The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Solid season, fellas. Lot to be proud of.....

 

I think you have to give this current group three or four more years to gel before you make any tough decisions.

[Renegade7]

8 hours ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

Solid season, fellas. Lot to be proud of.....

 

I think you have to give this current group three or four more years to gel before you make any tough decisions.

Your opinion has no power here.

[Renegade7]

11 hours ago, Destino said:

That's all well and good but leadership is about finding ways to motivate.  Insisting that your method of leadership is great when it's clearly failed is bad.  Talking **** to the media is worse.  He's blaming everyone else for failing to behave as "grown men" which is always a bad angle to take.  This after he talked **** on espn during the season.  At this point I'm left hoping he just stops talking about it because none of this is helping.  

What exactly do you want him to do?  This ain't Braveheart, what is he supposed to say to these guys getting paid millions of dollars to play basketball at the professional level that we're assuming he hasn't already said?  

 

A big part of leadership is also leading by example.  He's our best player, leading scorer and assists guy in the playoffs the last two years in a row.  You brought up him and Beal being harder on Otto in practice, my comment was there's no doubt in my mind they already tried that, and you didn't respond.  I also asked you tell me I was wrong for saying Otto is probably passive aggressive and not a leader him damn self, and you didn't respond.

 

Ted has already put out a letter blaming the season on Wall missing time even though he was back for the playoffs.  Wall could easily just cash his check and keep it moving, but he's not, he's furious, and he's making that clear, right or wrong.  I'm fine with it, everything he's saying we're already saying, too. I can't tell if he's calling out Brooks, which to me would be worse then calling out players and Ernie, but holy ****, everything you've been saying about Brooks "offense" is spot on and you know at minimum Wall is thinking it.

 

Ya'll read Ted's end of season letter right?

 

https://tedstake.monumentalsportsnetwork.com/2018/04/28/a-note-to-our-dc-family

 

Quote

Our singular goal in everything we do is to win a championship.  You deserve it.  Our city deserves it.  It remains our first and only priority and I think our team showed this year that we have the pieces to make it happen. 

 

When I saw that I lost my mind, and I'm sure Wall did, too.  You can't say publicly that the roster as is can win championships and you're best player with a straight face just nod his head in approval.  That was sad for Ted to even say that, no one is going to get what they want if he honestly believes that, so really Wall called Ted out, too, which for better or worse, I'm fine with him doing.  He'll never win anything here if Ted honestly believes we're fine with what we got, everybody knows it, so I don't blame Wall for making it clear that he's wrong and to do something about it in a way that Ted can't run from it.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Renegade7

[Destino]

13 hours ago, Renegade7 said:

What exactly do you want him to do? 

Stop trashing his teammates to the media would be a great start.  He pulled this stunt during the season, and he's still bringing up his failed team meeting from half a season ago.  All he needs to do is march into Ted's office and make his demands known.  Talking to the press isn't helping anyone.  

 

Quote

A big part of leadership is also leading by example. 

 

Remember that if a teammate lights wall up on ESPN.  That's one of the examples he's set. 

 

I blame Grunfeld for this as well.  Another example of a toxic unprofessional culture. 

13 hours ago, Renegade7 said:

Ya'll read Ted's end of season letter right?

 

https://tedstake.monumentalsportsnetwork.com/2018/04/28/a-note-to-our-dc-family

agreed, infuriating.  It should be titled "This years excuses for not firing Grunfeld."

[Renegade7]

1 minute ago, Destino said:

Stop trashing his teammates to the media would be a great start.  He pulled this stunt during the season, and he's still bringing up his failed team meeting from half a season ago.  All he needs to do is march into Ted's office and make his demands known.  Talking to the press isn't helping anyone.  

 

Remember that if a teammates lights wall up on ESPN.  That's one of the examples he's set. 

 

I blame Grunfeld for this as well.  Another example of a toxic unprofessional culture. 

 

I'm torn, I know Wall's not perfect but judging by his personality, he's already been in Ted's office.  Ted said this team as constructed can win a ring, Wall responded publicly that that wasn't true.  This could'a been handled differently, but considering the circumstances, I'll let this pass.  I'm not a fan of calling people out publicly, its something Wall really needs to think about going forward.  But in this case, I'm fine with it, right or wrong. 

[Renegade7]

12 minutes ago, Destino said:

agreed, infuriating.  It should be titled "This years excuses for not firing Grunfeld."

 

I mean, it's hard for me to defend Wall sometimes given he's made a habit lately of saying what's on his mind in regards to how he feels about his teammates. 

 

I'm telling you its frustration boiling over and there's no one in that organization that can calm him down.  I'm sure him and Beal still aren't best friends, but Wall probably respects him the most, and we all know Beal is just as savage, just not as public as Wall is about his feelings on what's going on.  It's one thing to say we aren't playing well, Wall is the only one publicly saying this is unacceptable and we can't get rings if we keep doing this.

 

I'm not saying you're 100% wrong, what I'm saying is neither is this particular case. This is an example of Wall trying to be the face of the franchise and no one's there to show him how to do it.  You're absolutely right that that's Ernie's fault, too.

[No Excuses]

Wall will eventually have a nasty exit on this team. And Ted and Ernie are going to feed the local media with a bunch of awful stories about Wall to paint his personality as the reason for all of our struggles.

 

The lack of accountability for this teams front office is very closely tied to the fact that the local sports media just absolutely does not eviscerate them. Ever. But the media has never had an issue going after the players on the team whenever they have a falling out.

[Going Commando]

Wall needs to let Beal do the talking to the media.

[CRobi21]

Ted's planner for the Wiz..

 

Edited April 30, 2018 by CRobi21

[bearrock]

22 hours ago, Lombardi's_kid_brother said:

Solid season, fellas. Lot to be proud of.....

 

I think you have to give this current group three or four more years to gel before you make any tough decisions.

Ernie?

[Destino]

I don't think Teds a stupid man, so I have to wonder what value Ernie brings to the organization that we might not know about.  Maybe something on the business side that Ted views as irreplaceable.  Seems unlikely being that the team's seems to lose money every year and failed to find a sponsor for their jersey, but there has to be a reason he's stuck around for 15 years right?  He survived enough mistakes to end 4 or 5 GM tenures in D.C.   

28 minutes ago, CRobi21 said:

Ted's planner for the Wiz..

I would actually yell at Ted if I saw him on the street today because of that tweet.  I'd be that crazy fan.

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

Whenever Wall gets chatty with the media in times like these, I can't help but choke on the bile coming up the back of my throat, knowing it aligns with Cowherds changed tune on Wall.  That he's an elite player but not the kind of guy/leader that you build teams around.

[Llevron]

1 minute ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

Whenever Wall gets chatty with the media in times like these, I can't help but choke on the bile coming up the back of my throat, knowing it aligns with Cowherds changed tune on Wall.  That he's an elite player but not the kind of guy/leader that you build teams around.

 

Hes definitely not a leader. No other way to put it. Great player but as a leader he fails. It's obvious. I think that's the biggest beef behind him and Beal. If you listen to neal talk to hear a leader. But the leader of this team is Wall. This is why we are ****ed. 

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

14 hours ago, Destino said:

Stop trashing his teammates to the media would be a great start.  He pulled this stunt during the season, and he's still bringing up his failed team meeting from half a season ago.  All he needs to do is march into Ted's office and make his demands known.  Talking to the press isn't helping anyone.  

 

Or perhaps his teammates (one in particular) shouldn't be making passive aggressive tweets.

 

ESPECIALLY, when a certain player had the opportunity to speak his mind during a team meeting and apparently, did not.

 

 

[Destino]

57 minutes ago, BRAVEONAWARPATH said:

Or perhaps his teammates (one in particular) shouldn't be making passive aggressive tweets.

 

ESPECIALLY, when a certain player had the opportunity to speak his mind during a team meeting and apparently, did not.

What you're describing is a perfectly acceptable level of pettiness for normal folks, and entirely unacceptable for someone trying to be a leader on a pro sports team.  

 

More interestingly though, do you really think it's just Gortat?   What's been said suggests more than one.  I doubt very much the players only meeting failed just because Gortat didn't want to speak up.  Sounds like it was several and it sounds like they all had a problem with Wall, specifically.  There's also that bizarre Ewing effect.

 

Wizards have to find each one of those guys and get them out.  Hopefully none of them are named Otto.

 

 

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

6 minutes ago, Destino said:

What you're describing is a perfectly acceptable level of pettiness for normal folks, and entirely unacceptable for someone trying to be a leader on a pro sports team.  

 

More interestingly though, do you really think it's the same player?  Gortat and no one else?   What's been said suggests Wall had issues with players, as in more than one.  I doubt very much the players only meeting failed just because Gortat didn't want to speak up.  Sounds like it was several and it sounds like they all had a problem with Wall, specifically.  There's also that bizarre Ewing effect.

 

Wizards have to find each one of those guys and get them out.  Hopefully none of them are named Otto.

 

 

Let's just say Marcin was the ringleader supposedly.

 

And talking to Suns fans, he did similar to Goran Dragic.

 

I'm just not a fan.

 

 

 

 

 

[Renegade7]

22 minutes ago, Destino said:

 Hopefully none of them are named Otto.

 

I got some bad news for you then.

 

[Warhead36]

He shouldn't have said it publicly. A leader never blames anyone but himself publicly. Now privately, yeah, go ahead and eviscerate folks.

[Llevron]

11 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

He shouldn't have said it publicly. A leader never blames anyone but himself publicly. Now privately, yeah, go ahead and eviscerate folks.

 

They so soft he can't even do that. That's part of the problem. 

 

But he has to know his team, too. So he can't go in on them like that lol

[Renegade7]

Brady and Jordan are two of the biggest ***holes to ever play their respective sports.  We've seen Brady throw tantrums against his coaches and players on the field, and walk off without handshakes to his opponents on multiple occasions.  You can do a google search right now on all the f'd up stuff Jordan has said publicly about his teammates and even his coaches sometimes.  But they got rings, lots of them.

 

What is ya'lls definition of a leader?  @Destino said it at minimum requires not publicly going after your teammates, which in theory makes sense. Does that negate everything Wall is doing that at this point we can tell is similar and maybe to a lesser degree what Brady and Jordan do behind closed doors or even on the court/field for everyone to see?

 

http://www.espn.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/11621703/tom-brady-rips-new-england-patriots-offense

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/445705-i-wanna-be-like-wilt-not-like-mike

 

Ya'll are acting like he needs to be Russell Wilson or Tim Duncan, that's just not who he is, and there's evidence to show that his approach (though dangerous) doesn't stop you from winning rings.  We give two of the greatest athletes in American history passes for a lot of stuff because they have multiple rings, and they have multiple rings because they were part of organizations that put the pieces around them so they could get rings.  That's why I think some of you are so against what he's doing, we're losing.

 

If I had a choice, Wall would chill the hell out. He's not going to until somebody gives him a good damn reason to.  This entire situation is unacceptable, and this is a part of his character that can be dialed down, which is a far better problem then having to dial up.  

[Bozo the kKklown]

3 hours ago, Llevron said:

I think that's the biggest beef behind him and Beal. If you listen to neal talk to hear a leader.

Beal is not a leader.

 

I am not sure where you all have seen this, but I haven't.

 

This organization lacks leadership.

 

3 hours ago, Destino said:

I don't think Teds a stupid man,

He is an incredibly lazy man who just enjoys being able to have LeBron James hear him courtside. He is the worst kind of sports owner.

[PeterMP]

I'm not a Wizard fan, but Ernie doesn't really seem to be that bad of a GM.  Just in DC, he's taken two bad teams and made them playoff team and sort of fringe contenders.

 

There aren't many people that have done that.  That isn't to say he hasn't made mistakes.  Nobody is a GM for that long that doesn't make mistakes.

[Destino]

21 minutes ago, PeterMP said:

I'm not a Wizard fan, but Ernie doesn't really seem to be that bad of a GM.  Just in DC, he's taken two bad teams and made them playoff team and sort of fringe contenders.

 

There aren't many people that have done that.  That isn't to say he hasn't made mistakes.  Nobody is a GM for that long that doesn't make mistakes.

He's very good at building playoff teams in a league where most teams go to the playoffs.  Could things be worse?  Sure.  He could have drafted the wrong players and have zero allstars from all those lottery picks.  He gets credit for drafting Wall and Beal.  He also owns the laundry list of mistakes that have kept this team from getting out of the second round. 

 

The best I can say for Grunfeld is that he's taken this team as far as he's able.  Even if you prefer this charitable wording, the end result is that it's time for him to go. 

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

 

[purbeast]

Oubre's shot fell WAY off like right before the playoffs.  While Wall was out he was very reliable but I dunno, he just went ice cold when Wall returned and never got it back.  He was consistent when he got to the rim and would get to the line often, but he was hitting like 1 out of every 10 three pointer he took.