As I previously wrote, Washington Wizards General Manager Tommy Sheppard accomplished the near-impossible by trading John Wall without giving up a trove of draft picks. This gave the Wizards locker room a fresh start and gave Beal the keys to the franchise. At the same time, I also believed that from a basketball point of view this was not an upgrade, since I believed Wall would come back at a high level.
On the bright side, I was optimistic that if any team could maximize the output from Westbrook, it would be the Wizards, since head coach Scott Brooks has several years of experience coaching a younger Westbrook.