John Wall isn’t denying that his second unit was quite second-rate this year.
In a recent interview with Chris Miller of CSN Mid-Atlantic, the Washington Wizards guard blamed the team’s bench for their early postseason demise.
“We need to help our bench,” said Wall, per ProBasketballTalk’s Dan Feldman. “Just to be honest, that was our downfall in each series that we had in the semifinals — our bench got outplayed … It starts from upstairs – just building the right bench guys and building the chemistry. That’s all it is.
“I think that’s where [the Celtics] won the game at,” he continued. “I heard Marcus Smart say after the game that I had no legs. He’s basically right … It’s just their bench guys came in and played well. I think Kelly Oubre could’ve played a little more. I wish he would’ve played a little more than Jason [Smith]. But coach makes the decision, and we stick behind him 100 percent.”
Wall made some similar comments immediately after the Game 7 loss to the Celtics that saw the Wizards’ bench outscored by a margin of 48-5. We also heard recently that he might not be willing to commit to a long-term extension in Washington without a clearer idea of where the team is headed first.
The Wizards were definitely aware of their depth problem, as their in-season gets of Bojan Bogdanovic and Brandon Jennings attested to. But with so little time to build rapport with the rest of the team and with a head coach in Scott Brooks who quickly lost faith in many of his non-starters down the stretch, the quick-fix experiment was doomed for failure. Now it’s back to the drawing board for Washington, lest they frustrate their franchise player any further.
