The Washington Wizards will miss Nene a lot more than they think. It’s time to give him the credit he deserves.
Maybyner Rodney “Nene” Hilario is a subject that I’m hard-pressed to be objective on.
Since March 15, 2012, the day he arrived after his trade from Denver, I’ve been one of Nene’s biggest supporters.
At his best, he was the single best big man the Washington Wizards have had in decades, able to control a game on both ends of the court with little to no flash.
He dominated without putting up big box score stats – especially in those days when the playoffs were a pipe dream, Nene was the single most essential piece of the team, without which the Wizards functioned little better than a middling Mountain West squad with eight scrubs.
While the popular opinion among Washington Wizards fans regarding Nene took a sharp downturn when he fatefully failed to box out Al Horford in the 2015 playoffs – to say nothing of his injury history – I still believe that Nene is a very good basketball player in the year 2016, and that he was quietly one of DC’s best last season.
While Ian Mahinmi and Andrew Nicholson may be good gets for the frontcourt, neither of them will be able to match Nene’s multifaceted impact on the game.
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The Wizards will miss all the things Nene can do, and their second unit may be even hotter trash than ever as a result.
Even when he was at his best, mercilessly destroying the career of Joakim Noah in the 2014 playoffs, Nene never really got his due for just how good he was.
But the reasons why Wizards fans should appreciate Nene goes beyond what you see on the court.
Nene was a reminder that things can always be worse.
Think about it – the Wizards just went .500, and we shrieked and cried and demanded that heads roll.
All of that was fine, as the 2015-16 season was certainly an unmitigated failure. But still, you should never forget your history.
When Nene arrived, the Wizards were 10-34.
On his first night as a Wizard, the starting lineup included Chris Singleton, Trevor Booker and Jordan Crawford.
Nene arrived and immediately made the team better.
Nene was the bridge from a inmate-run asylum with the likes of JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche not giving a crap and doing dumb stuff every night to an actual, professional basketball team.
Nene was the first step toward respectability.
Nene was a constant and stabilizing force, operating with relatively little recognition, as the Wizards escaped the darkest depths of franchise history and in only a few years grew into a team that was an unfortunate injury away from a conference final.
By losing Nene, the Wizards lose another connection to the past.
Maybe it was a past that doesn’t deserve to be remember, but I say we need to know where we’ve been to appreciate the position (however modest) we’re in now.
Compared to then, we have it good: it’s been three years since the Washington Wizards have had a losing season, a stretch where they’ve notched multiple playoff series wins.
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Without Nene, that wouldn’t have been possible. It’s time he finally receives the appreciation he’s always deserved.