Wall must improve as a leader

Coach76 · Post #1 » by **Coach76** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 2:36 am

The details of his beef with Gortat are starting to leak:

https://nba.nbcsports.com/2018/06/29/report-john-walls-lazy-defense-at-center-of-squabble-with-marcin-gortat/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Serious lack of maturity

AFM · Post #2 » by **AFM** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 2:37 am

U mean when Gortat subtweeted wall "great TEAM win" like a passive aggressive bisexual ?

80sballboy · Post #3 » by **80sballboy** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 2:45 am

Why is this surprising? John is lax on D and Gortat is a b-tch. That's why he wants an athletic big man. We all know he's not a great leader.

CobraCommander · Post #4 » by **CobraCommander** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 4:09 am

Fake news.... Wall was hurt but even when he wasn’t hurt he was a capable defender that didnt seem interested in defense consistently. WallStar on offense....WallStar on defense 50% of the time.... which is why Kobe challenged him to make the all defensive team....body and ability to be the best defender on earth...but not the intent to be so...

prime1time · Post #5 » by **prime1time** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 5:45 am

People need to stop defending Wall. Dude makes 40 million a year. He needs to be better. A lot better. So tired of hearing excuses for him.

Eli Babak · Post #6 » by **Eli Babak** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 7:53 am

^I agree. When I started watching basketball back in 2011, it was all about players and I thought if John Wall leaves Washington, I change teams too. As I learned more about the game and the league, things changed. It's disgusting how people still disrespect players like Satoransky, he's terrific! Why Brooks just can't stagger the minutes in a way that would allow Sato to play more with the starters and Wall with the bench unit? Should't be too hard - and well, this is off-topic, sorry, my mind is wandering!

I really hope John stops taking those stupid mid-range/long-2-shots, starts moving off the ball, cuts down his turnovers and focuses more on D. I guess that's too much to ask, but maybe a thing or two? Pretty please?

deneem4 · Post #7 » by **deneem4** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 10:16 am

Who’s going to lead the offense when wall focuses on defense?

Wall is our best defender (even in the paint) as well as our best shot creator until we get some one who’s better at one of those areas...you can’t expect him to give his all at the same time...no stars do that anymore

Dark Faze · Post #8 » by **Dark Faze** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 10:35 am

Meanwhile Brooks sits in a corner and does nothing

Shoe · Post #9 » by **Shoe** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:44 pm

[Gortat] was lamenting the fact that he was put in bad situations by John Wall’s lack of defense, said so in a team meeting. John Wall turned around and M.F.ed him to death.

From that moment forward, Gortat wanted out of Washington.

Leadership is a problem in the locker room, based on results and the team consistently not showing up for games. Scott Brooks outside of X's and O's has had issues leading coaching staffs in his career. Wall & Beal might be the biggest problem - I don't think I've seen these two argue with each other. When a relationship is so sensitive that you can't get in each others face, something is wrong. If we see the same stuff happening this season I bet these guys will be split up in 2019. I don't think breaking up the core by trading Otto will do much.

Cue the "leadership is overrated, can't speculate, we just need better players, etc."

Wizardspride · Post #10 » by **Wizardspride** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 2:23 pm

AFM wrote:U mean when Gortat subtweeted wall "great TEAM win" like a passive aggressive bisexual ?

Pretty much...and then denied he meant any offense.

daSwami · Post #11 » by **daSwami** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 2:36 pm

Coach76 wrote:The details of his beef with Gortat are starting to leak:

https://nba.nbcsports.com/2018/06/29/report-john-walls-lazy-defense-at-center-of-squabble-with-marcin-gortat/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Serious lack of maturity

Based on that "article," the title of this thread should be "Brooks must improve as a leader."

Illmatic12 · Post #12 » by **Illmatic12** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 3:50 pm

daSwami wrote:
Coach76 wrote:The details of his beef with Gortat are starting to leak:

https://nba.nbcsports.com/2018/06/29/report-john-walls-lazy-defense-at-center-of-squabble-with-marcin-gortat/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Serious lack of maturity

Based on that "article," the title of this thread should be "Brooks must improve as a leader."

"Grunfeld must improve as a GM"

Wizards are the only team where they have a young, athletic fast-paced core and the GM saddled them with an immobile aging center . There's no timeline where a 5yr/$60mil contract for a 30yo Gortat was a good idea, and we're seeing the result of that. Marcin should've been gone years ago (or coming off the bench behind a younger frontcourt player) . Instead he was allowed to hang around too long - because Ernie was asleep at the wheel and failed to understand how the league was changing

Illmatic12 · Post #13 » by **Illmatic12** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 4:10 pm

Also.. I'm not gonna assume that John & Brad are great leaders (most players/people that age are not) but Gortat was consistently a cancerous presence on this team and undermined their ability to lead. If nothing else Wall & Beal will find it easier to step into that leadership role now that a main source of locker room distraction is gone.

Gortat reminds me of Dwight Howard. Usually you expect that on a young team, the older players will be useful as a "veteran presence" .. but much like Dwight, what do you do when your oldest guy turns out to be the most immature player on the team?

Which locker room issues in the past 1-2 seasons didn't directly involve Marcin in some way? It's obvious he was a significant problem.. almost every time the Wizards make Sportscenter or were talked about on First Take etc, it was because of something negative from one player running his mouth .

Watch on YouTube

We'll see if the same chemistry issues plagues the Wizards this year, but I'm betting they won't.

Error Afflalo · Post #14 » by **Error Afflalo** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 4:25 pm

Criticism of Wall's defense is valid. It's been pathetic for a few years now, which is extremely disappointing given how good he was in the first couple playoff seasons. It's almost like he stopped trying when he didn't get 1st team all-defense in 2015. Brooks's cowardice compounds the issue. We have a bunch of guys with bad habits that go unchecked.

queridiculo · Post #15 » by **queridiculo** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 5:22 pm

This goes back to the toxic laissez faire attitude this franchise has cultivated for years.

The lack of accountability starts with the front office an permeates down to the team.

We all know the stories about the lax locker room during the Arenas days, and the failed reboot with Leonais selfproclaimed new big three.

Wall’s premature supermax extension was yet another one of those cases where our front office should have taken a wait and see approath.

Oddly enough the one guy that has sold himself out to maximize his potential is the guy they try to lowball.

It’s not too late for Wall, but this has all the ingredients of yet another too much too soon Situation that our front office and ownership had a hand in creating.

TheBabyMaker · Post #16 » by **TheBabyMaker** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 5:54 pm

How many great leaders are there in the NBA. 1 or 2 maybe? Starts with the Coach folks.

Not defending Wall. Hes on his own on this one.

Post #17 » by **montestewart** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 7:19 pm

queridiculo wrote:This goes back to the toxic laissez faire attitude this franchise has cultivated for years.

The lack of accountability starts with the front office an permeates down to the team.

We all know the stories about the lax locker room during the Arenas days, and the failed reboot with Leonais selfproclaimed new big three.

Wall’s premature supermax extension was yet another one of those cases where our front office should have taken a wait and see approath.

Oddly enough the one guy that has sold himself out to maximize his potential is the guy they try to lowball.

It’s not too late for Wall, but this has all the ingredients of yet another too much too soon Situation that our front office and ownership had a hand in creating.

The ostensible subject lends itself to a top down examination of a flawed organization riding more on natural talent than on a system designed to maximize talent, improve players, and improve the team.

Sure Gortat was a whiny backbiter, and the best response from Wall (Nene, etc.) should have been on the court. But Wizards players (and management) have been living in a dream world wherein everyone did the best they could and only circumstances beyond their control led to the unfortunate lesser outcomes.

Maybe they could have gotten more for Gortat at a deadline, but regardless, they can move on from him, and all these other issues are still there.

AFM wrote:like a passive aggressive bisexual ?

You complain that Gortat's not a two-way player, and then he tries to please everyone, but there's just no pleasing some people. Well, there's no turning back now, he's playing for the other team. You'll be missing the Polish Hammer.

gtn130 · Post #18 » by **gtn130** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 8:13 pm

My moderately hot take:

The problem is that in order for this organization to keep their stars happy, they have to treat them how Cleveland treats LeBron - give them unmitigated latitude to basically do whatever they want within the limits of their contracts. This works fine for Cleveland because LeBron is the best player in the league.

We saw this play out with Gilbert Arenas, his botched rehab and how everything ultimately unfolded. Not saying things will unfold that way for Wall - and obviously the gun incident was bizarre and specific to Gil, but the Wizards organization doesn't have any history of success, a strong culture from the top down or a respected head coach with a good system. Players are aware of this and they will always intuitively know that they have leverage over the front office.

I imagine EG's true value add in his mind is that he's good at cozying up to the franchise players (Arenas, Wall) and locking them into contract extensions, something that isn't even particularly impressive or valuable because star players, especially second tier stars, are financially motivated to re-sign with their own teams anyway. This is EG's way of pointing to a 'culture' that he's built - his stars resign with the team.

Wizardspride · Post #19 » by **Wizardspride** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 8:43 pm

montestewart wrote:
queridiculo wrote:This goes back to the toxic laissez faire attitude this franchise has cultivated for years.

The lack of accountability starts with the front office an permeates down to the team.

We all know the stories about the lax locker room during the Arenas days, and the failed reboot with Leonais selfproclaimed new big three.

Wall’s premature supermax extension was yet another one of those cases where our front office should have taken a wait and see approath.

Oddly enough the one guy that has sold himself out to maximize his potential is the guy they try to lowball.

It’s not too late for Wall, but this has all the ingredients of yet another too much too soon Situation that our front office and ownership had a hand in creating.

The ostensible subject lends itself to a top down examination of a flawed organization riding more on natural talent than on a system designed to maximize talent, improve players, and improve the team.

Sure Gortat was a whiny backbiter, and the best response from Wall (Nene, etc.) should have been on the court. But Wizards players (and management) have been living in a dream world wherein everyone did the best they could and only circumstances beyond their control led to the unfortunate lesser outcomes.

Maybe they could have gotten more for Gortat at a deadline, but regardless, they can move on from him, and all these other issues are still there.

AFM wrote:like a passive aggressive bisexual ?

You'll be missing the Polish Hammer.

Bet we won't..

TheBabyMaker · Post #20 » by **TheBabyMaker** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 9:55 pm

montestewart wrote:You complain that Gortat's not a two-way player, and then he tries to please everyone, but there's just no pleasing some people. Well, there's no turning back now, he's playing for the other team. You'll be missing the Polish Hammer.

You mean the Polish Mallet?

Good luck to him playing out West. Brutal