“Me you and Cakes, there’s no defense in that group!”
That was Kevin Sheehan’s response when he joined the Sports Junkies on Thursday for a little Wizards cross-talk, and EB made the statement that the Wizards should just play the above on-air trio this year as they rebuild completely.
There’s a lot of unknown in DC basketball right now, but one thing Sheehan does know is that if you’re upset about the trade hauls for Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis, well, don’t blame the current front office.
“The only thing we know about this is that they’re in rebuild mode, and it’s not a small rebuild, it’s tearing it down to the studs,” Sheehan said. “What we don’t know for sure is if they’re making the most of these trades, but the reality is they’ve had no leverage; Beal had the no-trade clause, and Porzingis had the player option where they could have lost him for nothing if he opted out.”
Chris Knoche, who will co-host our Draft Show Thursday night, echoed the same sentiment on his hits with the Junks, Sheehan, and BMitch & Finlay: asset return being what it is, the Wizards cleared more than $85 million off their books in trading Beal and KP, and while they’re taking back about 75 percent of that again with the players coming back…they’re doing so in the form of five players who, at the very worst, are expiring or non-guaranteed contracts and could all be gone by this time next year.
“They’re doing what they should be doing in the grand scheme of things, it’s just whether or not they’re taking advantage of the trades,” Sheehan said. “You would certainly think Beal and KP would’ve produced at least one first-round pick – but Tyus Jones may be their best trade chip going forward. I understand the frustration of what they got back, but they didn’t have much leverage.
And, in reality, you have to be fair with what the assets were and what their values were.
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“The no-trade clause was a big part of it with Beal, but the $200-plus million left on his deal was also huge, given he had missed 74 games the last two years. He’s not an elite player, he’s a good No. 2 or No. 3 on a good team,” Sheehan said. “Winger came in with a big-time resume, and I just don’t think they had any ability to extract more out of these players. Again, Porzingis could’ve just walked, but at least with this deal, they at least have a good trade chip in Jones, and we still don’t know what Chris Paul will bring back or the picks and pick swaps in the Phoenix deal mean. Big picture, I like what they’re doing, even if it doesn’t guarantee a great outcome.”
That outcome, at least this year, is agreed upon by EB and Sheehan: ‘they are gonna suck.” But, is that what you actually want?
“We want them to be in the Top 3 the next few years,” Sheehan said.
Listen to the whole conversation above!
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