Ranking the Wizards

So today has been an interesting day for Wizards fans. First, the Marc Stein report that the Wiz were among teams expressing strong interest in Andrew Bogut, which implies, as Mike Lee reported, that there is a willingness to trade JaVale McGee. Then the tweet by Mike Lee that the Wizards are so desperate to trade Andray Blatche that they'd be willing to trade anybody on the roster not named John Wall to get rid of him. Upon following this all day, and reading Bill Simmons' annual trade value column, I decided to group our roster categories based on my willingness to trade them.

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Old guys that are gone anyway

Roger Mason
Maurice Evans
What do I need to say here? Next...

Rashard Lewis
Is it possible that a team that needs cap space this offseason to make a move for one of the meagstars would be willing to take on Rashard's contract and then release him at season's end for $13.7M? Like who would be dumb enough to do that? While I don't expect it to happen it's not beyond the realm of possibility. Anyway, let's just assume he's not traded and we pay him to beat it after the season.

GTFOH

Andray Blatche
Persona non grata. While I'm indifferent to the booing, I don't think it's anybody's place to determine whether or not a person is a "real fan" based on their booing or not booing of Blatche. He's worn out his welcome, consistently out of shape, and completely maddening to root for. And that's before he says the booing makes him feel sad inside. That made it worse. Doubt he gets traded unless we either take back another team's headache or we include somebody that we really want to keep. I hope this "desperation" to trade him does not mean they are willing to give up one of our two true cornerstones. Damn, was that a spoiler? Ignore those last two sentences.

Nick Young
Nick is so...frustrating. I mean he obviously can score, and can be a good on-the-ball defender at times, but I just don't see how his game has progressed in any other facet. In the win against the Lakers Wednesday night, he had a career-high six assists. Now every Wizards fans that truly follows the team had to do a double take upon seeing that in the box score. He averages only 2.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game on the season. That's just not getting it done. And he wanted $9M per season? He lost a lot of money with his play this season, and I don't think we can keep him AND Jordan Crawford. If he can't be traded for fair value (I'm not even sure what fair value is, but if it's considered to be only a second round pick, I think I'd just keep him for the rest of the season), just let him walk unrestrictedly out of here after the season ends. That is UNLESS Jordan Crawford is traded for something deemed worthy and Nick realizes that he is best suited signing for $3-4M and coming off the bench. Riiiiiiiiiiight.

I like them as Wizards, but....

Shelvin Mack
Ronny Turiaf
Kevin Seraphin
Chris Singleton
Jordan Crawford
Jan Vesely
I'm not ready to go out and call these guys core pieces yet, but I recognize the potential and would like to see how they pan out here. I'm curious as to how Singleton and Vesely develop, and I'm curious to see if Crawford can ever reign himself in more consistently. These are guys that I think are more than fill-ins to any proposed trade. I'm hesitant to be so bold as to call them assets, but I think semi-assets or maybe bait describes how I think they can be viewed in trade talks. Does that make sense? In other words, if trading one of them was a trading partner's demand as a throw-in to get a good player back, I'd have to part ways. (For the record, Turiaf probably doesn't belong in this group, as he's a bit of a journeyman at this point, but I think so highly of him I threw him in here. I LOVE what Turiaf seemed to bring to our team before he got hurt. I'd really be good with us re-signing him for next season.)

I don't even know any more

JaVale McGee
I'm so tired of writing about JaVale. I've defended him all year, and he's just worn me down. Much like the front office, apparently, I begrudgingly can no longer consider him untradeable. BUT, for us to trade him, it HAS to be for a truly good player, an unprotected first round pick in this year's draft, or something that I deem valuable enough to part with a seven-foot, freakishly athletic center. I'm willing to listen to scenarios. I was even on board with the JaVale McGee for Andrew Bogut, idea but there seem to be a lot of strings attached to that. Bogut has been afflicted by the injury bug, although some of those injuries could be seen as freakish. But I won't immediately dismiss some combination of McGee with Blatche and/or Lewis for Bogut and Crazy Stephen Jackson being offered. If none of that works out though, I still haven't totally ruled out us bringing him back for maybe $8-9M per year and hiring a legitimate big man coach. Gee, I just can't let go. At least I've lowered the max amount I'd offer him! FOURTEEN MILLION A YEAR !??!?!???? If he said that, JaVale will get the 'Go Directly to GTFOH' Chance card. Do not pass go, just GTFOH.

The guys on the program and marketing material

Trevor Booker
John Wall
Yeah, I'm as shocked as you are that Booker made it all the way up here, but he's here in my book (you see what I did there?). Did you know that since February, playing 30 minutes a game, he's averaging 11 points and eight rebounds, and is shooting 55% from the field? He's brought constant effort and energy, like a Tasmanian devil. He's obviously developed as a player, and if he can work on his jump shot over the summer he's gonna be a problem. As for Jimmy, well we already know he's untouchable.