The Washington Wizards have lost four games in a row and things are looking pretty bleak. They’ve been trying to play a more modern style of basketball with a faster pace and smaller lineups, but they’ve wound up with the 23rd-best offense and 23rd-best defense in the NBA. The ever-candid Marcin Gortat did not describe their current working environment as a happy one, via the Washington Post’s Jorge Castillo:
“It’s not easy but we got to cut the negativity we have coming from players, coaches, staff, media,” Gortat said. “We just got to cut that. It’s not even fun coming here anymore. There’s so much negativity. I understand we’re losing games but, damn, we just got to cut that right now, man. It’s not fun at all.”
…
“Everybody felt we were going to go high, we were going to go to the conference finals, stuff like that,” Gortat said. “But we didn’t make any particular trades or signings in the offseason so it’s not like we’re supposed to be a three times much better team this year.
“We lost Paul Pierce, a guy who was a great leader and an experienced player. And we signed three players that they deliver good stuff to the table for us but at the end of the day, they are not all-stars. So expectations are high and we are not up there.”
While Gortat said being negative is “the worst thing we can do,” there aren’t a lot of positive things happening in Washington at the moment. John Wall refuses to say he’s hurt, but the star guard has shot 16-for-54 from the field in his last three games. The Wizards have turnover issues, rebounding issues and they aren’t scoring inside. When they haven’t been in transition, they’ve been in deep trouble.
Gortat also mentioned that it’s “tough” when he’s the only big man fighting for rebounds, but that’s the trade-off Washington made when it decided it wanted to go small. This was a successful strategy in the playoffs last year with Paul Pierce, but it has been a disaster so far. If the players aren’t fully committed to it, then there is no way it will work.
It’s possible that Washington is just in a lull and will figure things out as the year goes on. While Gortat’s comments sound bad, you can’t expect anyone to be upbeat when a team is failing to meet expectations like this. Beating the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday would go a long way toward changing the Wizards’ mood, and if that happens they can laugh about this stuff in a couple of days. Right now, though, there’s no indication that they’re even close to being on Cleveland’s level.
Courtesy:CBS Sports
