The mood in the Wizards‘ locker room continues to sour, and Montrezl Harrell let his frustrations boil over after Saturday’s lopsided loss to the Suns, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The Wizards, who have now dropped seven of their last eight games, trailed by as many as 36 points and registered their lowest point total in four years.
“It sucks, bro. That’s the mood of the team. It [expletive] sucks. Coming in here and teams are basically beating our [expletive] from start to finish. So, it sucks, man,” Harrell said. “Nobody likes losing. Everyone in our locker room is competitive-minded people and love to compete and get after it. But it just sucks right now because over the last eight games we’ve played, we lost seven of them. That’s tough for anybody to withstand or have on their plate. So, that’s the energy in the room right now, it just [expletive] sucks.”
The numbers were terrible across the board for Washington Saturday night before a late rally brought the final score to a deceptively close 95-80. The Wizards managed just 11 points in the second quarter as they trailed by 27 points at halftime. For the game, they shot 35.3% from the field and made just 5-of-24 three-point attempts.
Although he didn’t single out the coaching staff, Harrell suggested that his team wasn’t ready to play when the game tipped off. First-year head coach Wes Unseld Jr. has been emphasizing the need for more energy and effort, but Harrell doesn’t believe that should be a concern.
“I don’t know, but I’m tired of hearing the energy thing, bro,” he said. “If you can’t energize yourself or fire yourself up to be able to come here to play the game of basketball, bro, which is your job and you make a lot of money to do it, brother, then you’re in the wrong field, man. I’m tired of hearing that.”
Washington’s 10-3 start seems like a long time ago for a team that’s now 24-28 and in danger of missing the play-in tournament. Hughes points out that the Wizards have just one game left before Thursday’s trade deadline and the front office might consider Harrell’s comments as it discusses potential deals.
With a $9.72MM expiring contract, Harrell is among the candidates to be moved. After Thomas Bryant returned from an ACL injury last month, the Wizards have been trying to find playing time for three centers.
Harrell wasn’t the only player to speak out in frustration after the loss, Hughes adds in a separate story. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who was acquired in the same trade that brought Harrell to Washington, said the team doesn’t have a defensive identity and isn’t talking enough on that end of the court.
“A lot slips with communication, I don’t know what it is,” he said. “We love talking to each other, but when we get on the court, no one talks to each other. That communication, it helps a lot. It helps on the defensive end, getting guys in position to defend or help. Offense, just talking everybody through it. …We just don’t have that consistency in the communication and playing hard.”
Dinwiddie sounds so depressed in interviews and is not playing with good posture or ambition. Something is going on there… They got all atomized, which he should be an antidote for (by my estimation).
Only good result from Russ trade was Kuzma and of course getting rid of $45mm contract for next season. Harrell and KCP are expensive spare parts. Wizards GM swung and miss with Dinwiddie, signing Gafford long term and drafting Kispert. Need to get as much value from trading Beal before holding a bag of tears.
No one expected Wizards to make the playoffs. Maybe fight for 8-10 seed. So I’d say they are about where they should be. They started off well. But something is going on there. Predicted to win 34 gms by Vegas odds.
link to vegasinsider.com
Harrell, Bertans, Pope, Dinwiddie can all help playoff teams. But their main concern is how to keep Beal. Or help him by changing this team. It’s starting to look like moving Beal is going to happen. But that will be at end of yr. When they can maximize their take.
A healthy Dinwiddie. Is someone Knicks should definitely be looking at.
Move beal to Sixers and begin the rebuild.
No interest in Philly’s garbage ie Ben Simmons. Try to rip somebody else off with that Hack.
Unfortunately for everyone, if you have an above average player who’s most likely looking for a change of scenery, Simmons’ name is going to be on the top of the list of likely replacements. When you have a star like Beal it’s tough to find a trade that doesn’t at least start with Ben. The options seem to be Ben+ whatever you can get or Kyrie and scraps. If Dame leaves it will be for a winner.
I’m a 76ers fan, and while Simmons is a baby and very high on my dislike List, he can play ball! He made 3 straight all star teams & was 2nd in DPOY. The issue is shooting, which wouldn’t be an issue if Brett Brown never anointed him as a PG before he ever played a game there. He’s a 3 or 4, with outstanding defense that can lock down any position on the floor defensively (certain players excluded), he can also handle the ball and has the vision of a PG, and rebounds like a 4/5, he is going to be a star in the league for another team. If he would man up and apologize to his team and City, and resume playing here, he would be able to play the 3,4, and 1 at certain points in every game. I’d be happy to forgive him and move forward
This is an old, boring story. Same as Portland. Poorly constructed roster, but around (originally) two guards, first we were told Wall and Beal cannot coexist, then it’s Westbrooks fault, now Dinwiddie isn’t working out. What is the constant here? You win the prize if you can figure it out.
This front office has been slow to admit mistakes, perhaps they can finally do what Chicago did (at least) and start over, either through major trades or through the draft. This experiment with Beal ain’t working, he needs to go somewhere and be a second wheel – maybe it is Philly.
Spot on. Though the question becomes: can Beal handle being 2nd wheel anywhere? Is it a matter of being gifted a talented 90%-of-the-way-there team, or is it an ego thing he’ll never get past?
Portland is a good comp at a team level, but I see more Randle or Tatum (ironically) when we talk about mental limitations as a player.
There’s rumours they want to move Dinwiddie. It’s tough to be an effective point guard in a back court with a high usage iso heavy offguard. Maybe it’s the coaching or the god complex the wiz have given Beal, but the flow (or lack of) doesn’t gel with a floor general like Spencer. He showed in BK what he could do running a team. Maybe he came back too early from rehab because he needs to play 50 games this year and next to have his third year fully guaranteed. Rehabbing too long could have cost him 10mil in 23/24. They should give him more time. If they want to trade him I’m sure someone will appreciate him. Kobe did.
Washington has too many parts. A trade is coming for sure. Their drafting has been below average. They need to trade Beal and start over like Cleveland did when Lebron left.
Trez has done this everywhere, both La’s now Wash. He’s always the victim according to himself as well
He’s going to have a hard time netting contracts in the future if this persists
I can’t see what the problem is with WAS, they are bang on at their zone… clearly without Russ they were always gonna be worst, you trade your best player for a bunch of average joes, you will always go down!
Actually, I’d be as bold as to say WAS is doing better than I thought, only thing they can do better is to play less KCP & KK to give more playing time to Avdija & Rui, apart of that they can’t do any better (also Beal is playing horrible, right now his trade value must be as low as it will ever be, probably WAS would have to add assets for anyone to take him)!