Washington Wizards Have Sucked The Fun Out Of Basketball

By Ben Mehic | Mar 12, 2016

Mar 5, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat (13) talks with Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) after suffering an apparent back injury against the Indiana Pacers during the second half at Verizon Center. The Indiana Pacers won 100 - 99. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /

Washington Wizards Have Sucked The Fun Out Of Basketball

With less than 20 games remaining on their schedule, the Washington Wizards have found themselves four games below .500 occupying the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference. On Friday night, the Wizards had the opportunity to gain ground on the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons as both teams lost, but instead they were embarrassed by the Utah Jazz.

Despite the growing evidence that Washington will not make the NBA Playoffs for the third straight season, the team is all-in on the idea.

Ernie Grunfeld has added three new players to the roster — Markieff Morris, Marcus Thornton and J.J. Hickson — with hopes that it will revitalize the Wizards’ season.

Unfortunately, all the signings have done is remind us of how bad and un-fun the team has become.

By trading for Morris, the Wizards gave up a first round pick that’s only top-9 protected. Given Washington’s placing in the standings and their stubborn play, the Phoenix Suns will almost certainly get the Wizards’ first round pick this season.

Now, this is something that we could all live with, even though we will inevitably check the NBA Draft results a few years from now and wish the trade didn’t happen. Morris has already become one of the team’s top players. He’s the most physical front court player the team has and he’s given them a boost on both ends of the floor.

Morris has a few years left on his cheap contract, which will make him a bargain for at least the next couple of seasons. The trade, really, I can live with.

It’s the other deals that irk me.

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Thornton and Hickson weren’t waived because their former respective teams — the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets — needed room on their roster.

They were waived because their respective teams couldn’t find trades for them and opted to rather continue the season without their services in exchange for nothing.

Thornton and Hickson are bad NBA players whom Grunfeld thought could patch up some of the holes he created when originally assembling the current flawed roster.

After signing the oft-injured Alan Anderson and inconsistent Gary Neal, Grunfeld needed to get another guard.

There’s 18 games left in the season, though, and Thornton has already gotten significant playing time over both Kelly Oubre and Jarell Eddie.

That’s right: Grunfeld and Randy Wittman are so concerned about the current season that they would rather play Thornton than Oubre, who’s shown flashes of legitimate potential. After this season, Thornton will probably never put on a Washington Wizards uniform again.

Thornton’s time with the team will be incredibly short and unmemorable. Instead of focusing on the development of Oubre, who not only needs playing time to develop but is a better player than Thornton, the team is running with the journeyman veteran.

The addition of Hickson was really the result of terrible roster construction from this past summer.

Washington re-signed Drew Gooden and stuck with Kris Humphries, DeJuan Blair, Nene and Marcin Gortat to fill out the rest of their front court rotation.

None of the players listed are fit for an up-tempo system that Wittman failed to execute this season. Hickson is an athletic hustle player who would be an okay fit for that sort of system, but he was added after the trade deadline. It was yet another patch that didn’t fill a hole created by Grunfeld.

What you’re seeing on the basketball court is the exact result of poor management and coaching.

The players aren’t showing any desperation, despite supposedly making one final push towards the NBA Playoffs. Ownership and others might use injuries as an excuse, but it’s not a legitimate one since the players that were signed in the summer have an injury plagued history. Their injuries weren’t a result of bad luck; they were a result of them being consistently hurt. The surprising element behind injuries isn’t there.

Next: Wizards Have Gambled On Bradley Beal's Future

The brand of basketball the Wizards have produced is disgusting, and quite frankly, very unpleasant. The Washington Wizards are no longer fun to watch. The 2015-16 campaign could go down as one of the most disappointing seasons in the team’s recent history.

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