Washington, D.C—
Leadership, you can’t ever preach enough of it individually, but you can certainly have the right group of leaders who do so. This year, the Wizards seemed to have found a good match of veteran players who know how to teach a squad filled with talent the right things to put all of the right tools on the floor come opening night in Miami, October 29th.
Today, as the Wizards continued their second day of Training Camp at Verizon Center, it was these guys such as Kris Humphries and Paul Pierce that kept the group of young stars like Wall and Beal in check and laughing towards the end of practice today.
“We feel now we have one of the deeper front lines in the league as far as the four and five are concerned,” Wizards General Manager Ernie Grunfeld said.
The Wizards sought to add not just front-court players but physically-imposing front-court players. In a sport moving away from the traditional back-to-the-basket post-up big man in favor of shooters to stretch the floor, the Wizards went against the grain.
“It’s great to be a part of this team. I have been part of teams that are both offensively and defensively minded and ones that at the opposite, this one seems to have a good mix of both. Players are putting in the work and extra work for that matter to make this team live up to the potential we know it has,” said Wizards Forward Kris Humphries. It was a pretty accurate assessment as he just took on Center Drew Gooden in a little friendly long range jumper competition.
“Extra work pays off, whether you know it or not, it will help us down the stretch, said Humphries, who now is in his 10th NBA season.
Veteran off-season acquisition, Paul Pierce seemed to take all in today, smiles and all as he exited the court and later the upbeat positive mojo continued as he talked with ESPN 980 about his recent private plane trip to Vegas with Al Pacino.
With a few more days before the Wizards hit the road to open the preseason, expect Wizards Head Coach Randy Wittman to take a few looks at what could create one of the most dynamic benches in the NBA this season. Kevin Seraphin, Martell Webster and Garrett Temple are all vying for a spot on the roster, which now stands at 20 players.
