Washington Wizards Season Thread - Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here

[Public Enemy]

What kind of draft pick you think the Wizards will wind up getting?

 

[frshstunna]

Top 10 pick for sure ...Just as important is Westbrook is getting triple doubles again so might be able to trade yo in the offseason

 

[Methodical Management]

Look at Ted whining about being denied an exemption by the city:




Hasn't he made enough people sick during his tenure?

Don't worry, Ted. If vaccination rates continue to increase, you'll be back to 10% arena capacity before you know it.

What kind of draft pick you think the Wizards will wind up getting?

With the Wizards' luck? Mid-lottery.

We'll likely be among the bottom six teams, but the odds have been tweaked such that you have to figure someone will leapfrog us and land into the top 3, pushing the Wizards back to the 7-9 range again.

 

[joe cool23]

Sigh...

I guess I'll just come out and say it:

I'm not happy with this winning streak, because I feel as though I've (we've!!) seen this movie before. They're going to sneak into the playoffs, lose in the first round, get a 15-23 pick in the draft...rinse and repeat.

Then Brooks will get an extension, because "we're starting to put it together! "

No.

Why can't we just be all the way sorry, why do we always have to be middling to mediocre?

 

[Methodical Management]

Sigh...

I guess I'll just come out and say it:

I'm not happy with this winning streak, because I feel as though I've (we've!!) seen this movie before. They're going to sneak into the playoffs, lose in the first round, get a 15-23 pick in the draft...rinse and repeat.

Then Brooks will get an extension, because "we're starting to put it together! "

No.

Why can't we just be all the way sorry, why do we always have to be middling to mediocre?

Any longtime Wizards fan is all too familiar with the cycle of perpetual mediocrity. While winning franchises are seldom pleased by first round exits, "we made the playoffs" has been the Wizards' excuse to double down on countless bad choices, especially coaching and management (Grunfeld.)

There is a real danger that sneaking into the playoffs will save Brooks' job, and that would undoubtedly prevent this team from realizing its full potential.

That said, this isn't an ordinary situation, because we're reaching a crossroads with Beal.


I know that many Wizards fans want to hit the reset button, trade Beal for a ton of picks, and go the OKC route. Personally, I don't have enough faith in our scouting for that. The odds of trading for Giannis after Milwaukee underperforms in the playoffs, as ludicrously remote as they are, still seem likelier than a Grunfeld disciple finding a generational talent and assembling a championship-caliber core through consecutive drafts.

Making the playoffs will help us retain one of the league's leading scorers. How many top 3 picks would it take for us to get a player of Beal's caliber? As bad as this team has been, we've only had five top 5 draft picks since 2000, and we've used them on Kwame Brown, Devin Harris (traded for Antawn Jamison), John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Otto Porter. As a starting lineup, that would maybe get you into the second round.

Consider, too, that the draft lottery odds are flatter than they used to be. The bottom three teams now share only a 14% chance each of landing the top pick. The Pelicans had only a 6% chance of grabbing the top spot in 2019, and they did.

Since the creation of the draft lottery, teams with less than a 2% chance, which is what the Wizards would have right now, have won the lottery three times. Teams with the second-worst record in the league have only won it twice.


Playing to win feels like the least bad option here. We're more likely to make progress - and save ourselves years of agony - trying to build through trades and free agency than to sell the house for scratch-off tickets.

 

[madj55]

I enjoyed the game last night, yet once it was over I was reminded that every extra win this team earns makes it easier for Ted to stick with Brooks and the status quo.

I feel like it should be obvious to Ted that this team does have talent to potentially do damage and we need a new coach/philosophy to fully unlock it.

Sadly, Brooks will likely be around for another 3-5 years

 

[Public Enemy]

 

[Methodical Management]

Russ has greatly exceeded all expectations of late, and the turnaround in his season has mirrored the team’s reversal of fortune, but it’s hard to argue that he’s “rejuvenated“ the franchise when we’re still fighting for 10th place in the Eastern Conference. It’s fun to see meaningful basketball in May again, but we need a coaching (and ownership) change in the worst way. We’re squandering some incredible individual seasons here with an historically porous defense. Only the Kings give up more points per contest.

On the subject of stats, can we talk about how awful CSN Washington’s graphics team has been? I guess the cost cutting didn’t stop with the broadcast crew. The season is almost over, and yet multiple times per game these amateurs manage to get confused between white and transparent graphics.

They had a banner up on Friday that named Daniel Gafford as the Wizards’ franchise leader in triple doubles.

How bad does your product have to be to make people nostalgic for the “good old days” of regional sports cable monopolies?




The Wizards promoting “accountability” as part of their superficial cause-based marketing? That’s rich.

When does the buck stop with Ted?

The Wizards are off to a bad start so far this season. And not enough questions surround the owner.

www.bulletsforever.com

 

[joe cool23]

I'll happily eat crow if they make it to the second round, BUT!!!




and from The Athletic today:

Scott Brooks, Washington Wizards
(30-35, 10th Seed in Eastern Conference)

All season long, there has been a strong sense around the league that this would be the end in Washington for Brooks. He was in the last year of a five-year deal that was reportedly worth a combined $35 million. And the Wizards, who had survived until the second round of the playoffs in his first season (2016-17) and lost in the first round in Year No. 2, were barreling toward a third consecutive playoff absence.

But this recent stretch, the one in which the Wizards have won 13 of 16 games with Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook clicking like never before and a play-in tournament entry in sight, is the kind of thing that could change the seemingly inevitable. The tricky part, it seems, is that it’s not entirely clear how much they needed to improve for owner Ted Leonsis to consider re-signing Brooks.

One source close to the situation said there was a playoff mandate of sorts for Brooks, but it’s unclear whether a play-in entry would suffice if their season ended there. There have been questions swirling about the future of general manager Tommy Sheppard as well, however, making this one even harder to handicap. Brooks, the source said, has not been told what lies ahead.

Yet in terms of 11th-hour developments that help his case for a new contract, it doesn’t get much better than this. Not only is Brooks extremely well-liked within Wizards circles, with all indications that he still has Beal’s support along with the synergy with the front office, but also he has the shared history with Westbrook that simply has to be considered here.

Westbrook’s desire to leave Houston for Washington back in training camp had everything to do with Brooks, who was always his biggest supporter during their seven seasons together in Oklahoma City (2008-2015). Westbrook, it seemed, was ready to be unleashed again and play his way after the failed experiment alongside James Harden in Houston. And now that it’s working so well, one would have to imagine Westbrook’s voice matters when it comes to Brooks’ future.

After all, he’s owed $44.2 million next season and has a player option worth $47 million for the 2022-23 campaign. He’s a pivotal part of the program for the foreseeable future, one that looks quite a bit brighter with the way he has played of late.

In this 16-game span, Westbrook is averaging 21.8 points, 13.6 rebounds and 13.1 assists while nearing Oscar Robertson’s all-time record for triple-doubles along the way (he’s three away from Robertson’s record of 181). Beal, who is owed $33.7 million next season and has a player option for the 2022-23 season worth $36.4 million, is still thriving under Brooks as well (30.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists per game) and is battling Golden State’s Stephen Curryfor the scoring title. All season long, the 27-year-old guard, who is so widely coveted, has maintained his stance that he has no desire to be traded from the Wizards.

If it ain’t broke, don’t…replace Brooks? We shall see.

And from Barry Svrluga from WaPo a few days ago:

Except his development in his 13th season isn’t that simple. Take a timeout from Wednesday night’s 116-107 thumping of the LeBron James-less Lakers, a game in which Westbrook had 18 points, 18 rebounds and 14 assists for his 12th triple-double in 14 games. Brooks had drawn up a play, but when the huddle broke, he looked at the clock. He had 50 more seconds before the horn blew. He called Westbrook over.
“Russell,” he said. “What do you think about this?”
Westbrook had other ideas: Put big man Daniel Gafford in one corner, “because they’re not going to switch off him,” Westbrook told Brooks. Then put guard Raul Neto in the right corner.
“That gives us a better chance to get a good shot out of this,” Westbrook said.
“After the game, I thought about it,” Brooks said, “and I’m like, ‘Wow, it’s totally changed.’ Sometimes, he’s coaching me.”

Brooks has probably already been enrolled in Ted's secret extension program™

 

[Public Enemy]

I love being one of the like, 8 & 2/3rds wizards fans on NT

 

[Public Enemy]

(Beat the Raptors tonight too)

 

[Public Enemy]

So what do you all expect? They'll lose games with Beal out and miss the play-in? They'll make the Play-in but not make the playoffs? Or they will make the playoffs?

 

[frshstunna]

So what do you all expect? They'll lose games with Beal out and miss the play-in? They'll make the Play-in but not make the playoffs? Or they will make the playoffs?

No expectations for the play in / playoffs …It’s good to see the team have momentum tho, but with Westbrook as a key piece it usually doesn’t end well when it really matters

 

[Public Enemy]

 

[joe cool23]

Well fellas,

Looks like tomorrow's game is for the eighth seed---who'da thunk it back in December?

If they win tomorrow, they have two chances to advance into the actual playoffs (plus the home court advantage for the play-in tourney).

If they make into the actual playoffs, I'll happily eat crow on thinking they should've turned it in this season. After all, when you're a lifelong Bullets/Wizards fan, where else are you going to go?

 

[Methodical Management]

Anyone else catch this moment before last night’s game?



Ted, for some reason cosplaying as Cliff Claven, gets a notification in the middle of the unveiling, pulls out his phone, turns his back to Russ, and shuffles away.

DC deserves better.

 

[Public Enemy]

 

[joe cool23]

I’ve seen this story like this before, and the end result was this:

(That Nats team was WAAAYYY better than this team, still it's fun to dream about history repeating itself.)

 

[joe cool23]

(I guess this is Wizards related)

So I guess Kwame Brown was Karl Malone 2.0 without the talent all along huh?

 

[Methodical Management]

Davis Bertans' 0-for-7 night from 3 looms large in Wizards' loss to Celtics

The Wizards had a rough night from three-point range and their best three-point shooter didn't make a single one.

sports.yahoo.com

Among all players averaging at least one three point attempt per contest, Bertans doesn't even rank in the top 110 in accuracy.

He only does one thing and he doesn't even do it at an elite level, yet he's owed over $16 million per year for the next four years. (He has a player option for the fourth, which he will undoubtedly exercise.)

No sooner did we finally wrest Mahinmi from the ledger than Ernie Jr. replaced him with yet another albatross contract.


At least he can't possibly be any worse tomorrow night.... right?

 

[joe cool23]

Spoiler: I Believe

 

[uncalled4boy]

@ Ted

Kudos To Making Something Out Of What Was A Nothingness Of A Season.

If They Are At Least Competitive And In Games In This Series Against Philly I'd Consider That A Win. Not Expecting Much After That.

And I Was Talking About Bertans To Someone Yesterday And Mentioned He Literally Is Of NO Value If He Doesnt Make Shots, Which Seems To Be A Frequent Thing Now.

 

[madj55]

Bertans showed up out of shape at the beginning of the year and never recovered I don’t think.

Really hope this doesn’t mean Scott gets an extension.

Most excited for getting an Earned It uni next year

 

[niceshoes247]

 

[AgentZero]

Been a minute since I checked in...like the effort shown to make the playoffs, but hate that it comes at the expense of being in the draft lottery (and possible Brooks extension). Wiz are definitely stuck in that first-round exit territory for the foreseeable future which is not where you want to be in the NBA.

I don't get the Bertans situation. Was Latvia really on lockdown like that? Honestly surprised he didn't have his own court/facility to practice at, especially with all that money. He's been awful so far this series as well as Brooks with his defensive schemes or lack thereof. Figure Russ will tough it out tonight despite the injury, though he was pretty bad himself before leaving Game 2. Going to tune in with some friends regardless and make the most of a cold and rainy Memorial Day weekend here in the DC area.

joe cool23 went to that watch party at the stadium as well, good times. Forgot to set an alarm and showed up late to work the next day and my manager understood.