Washington Wizards: Top 5 takeaways from an AMA with Tommy Sheppard

1. The team DOES have a direction.

There’s been some question in D.C. about where exactly the Washington Wizards stand. I’ve written myself that I think the Wizards should consider tanking, and that John Wall may not be the same player when he returns, so they should start offloading assets now rather than a year from now after we’ve all seen it.

But fans have been clamoring for the playoffs, and I’ve also written that it may not be the worst idea to get our young core that kind of experience, and to keep star guard Bradley Beal happy. Either way, it’s been a bit confusing, so Tommy Sheppard cleared it up a bit for us.

When he was confronted with the grim reality that the Washington Wizards haven’t made the finals in a very long time, he responded this way:

"Re: Coach Brooks – with John’s return next year, we have a higher expectation. We’ve said from day one this year was truly going to be about player development – and we’re reaching those goals. We want to win as man games as possible, but more importantly develop and watch our talent increase. We have seven players 22 and younger, 10 new roster players this year and it’s critical that they all develop."

Tommy is hitting on some pretty important points here, that their focus is on development rather than the playoffs. It’s been the mantra for the season, and the sheer numbers of young and/or new players on the roster really speaks to and backs up his insistence from the beginning that this would be the focus.

Now, you might have a point if you raised some alarms about the fact that he wants to win games now AND develop the youth. Those seem like separate goals with some very raw talent on the roster, but of course anyone can claim that they want to win, even if they sit their veterans.

Sheppard also mentioned head coach Scott Brooks here, and he fielded several questions about the embattled coach. So he went into greater detail:

"I think this season was a challenge without John Wall, from training camp on we knew that everyone would be evaluated on player development. I think the staff’s done a good job of developing our talent and it will translate to the future. Scotty Brooks dusted off the blueprint he had to use in OKC with all of those younger players. He instilled the work ethic and held players accountable. We have seven players 22 years and younger and they’ve all shown improvement and it will be exciting to watch in the future."

Obviously, he’s not letting this “we  have seven players 22 years or younger” thing go anytime soon. So be on the look out for that next season too if we don’t do so hot when Wall returns from his Achilles injury.

Here Sheppard is standing by his man and it might just be the biggest takeaway from this AMA as many in D.C. are calling for the head coach’s job. It looks to me like they’ll stick with Brooks at least through next season to see what he can do with a healthy Wall back on the roster.

Lastly, Sheppard also touched on how much they’ve been using their Capital City Go-Go G-League affiliate to develop talent:

"We want to win as many games as possible in the last 20 games, but most importantly continue to develop every player on this roster. Players only get better with minutes. We’ve had tremendous success developing players on the Go-Go within our system. Admiral, Johnathan, Garrison, Chiozza, Pasecniks. In Admiral’s case, he’s played over 1300 minutes – which was our goal."

In Sheppard’s mind, it seems, the future is bright in Washington. Admiral Schofield is a big focus here, so they may be expecting big things from him next season. There will probably be more Admiral in our future.