RealGM

For years, the Washington Wizards avoided leaning fully into a rebuild. The team would tinker with their roster year over year, in an attempt to continue to compete for playoff spots. Now, under their new front office leadership, the Wizards are fully in rebuilding mode.

"If we’re really to think about it, the phases of the rebuild," Wizards GM Will Dawkins said. "There’s the deconstruction phase. There’s the laying-the-foundation phase. There’s the building it back up, and then there’s fortifying what you build. We’re still focused on deconstructing and laying that foundation. And I think that’s important to remind everyone, that we’re still early (in the process)."

Dawkins said he's excited to see what Brian Keefe can do with a full season. Keefe had the interim head coach tag removed when he was hired as the permanent head coach this offseason. The Wizards GM also feels like the current roster is more versatile than in the past.

"I would say our fans can anticipate us using that versatility that we’ve added. We want to play (players at) multiple positions. I think you’ve seen we’ve added bigger, longer guys," Dawkins said. "We are going to be a better defensive team. We are going to have more of a better disposition. Are we going to make massive strides? Probably not right away. But the intent, the effort, that will be better."

Via Josh Robbins/The Athletic

Odds are Keefe will be fired and the Wizards will still be horrific.

If I were running a team, I do exactly this. Spend two years tearing apart the team and losing on purpose, and then three years of losing while blaming it on development. By the time they realize I have no idea what I'm doing, I would have collected five years of salary. This is much easier than actually building a good roster and having expectations put on you.

gerrit4 wrote:If I were running a team, I do exactly this. Spend two years tearing apart the team and losing on purpose, and then three years of losing while blaming it on development. By the time they realize I have no idea what I'm doing, I would have collected five years of salary. This is much easier than actually building a good roster and having expectations put on you.

lol yes!

Is that what we're calling signing 32 year old Valanciunas to a 3 year 31 million dollar deal? "Deconstruction"?

I'm mostly just kidding. I get it from both parties. Wiz had the money to spend and then they can eventually trade him for future assets. Val probably wasn't gonna get a deal larger than the MLE and there will be more suitors via trade then there would have been via FA. It's a shrewd move from a franchise who has lacked that for the past few years. Could still bite them in the ass if Val gets hurt or has a noticeable decline, but there are several teams out there looking for a Center and he's an obvious one.