The alignment of the Washington Wizards is miserable. Here are 5 steps to fix it



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The Washington Wizards are about to crumble, and after a 5-11 start, the team seems ready to make radical changes. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Wizards are opening the doors and making everyone available, including John Wall and Bradley Beal.

"I have been dealing with this problem for seven years," said Beal in a so-called volatile practice. according to Shams Charania of The Athletics. Yuck.

Sorcerers have been in a corner in recent years, throwing dice with short-term shots that have failed. Now they are lost.

The good news for fans is to hit an all-time record, it should force change, which is better late than never. The franchise needs a real structure.

It all starts from the top in Washington – yes, we still talk about basketball – and at some point, the program has to realize that its decision makers have failed in many ways. The search for a capable leader to guide the team out of his misery should take place before a change of staff.

Here are five steps that assistants should follow to bring the ship back on the road.

1. Reassess the front office

Since managing director Ernie Grunfeld stepped in during the 2003-2004 season, the team has grown from 541 to 689 players, with no semifinal appearances at the conference, or even a single 50-win season. It's … a long dry spell. Despite everything, Grunfeld has retained his position despite many poor results to bad.

A number of dubious decisions have been made at the summit over the past 15 years to reach this point:

  • Re-sign Gilbert Arenas to an agreement of $ 111 million over six years in 2008, after he had his first serious knee injury.
  • Redeem choice # 5 in the 2009 NBA draft against Mike Miller and Randy Foye. Stephen Curry was chosen n ° 7
  • Selecting Jan Vesley at No. 6 in the 2011 draft, ahead of Kemba Walker, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Vucevic, Marcus and Markieff Morris, Tobias Harris and more. The Wizards had three of the top 34 picks in the repechage and ended up with Vesely, Chris Singleton and Shelvin Mack. Oof.
  • Redeem a first-round pick of 2016 (among the 9 best-protected) for Markieff Morris in 2016. Morris was OK and the choice was number 18, but that's exactly the kind of short-term move that characterized the mandate of Grunfeld.
  • Sign Ian Mahinmi, Jason Smith and Andrew Nicholson for a combined $ 105 million in the summer of 2016. Mahinmi and Smith are the mainstays of the team's salary cap, while Nicholson's flop has …
  • Negotiate for Bojan Bogdanovic a 2017 first-round pick, protected by a lottery against the Nets, in order to withdraw Nicholson's money. The Nets used this choice on Jarrett Allen, their center of the future.

No skill or player training can defeat a poorly constructed alignment and, as Washington enters a new era, it must think of who it wants.

2. Define a vision and eliminate it with Scott Brooks

Washington must decide if it wants to start a long rebuild or try to remain competitive in the meantime. The priorities of each team are not championships, so it is not an easy decision. Whatever the decision made by the assistants, they will have to clarify their vision with Brooks while remaining realistic.

Brooks did not get the best shot in Washington, having a well season a year ago with the same ruined list that he has now. If Brooks and Wizards' home office can agree on the orientation of the team, maybe it stays. If he's not trying to lead a reconstruction team about to lose 50 times, the situation may not be satisfactory, even though he still has nearly three years and 21 years to go. millions of dollars.

3. John Wall Trade

Wall has made the heart of the team beat since its arrival in 2012, but the situation is no longer the right one. He plays the remaining years of his heyday, but wizards are not ready to fight. We note how bad it was for Wall, who is struggling with defensive throws and is obviously as frustrated as his colleagues.

The choice to ship Wall out for young people or future choices makes sense for both parties, although it's not easy with Wall's Wall deal for Wall Supermax not expected to take effect until next year .

It's time.

4. Trade Kelly Oubre

Oubre is about to become a restricted free agent next summer and the Wizards have no reason to withhold it. They have invested a lot of money in another player from the same post at Otto Porter, and Oubre has not yet revealed himself to be more than an actor.

It would be wise to trade it before losing another former first-round pick for nothing, even though it only yielded second-round picks. Washington needs to store assets where it can get them.

5. Adjust the rotation to project to the future

The two youngest players in Wizards, 2018 first round pick, Troy Brown, and the 2017 second round pick, Thomas Bryant, averaged five minutes per game each. It's time to lengthen their playing time to see if they could be part of the team's long-term vision. The same goes for Tomas Satoransky, a former second round pick who played well last season, but who fell behind Austin Rivers in the rotation this year.

In rebuild mode, there is no need to play too much with guys from the past in their thirties. We know what they can do. But perhaps Brown and / or Bryant may be surprised to become a significant turning point. There is only one way to find out.

And there is still time to work with Beal, 25, and Otto Porter, 23. If an offer is too good to be passed, they should be on the trading block, but Washington can take time to fully evaluate its best-paid stars. The free agents of big names are unlikely to sign this summer, the financial implications are a secondary concern. It's time to take risks of rotation

The Wizards are not going anywhere fast, but hitting the bottom of the stone and forcing themselves to rethink mediocrity could be the best way to heal. And maybe avoid hearing rumors at home at half-time.

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