training camp like last year, it’s not going to be easy. Can he co-exist with Wall? Can he co-exist with Wizards head coach Flip Saunders? With Grunfeld? With D.C.? Can he duplicate his numbers from last season before his suspension? The sooner he starts going in public, the sooner some of these questions can be answered, the sooner healing can begin. Right now, it’s still dragging down a franchise that has every other reason to be revved up.
