Over at The Basketball Jones, they’re coming to the same realization as me that the 2011-2012 Washington Wizards have a distinct chance of being the worst team ever in the history of the NBA. If it happens there will be an asterisk because of the lockout shortened season, but the Wizards are on pace for the worst season winning percentage by a lot!
And TBJ posted this conclusion before the pathetic MLK Day performance by the Wiz, featuring Javale McGee embarrassing himself not once, but twice for a 1 and 11 team.
I don’t know what it was like on other historically awful teams, but the chemistry here in DC is just pathetic. With the local beat writers essentially saying everyone in the organization has quit, including the coach, herewith are the folks who need to go with a quickness:
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Aundray Blatch. In the words of Mike Singletary, I need winners. Blatch may be the antithesis of a winner. The poster child for what’s wrong with the Wiz.
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Ernie Grunfeld. The GM who’s just made too many spectacularly bad moves. Drafts, trades, free agent signings, re-signings, discipline. You name it, Grunfeld has blown it. Every day he’s with the organization, I honestly fear that he can make this team worse.
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Flip Saunders. I know Flip got a raw deal and is a better coach than this, but you can’t fire all the players. The players have tuned him out and he may have tuned them out. There’s a rookie or two who might be salvageable if they aren’t too corrupted by this season and they need a coach who can insulate them.
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Nick Young. Young seems to get a bit of a pass because of his buffoonish, laid back, SoCal attitude. On occasion he can fill it, but somebody’s gotta get the points on a bad team.
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Javale McGee. I was about to cut him some slack for improved effort and execution this year, until that last performance. Please sweep away the last remnants of the Gilbert Arenas era.
The only player that’s a must keep is John Wall, and this season will definitely retard his progress. Hopefully, Chris Singleton can struggle through and Jan Vessely show some development. One serious challenge is that there is effectively no cheap Plan B for GM and/or Coach. You’d have to overpay, in dollars and power, for someone high profile and a stopgap would be pointless. Meanwhile, owner Ted Leonsis is thrifty with his money, read doesn’t like paying for fired staff.
Other than that, looking forward to a top 3 pick again this year. And maybe a choice deal on partial season ticket plans for next season.