Wizards' players-only meeting makes matters worse than better
What's the story?
A players-only meeting for the Washington Wizards might have intensified rather than placating the strife between the players.
In case you didn't know...
John Wall and Bradley Beal had on-court chemistry issues in the year 2016, especially after Beal got a $128 million dollar contract extension and became the highest paid player in that roster ahead of Wall.
The heart of the matter
The Washington Post’s Candance Buckner reported on Sunday that a players-only meeting held by the Washington Wizards might have gone the opposite of the intended direction.
“It was tough.I try to keep all our stuff as personal as possible but I think in a way not everybody got a chance to speak whenever they wanted to. They didn’t want to bring up an issue or something they had a problem with on the team. Regardless of what may be going on, as men we’ve got to be able to accept what the next man says, be respectful about it and move on from it. I think it was one of those situations where we didn’t necessarily get everything that we wanted to get accomplished.”
Wizard’s center Jason Smith thinks that players try to turn the situation in a positive light as he told Buckner “Sometimes you need those moments to just get everything out in the air”, just like any family. You got to let things out. You can’t hold it in and let things fester.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been the worst version of themselves this season since LeBron returned to Cleveland in 2014. The Wizards, just like the others, have every right to feel some sort of urgency to perform better to give themselves a possible shot at the reaching the Finals.
What's next?
The Wizards are 26-20 and fifth in the East. They still have a few months to get things right and general manager Ernie Grunfeld has until Feb 8th to make a trade that would strengthen this Wizard’s roster. They continue their 5-game road trip as they play the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
Author's take
The Wizards are better than the 5th spot in the East. They need to sort out their problems quickly and really start to play better basketball.