Then 46, before making the postseason three seasons in a row. The Nuggets won 33 games in 2015-16, Unseld’s first season as an assistant in Denver. Unseld was hired away from the Denver Nuggets with the hope that he could lead a similar ascent in Washington. “We’re going into year three of a plan to be more competitive every year. “All the things that we’ve talked about two years ago to now, he can judge on the actions, not on the words and promises,” Sheppard says. But by taking their rebuild step-by-step, rather than rushing to add win-now pieces that might sacrifice the future, the Wizards are hoping to prove that they can build a championship team around Beal eventually. Washington will have to show enough this season to prove there’s a pathway to contention in the coming years. Whether it’s enough to convince Beal to accept the five-year max deal worth $242 million the Wizards can offer next summer remains to be seen. Between Beal’s emergence as a star and the revamped roster around him, at least now the Wizards have a direction. John Wall was traded for Russell Westbrook, who was flipped after one season in a deal that brought in six players, while Scott Brooks was replaced as head coach by Wes Unseld Jr.Ī few years ago, the Wizards had no hope. Since being promoted after the firing of Ernie Grunfeld in 2019, Sheppard has dumped every player he inherited except for Beal and Thomas Bryant and replaced bad long-term contracts with quality veterans and promising young players. While Beal has developed into one of the game’s greatest scorers, averaging more than 30 points in each of the past two seasons, the Wizards have transformed the roster under general manager Tommy Sheppard. But it’s also tough on the back end, because you have no idea what you want to do.” “You love the fact that people see your game and would love to play with you. Which school is the right school? Which team is the right team?” Beal says. But Beal isn’t sure what decision he’ll make when the time comes. Anyone around the NBA is aware of the circumstances: Beal could become an unrestricted free agent in 2022, and with the Wizards unlikely to contend for a title before then, opponents are hoping that he’ll ask for a trade or sign elsewhere. “Almost every game we play, someone says something,” Bradley Beal tells me over the phone, regarding how often players recruit him to leave. Grade: B- I love that KOC doesn’t stick to consensus and goes out there, and sometimes it pays off and other times it doesn’t.All eyes are on Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving now, but everyone from team executives to opposing players continues to monitor the Washington Wizards. He has barely played and been fairly bad when he has played and is unlikely to go in the first round if the draft was redone today. His ranking of Smith at 17 represents the late move up draft boards for the Maryland center, who ended up going 10th to the Phoenix Suns. O’Connor was also a little too high on Deni Avdija, Jalen Smith and Precious Achiuwa. There is still plenty to like about Terry, but it’s unlike he ends up a top-10 player from this class. It was the outlier of outliers at the time Vecenie was the next highest at 20th, and Terry wasn’t drafted until 31 and would likely go even lower in a redraft. The more bold take was ranking Stanford guard Tyrell Terry at eighth overall. Hayes at one was a reach, but at least the rest of the community saw him as a top-10 prospect and he went seventh overall, even if he would drop in a redraft. Even if Hayes rebounds from his rookie season and shows massive growth, the distance he would have to cover to pass Anthony Edwards, let alone LaMelo Ball, is tremendous. First, he ranked Killian Hayes first overall, which was aggressive then and looks misguided now. What he got wrong: KOC went on two massive limbs compared to consensus, and both look shaky a season later. Finally, he was aggressive in ranking Aleksej Pokusevski 13th, which may turn out to be prescient and at the least identifies the value in swinging for the fences with the right kind of prospect. O’Connor also was high on Desmond Bane (19th) and Jaden McDaniels (24th) while both were too low he was tied for the highest in the group on both. All three rankings were closer to where the player should be ranked a season later. To complete the trifecta, he slotted Obi Toppin at 12th, when the next lowest was Vecenie at 8th. Similarly, he pegged Onyeka Okongwu as the 10th-best player and not the 4th or 5th as the rest of the group. What he got right: “KOC” was correct to highlight the deficiencies in Isaac Okoro’s offensive game and ranked him the lowest of the group at 11. His final pre-draft rankings are listed here. Kevin O’Connor has been covering the NBA Draft for years at The Ringer, and every year puts out an interactive draft guide that is absolutely worth your time. Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images Evaluating the NBA Draft experts: Kevin O’Connor
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