Maybe John Wall came back from All-Star weekend in Los Angeles with his eyes opened.
Maybe the Wizards star point guard heard stories from fellow rookies about the way business is conducted on other NBA teams. Maybe he found out that the way Washington operates is considered a joke.
Maybe Wall came back embarrassed to be a Wizard.
He certainly was embarrassed after the 117-94 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers last week. After the game, Wall spoke up like a man who was fed up with his team.
“Nobody has heart,” he told reporters. “I ain’t lost this many games and it ain’t just about the losing. I’m listening to my coaches and they’re developing me. They don’t want [me] to get a losing mind-set. It’s frustrating to see that certain guys don’t have the effort to want to be out there, like they don’t care. That’s the toughest thing for me.”
Wall is 20 years old and usually the way business is done in the NBA is that rookies don’t call out their teammates and talk about the lack of effort.
Rookies do what All-Star Blake Griffin is doing with the Clippers. Reportedly, Griffin told Wall — his teammate in the All-Star Rookie-Sophomore game last weekend — that he has to get the doughnuts every morning for his teammates in Los Angeles because that is what rookies do, even great ones.
This was a foreign concept to Wall because he is a co-captain — or perhaps now simply the captain, since the Wizards’ other co-captain, Kirk Hinrich, was traded last week to the Atlanta Hawks.
Instead of getting doughnuts and living the rookie life in the NBA, Wall has been thrust into the role of leading one of the most pathetic teams in the history of a franchise that has specialized in pathetic teams.
With no hope in sight, Wall could be so beaten down in his early years with this franchise that he could have his bags packed and be gone as soon as he becomes a free agent in whatever the NBA landscape is under a new labor deal.
So owner Ted Leonsis better be listening to Wall when he talks about his frustrations before his first season is even over. And if he is listening, Leonsis better get rid of the source of that frustration — the architect of this NBA embarrassment — general manager Ernie Grunfeld.
“This trade continues our plan to build with draft picks and prospects, develop our young players and stay financially flexible,” Grunfeld said in a statement about the deal that sent Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong to the Hawks for guard Mike Bibby, Maurice Evans, rookie guard Jordan Crawford and Atlanta’s first-round pick.
Grunfeld has sowed the seeds for this embarrassment with his history of indulging the dysfunctional behaviors of Gilbert Arenas and Andray Blatche, and his history of failed draft picks.
You want to send Wall a message of hope? Send Grunfeld packing.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
