The NBA Finals are in full swing, now a virtual best-of-five between the Nuggets and Heat, and NBA TV’s Chris Miles joined JP Finlay (rolling solo Monday) to break down the series.
But within that, JP also asked Chris about the new Wizards hires, namely Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger and Wizards VP of Player Personnel Travis Schlenk, the latter of whom Miles knows a lot better than the new overall President.
“Winger is a little higher up and I don’t know people who know him directly,” Miles said, “but he’s going to be what David Griffin is in New Orleans – the basketball ops person at that level, the GM reports to him, and they handle all other business things, so Travis Schlenk is really the guy to have all the basketball discussions.”
What is it that drew Winger to hire Schlenk, in large part?
“His ability to draft is what makes him so special. He’s been part of drafting Draymond Green, and getting more assets for Trae Young.
All the guys he’s drafted have essentially worked out and become very good NBA players,” Miles said. “That’s a place the Wizards struggle, so the key to bringing him in is his draft evaluations, so theoretically, the Wizards should be able to start to nail that a little more.”
There may still be an actual GM coming for the Wizards as well, but the reason to hire someone like Schlenk now is because the Draft is now just a few weeks away.
“The draft is coming up, so you need to do your evaluations, and he’s already been paying attention to the prospects,” Miles said. “Basketball talent is different in that you have to find the elite of the elite, and this draft as far as talent evaluation is set, but you have to find a guy who knows these guys.”
Related
Listen to Miles’ entire segment above, with Wizards talk beginning around 12 minutes into the clip!
Follow BMitch & Finlay on Twitter: @BMitchliveNBCS, @JPFinlayNBCS, and @BMitchandFinlay
Keep up with 106.7 The Fan via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram