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Wednesday, June 20
Wizards have the cards: Deal or hold?
By Peter May
Special to ESPN.com
Michael Jordan's latest setback notwithstanding -- and how exactly do you break two ribs trying to drive to the basket? -- the Washington Wizards may tell us a lot about their plans for next season by what they do with the No. 1 pick.
|  | | One possible move for the Wizards: Put together a package that includes Richard Hamilton. |
There is no secret that they have many holes to fill -- try four in the starting lineup -- and MJ, Doug Collins and the rest of the basketball brains will have many offers to consider. They've already made inquiries about a point guard (Andre Miller, Mike Bibby?) but what they really need are more players. And if Jordan is serious about continuing to scratch that ludicrous comeback itch -- hey Mike, however you broke those ribs, consider it a sign -- then he's going to want to have a competitive team around him. That means veterans. That means guys who are remotely familiar with the NBA. That means trade the pick.
It's hard to envision Jordan joining the Wizards of last year with a high school kid (or one-year-removed Eddie Griffin) at power forward, Himself at shooting guard, and no one else. The Wizards won 19 games last year for a reason: they were horrible. There are teams that might like to get younger (several in the Western Conference come to mind, particularly Portland) who might be willing to part with a couple of players to get the top pick.
It's always risky to trade the No. 1 pick. The last team to trade it prior to the draft was the Philadelphia 76ers, who had the No. 1 pick in the 1986 draft. They dealt it to the Cleveland Cavaliers for then rocketman Roy Hinson. The Sixers already had Moses Malone and Charles Barkley. The deal backfired bigtime when Hinson got hurt and Brad Daugherty turned into an All-Star. The Magic and Warriors traded picks on draft night in 1993, with Orlando drafting Chris Webber and then dealing him to Golden State for No. 3 pick Anfernee Hardaway and three No. 1s. Philly, still on a roll, took Shawn Bradley in between the two.
Let's say that Jordan comes to his senses now that he's on the shelf since getting hurt, allegedly playing basketball. (That's his story and he's sticking to it.) The Wizards have two players who basically play the same position -- Richard Hamilton and Courtney Alexander. (Jordan likes the latter; he traded for him.) That makes one of them expendable, so don't be surprised if Hamilton is offered up along with the pick for an established player or two. It could even be for a player and a pick.
The Wizards will certainly have choices. The question they have to answer: How do they want the next three or so years to look? Do they want to have the Traveling Michael Medicine Show with assorted freaks and geeks hitching their fading star to Jordan's shredded coattails? Do they want to exercise the pick and get one potentially good player? Or do they want to package the pick and move down -- not too far -- where the player they might get at, say, No. 6 might well have more of an immediate impact than the one they'd get at No. 1. The player the Wizards seem to like at this point is high flying Rodney White of Charlotte. He's a grizzled veteran of one year's college experience.
The guess here is that they'll do the last of three and maximize the value of the pick. It's not like they're bypassing the next Tim Duncan. They will be bypassing a potentially good player. But it's a roll of the dice with the high school kids. If the Wizards could get Bibby and the No. 6 pick for Hamilton and the No. 1 pick, they might just do it. It makes sense. They'd have their starting backcourt in Bibby and Alexander and they'd also have a good player at No. 6. The downside to that deal? David Falk represents Bibby, who is eligible to sign a long-term extension this summer. It would be interesting to watch Michael and Falk square off on that one.
Another team looking to move up is Orlando and they could offer a pretty enticing player in Mike Miller. You might legitimately ask, why trade the Rookie of the Year? Two words: Grant Hill. If Orlando is assured that Hill's foot is ready and mended, Miller's presence could be construed as duplicative. Orlando is desperate for big bodies up front and the high school contingent is loaded with them. Orlando has two first round picks, the highest of which is 15. That won't necessarily interest anyone unless someone valuable is tossed into the deal. Miller would be that someone.
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The Wizards still hold the cards and everything generally trickles down from No. 1. It's not just that there is a lot of suspense about the identity of No. 1. There's also no clear-cut Nos. 2, 3, 4, or 5. |
The Celtics have three first round picks and need three rookies like they need Rick Pitino to return. They feel their top two picks, 10 and 11, should both yield serviceable players. And they are not inclined to package both to move up to the top five. They would, however, package one of those picks along with their third, No. 21, to move up. But what they really should be doing is investigate moving the picks for established players because they already are young, and youth is a death sentence in the NBA.
Another team in an enviable position is Golden State. The Warriors have two picks, the fifth and the 14th. They really could be in a position to deal because they don't have that bad a team on paper. It's just that they can't get anyone healthy. They need a point guard in the worst way and there isn't one in this draft that merits going fifth. They might get someone like Jamaal Tinsley at 14, or they could deal the top pick for a point guard and move down in the draft. There's also talk that they'll package the two picks to Washington and move up to No. 1, in which case they might go for Tyson Chandler.
But the Wizards still hold the cards and everything generally trickles down from No. 1. It's not just that there is a lot of suspense about the identity of No. 1. There's also no clear-cut Nos. 2, 3, 4, or 5. We hear the same names. We also hear interlopers like White and Jason Richardson of Michigan State.
The choice is pretty clear for the Wizards. They need help and lots of it. They need it now, especially if their president of basketball operations, the man who once said he'd play for no one but Phil Jackson, the man who recently said he was 99.9 percent retired and the man who once said that it was time to move on, decides to reject all that and come back. Either way, the Wizards can reap the most out of this draft by moving down and collecting players and picks. That seems to be what most teams feel is going to happen, with the understanding that things don't really get going until 48 hours before the draft.
Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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