Tears of a Clown

The Wizards have become the laughing stock of the NBA. It seems as if every night the Wiz Kids add another highlight to its ever growing follies collection. The Wizards are constantly making the Top Ten highlight shows but it’s usually on the receiving end or the result of an inexplicable boneheaded play. There’s the highlight of JaVale McGee getting dunked on by Chandler Parsons. Who remembers John Wall getting crossed by Jeremy Lin. And lest we forget, we’ve all have seen this one.

Last night, was no exception. The game against the Kings included Nick Young air-balling a 360 layup and JaVale McGee giving a SlapChop demonstration on a basketball.

Although Jordan Crawford led the team in scoring with 32 points,  my lasting image of him was taking a pull up three from 27 feet out with about 18 seconds on the shot clock in a 1 point game. Randy Wittman was visibly upset after the game and voiced his displeasure for the team reverting back to its old selfish, showboating ways.

After leading the entire first half, the Wizards had yet another epic collapse getting outscored 55-39 in the second half and 27-18 in the fourth quarter alone. After the break it looked as if the Kings could do no wrong, while the Wizards couldn’t do anything right. The Kings didn’t reinvent the wheel in the second half; they just played harder and smarter than the Wizards. It’s not a lack of talent that causes the Wizards to lose so many games. It’s a lack of fundamentals and basketball IQ.

How do you motivate these guys? How many times does Wittman need to bench guys to drive home his point?  How often do you have to be lampooned by the national media before you’ve had enough? Where is the professionalism and pride?

What bothers me most is that some of the players seem to revel in and enjoy the knucklehead label. After hearing about Wittman’s comments regarding the 360 layup, Nick Young had the audacity to defend the awful shot saying, “If I make it, everybody’s on my side. If I miss it, then it’s a bad shot”.

Sorry Nick, a bad shot is a bad shot regardless of if you make it or not. This is the attitude of this team, no one takes any responsibility for their poor decisions and it’s never their fault. Last night as I watched blunder after blunder I actually cracked a smile, partly because it was comical and partly because you have to laugh to keep from crying.