Chris Jackson, later Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, was the third overall pick in 1990. Where will the Washington Wizards go with the No. 3 overall pick in 2012?

Over the weekend reports surfaced from news outlets in both North Carolina (The Charlotte Observer) and Ohio (The News-Herald) that the Cleveland Cavaliers, who hold the fourth overall pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft, will trade up with the Charlotte Bobcats, who own the second overall pick. Charlotte would reportedly get the 24th pick from the Cleveland as part of the deal. Such a move by Michael Jordan’s Bobcats could screw the draft hopes of the Washington Wizards.

Coming off last week’s trade for Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza, Washington’s camp may have revealed a preference for Bradley Beal out of the University of Florida, leading their old nemesis, the Cavs (who are targeting Beal themselves), to believe that they’ll have to sacrifice an asset to get their man. And there’s nothing the Wizards can really do about it other than settle for what’s left.

People, myself included, might make something out of Washington’s draft preference — a pick that, if chosen wrongly, could significantly setback rebuilding — resting in the hands of former Wizard Jordan, but it would be a smart move by the Bobcats. Charlotte GM Rich Cho, as well as the team’s vice chairman, Curtis Polk — who used to be an agent for David Falk, a former rival of the Washington franchise and Abe Pollin — are smart people. They know that Charlotte needs just about everything, and if this means trading down to settle for two out of three prospects being available between North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes, Kentucky’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Kansas’ Thomas Robinson (along with getting the 24th pick, which comes with more value to a team like Charlotte), then the move is a no-brainer. If Wizards fans want to be irked at someone screwing them, it should be directed toward Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert and not necessarily Jordan. Both are easy targets in any case.

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[Editor's Note: This is J.D. Jackson's first post for Truth About It.net. J.D. is 29 and lives in Baltimore. He's previously written for Most Valuable Network and All-Baseball.com and has hosted podcasts on 360thepitch. Though he's been a casual NBA fan for most of his life, he's become a more serious fan of the game and the Wizards. You can follow him @jdjackson on Twitter. Also note: this post was written before today's trade between the Wizards and the Hornets with Washington sending Rashard Lewis and their 2012 46th pick to New Orleans in exchange for Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza. —Kyle W.] 

When draft day rolls around in about a week, the Wizards aren’t expected to make any crazy moves at the No. 3 pick. It will likely be a choice between Bradley Beal and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (possibly depending on what those crazy, crazy Bobcats decide to do).

It’s almost a denouement to the day. Having a new, highly-touted player will be exciting, for certain. But like last year when everything on the planet pointed to the Wizards taking Jan Vesely, there’s just not going to be much surprise with the Wizards on the clock. Not that it’s a bad thing, necessarily, but at least there was some intrigue with their second selection at No. 18. It ended up being Chris Singleton, but there were about 50 different directions that the team could’ve gone, and it was a riveting few minutes on the clock.

So, if you’re a Wizards fan and you’re looking for that little bit of drama, where will you get it? The Wizards own two second round picks (32 and 46 from Dallas) in what is expected to be a pretty deep draft. Last year’s draft class was, by most accounts, a significantly leaner class. And yet, between the countless trades that happened at the back end of draft day, what was lost is just how much of an impact the players taken in the second round had for their respective teams last season. Of the 30 players taken in the 2011 NBA Draft’s second round, only eight did not log any minutes last season. That number was 12 in 2010. In fact, in the lockout-shortened season, 2011 second rounders played a total of 10,048 minutes. In 2010, second rounders in their rookie seasons played a total of 4,681 minutes — 2,541 of those minutes were logged by Landry Fields. You’d expect the lack of training camps after the lockout to hurt rookies the most, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. Most of the second rounders who didn’t log minutes from the 2011 class were stashed overseas as well, leaving only Jon Diebler (Trailblazers, No. 51; signed to play in Greece last August) and Chukwudiebere Maduabum (Lakers, No. 56; drafted from the D-League and traded to Denver) as the players who inexcusably failed to show up. Kyle Singler (Pistons, No. 33), the third non-Euro to not log any minutes last season, actually wound up overseas himself. He split time between CB Lucentum Alicante and Real Madrid and may be headed to Detroit soon.

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The Czech Republic’s Tomas “Saty” Satoransky declared for the 2012 NBA Draft before the 5 p.m. deadline on Monday, per Tweet of ESPN’s Chad Ford. When he worked out for the Washington Wizards last Friday, he said he was leaning toward staying. Now, whether he would be willing to get picked but remain in Europe for a season or two, i.e., Euro Stash, Satoransky said he was undecided.

One issue: Ford calls Satoransky a wing; he calls himself a point guard. Can he hang in a point guard’s League? Can he defend other NBA points? His answer seems simple: scouting.

“Always they’re going to be faster then you because they’re smaller, they are more athletic, but you gotta use also the basketball I.Q. against this,” he told me. Implementation remains to be seen.

Satoransky also realizes his jump shot is seen as a weakness by scouts — “Most important: compete, play hard, hustle; so they can see that you are really fighting about this,” was his answer to pre-draft workouts, not the need for a jump shooting spectacle – but he says that improving strength his a higher priority.

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Former Georgetown Hoya Hollis Thompson was all of two-years old when Sam Cassell made his NBA debut with the Houston Rockets in November of 1993.

So, with Cassell serving as an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards, who have been putting 2012 NBA Draft hopefuls through workouts, including Thompson last Thursday, we are given a chance to crunch the age numbers as the two faced-off in a drill on the Verizon Center practice court.

Cassell will turn 43-years old this November, and Thompson turned 21 this past April; the difference between them — 21 years, 4 months and 16 days — is currently greater than Thompson’s age.

The drill was defensive in nature. Participating players were required to rotate properly on help defense as the ball was passed around. The final component involved the main defender rotating from helping in the paint to closing out on a wing player in the corner (Cassell) using proper technique.

From there, Cassell had free reign to relish the opportunity of scoring on a kid at least 50-percent less in age. And this wasn’t the first time Cassell has dueled with kids — previous battles have come against the likes of John Wall, Nick Young, JaVale McGee, and Andray Blatche — and it likely won’t be the last.

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[Austin Rivers "7" Drill" video via Adam McGinnis]

“I think I’m the best player in the draft, as far as being prepared for the league. That’s just me being a competitor,” uttered Kansas forward Thomas Robinson to the media after his workout for the Wizards last Wednesday. He later said his statements were not a personal affront to Anthony Davis or any other player, but that he felt like his experience and numbers at Kansas were worthy of that number one spot.

Duke guard Austin Rivers did not make such a grandiose statement after his workout for the Wizards on Friday, because his charisma said enough. He asked the media how they were doing before his interview, he looked every question asker in the eye, he cracked jokes about his younger brother (Spencer) and older brother (Jeremiah, former Georgetown Hoya), he smiled every now and then, and he spoke about the importance of thinking — even if it’s not true — that he’s the best, too.

Rivers, Terence Ross (University of Washington) and Tomas Satoransky (Czech Republic) worked out together for about an hour in front of Wizards coaches and personnel. Kentucky’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was scheduled to be included in this same workout, but the Wizards announced at the last minute he would workout alone at an earlier time. The media was allowed to see two drills with the three players: A full court running drill, which required them to hit a shot from the elbow, before running back down court, and the “7 Drill,” which former Wizards coach Flip Saunders once eloquently described as a mental test of heart.

Rivers was less than impressive in his shooting drills. During the full court drill, his shot looked similarly tough to watch as John Wall’s, at times. Instead of stopping, jumping, and then shooting in one fluid motion, Rivers had a bit of a hitch in his release. And when his shot did not go in on one side of the floor, he attempted to jump a little and change the release point on the next, but it ended up looking mechanical and uncomfortable — just like a Ledell Eackles jump shot. Rivers appeared to be trying to guide the ball in the basket, and on a couple of occasions, he took four and five steps before releasing the ball–much more than the three steps the NBA allows a select few to take.

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If things go how they should go, the Washington Wizards worked out their future 2012 third overall draft pick on Thursday: Bradley Beal out of the University of Florida. Sure, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Thomas Robinson would be fine additions — either/or likely being the target of the Charlotte Bobcats with the No. 2 selection. But Beal fits the greatest need the Wizards have: long distance shooting combined with attack-the-basket scoring.

And if the Wizards value the presence of John Wall, they’ll select Beal over any player not named Anthony Davis. The Wizards have some guys with the skills of Robinson — rebounding, post scoring, hustle, and mean screen setting (see Nene, Kevin Seraphin, Trevor Booker, or Jan Vesely). And while Kidd-Gilchrist is obviously a top five talent, he can’t shoot. Not acceptable at pick No. 3 (unless Beal goes second, then it’s MKG over Robinson).

For the love of God Shammgod!! The Wizards need shooters more than this town needs an enema. (Although, the recent spike in corruption amongst D.C. City Council members does exasperate the latter option.)

Other than Mike Miller’s .480 from the 3-point arc in 2009-10, the last Wizards players to shoot above .410 in a season (while attempting at least 100 threes) were Hubert Davis, Tyronn Lue and Chris Whitney, all in 2001-02.

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[original photo via AP]

When I entered the Washington Wizards practice court and saw former Kansas Jayhawks forward Thomas Robinson, the first noticeable sight was his physique. So many players come into the NBA as unfinished physical products, and the hope is that they will eventually get stronger and put on what Mark Jackson calls “grown-man weight.”  Robinson has that already. And as Bullets Forever’s Mike Prada noticed, he’s built like a middle linebacker.

The next trait of Robinson’s that could not be missed was his confidence. Robinson, and the two players he was working out with, Al’Lonzo Coleman (Presbyterian College) and Kevin Thompson (Morgan State) were tasked with a drill that involved shooting jumpers after sprinting full court. Coleman and Thompson struggled to make it up and down the floor, and their jumpers were inconsistent at best. Robinson also struggled with his shot, but he ran up and down the court with relative ease.

As each of Robinson’s shots left his hand, he yelled phrases like “ballgame,” “that’s money,” and “buckets.”  Some went in, some did not, but his confidence, and his vocal urging that these shots go in the basket, did not waver. Who was right there encouraging him when his shots would not fall?  Sam Cassell, who never lacked meddle in the confidence department either.

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John Wall contemplates…
Who the Wizards should take.

Anthony Davis would have been nice, very nice. But the world is not always nice. Sure, the Wizards technically “slipped” one spot to third in Wednesday night’s NBA Draft Lottery. But, looking at the odds going in — a 19.9-percent chance to land the first pick, an 18.8-percent chance to land the second pick, a 17.1-percent chance at third, and a whopping 31.9-percent chance to slip to fourth — you can live with the results. I woke up this morning feeling more than content with either Bradley Beal or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist — almost anxious for either/or to happen already.

But, there could be other options. Thomas Robinson anyone? OR… what about a trade?

Twitter is for excitement and overreaction, sometimes. So, in the hype, a conversation between myself and user @UGotTheseIn10 quickly advanced in the direction of sending the third pick to the Portland Trailblazers for Nicolas Batum and the 11th pick (assuming UConn’s Jeremy Lamb would be available at 11) — the idea of jettisoning Andray Blatche to Portland as part of the deal even surfaced. Of course, the unison of such thoughts heavily weighted with Wizards sensibilities means the scenario would most certainly be too good to be true.

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I left D.C. for Gotham on Tuesday morning with a handful of expectations, but mainly that I’d come back with my wallet, a few good stories and the rights to Anthony Davis. Turns out my good luck and charm didn’t work. Sorry about that.

While I failed in that respect, I did catch up with Ted Leonsis after the damage was done. I asked him about what he was feeling during the commercial break, knowing that the Wizards were guaranteed a top-three selection—the prospective winners of the Anthony Davis Sweepstakes had been narrowed down to three teams: Charlotte, New Orleans and the home team.

“That the odds of getting two number one picks in such a short period of time would be tough,” Leonsis began. “We finished with the second-worst record and I was hoping we’d get first or second (pick), but third is pretty good.”

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It was communicated by Ernie Grunfeld last Friday that Zach Leonsis, son of Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, would represent the team at the NBA Draft Lottery tonight in New York City. The younger Leonsis, Twitter handle @ZacharyLeonsis, is a business development manager with dad’s ownership group, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, and lists, “provided research and statistical analysis for formulation of business strategy for the Washington Wizards,” in the experience section of his Linked In profile.

The head of the Theodore Unit, Ted Leonsis, on his blog writes:

And to change it up, since we have fallen in the lottery the last two times we sent team members to the event, (a head coach, and a player), we are sending up a family member and employee of our sports team holding company to help us out. I hope it works.

Regardless of hindsight in the future, present or past, who the team sends as a representative probably doesn’t matter. But we walk down this path every year; superstition is as whimsical or worthless as we want it to be. And over time, you get a little less excited about the lottery because the value of winning it, in the big picture, has a diminished bearing on true team building. But, that doesn’t mean you don’t pour yourself some spirits and relish in the tradition of chance.

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