The Wizards are 10-48 as they head into the final third of their season, guaranteed to not be the worst team in NBA history but still the worst record in the NBA this year by a few games.
Kevin Sheehan had Wizards owner Ted Leonsis on his podcast this week, and when Kevin asked him about navigating and watching the process, Ted was actually optimistic, as he’s seen this before within Monumental’s umbrella and knows what the rewards can be.
“I am very, very excited, because I participated actively in the rebuild with the Capitals, you’d almost say twice, and I've seen very positive outcomes on it,” Leonsis said. “Our WNBA team, Mike Thibault retired, he was the winningest coach in the WNBA, our team made the playoffs I think 12 or 13 years and we won a championship. And, our eSports teams are the best in the world. This is a really important city, and we have built really world-class franchises, we just haven't gotten it right in the NBA. It’s difficult.”
The Wiz have been through this before, as Leonsis harkened back to when he bought the team and ended up winning the John Wall lottery, but the Wall/Beal era never got past that tough Game 7 against Boston before it all imploded again.
“We were turning it around, we had room to sign good free agents, and then, frankly, injuries really hurt with Otto Porter, who we had to pay out the max because he signed a term sheet to go to Brooklyn, and John Wall, who wasn't the same player that we drafted with that great upside,” Leonsis said. “Those two and Bradley Beal, we didn’t miss, and we’ve whiffed on some, but we went young and had upside, and injuries derailed us. We had a very high payroll and made some deals, we just never put it together.”
And so, instead of languishing in the middle as they had for the last few years before the Michael Winger era began, the decision was made to tear it all down and start again.
“What I decided to do was, you can't take half steps, so we totally rebuilt our front office, and they totally rebuilt the coaching staff and they put in a philosophy,” Leonsis said. “They’re part of the Sam Presti tree; they’re very creative, young, and innovative, and they’re not shy about making moves.”
And that’s where we are now, so Leonsis is still enjoying watching the process unfold, especially with the next two drafts being very strong – ‘so these are the years to not be competitive.’
“(Cooper Flagg) is a really good prospect, and what's exciting is there are four or five players who could be difference makers, but they're prospects, right?” Leonsis said. “Michael and Will (Dawkins) have built an unbelievable staff, and we see Detroit’s doing really well with a lot of kids they brought in, so they’re really excited about the depth here, with quite a few players that can be in the rotation. The days of having one unicorn leading a team deep into the playoffs, those aren’t happening, so the philosophy Michael and the staff have is that you gotta get depth. You can manage to the cap by bringing in one free agent, but in the new NBA, you need depth.”
So what is Leonsis looking for as he watched everything unfold?
“Our pace of play is what I'm watching for and is exciting, and our ability to play position-less basketball, which is all the rage,” Leonsis said. “We have a guard who is 6-foot-7, right? You need long bodies, guys who can hit threes, guys who can score in transition. And, the hardest thing in the NBA is to get players to play good team defense. The experience the young kids are getting in this rebuild is really going to fortify them as they grow up.”
Take a listen to the entire conversation above!