With most of the Wizards roster filled for next season – only two empty spots currently remain – coach Randy Wittman briefly turned his attention to children at a Wizards summer camp on Wednesday at Fairfax High.
Not too far down the road – literally and figuratively, since it’ll likely be at George Mason beginning in late September – Wittman is anxious to run his own Wizards training camp for the first time.
“I’m looking forward to camp,” he said. “It’s going to be competitive. With our youth and the development that’s still needs to be done, that’s how you accelerate it, when you’re going against someone every day that is going to push you, that’s going to make you better. I’m excited about that. What we’ve done looks good, and now we’ve got to go out and play together. We’ve got a lot of new faces that we’ve got to learn how to play together with, that we didn’t have here last year.”
In part, Wittman’s mentioning of competition was referring to the addition of A.J. Price as a third point guard behind John Wall and next to (in front of) Shelvin Mack. But there’s also battle on his hands at shooting guard, where Jordan Crawford is relishing the chance to go toe-to-toe with third overall draft pick Bradley Beal.
“I know Jordan right now and who he is,” Wittman said. “Working with Bradley this summer has been good, having an understanding. You’ve got to earn things. I’m a firm believer in that, and those things, guys that are going to start, guys that are going to play, are going to earn that.”
Wall has already earned Wittman’s trust and praise. Now he has to deliver results.
“This is a big year for John,” Wittman said. “It’s his third year. He knows the ins and outs. He’s seen an 82-game schedule and a 66-game schedule that probably felt like 102 games. John knows, I think, what is expected of him, and the thing I like, he’s embraced it, and he wants it. Now it’s a matter of him taking the next step in his game, and he’s put a lot of hard work in thus far. I’ve been happy with what I’ve seen in what he’s been doing. You always want your leader to step up to the plate and make that next move. We see it on paper, and we’re talking about it, and now we have to do it, too.”
Wittman also offered no regrets to the team’s decision to part ways with Andray Blatche via amnesty.
“It didn’t work out here,” Wittman said, preferring not to rehash the ups and downs of Blatche’s tenure in Washington. “… What is happened is what we had to do in trying to move forward in the direction that we’re trying to make this team into. I hope and wish the best for Dray. Maybe this can be the best thing for him in turning his career back around and being the player that we all think he can be.”
Wittman has been paying close attention to his two big men in the Olympics, Nene with Brazil and Kevin Seraphin with France.
“This is an opportunity for him, especially being young,” Wittman said of Seraphin. “He’s been pretty active all summer, and I think what he did at the end of the year and now building upon that this summer with the national team is only going to be good for him.”
He played down Nene’s struggles with plantar fasciitis.
“I’ve been in touch with him throughout it all,” Wittman said. “He’s been doing the right things. He’s been around long enough to know what is smart and what is not smart. I think he’s handled that pretty good. He said he feels good here since they’ve gotten over there.”
Wittman said Emeka Okafor’s troublesome knee is better as is the ankle Jan Vesely turned in the Wizards’ final summer league game. Vesely, Beal and Chris Singleton are slated for a fundamentals camp in Las Vegas next week. Those three, along with Wall and Okafor, have all been in Los Angeles this summer.
Without distractions, and with intense focus on the tough, early part of the regular season schedule, Wittman is ready to seize the opportunity to take the next step as a franchise that still owns a six-game winning streak dating from the end of last season.
“You always want to believe in the playoffs,” Wittman said. “Absolutely. I think you’re always striving for that. Now we’ve got to go out, and we’ve got a tough start to the schedule, and it’s going to be one of my main emphasis to the guys going into camp and understanding that when we come out , we’re going to go on the road a lot early on, and we’ve got to be ready for that. We’ve got to be ready for a good start to build and keep that momentum that we have.”
To Wittman, that momentum is genuine, and Wizards are ready to be competitive night in, night out instead of building and rebuilding.
“That’s what you want,” he said. “Obviously, we want to take the next step. What we kind of did as the year progressed last year, then obviously Nene coming over at the trade deadline and what that gave us, our improvement from the defensive standpoint. That’s got to still be a main focus so we get better defensively. I think that’s why we showed the improvement that we did because we became a better defensive team. With the additions that we have, I mean, Trevor [Ariza] can get out and defend. Emeka, that’s kind of been what he’s known for. I like what I saw with Bradley and his ability to move his feet defensively in the summer league. We’ve got to make sure that’s still a focus.”
Lastly, Wittman said he was considering a “tweak” his coaching staff and that for the time being, the Wizards are content to keep their final two roster spots open in case a trade pops up. More should be known by the end of August.
