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The Washington Wizards fell to the Spurs in San Antonio, 92-79, on Wednesday, and Nene was highly discouraged by his team's play and cited a lack of selfless play.

“They kicked our butts in the most classy way — playing the right way,” Nene said, fuming following the clinical destruction of the Wizards by the selfless Spurs. “It’s crazy, that’s what makes me mad. Our young guys think they’re so smart. But if I was young, I would watch video of that game for one week to see if I could learn something, because the way they play is how you’re supposed to play.

“They not talented as us,” Nene continued. “They have great players, a great team, but the way they execute things, the way they cut, the way they exploit weaknesses, swing the ball. They don’t think about stats. We still think about stats. Our young guys must take their heads out their butts and play the right way, because I’m getting tired of this.”

The Wizards' dynamic backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal combined for 33 points but shot just 14 for 38 from the field.

The Wizards fell to 2-6 and have lost their past 15 visits to San Antonio.

Thoughts on this?

Honestly, i get what he's saying, but he should be the last one to talk about playing the right way. He didn't even show up against the Spurs, looked disinterested from the beginning, and got destroyed by Tiago Splitter the whole time he was in. Despite our size, we're getting dominated on the glass every night and he's a big reason why, averaging a pathetic 5 rebounds per game.

On to Wall and Beal. First of all, I'm far from a Wall apologist, in fact there's no player in our starting lineup that's criticized on the Wiz board more than Wall, and it's warranted this season. I don't know how bad the back spasms are, but hasn't been attacking nearly enough this season. Seems like he's becoming content with bailing out defenses with his broken jumper. For a guy that's as physically gifted as he is, with his size and speed, it's criminal that he's not being aggressive and at least trying to get to the rim. Our whole offense relies on him getting in the lane and sucking in the defense. But so far, especially in the halfcourt, he doesn't look anywhere near the same type of player that went on a tear late last year and averaged 24-10 over the last couple months.

As for Beal, he can do no wrong on the Wiz board, for now. But he's quickly falling in love with his jumpshot a little too much. Even though it's money for the most part, when it's not falling, he's struggling to have an impact on the game.

I read that with the yikes face the whole time.


The Spurs players, with the exception of Kawhi, learned to play "the right way" over many, many years. Beal and Wall need to be given a break before they're called out publicly. They aren't exactly the posterchildren of selfish play. From what I've seen, they're coachable team players, Beal with an affinity for jumpshooting. They just need time and experience (and guidance) to play "the right way". In that sense Nene's right in that maybe they should watch video of the game, but that's a terrible thing to say about your teammate in public.

Also, superstarball beat classyball in the finals last year. The Spurs way isn't always the winning way. If the Wizards need to step up on anything it's good defense for 48. Some shooters to surround these young guys with would be nice too. I love Gortat and Nene but there's not much midrange there. Vesely is useless, Ariza and Webster are streaky.

That was the first "bad" offensive game of the year for the wiz. Their problems are more on defense than offense. Nene is directing the frustration at the wrong spot. Also, playing back-2-backs with the 2nd being the Spurs at their place, is almost always going to be a loss. What did he expect?

Lol and didn't the Wizards just give Wall the max this past off season?

Well its true though but may not of been the best thing to put them on blast like that... Spurs have been doing that to every team though so its not something to be especially ashamed of.. their ball movement and style of playing is just impeccable.. and its easier said than done, not every team has the personnel or ability to do what the Spurs do .. so really no shame in that..

nene has system envy. the spurs play a beautiful game and have a way of making bad to mediocre teams look like absolute crap by comparison. he just sees the way the spurs play, sees how his own team plays and acknowledges how bleak his team outlook is with its current configuration.

Sometimes that's the only way to get guys attention, I don't think there's bad blood Nene is just trying to help imo.

ManualRam wrote:nene has system envy. the spurs play a beautiful game and have a way of making bad to mediocre teams look like absolute crap by comparison. he just sees the way the spurs play, sees how his own team plays and acknowledges how bleak his team outlook is with its current configuration.

System envy is exactly the right term for it. In Toronto we are on system suicide watch.

Cannot comment, However Wall as talented as he is tries to just dominate rather then lead his team to the win, Not the first time it will happen from a supremely talented player and won't be the last

What Nene said should really have been behind closed doors.

It's Spurs ball, it's Pop ball. Young players might care about their stats, sure. But this is about coaching, about different approaches to play the game. I think even when you are veteran in this league and have pretty much seen it all and then you go to San Antonio - it will be an eye-opening experience. They just play it smarter and more simple, more efficient, more logical than anybody else.
What is Wall supposed to do? It's not his job to create a basketball system.

Nene is on the money but i dont know what calling out your franchise players like that will do. It should have remained in the locker rooms.

Basketball is not football or fighting (no $hit), where shear physical strength, speed, endurance advantage can overcome opposition resistance. Sure Lebron does it now and many physically gifted stars of the past did it.

But tactics, execution is almost as important.

Lebron doesn't just drive into traffic and try to jam it on 3 people all the time, he uses his team mates getting defensive attention which opens up lanes... Lebron then uses his physical advantage one on one to get into the lane to score... Tactics, execution and physical abilities.


I posted that because I want to say that there are a lot of super physically gifted players on the NBA who don't understand basketball as a team game yet (or never will)... And it's why they are under achievers or inconsistent.
John Wall is one of them... Super gifted but relies too much on his physical gifts, it works when the other team isn't prepared for him but when they are it's a different story.

With that said...
Comparing Spurs system and Wizards and blaming 2 players is short-changing Popovic.

This guy is a genius...
Always about perfect execution... Players are not required to be super fast, super quick, super talented... But they have to be in-synch with the team and must execute flawlessly.
Doesn't matter who scores or who dominates... It's who ever has the most opportunities on the best play at the right time.

sounds like they should get a new coach or something

nuposse04 wrote:That was the first "bad" offensive game of the year for the wiz. Their problems are more on defense than offense. Nene is directing the frustration at the wrong spot. Also, playing back-2-backs with the 2nd being the Spurs at their place, is almost always going to be a loss. What did he expect?

i didn't watch wizards much but wall is at 38% and beal at 40% shooting for the season

I thought it was common knowledge that basketball IQ was in short supply there in Washington, particularly among their young players. They've gotten rid of some of the boneheads over time (Javale Mcgee, Nick Young, Jordan Crawford), but there's still a few that don't truly know how to play basketball properly (Wall, Jan Vesely, etc.).

Damon_3388 wrote:I thought it was common knowledge that basketball IQ was in short supply there in Washington, particularly among their young players. They've gotten rid of some of the boneheads over time (Javale Mcgee, Nick Young, Jordan Crawford), but there's still a few that don't truly know how to play basketball properly (Wall, Jan Vesely, etc.).

well, vesely doesn't play so that leaves...

nene is right. those two glorified role players should be more mature and play to win

especially wall. guy is such a bust

Damon_3388 wrote:I thought it was common knowledge that basketball IQ was in short supply there in Washington, particularly among their young players. They've gotten rid of some of the boneheads over time (Javale Mcgee, Nick Young, Jordan Crawford), but there's still a few that don't truly know how to play basketball properly (Wall, Jan Vesely, etc.).

Jan actually has a good bball iq. His problem is he has absolutely zero basketball skills, and he's not strong or physical enough to be at least a garbage man off the bench. The only thing he does well is run the floor.

If you wanna talk about low iq players on the Wizards, it starts and ends with Kevin Seraphin. He was single handedly responsible for giving up a 7 point play to Dallas a couple days ago. You read it right, a 7 point play.

BieberLUV wrote:nene is right. those two glorified role players should be more mature and play to win

especially wall. guy is such a bust

He's not a bust. He's been disappointing though. I really thought he had turned the corner after watching what he did last season. I thought he was gonna kill it this year, but his jumper is still broken, and it holds back his whole game.

That's why tanking is not as easy as people think.

The most difficult part is to create a winning mentality, a mentality where the team is above individual stats and egos.

This is funny because Nene tries hard maybe every other game (if we're lucky).. he is out of shape and overpaid, he doesn't exactly set a good example himself.


The Wizards have some talent on their roster but Randy Wittman is a career loser with a coaching win% of 0.336, he has never led a team anywhere and doesn't know how to. Going against Popovich only exposed further how inept he is as an NBA coach.