Though the putrid start for the Washington Wizards this season has plenty of implications, a certain member of the LA Clippers believes it proves that he wasn’t the problem during his tenure in the Nation’s Capital.
Marcin Gortat, who was traded to the Clippers this summer, was often seen as the biggest detriment on Washington’s roster, despite serving as the starting center and putting up all-around solid numbers. The Wizards made the playoffs all but one season while Gortat was there and now with a 6-11 mark to open the season for Washington, the Polish big man is letting it be known. Following from NBC Washington’s Ben Standing:
“Listen, the way I was traded out of that team, it looked like I was the cancer of the locker room… I think that thing was verified and it was complete [expletive]. It is what it is now.”
“A lot of guys around the league are getting tributes. It ’s obviously up to the organization, but I guess Austin Rivers did enough to get his tribute, but I didn’t do enough to get a tribute here,” Gortat said to NBC Sports Washington. “A few guys around the team understand. It was kind of weird.”
Of course, many pinpointed Marcin Gortat as the Wizards’ problem last year after the friction between him and point guard John Wall surfaced. Not only was Gortat struggling on the court last season, but he didn’t seem to mesh well with the unit in general, something that led to him getting shipped away.
However, Gortat is right in that Washington’s pedestrian start does mute that line of thinking at least a little bit. It doesn’t change the fact that Gortat’s departure from Washington was overdue, but the dysfunction appears to clearly come from up top in the front office as opposed to directly from their roster.
Though Gortat’s numbers have slipped statistically in LA, his Clippers are currently among the Western Conference elite with an 11-6 record. The Wizards will hope to reverse their misfortunes early on while Gortat and the Clippers look to keep up their surprisingly steady play.
