The NBA Draft is only an hour away and has figured the trade winds have been swirling. Here is the deal for the Wizards:

After making the trade for Ariza and Okafor they basically have one key position of need for the present and future: SG. The unquestioned top SG in the draft is Brad Beal so basically we put all of our hopes and dreams into him with that 3rd pick. That is a bit of an exaggeration but really not that much because we badly need a SG with Jordan Crawford being our only guy right now and we have the rest of the positions filled by solid NBA players. Unfortunately we may have tipped our hand too early because now many teams including the Cavs who have the 4th pick are looking to trade up to that 2nd pick (the pick the Bobcats currently have) and select Beal before he can fall to us.

If we aren’t able to select Beal than the situation becomes dire for us because we will either be forced to select a position of that we already have addressed or trade down for either more picks or a veteran. I don’t know all of the different trade options the Wiz will have at the current moment but I would go with with Kidd-Gilchrist if none of them are suitable. While we do have Ariza for the next 2 seasons, I don’t think he will be the long-term answer at the SF spot for us and really we are using this pick to help us for the next 10 years, not the next 2. My bigger concern is that we would than have 2 guys in MKG and Wall who both can’t shoot making whoever our future 2 be our only real shooter. Wall shot a dismal 7% from 3 last year and MKG struggled shooting at the college level. This is my only reason for hesitation with this pick. I think both of them will develop into average to below average jump shooters and that would suffice as long as we got a sharp shooter at the 2 spot because Wall and MKG would be lethal together in transition.

I think Thomas Robinson is out of the question because we already have a plethora of bigs and Harrison Barnes would be my next choice after MKG because he can shoot. While the Wiz say Barnes would play the 2 if he was drafted, I don’t think that would work because he can’t really dribble or pass but in 2 years he would be the starting SF and I would be okay with that.

Another trade rumor that I heard was possibly the Thunder trading James Harden to the Wizards for the #3 pick and probably somebody else. They are doing this because they say they probably won’t be able to afford Harden when he becomes a FA in a year but if I were the Wizards I would obviously look into that because Harden is a star and a young one at that.

I don’t know how true any rumor is around this time though because at all times you hear the trade rumors going around but I think it is definitely obvious that the Wiz are tipped their hand a bit too early with that trade and now Beal is becoming more of a must than a want. Hopefully things workout well for the Wizards and I will certainly be back tomorrow to give you my opinion on the nights events.