While Tommy Sheppard‘s claim that the Wizards intend to retain Davis Bertans through the trade deadline and beyond this season could be viewed as a leverage play, John Hollinger of The Athletic sounds inclined to believe the first-year general manager. As Hollinger writes in his round-up of chatter from the G League Showcase in Las Vegas, all signals indicate the Wizards are serious about keeping Bertans.
Hollinger points to the Wizards’ recent promotion of center Anzejs Pasecniks as one more sign that the Wizards are committed to Bertans. Pasecniks, who signed a two-way contract with Washington, is a Latvian like Bertans, and the two big men share an agent, per Hollinger.
Hollinger passed along several more tidbits from Las Vegas, so let’s round up some of the most notable items from the former Grizzlies executive…
- Teams around the NBA aren’t particularly high on the 2020 NBA draft class, leading Hollinger to surmise that contenders won’t be averse to including 2020 first-round picks in trades this winter.
- While center is widely viewed as the Celtics‘ biggest need, most logical trade targets at that position earn $20MM+ and would be difficult for Boston to acquire. As such, one source who spoke to Hollinger thinks the C’s might actually pursue another perimeter player, perhaps a wing or forward. The thinking is that the Celtics often play four of their top five perimeter players – Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, and Gordon Hayward – together and could benefit from adding another reliable contributor to that group.
- Rayjon Tucker, a guard for the Wisconsin Herd, looks like a prime candidate for an NBA call-up, according to Hollinger, who notes that Tucker was getting buzz even before his 34-point game at the G League Showcase. Hollinger’s other top candidates for potential call-ups include DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (Oklahoma City Blue), Jeremiah Martin (Sioux Falls Skyforce), Dedric Lawson (Austin Spurs), and Simisola Shittu (Windy City Bulls).
The 2020 draft class is better than the 2019 class (for sure), and could still potentially a good class. Some of the top guys of 2019-HS class have gotten side tracked, and that’s affected the hierarchy at the top. But there was far more elite talent in the 2019-HS class than in the 2018-HS class. The non-FR college players (a group that dominated the 2019 draft) emerge later in the year. A 4-10 pick in this draft should be highly valued, not fungible with 11-20 like last year.
2020 draft class should have more talent in the top-10, but I still think the 2019 draft class was deeper (and thus underrated) than many realize. Don’t think that’s going to be the case this year.
2019 looks like a really depth draft…
Dort was undrafted…
#30 kpj is playing a lot…
It might turn out that way. But the 2020 draft class hasn’t completely come together yet after. A good deal of the 2019 1st rounders emerged during the college season. 2020 also has some potentially higher end foreign players that could come out (in addition to the Americans playing overseas).
True, and I’m definitely not a hardcore draft follower. My comment was more of a gut feeling which could totally be wrong.
The SASpurs screwed up by trading Davis Bertans … not sure what Pop was thinking
As far as Celtics’ needs, I don’t think they view themselves as needing anything else, even a center. As the article states, that position player would cost around 20mm, where the Celts don’t pay more than 5mm for any 5 spot player. I don’t think they’ll trade for a winger or PF either. With their bench improving like it is, it’s just a matter of time where this young team will be dominant.