Sir I Gotta Go

Even if he gets you into the playoffs this year it is just delaying the inevitable. Once he leaves you are just back into the lottery.

You should trade Jordan to the Kings for Hedo and 2 first rounders. Partly because I want to see them dethrone the Lakers, partly because you can't get nothing better because Jordan is long in the tooth.

Then you start all of the young guys and the main focus this season should be to develop talent. You sign Grizzo. I don't care if you have to let Popeye walk, Popeye has no upside.

Here is a way you get all of the talent on the floor at the same time:

Offense: Defense:
PG:Jeffries PG:Hamilton
SG:Hamilton SG:Turkoglu
SF:Turkoglu SF:Jeffries
PF:Brown PF:Brown
C:Haywood C:Haywood


Now don't get me wrong. This team will suck, but all of the young guys will get their feet wet. And you will get a shot at Lebron. The point in Washington should be to develop talent. Not to crawl into the playoffs on MJ's crippled back only to get knocked out of the first round and have a bad draft pick.

This is all farfetched, and will probably never happen, but in my mind it is what should happen.

BCH

You seem to have put a little thought into this, but I believe you are way off base with your reasoning and your proposed lineups.

The Wizards have done the "Let's suck and play Lotto" routine. Everyone got tired of it real quick. MJ is not going anywhere and he is building the team to win. He isn't doing what Cleveland and Denver have done, capitulating already to the LeBron James Sweepstakes.

jazzy1

BCH is dead on correct we've been there and done that unsuccessfully ,thats the Clipper mentality and it doesn't work win now, establish a pattern of winning, create an enthusiasm within the city and organization ,develope the young players work ethic with hands on mentoring and when he steps back they'll have a bridge on which the young guys can follow and develope into a winner. Many of the same teams end up in the lottery every year waiting for that star that'll save them, we've got pieces here just need time to develope. No ONE is promised Lebron James and he doesn't have a lock on NBA greatness, I couldn't stand if we threw away another year waiting for the lottery.

Sir I Gotta Go

Yeah but last year when Jordan went down, you guys went like 5-17. This year if Jordan stays healthy you might crawl into the playoffs, but your young players will not get playing time and will not develop. you will lose in the first round, and you are back to base one with Jordan retiring and you back into the lottery. You might as well trade Jordan to a contender for some young talent while you can. Because, after the season you will be left with nothing. Jordan will be gone and Rip may walk. If you can get young talent in return you pull the trigger. You might as well play the young players anyway because if you don't they will not learn and will never develop. you brought up the Clippers. Well they played their young talent and developed it and have been getting better each season. This coming year they will probably be in the playoffs if everyone stays healthy. You have to develop the players at some point. If you keep putting it off it may never happen. There is one upside to going to the playoffs though. Young players do get the experience to see what it is like. But, I do not think Kwame will see one minute of the plaoffs. i think you need to start him this year because you procrastinated on it last year because you had hopes of making the playoffs. Just my thought but I think you need to get what you can for Jordan right now, because once he retires you have nothing. And i was not emplying you lose on purpose, I was saying you give the young fellas all the playing time you can throw there way. Including starting. Reply back soon.

higginj44

1984 Draft
6 Wash Mel Turpin
9 KC Otis Thorpe
11 Atl Kevin Willis
16 Utah John Stockton

1985 Draft
12 Wash Kenny Green
13 Utah Karl Malone
18 Det Joe Dumars

1987 Draft
12 Wash Tyrone Bogues
18 NY Mark Jackson

1989 Draft
9 Wash Tom Hammond
14 GS Tim Hardaway
17 Sea Shawn Kemp


Yeah, given Washington's track record with respect to the draft, if I was a Wiz fan, I would be willing to try it MJ's way too.

You guys are right about trading Jordan. His presence in Washington is absolutely positive for this team. It would be a bad move for him to trade himself, even if he was able to find a GM willing to trade a 20-something yo player for one year of MJ.

Sir I Gotta Go

I heard reports that his competiveness rubbed some young players the wrong way. Like yelling at Kwame Brown. Celebrating and rubbing it in Rip's face after beating him in a game to see who could hit more half court shots. I'm telling ya. these kids can't win without MJ anyway. and plus, once he wins a championship and goes out on top with the Kings, he can come back and be Gm of the Wiz again

shroombal

These kids can't win without MJ????


Hell, they went 5-17 without him and missed the darn playoffs last year!!!!!! We were like the 7th or 8th seed when he blew his knees out and then our YOUNG GUYZ didn't pick up the slack.

MJ needs to stay. You probably read that ESPN article about MJ being traded. Didn't you?!!??!

We don't need the lottery! If we can get sumthing on track, and maybe bring in Duncan or Kidd, it would help us out a lot more than sum lotto pick. And we should've traded Kwame Brown to Portland for Rasheed Wallace, but no, we had to keep this loser who has no upside wut so ever. This dude looks extremely uncomfortable on the court, and looks very confused when given the ball. He improved throughout the season, but when ur the 1st pick, and ur sum H.S. phenom, u should be able to score more than Bobby Simmons in the summer league!!!!

jazzy1

Dude your type of thinking is what has us in the situation now .It's way too early to tell about Kwame what did you expect from a highschool kid frankly I thought he'd play a little better but didn't really expect much more.Kwame I think will be fine because he does have great skills . Memo to SHROOMBALL we had Rasheed thats the problem we gave up on too many young good big men too soon way too soon, here's the list Rasheed,CWebb,and Ben Wallace. I say wait it out Rasheed is good but a head case if Kwame developes into a player as good as Wallace you'll have a good player minus the head case.

Who is MJ going to take Pt from Bobby Simmons maybe a little from JJefries . Those issues with Kwame was needed ,he needed to be yelled at , and Rip has started serious weight lifting why because of MJ's prodding, we want MJ here best thing for the team and I watched all of the games last year all, And the numbers don't accurately depict how close they were to being in the playoffs even without MJ.Another thing MJ doesn't deserve all the credit for their wins when he played some games those other guys led him to victory, if he doesn't play we're probably not a playoff team, but we won't be that bad either probably around 30 -35 wins not too bad, .

shroombal

Of course we won't be dat bad now that we added some depth at the PG/SG positions with Hughes, Dixon, and Grizzard being added this year. Hopefully Brown pans out and becomes wut we need him to be... a superstar. He's already fallen behind Tyson Chandler and Eddy curry in development. So Brown should stop focusing on Yoga, and do sum basketball.

Hughes wuz a great addition since we used the exception on him. With Dixon, and Jefferies providing a boost on offense and defense, we should be able to rack up 20 wins!

WizardsKev

I'm absolutely against trading MJ. What he teaches the youngsters -- not necessarily in what he says, but in how he competes and how he works, is more important than adding another youngster with potential.

Thankfully, Jordan and Collins know this and they're not going to do something stupid. I also have doubts about whether Jordan is going to return the bounty of young talent that "Trade Jordan" proponents think the Wiz will get. Here's an article I wrote recently that gives my thoughts in greater detail : http://wizards.realgm.com/showarticle.php?artid=107

Sir I Gotta Go

But you all forget, this is Jordan's last year. If you crawl into the playoffs this year it doesn't matter because next year you will just be back into the lottery. I don't think that a big FA will sign here. Just my opinion but there are other bigger market teams that can offer just as much if not more money than the Wizards. After this year Jordan is gone. You should get something for him while you can.

GB

Ummm....Hedo and Jeffries would probably be an EXCELLENT base to build a team on.

Lets face it---MJ's presence is about MJ first and the team second. He won't be around in 2 or 3 seasons (not on the court anyway) and Hedo's gonna be pulling strong about then...


With Rip there and two picks to trade for vets, the Wiz could have a better looking future quicker.

GB

Show 'em some tape.


And Hedo isn't potential, he's production.

WizardsKev

I haven't heard a persuasive argument yet that Jordan should be traded. Would I like to have Hedo? Absolutely, he's a good player. Do I believe for a moment that Sacramento would deal Hedo for Jordan? Hell no. The Kings are better off longterm keeping their group together. With the group they have, they'll be contenders for several more years. They'd be able to make a one-year run with MJ, but there'd be no guarantee that they'd win or that he'd stay healthy. If I was running the Kings, I wouldn't take the chance on MJ.

For the reasons I articulated in the article (link above) the Wizards won't trade MJ. Jordan could have gone anywhere he wanted, but he chose to sign with Washington. Those are his guys in the front office, his guys on the court, and his guy coaching the team. He's not going to trade himself someplace just to get a ring. It doesn't do anything for his "legacy", which he has said he doesn't care about anyway.

local_sportsfan

"Showing em some tape" is not going to improve anyone on the court. You of all people should know this...your precious Bulls need direction so badly, on offense they look like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. And no, Rose doesn't help.

And yes hedo is production...but he's not going to make the Wizards any better than Jordan's direction will.

You can believe Jordan comeback " is about MJ" yada, yada, yada. If that were true, he would have drafted Battier, or traded the pick for a vet. So obviously that wasn't the case.

LSF: I edited the first line. PM for an explanation.