Early Playoff Results Support Wizards' Draft Philosophies

The first round of the playoffs are nearly through, with the 16 entrants having spent the last two weeks determining who'll survive to see the second round and what teams will have to see their title hopes dashed in seven games or fewer.

The Washington Wizards have little to take away from the tournament, having watched their regular season come to a typically early end in April after capping off an 18-64 record, with their attention shifting towards the upcoming NBA Draft.

Even without many takeaways to directly apply to their situation, as the Wizards' current rebuild still puts them several more years of development away from contending for much of anything, they can still draw lessons from winning units who found themselves in Washington's situation not long ago.

When analyzing some of the team's who've advanced and how they did it, two truths persist: depth matters as much as it has in a long time, and so does versatility in a lineup. Teams like the Thunder, Celtics and Cavaliers, the three clear title favorites across the regular season, regularly start two players who could classify as a center. Talented 7-footers who can defend and shoot/pass are hard to come by, and those who have them are sure to maximize the asset.

The Wizards, for their part, have fully recognized the draft as the best way to get these player. You get handpicked prospects when they're young and impressionable, as well as maximum team control from stylistic and contractual standpoints.

The best teams also caught onto this new era of team-building, careful to avoid the tired "Big Three" model and prioritizing a few star creators at the top with a deep supporting cast of five or six multi-faceted role players. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are fantastic, but so are Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is currently favored to win MVP, but he wouldn't have gotten nearly as far without help from Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Lu Dort and Isaiah Hartenstein.

These rotations play hard defense, meld together as high-feel collaborators and make an efficient clip of their 3-pointers on a healthy dose of attempts.

The Wizards are a long way away from playing at that level. They've gone nearly half a century since they last won 50 games, and only commenced their most recent rebuild two off-seasons ago in finally offloading their albatross of a contract in Bradley Beal's deal. Will Dawkins, the Washington general manager with Thunder ties, has noticeably picked up on those players who fill the modern needs that have stood out through the decade.

Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr may never blossom into stars, but the frenchmen have already inspired hope in their shooting coming along with their positive natural instincts, raw athleticism and, most importantly, their defensive toolboxes.

Bub Carrington and Kyshawn George will likely max out at that highly-helpful role player status, each possessing some of the traits that have bought previous contributors long NBA careers. Carrington can pass and shoot with the best of his fellow rookies, while the larger George can already shoot and defend at the level of a veteran.

With another draft coming up later this summer, fans of the Wizards will continue imagining what could be as Dawkins looks to add to Washington's young core. With some of these current championship-hopefuls, that shouldn't be so hard to fathom.