As a Bullets fan, I rather have cap space to make a FA move in the summers of 2014-2016 than in the summers of 2012-2014*. This move delays our cap space while significantly improving the team in the short run.

As it stands the Wiz have 6 under 22 players in the current rotation (Wall, Crawford, Singleton, Vesley, Seraphin, Booker) with the 7th player coming with the #3 pick. Thats more than enough young guys with high draft pedigree to build around, more than probably any team in the league I would imagine. I will concede that watching young players in an environment without veteran accountability does not work. When your vets are guys like Mo Evans, Cartier Martin and James Singleton then you basically have no accountability. In a couple of months we've turned those vets into Nene, Okafor, and Ariza and that changes the entire dynamic of the situation.

There is nothing saying that Okafor and Ariza have to play over Seraphin and Singleton especially if the young guys continue to blossom. Last season Chris Singleton started basically every game even tho he didn't earn it, didn't play well, and mentally zoned out by the all-star break. The reason was because the only alternative was to start Mo Evans. Doc Rivers actually referred to that as the "Washington model" to give young guys minutes that they haven't earned when talking about how he handled Avery Bradley. You and Hollinger are coming from the angle that Whitman is a bad coach, but honestly I don't share that opinion. Maybe the guy has learned from his past gigs, maybe he just clicks better with this roster, but Whitman was everything we could ask for in a coach from the moment he was hired. He benched McGee, Young and Blatche for 10-day contract guys like Cartier Martin and James Singleton. He curtailed Chris Singleton's minutes and just played a Vesely at the SF for long stretches of time. Basically he forced accountability and he got it and this team looked worlds better.

It doesn't kill our cap space thank goodness, it doesn't stop the development of our young guys, and it makes us more accountable, which as we've seen makes us better. I think it puts us in the position to contend for the playoffs now, while still allowing our young guys to develop. The truth is if John Wall plus one more of those young guys don't develop into all-stars the rebuild after gun-gate was a failure anyway, with or without this trade. So in other words, nothing has really changed.

*My preferred move would have been to resign Cartier Martin and James Singleton to 2 yr deals around 2-4M per to fill the veteran bench roles, which would have let us keep our flexibility. But I also think/thought that the roster we had was good enough to compete for 40 wins as it stood.

Edit: The one big question I do have is why now? I realize that a move had to be made on Rashard prior to July 1st, but we could have waited until draft day I would think, so maybe there's another move coming, which may or may not change my entire outlook on the situation.