#SoWizards

Sometimes during a long offseason, you need to throw off the shackles of trivia, nonsense and offseason pickup videos in which *no really* he's *really-really-really* in the best shape of his life and talk about the important things like whether bald players are better, and who are the best bald Wizards/Bullets in franchise history.

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The Wizards emerged from the 2022 NBA summer league with a 3-2 record, a positive scoring differential, and one of Las Vegas’s three most productive players, and the whole thing was still disappointing. In this episode, Kevin is joined by Matt Modderno, host of the Bleav in Wizards podcast, for an analysis of the summer league experience. We get into positives and negatives, and examine everything from roster construction to what's reasonable to expect from a five-game "season" lasting about 10 days.

Make sure to check out the companion podcast on the Bleav in Wizards stream where Matt and I discuss the types of players the Wizards seem to value. Based on recent draft picks and the Wizards' Summer League additions, it's questionable whether the player archetypes they prioritize are actually all that valuable or effective in today's NBA. Based on that, we discuss how valuable Corey Kispert's skillset actually is and who are his closest statistical comps (aka dopplegangers). You might be surprised to find out whose statistical profile most closely mirrors his so far. We also make the case for why Corey Kispert and Deni Avdija should have played at Summer League.

Support the podcast by checking out Athletic Greens, a lifestyle-friendly supplement that provides 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals, whole-food sourced superfoods, probiotics and adaptogens -- with less than 1 gram of sugar. Visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging

In this kinda-sorta mailbag episode, Kevin and Ron answer basketball-related questions and end up covering a wide range of topics. The questions:

Support the podcast by checking out Athletic Greens, a lifestyle-friendly supplement that provides 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals, whole-food sourced superfoods, probiotics and adaptogens -- with less than 1 gram of sugar. Visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging

This episode might have had a different flavor, at least at the start, if we'd known all of the preposterous details of the "let's just give him everything we possibly" can contract the Washington Wizards awarded Bradley Beal.

In this episode, Kevin and Ron discuss the Beal contract, and the team's other roster moves so far this offseason. We also delved into the iffy strategy of not taking a swing on high-producing players like Dejounte Murray, an All-NBA level performer, who the Atlanta Hawks acquired for the corpse of Danilo Gallinari and some first-round picks.

We also hit on some of the big deals made by other teams, and closed with a discussion of the contract given to one of Ron's favorite players: Lou Dort.

Matt Modderno teamed up with Kevin for a two-part crossover deep-dive into the 2022 NBA Draft. Part One — covering guards and forwards is Matt's Bleav in Wizards podcast. In Part Two, Kevin and Matt break down wings and centers that have a realistic shot to hear their name called on draft night and the range most reasonable for them to be selected. The two episodes cover more than 70 players...for a 58-player draft. Wings discussed include: Bennedict Mathurin, Kendall Brown, AJ Griffin, Jalen Williams, David Roddy, Dalen Terry, Ochai Agbaji, MarJon Beauchamp, Jake LaRavia, Christian Braun, Keon Ellis, Malaki Branham, Gabriele Procida, Jabari Walker, Tevin Brown, Ousmane Dieng, Shaedon Sharpe, Tevin Brown and Vince Williams. Centers: Chet Holmgren, Mark Williams, Christian Koloko, Jalen Duren, Walker Kessler, Michael Foster Jr., Josh Minott, Trevion Williams, Ismael Kamagate, and Yannick Nzosa.

With the NBA Draft looming on the calendar, and the Washington Wizards committed to maximum salary players Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis, the team will need to rely on the cheap labor of young players on rookie contracts. The burning question facing the franchise is one they've answered poorly for the past few decades: Can the team develop its young players into major contributors?

For the Wizards, this issue may be more imperative than it is for other "win now" teams because the max salary players they're paying aren't really among the game's truly elite performers.

In this episode, Kevin and Ron discuss whether whoever the team selects in the draft will even be able to crack the rotation, and whether Wes Unseld Jr. and the team's coaching staff is up to the task of helping young players reach their true potential. They also talk about some draft prospects who might be available when the Wizards pick, including Tari Eason, Dyson Daniels, Bennedict Mathurin, Jeremy Sochan, and David Roddy.

Also, support the podcast by checking out Athletic Greens, a lifestyle-friendly supplement that provides 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals, whole-food sourced superfoods, probiotics and adaptogens -- with less than 1 gram of sugar. Visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging

Recorded shortly after the NBA's annual Draft Lottery, which left the Wizards with the 10th pick (the most likely outcome based on their record this season), Osman Baig from Bullets Forever and Matt Modderno, host of the Bleav in Wizards podcast, joined Kevin to talk about what the Wizards can and should do this offseason.

The trio dissected an array of options, including trading up for a potential star, trading down to take good players who slip, and/or using the pick to acquire proven veterans. They also delved into possible trades involving some of the team's attractive veterans (to other teams), including Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Also, support the podcast by checking out Athletic Greens, a lifestyle-friendly supplement that provides 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals, whole-food sourced superfoods, probiotics and adaptogens -- with less than 1 gram of sugar. Visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging

In this episode, co-hosts Kevin Broom and Ron Oakes-Cunningham were joined by Wizards writer and youth basketball coach Marcus Atkinson. They discussed Ron's theory that fans need time off once their favorite gets eliminated to recalibrate their basketball eye and reset expectations. They also got into a conversation about effective team building, with a focus on the Memphis success assembling a deep and talented roster around Ja Morant. That evolved into some Memory Lane discourse that delved into the monumental organization-wide lack of foresight, poor strategic planning, and inability to provide meaningful support to young players who needed help to grow into the kinds of roles the team wanted them to fill. The episode wrapped with Kevin and Marcus continuing a conversation started on Twitter about Nikola Jokic, whether he's a deserving MVP, and whether a team can make a deep run in the playoffs built around a player like Jokic. 

Also, support the podcast by checking out Athletic Greens, a lifestyle-friendly supplement that provides 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals, whole-food sourced superfoods, probiotics and adaptogens -- with less than 1 gram of sugar. Visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging

With the Washington Wizards not making the playoffs, Kevin and Ron took some time to reflect on weighty #SoWizards topics like whether Bradley Beal should take less than the maximum salary, which of the Wizards' players seem like they could compete effectively at playoffs intensity, and the relative goodness of Desmond Bane. 

They touched on Beal's now-four-season-long drop in three-point shooting, and the likelihood that he's going to be in the expensive decline portion of his career well before his contract extension concludes.

The also discussed who should win NBA MVP this season.

Got any burning questions you'd like to hear Ron and/or Kevin address? Let us know on Twitter @So_Wizards or via email at kevinbroomwrites at gmail dot com.