Washington Wizards Mailbag Monday: Don Newman Takes Over For Randy Wittman

Washington Wizards: February 1, 2016

Happy Groundhog’s Day Eve, everybody…

The Washington Wizards are looking to end their winter early, too. Honestly, I don’t even know what Groundhog’s Day is about. I think that’s when the rat lookin’ thing pops out of the ground and the weird dude with the old-school hat declares an early end to the winter. Sadly, that dude with the hat can’t solve the Wizards’ problems.

The Wizards are coming off a pretty impressive victory over the Houston Rockets, but they still find themselves a couple games behind the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. The problem is, they have the Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors coming up.

But, we won’t get into the negativity on a Monday morning! After all, Mondays are the beginning of a new week — a clean slate. The Wizards will have the chance to build momentum. Let’s. think. positively.

Before the team takes on Kevin Durant and the Thunder, I took on some of your questions.

Thanks for participating. Today’s questions came from Twitter and Reddit.

What changes under Newman coaching these next few games?

If we beat both Golden state and the Thunder could Wittmans Job be at risk?

Do we see more playing time of certain people and less from others under coach Newman?

What should our starting line up be to rival Golden States?

How long until Oubre starts regularly getting touches? – via bowiehockey74

In case you haven’t heard, Coach Randy Wittman is going to miss the next couple of games because of his brother’s passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with coach and his family.

I don’t think we’ll see many, if any, changes under coach Don Newman. Now, that’s not to say Newman isn’t a different coach than Wittman, but this just isn’t the platform to make significant changes. He’s just going to be there directing the team as Wittman would.

So to answer your second question: nope. Newman is going to coach exactly like Wittman would.

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I’d be pretty surprised if anything changes, including the rotations.

I think the Washington Wizards should continue running with John Wall, Otto Porter, Jared Dudley and Marcin Gortat in their starting lineup.

It’s time to bring Bradley Beal back in there, though.

Garrett Temple has been good, but the Wizards need all of the offensive firepower they can get against a team like Golden State — and really, every team in the NBA.

Kelly Oubre won’t start getting touches regularly until he starts getting playing time.

I wouldn’t expect his playing time to increase anytime soon. The coaches lean on the veterans, and while that’s a mistake, there’s nothing we can do to change that.

There’s value in both.

If the Washington Wizards were afraid to pay Beal — like other teams are — then they could get something valuable back in return.

Look, teams know that Beal is injury prone and there’s risk involved with signing a player like that to a long-term deal. But he’s also the best young shooting guard in the NBA. Some teams are going to take a chance, and the Wizards are in that boat too.

There aren’t many players in the league that are as versatile as Beal. He’s putting up over 18 points, four rebounds and three assists per game. He’s only 22-years-old and he’s been on a minutes restriction. Beal is putting up career-highs all across the board.

All Beal needs to do is prove that he can stay healthy. He’s had four stress reactions in as many years.

With that said, Beal will be a long-term piece in Washington. I don’t expect the team to pull the plug on a young player with All-Star potential. He’s flown under the radar this season because of injuries, but he’ll get recognition once he stays healthy.

In order for the Washington Wizards to get a player like Nerlens Noel, they’d have to trade Beal.

Washington had the chance to draft Noel in 2013, but they opted to take Otto Porter instead. Ernie Grunfeld isn’t going to trade Beal for another injury prone player, especially one that’s only experienced success for one of the worst teams ever.

If the Philadelphia 76ers were interested in Otto Porter or Kelly Oubre, then they should have a conversation. Adding an athletic, defensive-minded big man for the future would be huge for Washington. Again, though, I wouldn’t expect anything to happen.

The #FireWittman movement isn’t legit…for now. He’s in the final year of his contract, so unless the team continues to plummet — as in, they drop six, seven or eight games in a row — then he’ll stick around for the remainder of the season.

It takes two teams to complete a move and the Sacramento Kings aren’t going to move DeMarcus Cousins yet.

I thought about it, and I can’t think of any teams that will part ways with a big name before the deadline. There are going to be good players dealt — Ryan Anderson and Markieff Morris come to mind — but don’t expect teams to trade their stars.

Still, even if teams wanted to give up a star, the Washington Wizards likely wouldn’t be involved. They’re going to hold on to their tradeable pieces. Bradley Beal, Otto Porter and Kelly Oubre aren’t going anywhere.

Plus, everyone in the nation’s capital is hoping to have a job next year.

Making a move for a quality player typically involves risks because you’d have to give up value too. Does Ernie Grunfeld want to take that risk — trading someone like Beal, knowing that he might not be back next year? He’s a smart dude. He wants to keep his job.

So, to answer your question, the Washington Wizards won’t go after a big name.

We should straight up explore trades and then see what happens.

I’m afraid of giving Beal a long-term deal, only to see him end up like Eric Gordon. Will that happen? Maybe and maybe not. He could end up becoming an All-Star — a superstar, even — or he could end up like EG. It’s a terrifying thought.

I’d explore trades, see if you can get someone like Boogie back (you probably can’t), and if nothing of substance occurs, I’d re-sign him to a savvy-structured contract with restrictions on it. I’d make it guaranteed with exceptions so if he gets hurt again, the Washington Wizards have something to fall back on.

But straight up: find a way to get something really good in return or re-sign him with hopes he’ll stay healthy. The Wizards don’t have other options.

Next: Giving Randy Wittman The Respect He Deserves

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