Five talent evaluators from around the NBA spoke to Josh Robbins of The Athletic about what to expect from Wizards big man Alex Sarr and none of those sources expect the former No. 2 overall pick to develop into the best or second-best player on a contender, according to Robbins.
One scout questioned whether Sarr will become a reliable enough outside shooter to qualify as a stretch big man, while another suggested the seven-footer will have to bulk up and become more imposing physically in order to maximize his potential as a rim protector. “He weighs less than some of the bigger wings and forwards that are starting in the NBA,” that scout said.
Still, multiple sources who talked to Robbins are optimistic about Sarr’s ability to build on what he showed during his rookie season and to continue making strides toward becoming a reliable starting center.
“I would be surprised if he doesn’t take a big leap this year, and that big leap will be being effective on the floor and trying to impact the team outcome as opposed to impacting his individual outcome,” one evaluator told Robbins. “There’s still a lot (of untapped potential) as to what he could be. It was probably a slower start than maybe the general fan would hope for. But I think by the end of (last) season, he had been put in a position to succeed, and we’re going to see more of that built on this season. We’re going to see it start to pay dividends this season.”
Here’s more on Sarr and the Wizards:
- Sarr, who sustained a left calf injury during the EuroBasket tournament, told reporters on Saturday that he expects to be available to play in Washington’ preseason opener on Sunday after spending the past week ramping up, tweets Robbins. The Wizards will be taking on the Raptors, who have Alex’s brother Olivier Sarr on their roster on an Exhibit 10 deal. It will be the first time the brothers play one another in an organized game, according to the Wizards center (Twitter video link via Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network).
- Representing Serbia at EuroBasket, Wizards big man Tristan Vukcevic got the chance to team up with three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. As Hughes writes for Monumental Sports Network, Vukcevic said he was inspired by how hard the Nuggets star practices and paid close attention to specific aspects of Jokic’s game that he hopes to emulate. “Just seeing him in the short roll and how he reads – is he going to finish or pass to the corner – with those reads it helped me a lot being with him,” Vukcevic said. “Hopefully I can translate.”
- In a conversation with Hughes, Wizards guard CJ McCollum shared his early impressions on Wizards rookies Tre Johnson, Will Riley, and Jamir Watkins. While he shared positive feedback on all three players, McCollum notably spoke at length about Watkins, describing the second-round pick as a potential “lock-down” defender capable of guarding positions one through five. “He asks questions about defense. He was in the cold tub yesterday asking me about Herb Jones and what makes him such a good defender,” McCollum said. “He was asking me how he got to that point. I was telling him that he cares. He watches film, he makes the extra effort, and the body type matches. He’s got a good body – 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6 with long arms, quick enough to guard ones, strong enough to guard threes and fours. He can probably switch onto some fives and then it’s 3-and-D. The league loves that.”
I was not happy with what I saw from Sarr in his rookie year. Not because he was bricking jumpers or because he didn’t have polished finishing moves around the rim, but because he displayed abysmal positioning in every stage of the play on both ends: in the paint when his team had the ball, under the basket, when sets didn’t go right etc. That’s why he mostly defaulted to dangling around the perimeter – he didn’t know where to put himself, so he floated outside. On defense, it was the same thing. Don’t let his occasional blocks fool you – he was a huge negative when the opponents had the ball, couldn’t defend the rim and let all sorts of things happen in his paint. It was amazing to see how little space he occupied and protected while being a 7-footer. The only thing he did well was switching onto perimeter players and doing a good job of containing them. I’ll give him that.
This incompetence at positioning is a basketball crime to me, especially for someone who was born in a basketball family and attended Real Madrid’s academy. It’s the reason why he can’t grab rebounds at his height. I was in Katowice to watch him at Eurobasket, and it was even more evident in person, because you can concentrate on 1 player and what he does when you’re in the stands.
I’ve given up on Alex Sarr. It’s sort of reverse psychology: if I don’t expect anything from him, so that he can’t disappoint me. If he develops into something, it’ll be a pleasant bonus.
Can Vukcevic be a real 5, or is he a bench stretch 4? Probably the latter, but we’ll see.
Washington’s plan to somehow draft Bailey after the brutal lottery didn’t work out. Utah took him. So, Tre Johnson it is. Well, at least the team didn’t pick Knueppel or Fears at 6. Hopefully, one of Tre Johnson or Whitmore can score, and the team won’t be down by 15-25 points in the 1st half like they so often were in 24-25. And the games will be closer.
What will happen to CJ? Most likely, the same thing that happened to Brogdon: nobody will trade for him before the deadline (because his value is being better than a bad contract, and there aren’t that many bad contracts in the NBA anymore), he will spend the entire season with the Wiz, and will get a veteran minimum in the summer of 26.
Jamir Watkins is whatever. This team will be tanking for way too long and will have way too many picks needing minutes for him to get an opportunity.