Amid reports of intense chemistry issues between the Washington Wizards’ two young star guards, new head coach Scott Brooks is staying calm. From Candace Buckner of the Washington Post:
“Never once did Ted [Leonsis], Ernie [Grunfeld], [senior vice president of basketball operations] Tommy [Sheppard] ever mention that to me. Never once did I ever think about ‘When are they going to mention that to me?’ ” Brooks said, referring to the conversations he had with the team owner and front office before taking the job.
“I don’t look at it as an issue, I look at it as two competitive players developing their position in this league,” Brooks continued. “I’ve had history of two competitive players, at a young age, [developing] together. That’s not always going to be lovey-dovey, but the respect has to be there.”
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“You have to have a competitive group to win. Some nights it’s going to get very competitive, and sometimes it’s going to boil over. That’s my job, to make sure it never goes across that line,” Brooks said. “We have to know that we always have to play for one another and you have to respect one another, and if you don’t have that, you’re going to have a lot of disappointing nights.”
Maybe Brooks is right about this one — it’s good to have players that will call one another out on their BS. It’s hard to tell if that’s all that this is, though. Wall said that he and Beal “have a tendency not to like each other” on the court, which just doesn’t sound good. Hopefully reports of the strains on Wall and Beal’s relationship have been exaggerated, and all ends well. If the two can make things work, Wall and Beal can be among the league’s most dominant backcourts.
