The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[gbear]

...not much to stop this from happening except finding a team willing to take Beal's salary and Beal being willing to go?

 

That seems like a lot to overcome.  

 

[Fergasun]

Someone who finishes in the Top 8 is likely to see Beal as a Ray Allen in Miami type. I don't know if there is a team that could make the assets and salaries work.

 

[Renegade7]

three team trade may be only way...

[Metalhead]

A Miami deal built around Beal for Kyle Lowry, Duncan Robinson, and picks could work. The Wizards are not going to get much more than that in return for Beal's contract.

 

Edit - plus the trade wouldn't gut Miami's roster, possibly incentivizing Beal to accept it.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Metalhead

[ixcuincle]

 

[@DCGoldPants]

15 minutes ago, ixcuincle said:

 

 

It is a sign those teams have bigger goals than Ted does with his team right now. However, say you go out and get Nick Nurse today. Then what? You hand him this roster to do what exactly? My continued concern is that every quality GM that has had informal talks with this franchise have all asked if they have the authority to move Beal immediately, even for a diminished return, then blow the rest up to start fresh..... and Ted says no. So, they pass on a formal interview, and I wouldn't blame them. 

[bearrock]

I'm just praying for Wanbanyama at this point.  It's either stupid luck or methodical rebuild.  I have not seen anything to indicate that Leonsis is willing to go through door number 2.

[Hersh]

This was always going to be a problem when hiring the son of a DC legend. He will be here longer than maybe he should but given that the Wiz aren't close in any regard, I don't think it matters. Be interesting to see how many more top GM candidates express interest in the job if the Wiz land a top-3 pick. 

 

 

Great article in the athletic today: https://theathletic.com/4521654/2023/05/16/washington-wizards-ted-leonsis/

 

Presents lots of questions that perspective candidates should be asking of Ted. Also, they aren't kind to the "new" practice facility. 

Edited May 16, 2023 by Hersh

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

1 hour ago, Hersh said:

This was always going to be a problem when hiring the son of a DC legend. He will be here longer than maybe he should but given that the Wiz aren't close in any regard, I don't think it matters. Be interesting to see how many more top GM candidates express interest in the job if the Wiz land a top-3 pick. 

 

 

Great article in the athletic today: https://theathletic.com/4521654/2023/05/16/washington-wizards-ted-leonsis/

 

Presents lots of questions that perspective candidates should be asking of Ted. Also, they aren't kind to the "new" practice facility. 

What's wrong with the facility?

[Hersh]

1 minute ago, BRAVEONAWARPATH said:

What's wrong with the facility?

 

Here is the article for those that don't subscribe. It's near the bottom of the article. 

 

Spoiler

What questions should Wizards GM candidates ask owner Ted Leonsis?

By Josh Robbins and David Aldridge

May 16, 2023

15

---

There’s a widely held opinion among rival NBA team executives about the Washington Wizards’ ongoing search for a new head of basketball operations.

The executives said when Wizards principal owner Ted Leonsis conducts formal interviews to hire Tommy Sheppard’s replacement, those discussions cannot be a one-way conversation in which Leonsis asks all of the questions — but isn’t willing to answer more than a few himself.

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Potential hires, the executives believe, must be able to pose pointed questions to Leonsis to ensure they would have the authority to make changes they deem necessary, no matter where they occur throughout the organization, and have the resources they’d need to attempt to make the franchise relevant again.

The Athletic spoke with six high-ranking team executives from around the NBA, none of whom are involved in the current selection process (to the best of our knowledge) to learn what they would ask Leonsis if they were sitting in the interviewee’s chair. The executives — whom we’ll refer to as Executive A, Executive B and so on — were granted anonymity to enable them to speak candidly about the Wizards, Leonsis, Bradley Beal and any other topics they deemed relevant without fear of reprisals from either the Wizards or from their own teams’ owners.

To most of the executives we spoke with, the Wizards appear stuck in the mud. Last summer, the team re-signed Beal to a five-year, $251 million contract that includes a no-trade clause and a 15 percent trade bonus. This season, Washington compiled a 35-47 record, and missed the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons. The Wizards’ only postseason appearance during that time came in 2021, when Washington advanced through the Play-In round, then lost in the first round to Philadelphia in a quick five-game thrashing.

“I would have a lot of questions I would want to ask,” Executive A said, “but the biggest one would be: Are you willing to start over and build from the bottom up? Can you stomach three to four years of struggle in the win column in order to position the team to win (at) a high level in the long run?’”

The execs we spoke with said many of the questions to Leonsis need to be pointed questions — the more direct, the better — because anyone who accepts the job needs to understand exactly the rationale for decisions made during Sheppard’s tenure, and to identify any obstacles that Sheppard may have faced.

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Executive B said: “I think (it’s important to have) the candidates ask, ‘Why have we gotten to this point? Why was there a no-trade clause? What is the reason that we’re in the situation that we’re in? And how is this hire going to be allowed to correct that?’”

The executives we spoke with mentioned many topics they’d raise with Leonsis. We’ll cover those questions one by one.

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What’s the goal in Washington?

The most basic question of all focuses on what Leonsis wants to accomplish with the Wizards. Is the goal merely to be good and occasionally be in the postseason, to add a little extra revenue from a couple of home playoff games? Or is the goal to be great and regularly contend for championships?

Executive C said he would ask: “How are you defining success? What makes a successful team?”

What if the response from Leonsis — your potential boss — is that he wants to make the playoffs, but isn’t really seeking more?

“Then I would say, ‘Well, why would you want to set the bar that low?’” Executive C said. “Where is the bar? Is it a moving bar? Does the bar move based on the whims of emotion and how the Capitals are doing? Or the Wizards, do they have their own standard that’s ironclad and high enough where it’s aspirational? What’s the goal? Do we just want to make the playoffs? Do we want to do more than that? Do we want to just make it once or twice? Do we want to have a sustained run? Is competitive longevity important?”

These questions may seem basic. But they’re not.

Executive D said, in his experience, some owners don’t prioritize winning a championship. For those owners, making the playoffs in most seasons would be just fine.

And this question may be especially important in the Wizards’ case. The Wizards are one team within Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the NBA G League’s Capital City Go-Go, the NBA 2K League team Wizards District Gaming, the global esports franchise Team Liquid and NBC Sports Washington, the network that owns the local TV rights to Wizards and Capitals games.

 

The Wizards have missed the playoffs in four of the last five seasons. (Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)

Leonsis is not only Monumental’s principal owner, but he’s also its chief executive officer. Leonsis was also the frontrunner last fall to buy the Nationals from the Lerner family, which would make him one of a handful of people to own teams in three of the four major North American sports leagues. Talks have stalled in recent months, but Leonsis still hopes to add the Nationals to his local sports empire.

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So it’s fair to ask where the Wizards stand on Leonsis’ list of priorities.

“I think the owner’s vision is really, really important,” Executive D said. “Everybody wants to win a championship, but are they willing to do what it takes to get there?”

Executive D added: “What’s his vision of the current team? And what does he see as realistic? Does he think that this (current) team can win a championship? I know that’s the question that he would have (for me if I were interviewing for the job). He would say: ‘That’s your job.’ But I would want to know what he’s thinking, too.”

And what if Leonsis says he feels the Wizards, as currently constructed, can contend for an NBA title?

Executive D said: “Then I think it goes back to the interviewee saying: ‘I agree with that’ or ‘I disagree with that.’ And if you disagree with that strongly enough, you may say, ‘This job is not for me.’’’

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How much authority will I have to make player-personnel decisions?

Whether the new hire will have final authority over the team’s roster would be top of mind for five of the executives polled for this article.

“Who’s making the final call?” Executive C said. “What does that process look like? How are decisions filtered and then arrived at? What does your involvement look like, day to day, month to month, or whatever? I think those are the big ones.”

Sheppard was said to have had the final say on basketball matters during his four years as the Wizards’ head of basketball operations. But concurrent with Sheppard’s promotion in 2019, Leonsis introduced a new and detailed organizational structure. It included John Thompson III, the Wizards’ vice president of development and engagement, who is now one of Leonsis’ chief point people in the current search to replace Sheppard.

Former NFL executive Sashi Brown was named Monumental Basketball’s chief planning and operations officer. Former 76ers vice president of athlete care Daniel Medina was hired as chief of athlete care & performance. Brown lasted less than three full seasons with the Wizards before left the organization to return to the NFL, where he is now president of the Baltimore Ravens. Sheppard is now out, too.

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Questions about autonomy almost certainly would apply to the vast majority of franchises, if not all the franchises. But they certainly resonate when it comes to the Wizards because of last summer’s decision to build around Beal, re-sign him to a max contract and give him both a no-trade clause and a 15 percent trade kicker. While Sheppard completely backed the decision to re-sign Beal, it’s unclear how agreeing to Beal’s no-trade clause came about. To be sure, Leonsis ultimately signed off on it.

“You’ve got the Beal factor going on there,” Executive D said. “You’ve got to bring up names like that. You’ve got to talk realistically about names, the names on the roster, and say, ‘Ted, what are your thoughts about these guys?’ You can have all the ideas and thoughts you want going in (as the new hire, but if) you get in there and, all of a sudden, the vision is not the same, it would put you in a real uncomfortable position.”

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What about Beal?

While having the authority to make player-personnel decisions is a central question for most of the execs we spoke with, a natural follow-up question goes hand-in-hand: Will the new hire be allowed to rebuild the roster, including trading Beal, if the new hire thinks that’s the best for the franchise in the long term?

The Wizards billed the combination of Beal, Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porziņģis as their “Big Three,” but they failed to meet expectations collectively last season, their first year playing together. In the 35 games they played simultaneously, they compiled a 16-19 record. Sheppard said, in what would be his last session with the media in mid-April, that 35 games wasn’t enough time to fairly judge the trio.

Some of our executives disagreed.

“My biggest thing would be, are you averse to a rebuild?” Executive E said. “What are the expectations from (Ted)? This team, the three pieces you’ve got in Kuzma, Beal and Porziņģis —  they’re not good enough. We’ve seen it. How married are you to all three of those guys? How married are you to Bradley? He hasn’t shown that he can carry a team. He’s one of the highest-paid players in the league. Can we break that up and get two players that are really good, instead of just him? Do we have to keep him? Can we work with him? I know he’s got a no-trade clause.”

Executive C also put it bluntly: “Why has the team been kind of stuck, or mired, in mediocrity for the last decade? Probably because (they’re) disillusioned to think that Bradley Beal is the player that (they) hope he is, but he’s clearly not. So are you willing to clear the decks? I think that’s an important question. Why haven’t you traded Bradley Beal? Because he’s a good player, but he’s probably the second or third player on a really, really good team, not the guy to build around.”

Executive A noted that he’d ask Leonsis if he is now willing to go through a years-long rebuild. If Leonsis said that, yes, he would now green-light such a process, Executive A was then asked if he thought that the Wizards could be fixed.

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“Every situation is fixable if you are committed to being patient,” he responded. “They need to trade Beal to get that whole thing started.”

Beal’s injury history raised a red flag with Executive E.

“I’d like to look into the medical staff a little bit ’cause Bradley Beal does miss a lot of games with pulled muscles, and hamstring issues,” Executive E said. “Why does that keep happening? I know they built a new facility, but do we have everything there to treat these guys the right way? Do we have all the resources? How much are you willing to invest? The reality is, a lot of teams are investing more in that area, ’cause there’s a bigger influx of money. With the new TV deals, we should be able to spend a little bit more to make sure our players have everything they need to be successful. And that goes into changing the environment.”

Executive E also said that if Washington gets lucky in Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery, where the Wizards will have a 6.7 percent chance of winning the top pick, and the right to draft French phenom Victor Wembanyama, a full teardown may not be necessary. But a Beal trade might still make sense for the Wizards, even if they got the chance to pick Wembanyama.

“Say they get lucky in the lottery,” Executive E said. “Then that could expedite (a retooling, rather than a full rebuild), if you get the top pick, or top two or three, and you get a player who can help you compete. But if you get the top pick, you want to make it that kid’s team. You don’t want Bradley there, kind of fighting for the attention. So let’s get off of Bradley, get some younger guys, and the right veterans, so this kid knows how to handle things the right way, start to build it that way. I just don’t know (though). Ted’s never been up for that type of thing.”

On this point, whether to rebuild or not, all of the people we spoke with were in total agreement: Whatever the answer, Leonsis and the new hire must be aligned on the team’s overall plan.

“Whether you’re the owner or the new head of basketball, you both want the same thing: success,” Executive F said. “And the only way to have success is to be able to go into it as a partnership — the owner is the owner, let’s understand that — but a partnership in terms of the direction. And I think if you’re a reputable and established executive, you know not to just take a position just to take it, because it’s on your résumé. Whatever decisions are made, it’s on your résumé. It’s what you’ve done and whether it was your decision or not, all these individual decisions, it reflects upon you.

“So you’re in a position to be blessed to be able to sit in front of one of these 30 owners, but you want to know that you’re going to have the ability to make the right decisions ultimately for the team, but also for your own career.”

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Who will evaluate the coach and the overall basketball staff?

While the Wizards’ GM/president of basketball ops job is still open, Leonsis has determined Wes Unseld Jr. will remain as the team’s coach, at least for the 2023-24 season. The Wizards have made strides in some areas under Unseld, but the bottom line is that the coach has a 70-94 record after his first two seasons in D.C.

Leonsis certainly isn’t the first owner to fire a head of basketball operations but retain the coach. But still, the decision to retain Unseld adds a bit of urgency to a question any candidate to replace Sheppard almost certainly will have.

Executive B said he would ask: “Will the GM be allowed to evaluate the coaching staff, and what process are you most comfortable within that evaluation? What’s the process by which we’ll evaluate the coaching staff, and how are we doing it?

“I think it’s a pretty critical one for the new GM,” Executive B added. “If (the new hire is) coming in and Kuzma’s going to be there and Porziņģis is going to be there and if Brad Beal doesn’t want to be traded, if you’re not allowed to evaluate the coaching staff and the style of play, that leads to the last question: Am I going to have the ability to impart my philosophy of how an NBA team should be put together and play on the entire team, on the entire franchise?”

When Leonsis fired Sheppard on April 19, Leonsis didn’t dismiss anyone else within the Wizards’ basketball operations department. Also, Leonsis did not appoint anyone on the staff as the interim head of basketball operations. Meanwhile, the Wizards have to prepare for the upcoming NBA Draft. The Wizards’ delegation for this week’s NBA Draft Combine in Chicago will include Unseld, assistant general manager/strategy and analytics Brett Greenberg and vice president of college personnel Frank Ross.

Amidst that backdrop, there are questions about what will happen with the people who still remain on the basketball operations staff.

“There are a lot of people there who have been there a long time,” Executive E said. “What am I allowed to do with this staff? Do I have to keep guys? Sometimes that comes with the territory. But it’s like, there needs to be major change. I hate the word ‘culture,’ but the environment has to change there. How can I change the environment if I have to keep ‘X’ amount of people here? What can I do with this staff? How committed are you to building a really good staff? Financially, it takes money if we’re going to upgrade the staff around here.”

Executive D would raise the question, too. He said: “What about staff? Am I obligated to retain anyone? Am I going to have complete freedom to hire a staff that I think best fits me and best fits the organization?”

“To me, that’s a huge part,” he added. “As you’re sitting in meetings, are you looking around and seeing someone that you can trust and someone that believes in you and believes in your vision? I think sometimes holdovers can be difficult. … I’m not saying that you can’t retain people. I think you have to make sure that you’re retaining the right kind of person if that happens.”

 

The Wizards have compiled a 70-94 record during Wes Unseld Jr.’s two seasons as their head coach. (Brad Mills / USA Today)

Several of the rival teams’ executives we spoke with also wonder whether the new hire will have the necessary resources going forward, even though Leonsis said last summer that he’s “said ‘no’ to nothing” when it comes to spending on the team.

As Executive C put it: “What constraints are we working with in terms of financial or budget relative to staff and resources?”

The emphasis played on analytics and scouting will speak to the new hire’s overall philosophy of building a team and maximizing the team’s talent. Washington has made investments in player development over the last few years, improving coordination with the G League staff, and has had some success stories. Guard Jordan Goodwin went from the Go-Go to a two-way deal with the Wizards to a three-year contract with Washington. The team’s last two first-round picks, Deni Avdija and Corey Kispert, have both gotten better year-to-year.

Monumental bolstered its analytics group across all of its teams in 2021 by hiring Kathy Evans away from the Toronto Raptors as the organization’s vice president of research and information systems. Greenberg was already in that space for the Wizards, having been promoted in 2019 from his previous position of vice president of analytics and salary cap management. Yet Unseld just released Dean Oliver, the team’s assistant coach for analytics and a pioneer in the basketball analytics field.

“What resources will we be given for player development and analytics?” Executive B said. “What’s that going to look like? And I would say one of the reasons, I think, that Tommy, unfortunately, was let go, which is sad, was they just didn’t draft very well the last three years. So what’s the reorganization of that department going to look like? What resources are we putting towards player development, analytics, the medical-and-performance staff and scouting? So all those different buckets.”

Executive F said in addition to building out the analytics group, it will be important to have the authority to spend on the roster, “because if you’re a team that is rebuilding, you may want to spend to gather assets,” he said. “If you get to a point where you’re below the cap, you may want to spend to gather assets. There’s reasons to spend and reasons not to spend, but you want to spend responsibly always. So I think you want to know your latitude in that.

“In terms of talent, ultimately, everything has to be blessed by ownership, but you want to have the real say, because you’re putting the experts in place for that reason. So, you’re building your staff out with experts: scouts, whether it’s in the analytics department, and you want to know that what you bring to the table, your direction, is going to be accepted unless there’s some reason that (it isn’t). Obviously, owners can have reasons, but you want to make sure that you have a real opportunity to express your vision for it. I guess the other part to that is to be able to give them your mission and follow that path, because there’s so many ways you can go in this league now.”

---

Can the Wizards’ practice facility be improved?

In 2018, in partnership with the D.C. government, the Wizards opened a new practice facility, the Entertainment & Sports Arena, in Southeast D.C., on land that once was part of the St. Elizabeths Hospital campus. ESA’s 4,200-seat arena is the home for the WNBA’s Mystics, who won the 2019 title there, and the G League’s Go-Go. The Wizards, Mystics and Go-Go all practice there as well, on courts just steps away from the main arena.

In recent years, however, other franchises have also built new practice facilities that far outstrip ESA in terms of amenities. Those franchises include the Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic.

Many of the executives we spoke with are familiar with the Wizards’ practice facility and, if they were interviewing for the Wizards’ job, would ask about making upgrades.

“I haven’t seen their whole facility they’ve built —  I’ve been in there, done a quick pass-through,” Executive E said. “But I’ve talked to people there, and they don’t have the space that they were hoping for. I almost look at that facility, at this point, the way the other teams are in our league, that should be your WNBA team and G League facility, and you should build a new NBA (practice) facility that’s bigger and better. …

“I don’t know if Ted’s going to invest. He feels really proud of what he just built. You hate to go in there and trash it. But you need more space. I heard they don’t even have enough office space there. So how are you supposed to have your staff in there comfortably, and create the environment to be successful, when you don’t have the space to do it?”

As Executive B said: “I wouldn’t say, ‘We’ve got to build a new one. This isn’t good enough.’ That would be almost embarrassing to the people that built it. But maybe there’s something you can do to upgrade it.”

He continued: “One of the questions I would have is: What capacity do we have for growth within this facility? Is the facility just it and we’re not going to go any further with it? Or is there a capacity for growth there? Because I think it’s really good that they have the Go-Go there and the Mystics there. But I heard that they had some clunkiness getting the office environment built up to the right standards. I would want to see that whole facility and get a feel for it and really have an ability to break down the opportunities for growth within the facility.”

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Wizards get Wembanyama tonite, I can feel it.  They've been largely **** for years and they're due for a franchise player to come their way.  

 

All of a sudden the Wizards are going to have an international focus on them, a quantum leap forward in terms of relevance because of the bounce of a ping-pong ball.  

 

Or they'll get something like the 10th pick and use it on a small forward.

[gbear]

I wish I didn't find the last sentence to be the most likely outcome.  Rooting for the Wizards makes me understand why there are still people who root for the Jets and other teams that have sucked for a generation but have some glimmer of a vaguely remembered history.

 

We all want to be like Packers fans who had a long drought but eventually regained some luster of success for a time.

[TradeTheBeal!]

 

3 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

 

Or they'll get something like the 10th pick and use it on a small forward.

You can never have too many journeyman wings!

Edited May 16, 2023 by TradeTheBeal!

[CRobi21]

Little over an hour... Buckle up, say your prayers.

 

[FootballZombie]

Whoa, lotto snuck up on me.

 

Could really use the good luck and extra rizz of a big jump up the board, even if its not up to #1. This franchise is just blandsville right now.

[jwpanic]

Wenbanyama makes Chet Holmgren look fat. Give me Scoot all day. Fingers crossed for the 2nd pick.

[tshile]

Leonsis has skated by because snyder existed and was the bigger more attractive piñata. 
 

he may be in for a rude awakening soon. 
 

 

[Long n Left]

45 minutes ago, jwpanic said:

Wenbanyama makes Chet Holmgren look fat. Give me Scoot all day. Fingers crossed for the 2nd pick.

Now THERE’S a hot take!
 

You sure you’re not CC84?

[Rocky21]

It’s times like right now where I wish we hadn’t beat the Heat in the last week of the season which in essence took us from 6th worst record to 9th.  

[CRobi21]

The #1 pick is a bit farfetched. I'm holding all my hope in the top 4 area. Still get one of the better prospects before the talent drop off

[FootballZombie]

8th

 

dang

[bearrock]

Leonsis sucks

[CRobi21]

Cap City Go-Go got some good news today at least!

 

 

Oh yeah! The Spurs! Now there's a franchise that's in need of a break going their way finally...

Edited May 17, 2023 by CRobi21

[CRobi21]

Why does this keep happening.....

 

 

[bearrock]

1 minute ago, CRobi21 said:

Why does this keep happening.....

 

 

 

I so didn't need to know that.  Got an early meeting tomorrow and can't drink....