John Wall is Now Longest-Tenured Wizard

Posted on July 18, 2012

Some perspective – only 20 months ago, we made a major trade sending a star player to Orlando. That player has since been amnestied. The player we acquired in trade we then traded to New Orleans. That player has since been bought out and has recently signed with another NBA team as a free agent. We added two veteran NBA players to our lineup via that set of trades (Ariza and Okafor). That also set off another set of deals and related moves (Nene trade) and now – two seasons after we acquired the team – the Washington Wizards have had 100 percent player turnover.   We have changed up the team roster and make-up completely. We will enter season three of our ownership with an entirely new lineup from when we acquired the team.   We have eight players on rookie contracts.   Our first rookie class – led by John Wall, who enters season three on his rookie contract – is now our most tenured player on the team.   That was a very fast makeover.   Perhaps the most change in lineup of any NBA team in that period of time.   Now we have to work very hard to create chemistry, culture and systems for an entirely new lineup.   We stated we would have to rebuild the team, and focus on change and now we can say we delivered in that regard. Rebuilding a team is messy. I am pleased we have had this huge amount of change in such a short period of time. Now it is time to settle in and work on continuity, teamwork and becoming competitive. Then it’s on to becoming a playoff team by continuing to rebuild and invest – and then to becoming a destination, and competing for a ring.   We can’t short-circuit the process, but the first wave of massive change has been completed.   Thank you for your support during this process.