We are all very aware that the 2023-2024 season is a rebuilding year for the Washington Wizards. This was more apparent than ever after the, pardon my French, ASS-WHOOPING the Wizards received at home from the visiting Boston Celtics on Monday night.

Washington has a couple decent young prospects on the team including the most recent draft pick Bilal Coulibaly, who has shown promise especially on the defensive end of the court.

We thought it might be fun (or painful actually) to rank the Wizards draft picks from that last 5 years and let YOU vote on where you think Bilal Coulibaly may rank at the end of this year.

Here are our rankings…

1. Rui Hachimura

The Wizard’s drafted Rui with the 9th pick in the 2019 draft. It’s tough to grade Rui’s time in Washington. His rookie year was the league shutdown COVID year. His second year was solid where he started and the Wizards made the playoffs. 

He missed a significant amount time in his third year due to personal reasons, and his last year was mixed with controversy that ultimately led to him getting traded to the Lakers. 

His career average is 12.4 points and 5 rebounds per game. Although not much above sounds thrilling, Rui has a very high upside. We’ve seen him go for 30 plus points multiple times and saw his impact with the Lakers in last year’s playoffs. So much so that the Lakers signed him to a three-year $51 million contract in the offseason.

2. Corey Kispert

The Wizard’s drafted Kispert with the 15th pick in 2021. I know I’ll get some flack for this one, and I might not have put Corey at #2 until witnessing his superb first half performance on Saturday against the Grizzlies.  He can get hot. Corey’s 16-point second quarter pretty much was the reason the Wizard’s jumped out to a big first-half lead and never looked back. 

Kispert can space the floor, averaging almost 40% from deep and 48% from the field for his career. Since opponents have to respect his outside shot, he has started to leverage driving hard to the basket on the closeouts. I expect big things from Kispert this year, if the coaches give him the minutes he deserves to develop.

3. Deni Avdija

Deni was the Wizard’s 9th pick in the 2020 draft. If you follow the Wizard’s chatter like we do, you know Deni is at the forefront of fan commentary. Some love him, some the opposite. Some regard him as a defensive savant, while others say his defense, (and overall game) is overrated. 

His career average is 8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, on 43% shooting from the field and 31% from deep. What I like the most about Deni is when he grabs the rebound and initiates the fast break.  I also think he makes good cuts to the basket. I’d like to see his shooting percentage get better so his game can go to the next level. The Wizards just recently gave Deni a four-year $55 million extension.

4. Johnny Davis

The Wizards drafted Davis with the 10th pick in the 2022 draft (is anyone seeing a trend here or just me?) So far his time with the Wizards has been a disappointment, from a lottery pick context. He only played in 28 games his rookie year, spending a lot of time in the G league. Fans had high hopes for Davis and he still has time to change the script. As of now, his career average is 5.8 points and 2.3 rebounds per game on 15 minutes. 

 We should take into account a lot of his playing time has come after games were already decided and thus, he hasn’t received the meaningful minutes as Rui, Kispert, and Deni.

So, based on that where do you think Bilal Coulibaly will rank amongst these 5 picks by the end of the 2023-2024 Season? Vote below and we’ll publish the results in our next newsletter.

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• Monday, Oct. 30th @7:00pm EST: Wizards vs Celtics (Home)

• Wednesday, Nov. 1st @ 7:30pm EST: Wizards vs Hawks (Away)

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