Wiz Presser - "Making the Best of It"

[Xist2Inspire]

I'm not talking about last season.

So, going into this season, we had two options: Burn the team to ashes and refocus around Boho Chic or...not do that, and try to make something out of this roster. As you can see, the second option was taken. Signing Greg Brown was pretty much our only notable move, but I honestly believe it could turn out to be impactful enough to justify it. Brown's had an underrated emergence since his exit from DC years ago, and we believe that he could be the perfect compliment to Cassel down low, as opposed to the yin/yang dynamic Cass and Taz shared.

TC was uneventful. Beaton has seemed to finally reach his potential as a 3&D bench sparkplug. Frank Daily took his name being dangled around personally, and decided to raise his value by locking himself in the gym for the entirety of TC. Daron Kelsey improved, but...I honestly forgot why I even wanted to bring him on after I signed him. Harland McDaniel also did pretty well, which could make him a starter. Yikes.

No lie, even though there are elements of this team that I'm interested to see how they turn out, I'm not all that positive on the future of the franchise. As always, I remain committed to building competitive teams and maintaining this franchise's reputation. However, I squandered our depth, youth, and future flexibility on a series of ill-advised deals that do not look like they'll pay off. It looks like my luck is about to run out, so hopefully I'll be able to apply the lessons I've learned during this amazing run to our first full rebuilding project in over two decades.

Any questions?

[garbageman]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: With so many teams showing that a rebuild doesn't have to last years and years as you wait for players to develop, why have the Wizards been historically so hesitant to reshuffle the deck so often--even as teams have overachieved?

[Xist2Inspire]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: With so many teams showing that a rebuild doesn't have to last years and years as you wait for players to develop, why have the Wizards been historically so hesitant to reshuffle the deck so often--even as teams have overachieved?

Well, the answer's twofold - First, we haven't tried it because we haven't had to. We actually do reshuffle the deck, quite often actually. Every one of our builds over the years have bled into the other rather seamlessly. You generally start seeing the building blocks of the next build forming somewhere around the peak of the current one.

However, we do avoid rebuilding. We generally try to avoid the tried and true strategy of acquire assets/cash in assets. The reasoning is that it only truly works for one team each season, and is a bit of a wasted effort for everyone else unless that's how they enjoy the game. Doing it that way doesn't increase my enjoyment of the game, it actually does the exact opposite and makes me want to quit. If I make moves geared primarily towards winning a championship, then I expect to win a championship, else those moves are failures, end of discussion.

Secondly, the reason why we don't rebuild is because of a word that you said towards the end of your question, "overachieve." I'm quite proud of the fact that our teams are often greater than the sum of their parts, but that throws a big monkey wrench in the traditional build cycle of teams. One thing that I feel a lot of GMs take for granted is the ability to "cash out" after cashing in to begin the asset acquiring process anew. If you're too picky over the assets you get back, the market isn't welcoming, or your player is understandable for any reason or combination of reasons, you're going to have issues cashing out and will eventually have to either keep them, take a hilariously subpar return (relative to league expectations at the moment), or make your peace with letting the player walk for nothing in return (which usually ends up being the natural result of keeping them).

So when you're a franchise that overachieves, you tend to pick up players that other teams just don't want, never really saw the hype for, or don't value on the same level you do. And so your only real opportunity to cash out and acquire assets is right at - or just before - the peak of your current build. There's also the option of cashing out a young stud who hasn't quite gotten there yet, but that often interferes with transitioning from one build to the other, as now the timelines are out of sync.

Sorry for the long-winded response, but there actually is a lot of thought that goes into how I choose to run this team. I hold no illusions about my abilities nor my place in this league. I'm not particularly good at drafting or creating a team from the ground up. I don't have the in-person connections and familiarity or the online interpersonal skills to make trading for deals easy. I create stories, narratives, theories, and often get too attached to seeing those things through. I'm good at tinkering, revising, building things on the fly, finding that unassuming talent that later becomes the perfect fit, squeezing the absolute most out of whatever I have...which ironically makes it even harder for me to draft well, since I'm rarely in the "can't miss" area in the draft (and when I am, I often miss - here's a finger to both of you, Jamal and Julio).

Many seasons ago, and I mean way back, after the Rashard era ended, I presented myself with the question of "how can you still care about and enjoy this game, even if you don't win?". I had to take all of my strengths and weaknesses into account, as well as my ruthlessly competitive streak. This weird, unconventional, sometimes off-putting, arguably self-defeating and uncompetitive teambuilding style is what I came up with as the answer to that question. And it's quite possibly the only reason why I'm still here.

[MexicanMamba]

Charles Bojorquez is a young player that has a very interesting makeup. A 6'10 guard/wing with great athleticism, but needs some work to fine tune his basketball skills to truly prosper. What parts of his game do you want to see worked on most? Which of your former players does he most remind you of?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[greepleairport]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: With so many teams showing that a rebuild doesn't have to last years and years as you wait for players to develop, why have the Wizards been historically so hesitant to reshuffle the deck so often--even as teams have overachieved?

Well, the answer's twofold - First, we haven't tried it because we haven't had to. We actually do reshuffle the deck, quite often actually. Every one of our builds over the years have bled into the other rather seamlessly. You generally start seeing the building blocks of the next build forming somewhere around the peak of the current one.

However, we do avoid rebuilding. We generally try to avoid the tried and true strategy of acquire assets/cash in assets. The reasoning is that it only truly works for one team each season, and is a bit of a wasted effort for everyone else unless that's how they enjoy the game. Doing it that way doesn't increase my enjoyment of the game, it actually does the exact opposite and makes me want to quit. If I make moves geared primarily towards winning a championship, then I expect to win a championship, else those moves are failures, end of discussion.

Secondly, the reason why we don't rebuild is because of a word that you said towards the end of your question, "overachieve." I'm quite proud of the fact that our teams are often greater than the sum of their parts, but that throws a big monkey wrench in the traditional build cycle of teams. One thing that I feel a lot of GMs take for granted is the ability to "cash out" after cashing in to begin the asset acquiring process anew. If you're too picky over the assets you get back, the market isn't welcoming, or your player is understandable for any reason or combination of reasons, you're going to have issues cashing out and will eventually have to either keep them, take a hilariously subpar return (relative to league expectations at the moment), or make your peace with letting the player walk for nothing in return (which usually ends up being the natural result of keeping them).

So when you're a franchise that overachieves, you tend to pick up players that other teams just don't want, never really saw the hype for, or don't value on the same level you do. And so your only real opportunity to cash out and acquire assets is right at - or just before - the peak of your current build. There's also the option of cashing out a young stud who hasn't quite gotten there yet, but that often interferes with transitioning from one build to the other, as now the timelines are out of sync.

Sorry for the long-winded response, but there actually is a lot of thought that goes into how I choose to run this team. I hold no illusions about my abilities nor my place in this league. I'm not particularly good at drafting or creating a team from the ground up. I don't have the in-person connections and familiarity or the online interpersonal skills to make trading for deals easy. I create stories, narratives, theories, and often get too attached to seeing those things through. I'm good at tinkering, revising, building things on the fly, finding that unassuming talent that later becomes the perfect fit, squeezing the absolute most out of whatever I have...which ironically makes it even harder for me to draft well, since I'm rarely in the "can't miss" area in the draft (and when I am, I often miss - here's a finger to both of you, Jamal and Julio).

Many seasons ago, and I mean way back, after the Rashard era ended, I presented myself with the question of "how can you still care about and enjoy this game, even if you don't win?". I had to take all of my strengths and weaknesses into account, as well as my ruthlessly competitive streak. This weird, unconventional, sometimes off-putting, arguably self-defeating and uncompetitive teambuilding style is what I came up with as the answer to that question. And it's quite possibly the only reason why I'm still here.

To me, this answer is your presser, summing up your career to now. Loved reading it, honestly. Sounds like the level of enjoyment did deplete a little bit last year - which we don't need to discuss - but what are some things you're looking forward to this season that could increase your league enjoyment again! Increasing or reducing risks perhaps? Even if you stay put I bet you're set to upset a lot of teams and once again outperform expectations.

[Xist2Inspire]

Charles Bojorquez is a young player that has a very interesting makeup. A 6'10 guard/wing with great athleticism, but needs some work to fine tune his basketball skills to truly prosper. What parts of his game do you want to see worked on most? Which of your former players does he most remind you of?

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

You know I love defense, so I'd really like to see Bojo expand his game on that end. He's such a unique player that I can't really recall many former former Wizards like him...except one. Lamar Odom. He's nowhere near the playmaker Lamar was, but you just don't find 6'10" guys with that kind of athleticism often.

[Xist2Inspire]

To me, this answer is your presser, summing up your career to now. Loved reading it, honestly. Sounds like the level of enjoyment did deplete a little bit last year - which we don't need to discuss - but what are some things you're looking forward to this season that could increase your league enjoyment again! Increasing or reducing risks perhaps? Even if you stay put I bet you're set to upset a lot of teams and once again outperform expectations.

Thanks. I legitimately am really excited to see how the Greg Brown/Paul Cassel frontcourt looks. Greg was one of those guys I gave up on way too early. I once thought he could be the perfect replacement for Cassel someday, but right now, he looks like he could be the perfect partner. Frank Daily is another curiosity that I'm waiting to see if a leap was finally made.

But as of now it looks like there's no moves other than staying put, so for the time being I'm focused on seeing what guys can bring this season as opposed to the future.

[PaulyP]

The Wizards had a rough preseason but as we’ve seen in years past that can often amount to nothing but tactically speaking, what areas of your team concern you heading into the regular season?

[Xist2Inspire]

The Wizards had a rough preseason but as we’ve seen in years past that can often amount to nothing but tactically speaking, what areas of your team concern you heading into the regular season?

Point Guard play. We're missing a true capable point for the first time in decades, and that's quite worrying.

[K-100]

Do you see anyone on the roster currently that you would want to build around while you wait for the veteran contracts to fall off the books? Or is this rebuild best suited to start with a clean slate?