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This is not difficult. Don’t get cute. Don’t get smart. Washington Wizards general manager Will Dawkins should keep it simple and just pick the guy they think is likely to be the best NBA player and move on to the next opportunity.
There are several reasons for this. For starters, decades of NBA Draft experience says that the answer to the question in the headline is simple: do not pick for fit. Washington Wizards general manager and the team’s decision-makers would be wise to accept this lesson, even in a year with multiple high-quality prospects.
BYU’s AJ Dybantsa is expected to the top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. | Getty Images
The most famous blunder stemming from picking for fit was probably when the Portland Trail Blazers chose Kentucky center Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan because they thought they needed a center.
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As former Indiana University head coach Bob Knight said, “Then play Jordan at center.”
This leads me to the second major reason to pick upside and talent over fit — team needs and fit is a moving target. The reality is that no team is so talented that they can’t use another great talent. If they’re truly having a positional logjam, they can always make a trade. It turns out, other teams will pay for talented players.
But even without injuries, team needs change fast. For example, look back to 2020 when the Wizards picked Deni Avdija over Tyrese Haliburton, in large reason because the front office at the time thought they were well-stocked at guard. After all, Bradley Beal was a two-time All-Star and John Wall was slated to return.
Their trade of Wall brought back Russell Westbrook — another guard.
Tyrese Halburton spent last season in street clothes recovering from an Achilles tear, but he should have been Washington’s first round pick in 2020. | Getty Images
The case for picking Avdija was that he had good size and and some guard-like skills, and that he’d pair well with Rui Hachimura as highly switchable forwards. That was the theory.
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Except…well…Haliburton was the better prospect. No insult to Avdija but still. Haliburton was crazy productive in…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/wizards-draft-upside-fit-100000178.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-30 10:00:00
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