Players-only meeting points fingers, resolves some troubles Even after an offseason spent sitting around the boardroom table as vice president of the National Basketball Players Association, Maurice Evans isn’t done with meetings.
Having watched the Wizards’ first six games of the season from the bench, Evans called a players-only gathering before practice Thursday. He wanted to direct the frustration over how poorly and selfishly the team has played during its franchise-worst 0-6 start back to those most guilty.
“We have to be real with ourselves,” said Evans, who hasn’t played because of a nagging right knee injury. “The sense of entitlement that’s here sometimes I’ve never seen before, and we have to come to these guys and again start earning things.”
| Up next |
| Knicks at Wizards |
| When » Friday, 7 p.m. |
| Where » Verizon Center |
| TV » CSN |
The promise of a positive training camp and the roles established by Wizards coach Flip Saunders before the regular season began were lost in their first game. Washington squandered a 21-point lead in a loss to New Jersey, and Andray Blatche followed it with complaints about his role in the offense.
In Thursday’s 15-20 minute meeting, Blatche (12.0 points per game, 7.0 rebounds) was taken to task as the players discussed who they wanted to be responsible for carrying the team’s scoring load.
“I took some of what they said about me as far as I asked for the ball in the post and sometimes I take lazy jump shots,” Blatche said. “They can’t have that. I took that as ‘You’re right.’ If my teammates are saying that, I have no reason but to agree with them and work to get better.”
Evans, in his ninth season, also singled out John Wall (13.8 ppg, 6.5 assists per game), who is shooting 32.9 percent from the field, and Nick Young (14.2 ppg), who is little better at 37.3 percent.
“Having gone to the playoffs every year before coming [to Washington],” Evans said, “[in Detroit] it was Chauncey Billups who was getting Rasheed Wallace into the post and off the 3-point line or making sure that Rip Hamilton had enough shots that he wasn’t forcing the issue. That’s what we expect from John, and that’s what we expect from the other guys here.”
Saunders intends to match the players’ intentions to hold each other accountable by juggling lineups and sitting players if they stray from the game plan. However, discipline from the bench was rare during Washington’s first six games.
“They understand that it’s important now not what you’ve done in the past but what we’re going to do as far as moving forward,” Saunders said. “And then that the accountability has to do with if you don’t play hard and don’t play the right way, that your opportunity to play’s going to be cut down.”
Evans could get his first chance to contribute Friday when the Wizards host the Knicks (2-4), a game in which top draft pick Jan Vesely also might see his first action. Sidelined by a hip injury and the flu, Vesely has increased his participation in practice this week but was hesitant to say how much he could influence the overall direction of the team.
“I’m not sure that I am the guy that can make some miracles,” he said. “I just want to start playing.”
