Bradley Beal had some pointed criticisms of the Washington Wizards last week, and he’s standing by them now even after one of his teammates appeared to disagree.
Last Wednesday, Beal ripped into the team after a 120-111 loss to the lowly Sacramento Kings.
“We bark too much. We say what we need to do. We scream at one another,” Beal said, via J. Michael of CSN Mid Atlantic. “We can even try to blame [coach Randy Wittman] if we want to but at the end of the day we still the ones playing. We still beat ourselves. We do dumb stuff on the floor like just not having a man in transition or not knowing where a guy is at half court or not knowing personnel. We just do dumb mental lapses that just mess up the game and end up hurting us in the long run. Everybody is a grown ass man, you either want to play or you don’t.”
How did that go down in the locker room? Not well, at least to one member of the team.
Well folks, there you have it. @dcsportsbog pic.twitter.com/MdEaYhGrlk
— Saam Bozorgmehr (@DJ_SAAM) March 31, 2016
Marcin Gortat has since deleted the tweet, but it meant Beal faced questions about whether he was too harsh.
“I do not regret what I said at all,” Beal said, via Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. I’m not going back on it.”
Gortat has always been one to speak his mind, whether it’s your run of the mill Twitter hater or criticisms from his head coach, so it’s not surprising to see him speak up against Beal here. Is Beal onto something? Maybe. His points echo some of those made earlier in the season by coach Randy Wittman. Washington has a lot of talent and they’re set to miss out on the playoffs, which shouldn’t be the case. Much as they’d like to be, it doesn’t sound like they’re on Kevin Durant’s radar, so some things are likely going to have to change before the Wizards kick off next season, and Wittman’s employment may be one of them.
