Video: The Washington Post’s LaVar Arrington, Jason Reid, Dan Steinberg and Jonathan Forsythe discuss the current state of the Wizards, who are off to another poor start with starters John Wall and Nene out with injuries.
It is 1:23 a.m. in the wee hours of Wednesday morning when I get a text from Brendan Haywood, the last starting center in the Washington Wizards’ last playoff game. “Wassup? Just landed in Minnesota.”
I was awake because first, the Lakers and Spurs had just finished playing, and that’s how late I have to stay up now to watch genuine NBA basketball; and second, the Wizards had the smell and flow of garbage juice on Tuesday night in Charlotte, where Haywood’s Bobcats throttled them, 92-76.
The Washington Post’s Jason Reid, Dan Steinberg and LaVar Arrington debate whether the Redskins or the Wizards have a better chance at making the postseason this year.
After Wednesday’s 107-101 loss in Dallas, the Wizards have now lost their first seven games after starting last season losing their first eight.
“I don’t think things are as bad as people think there,” Haywood said, trying to soften the blow, after the Bobcats charter touched down in Minneapolis. “Not having John Wall and Nene really hurt them. John Wall is able to give everybody else better shots, and Nene is a presence inside. Watch: When he comes back, John Wall is going to make Bradley Beal look better, [Kevin] Seraphin look better.”
I told him I get it, that these Wizards aren’t who they might be in a month or two. Yet, just speaking with Haywood, there was this painful deja vu, the feeling that things are still depressingly the same.
After all, it was November 2008 when the team’s point guard (Gilbert Arenas) and center (Haywood) were out because of injuries and the Wizards started 1-10, never recovered, and Eddie Jordan was fired as coach.
Crazy, no? Five years later, the Wizards are missing their injured point guard (Wall) and center (Nene) and 1-10 seems in the offing.
They take you through a miserable rebuild, playing young players just to weed out the bums from the keepers. They sell hope in the promise that a No. 1 pick will mature. They talk playoffs before backing off, realizing how bad they really are without Wall.
But there is still no progress in the standings. The keepers aren’t yet ready to win and the hope they put around Wall is many nights just plain hopeless. Playoffs? Bite your tongue till 2014 — if you’re lucky.
And to think, we all thought it was Andray Blatche’s fault. Remember when Flip Saunders allegedly didn’t command enough respect? Surely after the Wizards jettisoned that softy of a coach and ’Dray’s lazy bones, the losses would be fewer, less hideous — right?
Ha. You really thought someone hamstrung with a Quad Cities roster and one halfhearted player was the problem?
These are the Wizards, people; they take their losing very seriously. They are the only winless team in the NBA.
At 0-7, the Wizards are within hailing distance of matching last season’s 0-8 break from the gate, which is the worst start in franchise history.
Missing Wall and Nene until at least next month, we all knew they were going to be bad out of the chute. We just didn’t know how bad, how irrelevant to the NBA conversation they’ve become a mere two weeks into the season.
The Wizards were hard-luck losers with enough heart to stay tuned in their first four losses, scrapping in the fourth quarter before their late-game execution executed themselves.
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