…is as close as it has ever got to being a complete waste:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_NBA_Draft

Coincidently, that was the last draft held at a team’s location…right here in Minneapolis. It was an all around ugly draft. Remember, K-Mart broke his leg before he entered. I think this year’s draft is filled with solid rotational players. It doesn’t have last year’s top end sort of talent, but you can find some guys in the top 10 who can start for a long time.

…but if they don’t move him, they’re in some deep doo-doo. Here’s a comment I posted over at Real GM:

"I didn’t realize how badly the Wizards are over the cap. If the status quo remains, they enter next season with $76 mil in salaries. They could have a top 3 pick which would put them at $80 mil. The current lux tax projection is at $67.5 mil. That’s $12.5 mil in extra lux tax payments, which would put them at $92.5 mil for a s$%tty club with less than 20 wins. By moving James and Thomas, they can take $12 mil off the baseline number. With an addition of Smith, they get a nice young bench player and $10 mil off the mark, which puts them at $66 mil, or below the lux mark. Of course the lux mark could go lower. That would make it even more imperative for them to clear salary. As far as the Wolves are concerned, that money is already out the door and they are below the cap.

Making this deal could end up saving the owner of the team somewhere in the neighborhood $26 .5 mil. That’s not exactly chump change. Even if they get the top pick, is he worth that much? That’s a hard one to argue."

…you’d almost think it would be an imperative to trade Jamison for Wally at this point so they could avoid what is around the corner.