Washington Wizards: Kevin Seraphin Asked Wizards To Trade Him Several Times
By Ben Mehic
Washington Wizards reportedly declined to trade forward/center Kevin Seraphin, even though he asked the organization multiple times.
Being in the NBA must be nice, but no one dreams about walking across the draft stage just to sit on the bench for the rest of their career. Kevin Seraphin, who was picked 17th overall by the Chicago Bulls in 2010 and traded to the Washington Wizards on draft night, isn’t any different.
The French prospect showed flashes of his potential in 2012 before Nene arrived from the Denver Nuggets. At times, it looked like Seraphin would become the Wizards’ big man for the future. His ability to score inside with his back to the basket was uncanny.
Despite showing what he can do, Seraphin’s playing time consistently decreased under Randy Wittman and he eventually fell out of the team’s rotation. Whenever Seraphin made a mistake – one that could have been attributed to his lack of development – he was put inside of the coach’s dog house.
Last year, Seraphin became a free agent and signed with the New York Knicks, where the situation wasn’t much different.
Derek Fisher failed to find a coherent rotation and Seraphin’s lack of consistency plagued his time in New York.
This summer, after declining interest from teams in China and Europe, Seraphin landed a deal with the Indiana Pacers.
His time in Washington is a microcosm of his entire career. Bad coaching and inconsistent playing time led to damaged confidence, ultimately causing Seraphin to lose any momentum he gained early in his career.
Recently, Seraphin spoke about his time in Washington, revealing that he asked to be traded numerous times.
"“Every year from my second season, I asked for a trade,” Seraphin said. “And every year it was the same thing: ‘We love you, we do not want to see you leave, you have a lot of potential.’ There was even a point when they said, ‘If we do not get an All-Star in return, we will not trade Kevin.'”“(The year Paul Pierce arrived) may have been the hardest for me because I was really in shape. My playing time fluctuated without reason. I spoke a lot with Paul (Pierce) and John (Wall). And they did not understand. This summer, I met a staff member of the Wizards in a New York restaurant. He said, ‘Your problem is that you got Randy Wittman.'”"
If Seraphin was a member of the San Antonio Spurs, for instance, I don’t think this is where he would have ended up.
Blaming Wittman might seem like a cop out, but the coach’s stubborn demeanor and lack of perspective did hurt the young players.
There’s no reason why a player like Seraphin didn’t become a legitimate threat in the NBA. He has the size and ability to be effective. Wittman somehow failed to take advantage.
Seraphin isn’t the only case. It’s happened countless times. Jan Vesely, Chris Singleton, Shelvin Mack, Jordan Crawford and even veteran Shaun Livingston became victims of Wittman’s incompetence.
As far as a potential trade was concerned, I don’t think Seraphin ever had incredible trade value. He was on a rookie-scale contract and the return wouldn’t have been worth a deal. Washington allowed him to walk in free agency for that reason.
With the Pacers, Seraphin is going to have to find a way to carve out playing time again. Myles Turner, Thaddeus Young, Al Jefferson and Lavoy Allen are all presumably ahead of Seraphin in the rotation.
Next: Oubre Meet Kanye, Kanye Meet Oubre
Washington is hoping that these developmental failures are behind them now that Scott Brooks is leading the team. Unfortunately, Seraphin is just one of many players we look back on and say “what if?”