Washington Wizards 2017-2018 Season Thread

[Methodical Management]

As far as losing Meeks and adding Lawson...why do the Wizards have five point guards?

Meanwhile, Gortat and Mahinmi pick up a combined four fouls in just over five minutes of play, forcing Morris to play the entire quarter and shift over to center.

McCullogh isn’t on the roster. That leaves Jason Smith.

Just a reminder: Jarrett Allen led all rookies in blocked shots this season. Bojan Bogdanovic plays for Indiana. Good trade, Ernie.

 

[broncos19dm]

Tough loss, hoping we can bounce back Tuesday

 

[Sonny Corinthos]

Tough loss, hoping we can bounce back Tuesday

I'm surprised Beal played well

 

[extraordinary swag]

We can’t defend threes to save our life, everyone is too slow on their close outs. I don’t know what lineup Brooks can even throw out there now, he’s tried everything

 

[AgentZero]

Meanwhile, Gortat and Mahinmi pick up a combined four fouls in just over five minutes of play, forcing Morris to play the entire quarter and shift over to center.

McCullogh isn’t on the roster. That leaves Jason Smith.

Just a reminder: Jarrett Allen led all rookies in blocked shots this season. Bojan Bogdanovic plays for Indiana. Good trade, Ernie.

Glad you're bringing this up. The Wizards need to draft an athletic, rim-running center. Guys like Jarrett Allen are available in the mid-rounds; Clint Capela was drafted 25th overall.

Wish I put my pregame Raptors x-factors in this thread: CJ Miles and Serge Ibaka- since as we know the Wizards can't defend the three. Sure enough...

Overall the team played pretty well, but that was a game they could've stolen. Don't want to go back to Washington down 2-0.

 

[frshstunna]

Wiz can still win the series , Raptors got hot in the end after the Wiz were in control most of the game ...it’s really concerning how bad they been playing at the end of games tho

This team strikes me as a “end of an era” type of squad ...bad thing is that in typical wizards fashion, they have little to no flexibility for changes to the team

 

[AgentZero]

Went to Game 3 Friday night. Solid win!

 

[s0lefunk]

Hell of a win tonight! I still stand by Wiz in 6.

 

[ROYGBiV]

Man wtf? I can't with this damn team.

 

[joe cool23]

Meh.

I’m relieved this season is over.

 

[extraordinary swag]

I think this awful season wasn't a fluke. The problems with this roster have shown themselves and the chemistry isn't there. Raptors win in 6 and we bring the same gang of guys who hate each other back AGAIN next season. Thanks Ernie for the flexibility

Series went just as I expected. This just isn’t a competent roster top to bottom, coaches and management. This core has been together long enough to show us that they’ll never take the next step. Someone major needs to be gone this summer otherwise the purgatory will continue.

 

[AgentZero]

I'm torn whether blowing up this team's core would be a premature overreaction or a calculated, progressive focus on the long-term future. Knowing how conservative Ernie is and the moves they've made to hover in that playoff, but not serious contender range, I think they'll play it safe per usual. Not a bad move when it comes to attracting big free agents to take a team over the top, but the Wiz are not only strapped for cap space, they've been unable to secure them in the past.

If they're going down the route most of us assume they are, they should make these moves:
-Draft a rim-running center
-Draft/sign a defensive guard
-Re-sign Mike Scott
-Cut/trade (long shot ) Gortat or Mahinmi
-Let Frazier and Sessions walk
-Re-sign Lawson?

 

[frshstunna]

Unless they trading Wall, Wiz can’t make any major changes till at least 2019...we gon be watching the same squad run it back as a 1st round exit team next season

 

[Methodical Management]

This wasn't the finish we would've liked as fans, but it's the finish the organization deserves.


When we look back at what killed the Wizards' chances in the John Wall era, there are two key opportunities the organization squandered:

1. The #6 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, which could've yielded Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, or Jimmy Butler, among others, which was used, instead, on Jan Vesely.
2. The disastrous summer of 2016. Plan A was Kevin Durant. Plan B was Al Horford. Plan C was suicide.

As it stands, the team has no salary cap flexibility unless Ted owns up to his mistake and waives Ian Mahinmi. We all know that will never happen.

Here's the harsh truth: this is a third tier team built around second tier talent. Otto Porter is the only Wizards player who's even in the top 40 in terms of total points added: https://nbamath.com/2017-18-nba-tpa/

They're not one player away unless that one player is Kevin Durant or LeBron James. The Wizards had the opportunity to be one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference, but that window may already have closed. They've been surpassed by Boston and Philadelphia, both of which have greater flexibility.

There can be no progress in Washington until the entire front office is cleared out. Scott Brooks may be an upgrade over Randy Wittman, but in the fourth quarter this team looks like all the failed Team USA squads - or OKC. There's a lot of ball watching. Early on you'll see them run a pick and roll, Wall will hit Gortat in stride on a dive cut, and they'll look great. Late in the game, they stop running plays. They don't play with the sustained focus or relentless effort and activity required of a contender. If you want to see five guys on a string, playing as a cohesive unit, don't ask Scott Brooks. His biggest success was a team that ultimately played selfishly and underachieved with three future MVPs. Great teams pull together in clutch situations. Bad teams pull apart. On that count, the Wizards are a bad team.

As for Ernie, we all know the story there. Only three general managers have held their jobs for longer than Ernie Grunfeld: Pat Riley, R.C. Buford, and Danny Ainge. They've all won championships. In fifteen years, Ernie's teams have never even won fifty games or made it beyond the second round.


When John Wall was drafted in 2010, the Wizards came off a 26-win season. They were the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference, ahead of only the Nets.

Let's take a look back at what's happened to the 2017-2018 Eastern Conference Playoff teams since then:

The Cavaliers had LeBron James, the first time around. They lost him, got him back, and won a championship.
The Miami won two championships with their "Big 3," lost the big 3, rebuilt around Goran Dragic, Justice Winslow, Hassan Whiteside, et al. and have again finished ahead of the Wizards.
The Bucks had a team built around Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings that made the playoffs. They, too, rebuilt and have surpassed the Wizards.
The Indiana Pacers rebuilt from the Jermaine O'Neal/Ron Artest era, built around Paul George, traded Paul George, and rebuilt once again.
The Toronto Raptors rebuilt from the Chris Bosh/Andrea Bargnani era.
The Celtics moved on from their Big 3 and now have a core of Kyrie Irving, Jalen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Gordon Hayward.
The Sixers were only one win better than the Wizards in 2009-2010, but then built a playoff team around Andre Iguodala, Thaddeus Young, Elton Brand, and Evan Turner, then suffered through one of the ugliest stretches of tanking in professional sports, yet managed to convert on enough of their lottery picks to again surpass the Wizards.

These teams were built and rebuilt before the Wizards ever "built." And that's just the Eastern Conference.


The prospect of this front office initiating another "rebuild" is nightmare fodder. I'll take another 5 years of Wall/Beal/Porter mediocrity before I suffer through Ernie Grunfeld trying to strike it rich again with lottery tickets. I'd rather watch the Joe Johnson Hawks than the Sacramento Kings. Let the next front office, or, better yet, the next owner, start with actual assets, not the next generation of JaVale McGee, Nick Young, Andray Blatche, and Jan Vesely.

Ernie Grunfeld is the person who failed to build this team over the past eight years. He's the last person who should have the opportunity to rebuild it.

 

[frshstunna]

So meth saying anything but letting Ernie make more decisions ...I feel u but it’s gon be some boring years till he’s gone tho

 

[Methodical Management]

So meth saying anything but letting Ernie make more decisions ...I feel u but it’s gon be some boring years till he’s gone tho

If your options are to wait an hour for a taxi or leave now with a drunk driver, you’ll wait for the taxi. You may not get home faster, but you’re more likely to make it home, period.

Here’s a preview of Ernie’s upcoming rebuild:

 

[extraordinary swag]

Not saying everything he said was inaccurate but Wall’s ego is massive

 

[Methodical Management]

Not saying everything he said was inaccurate but Wall’s ego is massive

I agree. John's not wrong, but if he wants to be the leader he thinks he is, he has to understand that it's not his place to publicly announce the team's deficiencies in ways that throw other players under the bus.

Beyond that, John needs to own up to his part in this mess, too. All great players have confidence in their game, but if you think you're the best point guard on the planet, why is the team struggling to attract free agents?

In basketball, as in life, people aren't eager to work with someone who takes all the credit and shares none of the blame. That's not what it means to be a good teammate, and it's certainly not a demonstration of great leadership.

To be fair, it's not like John Wall's had a lot a great role models during his basketball career. As an amateur, he played for extremely individualistic teams with an AAU mentality, where it's more about showcasing personal talent and if you're head and shoulders above the other guys, losses are blamed on them. As a professional, his veteran was Gilbert Arenas. He played on teams with Jordan Crawford, Nick Young, JaVale McGee, and Andray Blatche. We're expecting him to change the culture in Washington when he's never been part of a great team concept.

We see that in his press conferences. He laughs after losses. He has a dismissive attitude. He thinks he's above all of this, that he doesn't get the recognition or credit he deserves, and that, because he's great, he deserves more respect and more wins. It's not a good look.


His comments should've been confined to his exit meetings. Is he really wrong about what the team needs, though? The roster balance is pathetic. This team has five point guards, but only one true shooting guard. The closest thing we had to a rim-running big was McCullogh, and he was left off the playoff roster so we could accommodate that fifth point guard. The closest thing we have to a center who can space the floor is Jason Smith - enough said there. Mahinmi and Gortat are immobile centers who can quickly become defensive liabilities when forced to switch on to quicker players, and whose lack of range on offense can hinder floor spacing. Neither guy can play above the rim, either, which makes it that much easier for teams to load up on John Wall. The halfcourt offense is trash. You can understand Wall's frustration if the offense comes down to "give it to John and wait for the defense to collapse."

The biggest problem with John's shopping list, though, is that, thanks to mismanagement, the team simply can't afford it.


The only reason a team will give up a young star is because they fear that player won't re-sign, or there's some other personnel conflict. (Kyrie Irving, James Harden, DMC, etc.) The player who currently fits the bill there is Kawhi Leonard. To get a player like that, the other team will want a package like the one we'd demand in any trade for John Wall: another emerging star, draft picks, and salary relief.

In other words, John Wall isn't getting Kawhi Leonard - because he's the player the Spurs would likely want back in that trade.

If you want a veteran star, you're looking at a Blake Griffin scenario, where you're taking on a big, arguably bad, contract and giving back some combination of expiring salaries, young players, and draft picks. That's generally a trade deadline move, when a team like the Clippers realizes they're going nowhere and wants to blow it up so they can land a better draft pick.

Sellers are teams who underachieved or topped out and are looking to initiate a rebuild. Buyers are young teams or contending teams looking to make a push.

If we don't want to touch the core, the only young players anyone would want would be Oubre and Sato, neither of whom helped themselves much in the Raptors series. Nobody wants the Wizards' toxic waste (Smith, Mahinmi, Meeks, etc.) and we don't have the cap space to take back veteran contracts in return. Say you want a rim runner like Clint Capela. You can't sign him outright and Houston would never take back Gortat (much less Mahinmi) in a sign & trade unless the Wizards take back Ryan Anderson, which they can't afford. Our pick this year is mediocre, and the only way a team would want future picks would be in a scenario where Washington plays the part of the Brooklyn Nets in the Pierce/KG trade, and the Wizards set themselves back a decade in a vain attempt to keep Ernie's job.


Realistically, all we can do this summer is add through the draft - unless they just blow the whole thing up. Then, at mid-season, we can try to be opportunistic and use Gortat's contract to try and swing a trade for a veteran - though I'm not sure who we could realistically target at this point.

Free agent help isn't coming this summer. We'd be hard pressed just to retain Mike Scott given the team's atrocious cap management.

 

[ROYGBiV]

I’m glad wall said something. Hopefully this causes some type of change.

 

[extraordinary swag]

I agree. John's not wrong, but if he wants to be the leader he thinks he is, he has to understand that it's not his place to publicly announce the team's deficiencies in ways that throw other players under the bus.

Beyond that, John needs to own up to his part in this mess, too. All great players have confidence in their game, but if you think you're the best point guard on the planet, why is the team struggling to attract free agents?

In basketball, as in life, people aren't eager to work with someone who takes all the credit and shares none of the blame. That's not what it means to be a good teammate, and it's certainly not a demonstration of great leadership.

To be fair, it's not like John Wall's had a lot a great role models during his basketball career. As an amateur, he played for extremely individualistic teams with an AAU mentality, where it's more about showcasing personal talent and if you're head and shoulders above the other guys, losses are blamed on them. As a professional, his veteran was Gilbert Arenas. He played on teams with Jordan Crawford, Nick Young, JaVale McGee, and Andray Blatche. We're expecting him to change the culture in Washington when he's never been part of a great team concept.

We see that in his press conferences. He laughs after losses. He has a dismissive attitude. He thinks he's above all of this, that he doesn't get the recognition or credit he deserves, and that, because he's great, he deserves more respect and more wins. It's not a good look.


His comments should've been confined to his exit meetings. Is he really wrong about what the team needs, though? The roster balance is pathetic. This team has five point guards, but only one true shooting guard. The closest thing we had to a rim-running big was McCullogh, and he was left off the playoff roster so we could accommodate that fifth point guard. The closest thing we have to a center who can space the floor is Jason Smith - enough said there. Mahinmi and Gortat are immobile centers who can quickly become defensive liabilities when forced to switch on to quicker players, and whose lack of range on offense can hinder floor spacing. Neither guy can play above the rim, either, which makes it that much easier for teams to load up on John Wall. The halfcourt offense is trash. You can understand Wall's frustration if the offense comes down to "give it to John and wait for the defense to collapse."

The biggest problem with John's shopping list, though, is that, thanks to mismanagement, the team simply can't afford it.


The only reason a team will give up a young star is because they fear that player won't re-sign, or there's some other personnel conflict. (Kyrie Irving, James Harden, DMC, etc.) The player who currently fits the bill there is Kawhi Leonard. To get a player like that, the other team will want a package like the one we'd demand in any trade for John Wall: another emerging star, draft picks, and salary relief.

In other words, John Wall isn't getting Kawhi Leonard - because he's the player the Spurs would likely want back in that trade.

If you want a veteran star, you're looking at a Blake Griffin scenario, where you're taking on a big, arguably bad, contract and giving back some combination of expiring salaries, young players, and draft picks. That's generally a trade deadline move, when a team like the Clippers realizes they're going nowhere and wants to blow it up so they can land a better draft pick.

Sellers are teams who underachieved or topped out and are looking to initiate a rebuild. Buyers are young teams or contending teams looking to make a push.

If we don't want to touch the core, the only young players anyone would want would be Oubre and Sato, neither of whom helped themselves much in the Raptors series. Nobody wants the Wizards' toxic waste (Smith, Mahinmi, Meeks, etc.) and we don't have the cap space to take back veteran contracts in return. Say you want a rim runner like Clint Capela. You can't sign him outright and Houston would never take back Gortat (much less Mahinmi) in a sign & trade unless the Wizards take back Ryan Anderson, which they can't afford. Our pick this year is mediocre, and the only way a team would want future picks would be in a scenario where Washington plays the part of the Brooklyn Nets in the Pierce/KG trade, and the Wizards set themselves back a decade in a vain attempt to keep Ernie's job.


Realistically, all we can do this summer is add through the draft - unless they just blow the whole thing up. Then, at mid-season, we can try to be opportunistic and use Gortat's contract to try and swing a trade for a veteran - though I'm not sure who we could realistically target at this point.

Free agent help isn't coming this summer. We'd be hard pressed just to retain Mike Scott given the team's atrocious cap management.

Everything you said I agree with wholeheartedly. Being the best player on the team doesn’t make you a leader and Wall needs to learn that, it’s been far too long. Calling out guys who don’t do their job is something you HAVE to say to management not the media. He’d be a marked man in a city where the fans actually cared about the team but in DC he can get away with that kind of talk.

A lot of what he said was most definitely true but as someone who desperately wants better talent around him an attitude like that is not gonna attract a single quality free agent. It wasn’t just Wall yapping either, Gortat had the audacity to say Otto and Oubre need to stay in the weight room all summer and put on 15 pounds. Again, that may be true to an extent but dude worry about your own nosedive in play you had this season. This team is just not cohesive at all, no one likes each other and an embarrassing season is not helping one bit

 

[Methodical Management]

http://www.nba.com/article/2018/05/07/morning-tip-mailbag-may-7-2018

It would appear that Ted signed Ernie to another secret contract extension, the duration of which remains a mystery.

See you next summer.

A lot of what he said was most definitely true but as someone who desperately wants better talent around him an attitude like that is not gonna attract a single quality free agent. It wasn’t just Wall yapping either, Gortat had the audacity to say Otto and Oubre need to stay in the weight room all summer and put on 15 pounds. Again, that may be true to an extent but dude worry about your own nosedive in play you had this season.

Agreed.

Gortat is the first to complain when things go bad. How many years now has he expressed some variation of "it's not fun anymore" after the team gets off to a rough start? Without question, Gortat is part of the problem here. He sulks. He checks out of games when he isn't scoring. During times of adversity, when you need each player's focus to tighten, their energy to rise, and their efforts to intensify, Gortat spaces out.

His primary value now is as an expiring contract.

 

[broncos19dm]

You've got to be kidding me. GET HIM OUT OF HERE! Is it not obvious at this point there there is a problem .

 

[broncos19dm]

Agree Meth, I'm pretty done with Gortat. We need someone else.

 

[DCAllAfrican]

ESPN Tim Legler (@LegsESPN) on the offensive genius of James Harden, countdown to Rockets-Warriors, evolution of the three-pointer, Legs' minor league odyssey to NBA and the case for his NCAA coaching candidacy. The Woj Pod: bit.ly/2pw3D4f

Good Listen

 

[joe cool23]

Soooo.....

Even though I'm a caps fan through and through, the wizards fan in me feels like this