Wiz 2024 Presser

[Xist2Inspire]

Well, last season was certainly a wild one. Despite it being Year 1 of a post-dumpster fire rebuild...we won 48 games. 48. Weak Western conference or not, that's quite the accomplishment. Bonifaz even picked up a 6MOY award to add to his kinda-sorta impressive list of accomplishments. Overall, last season was great, except for one thing...

...WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TANKING!

So yeah, pretty much all of our picks became useless. Plan Build Through The Draft? Fail. So in a desperate move to change course and avoid a really, really bad season, we opened up the pocketbook. Enter JR Johnson and Victor Newman. Both were players we'd been after for years, and even though they aren't as highly regarded in terms of future potential as they once were, they're still very talented players that we're very glad to have on board. Returning with fat new deals are Angelo Chancellor, Billy Kingston, and good ol' Paul Webb. Not returning are Frank Garden and Harold Fairley.

Unfortunately for us, with every deal we made, another team in our division or in the East made a bigger one. Thus, we don't quite look as good as we hoped when we made those moves. Then again, we looked terrible last season, and still made the playoffs. Before I ask for questions, I'd like to introduce our starting 5:

Ivica Zubac's going to get the start at center, and finally get a chance to prove himself in the league after handing out Gatorade for the past three seasons. He's worked long and hard on his defensive skills, and we're hoping that he can give us some toughness in the post.

Billy Kingston is our 4, and after last season's performance, we were delighted to get him back on a solid deal. Honestly, we just want to see him continue to do what he does - score and block shots.

At SF will be Angelo Chancellor. It really came down to either keeping him or keeping Garden. We went with Angelo because despite being undersized, he's a tenacious post defender. Russell Arciniega's changed the perception of what a SF can be in today's NBA, and if Angelo can have that same kind of success, choosing him will have been well worth it.

With Angelo moving to SF full-time, Victor Newman's going to be our SG. We've long believed that he's a young player on the rise, which is why we jumped at the chance to acquire him.

JR Johnson is our floor leader at PG. Honestly, until Scott Ramos joined us last season, we'd forgotten how much a high-level facilitator could improve an offense. With that knowledge, we knew we either had to keep Scott somehow, or go out and get someone new. So with JR now in the fold, we feel that we have our PG of the future.

So, any questions?

[NickMalone77]

Nick Melon; The Advocate: With three viable options at starting point guard all commanding a decent sized salary for the next few years, do you feel like one will feel unhappy sitting on the bench with limited minutes that'd almost necessitate a deal to upgrade at a weaker position of need?

[Xist2Inspire]

Nick Melon; The Advocate: With three viable options at starting point guard all commanding a decent sized salary for the next few years, do you feel like one will feel unhappy sitting on the bench with limited minutes that'd almost necessitate a deal to upgrade at a weaker position of need?

Actually, that's pretty much the key reason why we went after Victor and JR - like Paul, both can play both SG and PG, meaning that whoever of the three doesn't start will still get ample playing time off the bench as a combo guard. Rest assured, none of the DC triad will be assigned any less than 30 mpg unless an injury happens.

[garbageman]

This year, your starting lineup is a lot smaller than Wiz giant lineups we've seen in the past. Is this an intentional move to small ball, or is that just kind of how it worked out?

[WigNosy]

Kevin Durant is maybe the best scorer in league history - will he be getting a chance to pile up more points with you?

[Xist2Inspire]

This year, your starting lineup is a lot smaller than Wiz giant lineups we've seen in the past. Is this an intentional move to small ball, or is that just kind of how it worked out?

It's a little bit of both, to be honest. Resigning Angelo to play SF and going after JR and Victor were very intentional, calculated moves..they just happened to all be short guys. When Billy was acquired a few seasons ago, we intended on him becoming a decent piece...he just so happened to become better than we expected, even at 6'9". Still, Marshall, Chad, and Don are still developing, so even if our current rotation looks a little small, look for us to incorporate a little bit more of the traditional Wizards size advantage in the years to come.

[Xist2Inspire]

Kevin Durant is maybe the best scorer in league history - will he be getting a chance to pile up more points with you?

Definitely, though hopefully we won't have to rely on him adding to that point total. We're just glad to have one of the greatest players in league history, a DC native, on our roster.

[TheSyndicate]

Since you tried to tank last season, and ended up with a winning record, any fear that trying to compete this year will backfire as well?

[Xist2Inspire]

Since you tried to tank last season, and ended up with a winning record, any fear that trying to compete this year will backfire as well?