Devonte Graham Has Secured The Bag This Off-Season!
The Washington Wizards came into the off-season with a good amount of cap space, and the front office wasted no time in pursuing some of the best free agents available in the class. They have offered among with likes of Zion Williamson, Luka Doncic, and Cameron Johnsons of the world with no success, as those restricted free agents all re-signed back with their perspective mother teams.
While it certainly stings that they did not land their top priority free agents, it was also no surprise due to the RFA rules in place from the league's CBA. After all the failed attempts, the front office regrouped, and continue to work their way down among the big board, as they continue to pursue other free agents such as Rui Hachimura, Dedric Lawson, Dragan Bender, Nassir Little, Bol Bol, and a few other big time free agents available. Once again, no cigar for the Wizards.
As the top of the free agent big boards are beginning to slim down, the Wizards decided to throw a few more offers out in hopes of landing at this one good contributor to go along with this young core. Eventually the team was able to land one of the top scorers in the CSL last season in Devonte Graham, and former lottery pick wingman, and a CSL champion in Caleb Martin.
Some critics felt the success of Graham's campaign was due to him playing on a bad team, and he was simply a product of a system that fed him the ball non stop, and he's not a winning basketball player. However, the Wizards front office does not feel the same about Graham. The Wizards knows how good of a shot creator Devonte Graham is, and they are confident that with a good young talented cast surrounding him, Graham won't have to shoulder as big of a load on offense. Instead, he will be able to facilitate a bit more, and should have better looks as he will no longer be the sole focus of the opponent's defense.
Graham is expected to play minutes at both the point guard, and shooting guard positions. The ideal scenario is to have Graham to come off the bench, and lead the 2nd unit while relieving all star guard Jordan McLaughlin, and this year's number one overall draft pick in Anthony Edwards. This trio should provide plenty of exciting basketball for the Wizards, and it will be a treat for the Wizards fans to see these 3 dynamic playmakers make magic happen during this season.
Caleb Martin was a former lottery pick by the Boston Celtics. He's also the brother of former Washington fan favorite Cody Martin. Unfortunately the Wizards have dealt Cody away in an off-season trade, thus the Martin bros reunion was short lived.
However, there is no denying that Caleb Martin has always had the talent to be a good player in this league, as he was dubbed by some draft experts that he could develop into a Carmelo Anthony type's of scorer in the league. Due to a tremendously deep roster in Boston, Martin was never able to get a ton of chances to shine. However, his former GM/coaches always had good things to say about Martin. They all shared the same sentiments that he's a hard working kid that has been developing his game, and he just needs a chance to showcase his talent. The Wizards presents a perfect opportunity for Martin, as the team has not yet decided on who will be the starting small forward for this upcoming season. Martin will get plenty of chances to make his case while competing against other forwards on the team. It will be exciting to see how Martin will fit in with this young Wizards team that has been slowly improving the quality of its roster.
