The Wizards Have Won A Championship.

[Xist2Inspire]

Let's take a trip back in time, shall we?

If you can get the right talent together/figure out the right gameplan, you can win a title. That's what I believe.

...I don't like short-term success. Sustainability is very important to me,

the only thing that will truly dispel the funk is 3-4 seasons of legitimate success, with multiple conference final appearances at the least. Or a title, straight-up. Getting to that point is what pushes me.

When does Washington get a championship banner?

When I'm able to construct a team that can perform as well in the postseason as they do in the regular season, if not better. I also need to step up my playoff gameplanning to win us a championship. I am a far better teambuilder than gameplanner, and I lack an understanding of how this game works. That has to change if we're ever to reach the top of the mountain.

I've really grown to love these guys, and it's heartwarming to have achieved consistent competitiveness with players I've specifically gathered together.

I've been here from the jump, 47 seasons. I reached my first Finals in the 7th season. I didn't even come close to making it back until the 39th season. I legitimately felt for the longest time like I couldn't build nor buy a contender. Seemed like every season I learned something new or developed some new philosophy that would've made me a much better GM back then than I was. So many things plagued me: Why'd I draft Jamal Crawford and Julio De La Rosa? How was I not able to see Horry's full potential and exploit it? What clown fails to win a title given 9 years of prime Rashard Lewis? Why did I give up on so many solid teams so quickly?

But darn it, I kept trying. I thought about quitting multiple times, but I kept going, kept improving. And though it still bugged me that most of my plans failed and we kept getting knocked off in the playoffs, I noticed something: I was still enjoying myself. More than ever, actually. I'd finally achieved what I'd set out to do when I first started, I'd built a perennial contender. We haven't missed the playoffs in a decade, nor lost less than 50 games. So it figures that after I'd found some measure of peace as a GM, I had to go and make the Finals again, just to watch my point guard get injured a few minutes into Game 1. Now I had a fresh new "what if."

But last season...everything just came together. I still don't know why, or how, but it did. And we won. Unreal. I still haven't processed it fully yet, maybe because I'd already spent most of the bye planning the next move.

So, um, let's get to that. I figured that it was gonna be the last hurrah for that incarnation of the Wizards, so someone had to go. Shareef was the easy choice, as even though I firmly believed that he was a quality and hella underrated guy, the fact that my team was based around defense and he was an average defender made him the obvious choice to go. Fortunately, I was able to find a deal, and we'd like to welcome Paul Cassel to the organization. We also came away with some talent in the draft, as we think both Ali Assad and Whitney Julius could be quality players for us down the road. Free Agency went well for a change, as we were able to add Renato Mosher, Derick Hunter, and Monty Dingess in addition to bringing back Cuomo and Percy Jacobs. Training camp was another win, as everyone we expected to/hoped would improve, did.

So yeah, ask away. Hold on, one more thing.

phpBB [video]

Okay, now you can ask away.

[JNR]

GWR: First of all, congrats, hell of a season. For a player like Quintin Kidd, what motivates him to continue to work when he reached the pinnacle last season?

[MexicanMamba]

After the release (relief) of winning a title after so long, how difficult is it for the organization as a whole to refocus and get to business this season with the same intensity? And what are the expectations now? Is a repeat a major goal or is this the victory parade season until someone else is crowned?

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[NOLa.]

Congrats on the title man, long time coming. After the sim ran and you realized you won what did you feel more of: excitement, relief, or something else?


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[logpmess]

Congrats on the championship. I think Tony Cucone was underrated with the likes of Shareef and Quintin on the team. Now that Shareef is gone, what value does Cucone bring to the team and is he taking more of a leadership role?

[Xist2Inspire]

GWR: First of all, congrats, hell of a season. For a player like Quintin Kidd, what motivates him to continue to work when he reached the pinnacle last season?

You know, I have no idea. There's a reason you never see him at these pressers, he's either at home or in the gym. He's just so quiet, I can't even begin to guess as to what motivates him. Maybe I'll ask one day.

[Xist2Inspire]

After the release (relief) of winning a title after so long, how difficult is it for the organization as a whole to refocus and get to business this season with the same intensity? And what are the expectations now? Is a repeat a major goal or is this the victory parade season until someone else is crowned?

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Oh it hasn't been difficult at all, you'd think we didn't win anything with how easy the transition has been. I know I've been more intense this season so far. As for our expectations, we just want to see how our new pieces fit and how far along some of our younger talent are in their development. Repeating would be great of course, but we're back in a transitional phase now. Best to set realistic goals.

[Xist2Inspire]

Congrats on the title man, long time coming. After the sim ran and you realized you won what did you feel more of: excitement, relief, or something else?

What do you call a "Wow...well, we finally did it." response? Because that was exactly it at first.

[Xist2Inspire]

Congrats on the championship. I think Tony Cucone was underrated with the likes of Shareef and Quintin on the team. Now that Shareef is gone, what value does Cucone bring to the team and is he taking more of a leadership role?

Thanks, and sorry it had to come at your expense. Cucone's super valuable to us, his supermax was a clear sign of just how much we value him. He's always effective, when he's not scoring, he's putting on passing clinics. We're hoping to see him mature from sidekick to second star this season.

[Eazy P]

Congrats on winning a Championship. What went into the process of trading away Shareef? He played a huge part in the series vs the Spurs. What was made you want to part ways? Also is it Back to Back championships or bust this season?

[garbageman]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: When you say "Seemed like every season I learned something new or developed some new philosophy that would've made me a much better GM back then than I was.", what were the most important things you learned during your championship season?

[IamQuailman]

Congrats on your championship! Who is your biggest competition in the Alpha this season, and why did you not say the Bucks (unless you did)?

[Xist2Inspire]

Congrats on winning a Championship. What went into the process of trading away Shareef? He played a huge part in the series vs the Spurs. What was made you want to part ways? Also is it Back to Back championships or bust this season?

I really loved having Shareef, and I really wish I would've invested in him some more. But as I leaned more and more towards a defense-first gameplan, Shareef stuck out like a sore thumb. I'm convinced that his height and quickness were the only things that kept him from being the clear weak link. I also had the idea of surrounding Kidd with equally capable passers. So once again, Shareef stood out in a bad way Also, while I don't regret giving him that contract...it was still a really large contract that severely limited us going forward. So with both the financial and on-court aspects working against Shareef, I felt like trading him was the logical next step.

And while I'd love to say that we're the team to beat, as of now 130 of our 240 are going to 5 players who have a combined total of 9 years of experience in this league. Best to temper expectations.

[Xist2Inspire]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: When you say "Seemed like every season I learned something new or developed some new philosophy that would've made me a much better GM back then than I was.", what were the most important things you learned during your championship season?

I learned that cohesion is a legitimate factor. I really didn't pay much, if any attention to cohesion for most of my time here. If you look back at my best teams, their core only lasted about 2-3 years before I blew it up for some reason or other. Looking at it, this run is the first time I've made a concerted effort to keep guys around and maintain a philosophy in how I build my team long-term. I'm taking my usual penny-pinching tactics and using them to figure out what I need to do to keep certain players around. I didn't expect any of this to pay off like it did, in the final year of my core with a barebones roster filled with the next ones up. But yeah, cohesion has value after all, who knew?

[Xist2Inspire]

Congrats on your championship! Who is your biggest competition in the Alpha this season, and why did you not say the Bucks (unless you did)?

Thanks, much appreciated.

I consider the majority of Alpha teams to be threats. All of y'all are dangerous competition. This ain't a chase, it's a race.