The Wizards took 21-year old, 6′3″, 215 pound guard Shelvin Mack out of Butler with the 34th overall pick of the 2011 NFL Draft. Mack played in 38 games for Butler last year and he averaged 32.1 minutes, 16.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Mack played in 108 games in his three years in college and he averaged 31.2 minutes, 14.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game. This was another solid pick for the Wizards as Mack can play either guard slot.

The Wizards took 21-year old, 6′9″, 220 pound forward Chris Singleton with the 18th overall pick in the NBA Draft last night. Singleton played in 28 games for Florida State last year and he averaged 29.1 minutes, 13.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocked shots per game. Singleton played in 95 games in his three years in college and he averaged 29.1 minutes, 10.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.4 blocked shots per game. Singleton is a outstanding defensive player and he plays with a high motor. This was another very solid pick for the Wizards.

The Wizards picked 21-year old, 6′11″, 239 pound power forward Jan Vesely out of the Czech Republic with the 6th overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft. Vesely played in 52 games with three teams in Europe last year and he averaged 23.9 minutes, 10.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He played in 221 games in four years in Europe and he averaged 19.2 minutes, 7.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 0.8 steals per game. Vesely called Blake Griffin the American version of himself last night. It will be interesting to see if he can live up to what he said. The Wizards are very excited about him.

The Washington Wizards currently own the #6, #18 and #34 picks in the NBA Draft coming up this Thursday Night. I think the #6 pick comes down to 2 players for the Wizards. If SF Kawhi Leonard is available, I think he will be the pick. If Leonard is not around, I think the Wizards will roll the dice and take center Jonas Valanciunas. Valanciunas might not be able to get out of his European contract for a couple of years, so it’s risky business to take a chance on him despite his upside. The Wizards will likely take the best available player at #20 and that could be shooting guard Josh Selby out of Kansas. With the #34 overall pick, I look for the Wizards to take the best player on the board regardless of position. I think the Wizards are going to be a much better basketball team by this Friday.

The Wizards have 8 free agents heading into the off-season.  In my mind, SG Nick Young is the only one of the free agents that the Wizards should try to bring back.  He is a restricted free agent and he’s likely to get some good offers, so he won’t come cheap if he returns to the Wizards in 2011-12.  Yi Jianlian is a restricted free agent but I think the Wizards will let him go.  He just didn’t show much for them last year.  Othyus Jeffers, Larry Owens, Hamady Ndiaye and Mustafa Shakur are all restricted free agents that aren’t going to cost the Wizards much to bring back, so they might bring some…if not all of them back.  SG/SF Maurice Evans and SG/SF Josh Howard will likely get deals that the Wizards won’t want to match.