Wizards Main Priority

[Monte]

None of those players are viable options.  Thomas is washed up as he's proved in the playoffs (notice how he never played unless he was out there to guard a slow and plodding Shaq) and he'll be 36 at the end of next season.  And his connection with Grunfeld is a decade old.  Camby is on the books for as long as Haywood and Thomas, but he makes more than either of them, so if the Wizards were to get him, they'd have to give up someone else (like a Nick Young) for the trade to work.  Foster and Moore, while decent enough bench players, are not upgrades over Haywood.  Diop is more useless on the offense than Haywood is on defense and Armstrong is just useless period (he couldn't even crack 15 minutes for the Hornets despite having no other viable back ups to Chandler and West besides Melvin Ely, who is a homeless man's Brendan Haywood).  And finally, Ratliff is 35 and hasn't been a useful player in eight years (and even when he was a useful player he was injury prone).

The biggest factor is, to get any of these players it would mean that they won't sign Arenas (and probably Jamison) and none of those players makes the team better without Arenas there.  The Wizards best bet right now is to resign Arenas and Jamison (the latter to a greatly reduced salary), draft a player like McVale and hope they can develope him, then wait for Haywood, Thomas, and Daniels to come off the books in two years when they can actually make a serious move.

steve I didn't take you for one of those dudes who beg for details than slam each and every one as bad or impossible. You can do better.

First, none of these cats would be a replacement for Haywood. You misunderstood if you thought that. As I stated in my initial post the key weakness is the backup C position. That is what these players would be in DC. The only one who might start is Camby but even he would be best suited for a good chunk of minutes coming off the bench, to lengthen his career and guard against injuries. He's one of those guys who might not start but would surely finish games.

As for Kurt, never underestimate the connection between a man and another man who gave him millions/a job. If the Spurs thought he could be a valuable piece on the bench this season how could the Wizards consider useless? mighty snobbish for a team without a playoff series win in years.  

Kurt Thomas would do just as much good teaching our young bigs as he would on the court. In today's game players learn as much or more from older players than they do coaches. Its the respect factor. As much as I dig Jamison as a leader he's not going to be teaching anyone about how to play interior defense in the NBA. Haywood, Blatche and Pech would all be better off for learning from Thomas. Plus the player/coach role is becoming more popular in today's game. Dangle that carrot and Kurt might take it.

Its worth noting that Camby was also brought to NY by Grunfeld. His current contract was front loaded so only 15M remains in the last two years.

Foster and Moore are decent bench players, which is why I mentioned them. Foster is nothing to speak of offensively but remains one of the better post defenders in the East. Moore can do a little of both.

Diop showed he can defend the rim and rebound while in Dallas. He also has a good amount of playoff experience. Those are 3 things no one on the Wizards bench can do as of this moment. Again, as a backup, he has value here.

You say to get these guys we'd have to lose Arenas or Jamison. Why? We have 2 picks and several role players we could package for Camby. Thomas' gonzo contract is up. If he wants to keep playing it will be for the vet minimum. Diop probably gets 4 or 5Mil tops. Foster and Moore are under contract at reasonable rates. There isn't a truly bad contract in the bunch.

McVale? you mean JaVale McGee? If we want instant impact Robin Lopez is the better choice. He can play right now, not in a few years. He already has the necessary speed, shot blocking ability and even some nice passing in his game.

[steve]

First of all, for the Wizards to get any player in free agency they would not be able to sign Arenas or Jamison (considering that their all their cap space is going to sign those two guys).  This knocks out Diop and Thomas (both free agents) unless either of them want to sign for the veteran's minimum, which neither one of them will do because they can get larger contracts elsewhere (and no one on the roster is worth giving up for them in a sign and trade).  Foster and Moore are going to be available unless the Wizards give up someone like Blatche because both the Pacers and Kings are sorely lacking in front court depth (and by the way, Foster is a decent rebounder but far from a good defender and Moore can't guard any player with a moderate amount of bulk).  You mention the Wizards have role players, but all of the decent role players are swing men (with the exception of Blatche who is potentially more valuable than Foster or Moore combined).  Why would two teams who are loaded at the swing positions take a combo guard like Daniels, a decent starter in Stevenson (but nothing special), or a undersized power forward in Darius Songaila (who is still better than Mikki Moore).  Seriously, the path that Grunfeld has been talking about all season is the right way to go, considering none of those player you mentioned is going to push the Wizards into the upper echelon of teams for next season.

[StrawberryFields]

Pray they dont run into the cavs?

[Monte]

First of all, for the Wizards to get any player in free agency they would not be able to sign Arenas or Jamison (considering that their all their cap space is going to sign those two guys).  This knocks out Diop and Thomas (both free agents) unless either of them want to sign for the veteran's minimum, which neither one of them will do because they can get larger contracts elsewhere (and no one on the roster is worth giving up for them in a sign and trade).  Foster and Moore are going to be available unless the Wizards give up someone like Blatche because both the Pacers and Kings are sorely lacking in front court depth (and by the way, Foster is a decent rebounder but far from a good defender and Moore can't guard any player with a moderate amount of bulk).  You mention the Wizards have role players, but all of the decent role players are swing men (with the exception of Blatche who is potentially more valuable than Foster or Moore combined).  Why would two teams who are loaded at the swing positions take a combo guard like Daniels, a decent starter in Stevenson (but nothing special), or a undersized power forward in Darius Songaila (who is still better than Mikki Moore).  Seriously, the path that Grunfeld has been talking about all season is the right way to go, considering none of those player you mentioned is going to push the Wizards into the upper echelon of teams for next season.

steve you are that guy! How sad. You also seem to have a clairvoyant streak as you know the future before it happens and what our cap space will be. Only problem is that you're all over the map. In one post Kurt Thomas is over the hill, the next he's too expensive! Which is it? We could have upwards of 4Mil available. Not enough for Diop, most likely, but enough to pay a BAE player.

Offering Kurt Thomas the Bi-Annual Exception wouldn't kill the cap, do the math.

Trading for Camby would take a combination of Songalia and either AD or Stevenson and a draft pick. Inexpensive swing players are not hard to find. I appreciate DS's hard work but if he can help bring back a big like Camby then so be it.

Moore is 7'1 and defends the rim in ways Songalia can never hope to. He can also finish around the rim. Songalia is all hustle, one reason Denver would love him, but we need a different skill set at back-up C especially with 6'8 Jamison killing us on the first team. You say Songalia is better than Moore, is there any statistical example you can think of?

Sacramento lacks frontcourt depth? Miller, Sheldon Williams, Hawes, Artest, and that snot counting Kenny thomas or Abdur Rahim...

Foster isn't a shotblocker but he plays very good positional defense. Given he has at least 3 inches on Darius, and is quicker laterally he's a clear upgrade.

[steve]

Kurt Thomas is both.  The only way that he would sign with a team for limited money at this point is if he's going to a serious contender, which the Wizards are not.  Why in the world would see sign for the exception other than to say he played in DC.  Second how does a big man who can only play 20 minutes a game be useful to a team that desperately needs a low post scoring threat more (unless you consider his increasingly shakey 18 foot jump shot a deadly offensive weapon).

As for Camby, why would the Wizards want a 35 year old center, who is become a pretty weak man defender and just goes after shots without much regard to position (which only works if the Wizards have have a strong weakside rebounder, which they don't)?  On top of that, you're suggesting that they give up three rotation players for one 35 year old center.  And why would a team with limited front court depth (even with Camby) trade for two swing men and undersized power forward?  Even ignoring that he's their starting center (and their back up after Nene got hurt was Eduardo Najera.  The trade doesn't make sense for either team.

When did Mikki Moore became 7'1"?  He's 6'10", 6'11" if we're going to push it.  And you ever watched him play?  He's active, but he's also soft, he doesn't protect the rim very well and he's an awful rebounder.  Not to mention he put up comparable stats to Blatche while playing 9 minutes a game than Blatche.  Also the Kings big man right now include Miller, Hawes, and Moore (with minor appearances by Sheldon Williams, and if your getting pretty desperate if you include Thomas and Abdur Rahim, did you just look up their names?  They played a combined 29 games last season, but I'm sure they'll both bounce back to the mediocre status they were playing before they became useless players).  Artest is a swing player, don't confuse him otherwise, if he's playing one of your big positions for very long, you're team is in trouble (which the Kings were last season).

Foster is 31, and is clearly in decline.  None of these changes would improve the Wizards more than 2 or 3 games and they'd still be in the same position as they've been the last few seasons.  I mean, aside from Camby (who again, is 35), all of the players you listed are marginal players who are decent back ups at best.  How does that significantly improve the Wizards?  It doesn't.  If the Wizards traded for them, it would be making a move just because you can and the numbers happen to work.  None of them are viable options other than you remember them playing well some time ago (or in the case of Mikki Moore a few weeks two seasons ago).

[Monte]

OK steve. You've shot down every idea anyone has ever had. You've seen ours. Step up and show us your plan for getting this team deeper in the playoffs. Who's your low post scorer? Are you keeping the #18 pick? Who you taking? Lets hear it.

This is your shot to not be that guy.

[steve]

Your reading comprehension must be lacking because I've mentioned what I think the Wizards should do at least three times in this very thread.  Resign Arenas and Jamison (to a greatly reduced salary which might not happen) and then wait for Haywood, Thomas, and Daniels to come off the books in two seasons to make to sign another impact free agent.  Because they're not going to have the cap space sign a free agent or assests that anyone really wants to make a big trade (and be able to gain ground) to make the next step as it stands.  But they'll have the money in two years to do this.

[Monte]

A reading comprehension zinger steve, really? Classy.

And after all this time, your plan is, "check back in 2 years".  
Not only that, instead of picking a player that can help right away you pick a project.  Friggin Brilliant. I'm sure that attitude will keep this board jumping this off-season.

*the rest of this post was edited because of an advertisement for another board, keep it to the pms*

[steve]

Well, considering how inspired your ideas were, there's not many options.  "Hey let's get either a mediocre or over hill center that will maybe gets two or three more win at the cost of promising young talent that is already producing at a higher rate."  Unless the guys the Wizards can stay healthy and improve, they aren't going very far in the playoffs.  And what good is discussion when it's pretty much already been mapped out what the Wizards for months now.  There has been no talk of trading the either of the draft picks, moving any of the players, or not resigning Arenas and Jamison.  If something falls through or Grunfeld decides that something else needs a change through the media (which is unlikely considering how tight lipped he is) then there will be something to discuss, otherwise it's half baked speculation and not worth anyone's time.

[Monte]

A messageboard moderator who wants to keep the speculation to a minimum? Now I know why this place is so dead.

[steve]

Because it harbors no rational discourse or haven't you noticed that no one else has even bothered with your ideas.  You throw out a few ideas, I don't think they're good ones, things halt there because there's no outside source contributing to your ideas and hence no basis in reality.  If there's no basis in reality, you really have nothing to talk about and it's baseless speculation coming directly coming from your head instead of from source substantial that would actually further discussion.  The biggest reason why there's little discussion on a Wizards board is because of the limited amount of information that Grunfeld and his guys provide the media.  Think about it, the biggest news Wizards related was Gilbert Arenas opting out of his contract, except anyone who had been paying attention knew about this a year ago and had already discussed what repercussions were going to be ad nauseam.  Before that the biggest news was Arenas' reinjury and Butler's injury and before that it was Stevenson and Blatche signing new deals.  And as far as draft picks, they haven't leaked any information on who they're leaning towards, just look how dead the Wizards Insider is on the Washington Post website.  There is absolutely nothing to discuss until the draft or they make an official move on Arenas and Jamison.

[Monte]

So the only ideas allowed are the ones officially mentioned by Ernie or someone in the media? You crack me steve. Have fun posting to yourself all summer.

[steve]

Thanks for admitting your posts are baseless.  But you're missing the point entirely (not all that surprising).  There's no news on the Wizards front.  They're working players out right now and the media as no inclination how those workouts went nor do we have any inkling as to what the Wizards are leaning towards in the draft.  There's nothing to report on the Wizards period (seriously go check the Washington Post or the Washington Times, there's no recent information at either of the papers).

I mean, you can speculate that they'll trade the draft pick or that Arenas won't sign again, but the conversation dies there because it's not based on anything substantial and it's just not good discourse.  But if you want to just throw out wild claims as to what the Wizards are going to do with your limited knowledge, be my guest.

[why so serious?]

Who the hell did the wizards draft?

[B-ball fan 11]

This team has to improve from within. Now normally if I say that, I'm pretty much saying a team is screwed, but not this time. McGee and Young are talented, but raw. If they get real burn as sixth men, and during blowouts. I think they can round out the rotation, and there's the chance that Blatche could finally get it. I love the talent on this roster, I just think that the young guys should get more burn during the regular season so that they're ready for the postseason. It worked for the Lakers.  I say if Young and McGee could convert some of that potiential into actual production that that be the leap the Wiz need. They're not as far as people think.