As news broke Tuesday about the "trade opportunity" the Wizards had for James Harden, my mind began to wander and think what if. Michael Lee of the Washington Post makes some great points in his article "Washington Wizards said to have turned down trade for James Harden." I can understand the money issue, but at the same time with the talent that this team would then have, why pass up on that opportunity?
Bradley Beal, rookie guard from Florida, was most likely the key piece in the trade. As said in Lee's article, the Oklahoma City Thunder interviewed Bradley Beal before the draft. Draft picks in the NBA hardly ever pan out. You can have top picks such as Kwame Brown or Eddy Curry that just never work out as top 5 picks and you can have the likes of a Gilbert Arenas who was drafted in the second round. I can understand not wanting to get rid of Beal because you never know. Kobe Bryant was drafted 14th overall and is now one of five players in NBA history to score 30,000 points. Hesitance on trading Beal, whom hadn't even played a game, would be tough if I was the man in charge.
Chris Singleton, another first round pick, is actually the player that I would not want to lose. Singleton can do it all and has shown flashes as a main stay in the starting for most teams in the NBA. He is a solid defender, is slowly developing a shot and is a solid rebounder. Overall however, why do you not make a trade for a proven shooter and budding star?
John Wall was injured before the James Harden trade. Take this into consideration, Gilbert Arenas' career was derailed by injury. Without a point guard you can't win a game in the NBA. The Celtics had the big 3, but without Rondo's emergence would they have won a championship? Derek Fisher isn't the best point guard in the league but he plays D and knew to get the ball to Shaq and Kobe. If Wall can't become what the Wizards were hoping and the knee injury is long term then any money set aside to resign him in 2 years is wasted.
Right now the Wizards back court could be Harden and Jordan Crawford. They could also start Webster or Ariza at the 3 and we won't even get into the terrible rotation of big men. Regardless in the NBA you need to win now and in five years. Sure the luxury tax would be terrible for one year but the money made in ticket revenue would easily offset it. After next season, Ariza and Okafor are off the books. This will lead to available money to resign Wall and whoever else (Crawford, Seraphin and Booker) they want to keep. Harden is the type of player the Wizards wanted when they drafted Beal, so why wait for the development? Sure you lose Singleton, but Harden (the fifth leading scorer in the league) would fill a need that the Wizards haven't had since they traded Richard Hamilton. They have the point guard (Wall), they have a solid back up guard (Crawford), why not suffer through the luxury tax for one season for years of guaranteed playoff berths?
We all know that Ted Leonsis has made some good moves on the hockey side of the arena, but has he made the correct moves for the basketball team? Ernie Grundfeld hasn't made any sort of good decisions in quite some time (see Jan Vesely) and he is no George McPhee. Leonsis needs to find a more suitable GM to run this team if they are gonna be run on a small budget that is always building towards the future. Take a page from the team down the street (Nationals). They built in the draft, traded some young players, signed some key veterans and they had the best record in baseball. Potentially the best trade in Wizards history was passed on for a couple million dollars that would be made back in one playoff series. Maybe hindsight is 20/20, but in Washington, Wizards fans have been looking for a consistent winner since the 80s and there is no sign of one to come.
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