In trading for the draft rights of raw Metropolitans 92 small forward Bilal Coulibaly with the No. 7 pick, the Wizards were gambling on his ceiling, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. The 6’8″ swingman has tantalizing length and athleticism, but will probably require significant NBA run to fully marinate at the next level.
“It could take some time, but from where he went in a short amount of time to where we think he can go, that’s the exciting part,” Wizards general manager Will Dawkins said. “And we’ll embrace that. We’ll put resources around him, try to help him maximize himself. At the end of the day, he has the physical tools, but he’s also a very skilled player. So once that comes together, I think you’ll have the player we’re looking for and the reason why we drafted him so high.”
There’s more out of Washington:
- During an introductory news conference held by Wizards team officials, Coulibaly seemed impressively relaxed and confident, writes Robbins in a separate story. During a subsequent chat with Robbins, Coulibaly expounded on what he intends to accomplish in his NBA career. “I want to be a good two-way player,” Coulibaly said. “But, yeah, I want to be a franchise player by the next four years. I want to stay in D.C., give it all for the fans, for the city.”
- With the Wizards now seemingly fully pivoting to a youth movement after trading their two starriest veterans (Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis), fans will have to embrace the long view rather than expecting big things in the short-term future, writes David Aldridge of The Athletic.
- Under its previous management group, the Wizards had been reticent to fully rebuild. In doing so now, the team should at least able to truly move on from a half decade of fringe mediocrity, opines Kevin B. Blackistone of The Washington Post. The Wizards have made the playoffs in just one of the past five seasons, but haven’t truly bottomed out and landed a top-five pick during that time.