Coach Witt on 106.7 NOW...

[dckingsfan]

But yeah I was mildly shocked at Wittman's enthusiasm and his near insistence that the Wizards will be making more moves.

Right off the bat he mentions their still looking at free agency. Then bringing up the intention of making a trade. He mentioned this a few times throughout the interview about making trades and stating their "not done".

Wow, if I was EG I would be having a S%$T FIT... no way I want my coach talking about possible deals. And if the deals don't get done, they know that their coach might not have wanted them.

Maybe I am off base... but that doesn't seem good.

[SUPERBALLMAN]

I caught this, as well as Lee, and the tail end of Rice Jr earlier. But yeah I was mildly shocked at Wittman's enthusiasm and his near insistence that the Wizards will be making more moves.

Right off the bat he mentions their still looking at free agency. Then bringing up the intention of making a trade. He mentioned this a few times throughout the interview about making trades and stating their "not done".

And yes he likes Otto. He expects him to have similar development and success as Beal last year. He also really likes Okafor, and mentioned him being the one that gone in Wall's ear and being the reason his attitude and season turned around and took off.

Revealing, what does this tell you about the player-coaching-staff relationships? Is this part of the reason why Seraphin and Vesely regressed?

I doubt it. He was just trying to convey the benefits of having good veterans on the team, and specifically speaking to the character of Okafor.

[closg00]

I caught this, as well as Lee, and the tail end of Rice Jr earlier. But yeah I was mildly shocked at Wittman's enthusiasm and his near insistence that the Wizards will be making more moves.

Right off the bat he mentions their still looking at free agency. Then bringing up the intention of making a trade. He mentioned this a few times throughout the interview about making trades and stating their "not done".

And yes he likes Otto. He expects him to have similar development and success as Beal last year. He also really likes Okafor, and mentioned him being the one that gone in Wall's ear and being the reason his attitude and season turned around and took off.

Revealing, what does this tell you about the player-coaching-staff relationships? Is this part of the reason why Seraphin and Vesely regressed?

I doubt it. He was just trying to convey the benefits of having good veterans on the team, and specifically speaking to the character of Okafor.

I missed that part of the interview, but you wrote that Okafor was the reason Wall changed his attitude and improved.

[Rafael122]

Didn't Wall say it himself that he and Okafor had a verbal spat of some sort but that it straightened Wall out?

[Deeptu McPullup]

Didn't Wall say it himself that he and Okafor had a verbal spat of some sort but that it straightened Wall out?

Yeah, Mike Lee had an article to the same effect. It was right before Wall turned the corner, supposedly some sort of confrontation/reconciliation/hand holding sequence.

Here it is, April 8th:

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013 ... -okafor-it

[fishercob]

Here is the audio to the interview: http://nyc.podcast.play.it/media/d0/d0/ ... 371N_4.MP3

In addition to his opening comment about looking for consolidation trade this summer, he makes a very interesting comment around the six minute mark about building an asset base so that you can make trades down the road.

Not having enough minutes for our wings will only prove to be a good problem. If we truly don't have enough minutes, it will mean everyone is playing well. If that's the case, guys will have trade value.

[hands11]

Mike Lee is on 106 now, just said the Wizards haven't been good at developing players. Say good-bye to your press credentials Mike.

closs-

Why? He's right?

Jan, Singleton, Booker...and that's just on the current squad.

Let's not forget Javale and Nick Young...

Oh God. Not again. Not the player development thing. This is so over blown.

McGee and Nick actually did develop. Just not fast enough and in the ways we wanted. That was more on them then anything. McGee know what they wanted from him. He instead focused on other things, like his offense while not listening to them telling him where to be on defense and telling him to stop dribbling full court. Well when that happens, you do one of two things. You cut their mins. If that doesn't work, you trade them. Which we did. Same with Nick. You think they were telling him don't pass the ball. But remember, they did teach Nick to catch n shoot more vs pounding the rock. But Nick is gone because he was a goof and he wanted to much money.

You want player development. We turned McGee and Nick into Nene.

Wall developed eventually. Once they put better players around him, he matured enough to learn to change speeds and he developed a jumper, and recovered from injury. He has played 2.5 years of ball and he is about to totally break out which he started last year. This year, he will add even more. Wall was the #1 pick but he was totally a raw talent. He has had huge development.

Beal developed in just one season. He had awesome development.

Player development comes with picking better players and putting them around better talent. Once you have a better core and your a winning, then you get to find fringe player who break out. But even there we have had some.

Mason was a low pick that made it. They just foolishly allowed him to get snagged away.
Price actually learned to play better PG last year. It was just too little to late and now he is gone.
Temple developed well in one year.

Kevin S has actually developed. He used to be a fouling machine. He learned to not do that. He also developed a nice post game hook shot. He also learned to pass out of the double team better. Now they need to get him rebounding more.

Its Ves and Singleton that are the easy targets to claim lack of development and both got bumped for vets last year. Well that was the sacrifice the team made to focus on Wall and Beal. Which personally I think was the right decision. If either of these players is going to develop with this team, this is the team they would step it up. But one of both might be gone before they get that chance. That just the way it goes sometimes. Timing is a big factor. The team moved in a difference direction from a mass of projects kids to a more vet based playoff bound team.
Biggest problem the Wizards have had over the last several years wasn't any one player developing, it was needing to develop to many players at once. Well they fixed that. They trimmed down their project list ( Nick and McGee for Nene), and bench Ves and Singleton to focus on Wall, Beal and Kevin.

That was the right now and it paid off for Wall and Beal who are the main focus of this team anyway.

[Dat2U]

Mike Lee is on 106 now, just said the Wizards haven't been good at developing players. Say good-bye to your press credentials Mike.

closs-

Why? He's right?

Jan, Singleton, Booker...and that's just on the current squad.

Let's not forget Javale and Nick Young...

Oh God. Not again. Not the player development thing. This is so over blown.

McGee and Nick actually did develop. Just not fast enough and in the ways we wanted. That was more on them then anything. McGee know what they wanted from him. He instead focused on other things, like his offense while not listening to them telling him where to be on defense and telling him to stop dribbling full court. Well when that happens, you do one of two things. You cut their mins. If that doesn't work, you trade them. Which we did. Same with Nick. You think they were telling him don't pass the ball. But remember, they did teach Nick to catch n shoot more vs pounding the rock. But Nick is gone because he was a goof and he wanted to much money.

You want player development. We turned McGee and Nick into Nene.

Wall developed eventually. Once they put better players around him, he matured enough to learn to change speeds and he developed a jumper, and recovered from injury. He has played 2.5 years of ball and he is about to totally break out which he started last year. This year, he will add even more. Wall was the #1 pick but he was totally a raw talent. He has had huge development.

Beal developed in just one season. He had awesome development.

Player development comes with picking better players and putting them around better talent. Once you have a better core and your a winning, then you get to find fringe player who break out. But even there we have had some.

Mason was a low pick that made it. They just foolishly allowed him to get snagged away.
Price actually learned to play better PG last year. It was just too little to late and now he is gone.
Temple developed well in one year.

Kevin S has actually developed. He used to be a fouling machine. He learned to not do that. He also developed a nice post game hook shot. He also learned to pass out of the double team better. Now they need to get him rebounding more.

Its Ves and Singleton that are the easy targets to claim lack of development and both got bumped for vets last year. Well that was the sacrifice the team made to focus on Wall and Beal. Which personally I think was the right decision. If either of these players is going to develop with this team, this is the team they would step it up. But one of both might be gone before they get that chance. That just the way it goes sometimes. Timing is a big factor. The team moved in a difference direction from a mass of projects kids to a more vet based playoff bound team.
Biggest problem the Wizards have had over the last several years wasn't any one player developing, it was needing to develop to many players at once. Well they fixed that. They trimmed down their project list ( Nick and McGee for Nene), and bench Ves and Singleton to focus on Wall, Beal and Kevin.

That was the right now and it paid off for Wall and Beal who are the main focus of this team anyway.

Garbage. You must analyze player development with a magnifying glass, because it's hard to see any real improvement among any of the guys mentioned outside of Wall's breakout over the 2nd half of last season. Nick Young went from being a immature rookie with poor shot selection who couldn't rebound or pass to a veteran with poor shot selection and who wouldn't rebound or pass. Javale McGee went from a freakish athlete who impacts games by accident either good or bad to a young veteran who's a freakish athlete that impacts games by accident, either good or bad. When you talk about Vesely, Singleton & Booker, you might be better off using words like regression instead of progression.

And trading someone is not player development. That argument simply isn't going to fly.

[TGW]

It's not overblown. If the team can't develop players who aren't top 3 picks, then that's a problem. The Wizards aren't going to be rewarded with high picks every year. This staff is going to have to be able to develop players taken in the bottom half of the first round to have any chance of being a consistent playoff team.

If their shifting focus on developing Wall and Beal (which I don't think is the case at all), then that is just a sign of lazy staff. It's not like they got Vesley/Singleton/Booker/Seraphin off the scrap heap--they spent first rounders on these guys. And they make up 1/3 of the roster...they should be focused on. If not, get rid of them.

[Dark Faze]

Hoping something is imminent

[pancakes3]

I think it's overblown. Grown men with millions of dollars and access to world class facilities playing a relatively simple game don't need a dedicated coach hounding them to make them better.

It's not like we magically "developed" Beal but failed to develop Nick Young as a 2-guard.

Ves, Singleton, and Seraphin are busts not because we're not focusing on them. It's because they're just bad players. To think we can "up" stats by lavishing attention and effort on a managerial level is video-game GM'ing and frankly patronizing. These are grown, functional men. Not vacuous automatons that require specific and infant-level coddling.

[pancakes3]

He knows Ernie's reputation is riding on Vesely.

I don't think there's a single NBA fan that's holding their breath on Ves panning out. Ernie made his bed and pooped in it thoroughly already with that pick. I don't think EG is stubborn enough to make minute demands for Ves just to save face and I don't think Witt is spineless enough to oblige.

[truwizfan4evr]

I think it's overblown. Grown men with millions of dollars and access to world class facilities playing a relatively simple game don't need a dedicated coach hounding them to make them better.

It's not like we magically "developed" Beal but failed to develop Nick Young as a 2-guard.

Ves, Singleton, and Seraphin are busts not because we're not focusing on them. It's because they're just bad players. To think we can "up" stats by lavishing attention and effort on a managerial level is video-game GM'ing and frankly patronizing. These are grown, functional men. Not vacuous automatons that require specific and infant-level coddling.

I agree, Maybe its not how we devlope them they just aren't very good in the first place.

[mhd]

He knows Ernie's reputation is riding on Vesely.

I don't think there's a single NBA fan that's holding their breath on Ves panning out. Ernie made his bed and pooped in it thoroughly already with that pick. I don't think EG is stubborn enough to make minute demands for Ves just to save face and I don't think Witt is spineless enough to oblige.

The one thing I like about Randy is that he DOESN'T play favorites like EJ did. Randy would not have benched Haywood like EJ did. He'll play players who deserve PT. Ves didn't deserve anything last year and Randy has constantly said PT is earned.

[closg00]

I think it's overblown. Grown men with millions of dollars and access to world class facilities playing a relatively simple game don't need a dedicated coach hounding them to make them better.

It's not like we magically "developed" Beal but failed to develop Nick Young as a 2-guard.

Ves, Singleton, and Seraphin are busts not because we're not focusing on them. It's because they're just bad players. To think we can "up" stats by lavishing attention and effort on a managerial level is video-game GM'ing and frankly patronizing. These are grown, functional men. Not vacuous automatons that require specific and infant-level coddling.

THIS is utter nonsense. Does every player arrive at a team with the same skill(s), BBIQ, and talent-level? Do the Wizards combine coaching with playing time in the D-League like the majority of NBA teams?

Vesely, Singleton etc might be bad basketball players, but the Wizards bare some responsibility for their draft failures because they don't put-in half the effort in developing players like so-many other teams. Why have a Player Development position at all then?

[Kanyewest]

Meh- looks like the Wizards are exploring trades but it doesn't mean one will happen.

[pancakes3]

Utter nonsense?

How many all stars are there that had to grind their way through the D-League to get there? Do you really think the D-league is a viable "talent development" system? It's a babysitting service that teams use to round out the end of their bench.

Why have a player development position at all? It doesn't hurt to point out what someone has to work on but the onus of that development isn't on management - it's on the player. You're getting mad at the teacher when it's the student that's not doing the homework. Did we somehow "develop" Arenas and Larry Hughes but then decided to not develop Jarvis Hayes and Nick Young? Andray Blatche only got a little bit of instruction, and only in the April of 2011 and then the player instructor just decided to not develop Blatche ever again?

This extends to EVERYONE. Even HOF-er Shaq. He did NOT put in work on his free throws. Rick Barry offered to teach him the underhand and Shaq refused. You don't think someone's pointed out to Ves he needs to bulk up, rebound, play more hard nosed, learn to shoot, play defense, etc.? It's Ves that's not hitting the weight room. It's Ves that's not doing MIkan drills. What do you think a coach can do more? To hold his hand through it all? Then follow him home to make sure he's eating enough protein? Then enforce a bedtime to make sure he's getting enough rest? And sit patiently through the night to wake him up at a reasonable hour?

It's absolutely ridiculous that you can offer coaching fundamentals to NBA players. It's hubris to think you can teach fundamentals to someone like Ves. It's the chicken and the egg argument. Player A can improve his terrible jumper if he would have a good work ethic and put in the effort. However, if player A had a good work ethic and was capable of putting in the work, he wouldn't have a terrible jumper to begin with. Ves almost tautologically wouldn't pan out.

[Nivek]

I spent some time yesterday on the phone with a reporter who recently retired from a major network job he'd held for 30 years. He was a hockey player as a youth, and pretty much (by his account) sucked through his first couple years of high school. After that 10th grade year where he made the JV, but road the pine, he said he got tired of sucking. So, he started practicing -- on his own. Started lifting weights -- on his own. And he got better.

He made varsity as a junior and a senior. He went to college on a hockey scholarship, where he was coached by Lou Lamoriello.

This reporter wasn't hounded by coaches. He wasn't "developed" by anyone or any entity. He went out and practiced. He worked on his body. He got tired of sucking and he put in the work to get better.

There is NOTHING stopping Jan Vesely from working hard in the weight room or going into a gym to shoot a thousand jumpers a day.

There's nothing preventing Chris Singleton from working on his ball handling and a corner three.

There's nothing preventing Kevin Seraphin from studying game film to improve his basketball knowledge.

If they want to be good NBA players, they'll put in the work and they'll be good NBA players. If they don't become good NBA players, it's not because "the team" failed to "develop" them. It's because they didn't put in the work.

[dckingsfan]

I am not sure I buy either argument. That the player alone is responsible for their development or the team is responsible for the players development.

Optimally you want to draft players that want to put the time in to get better - hence why there should be a psychological analysis portion of drafting - clearly something EG isn't very good at.

You also want both the structure and an environment that is conducive for the young players to develop their skills and that pushes them to do so. Missing either will reduce the effectiveness of your player development.

Clearly you can draft players that don't want to work and create a tipping point where they won't work. I think we witnessed that when Young, Blatche and McGee created their own negative work environment. You can have a subpar development environment or a tipping point where the players in the program don't work.

All have to be aligned to be successful - IMO. And clearly there have been multiple factors in play for the Wizards to fail so badly at drafting and developing young talent - it is clearly a systemic problem.

[Nivek]

I am not sure I buy either argument. That the player alone is responsible for their development or the team is responsible for the players development.

This is straw man stuff. No one -- not even me -- is saying the player ALONE is responsible for their development. The team's job is to provide the resources the player needs. The player's job is to put in the work. Since the work -- the boring repetitive practice -- is what's most important, primary responsibility belongs to the players.

You also want both the structure and an environment that is conducive for the young players to develop their skills and that pushes them to do so. Missing either will reduce the effectiveness of your player development.

When Arenas was with the team, they provided him with 24-hour access to the building so he could shoot and workout anytime he wanted. Which happened to be all the time, any time. I don't recall hearing Vesely, Singleton or Seraphin talking about wanting to practice or have a workout and the team prevented them from having access to their practice facilities or coaches.

Clearly you can draft players that don't want to work and create a tipping point where they won't work. I think we witnessed that when Young, Blatche and McGee created their own negative work environment. You can have a subpar development environment or a tipping point where the players in the program don't work.

All have to be aligned to be successful - IMO. And clearly there have been multiple factors in play for the Wizards to fail so badly at drafting and developing young talent - it is clearly a systemic problem.

I think the real problem is on the player selection side.