Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: Egos to blame for Wizards' woes

Neil Dalal: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope says that player egos are to blame for why the Wizards initial roster this season was not successful. Says that players were complaining about roles and minutes.
Source: Twitter @NeilDalal96

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Chase Hughes @ChaseHughesNBCS
KCP on what went wrong for the pre-deadline Wizards: “Guys] were complaining about minutes, not getting the ball, not touching it… everybody started getting comfortable, I feel like a lot of agendas and egos took over the goal that we wanted.” – 11:50 PM Wayne Cole @waynec0le
KCP said you could feel the good vibes pregame. “Good auras” coach said “do something for the next man, uplift him” – 10:48 PM Chris Miller @cmillsnbcs
“The vibe was different tonight”. – KCP – 10:48 PM Neil Dalal @NeilDalal96
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope says that player egos are to blame for why the Wizards initial roster this season was not successful. Says that players were complaining about roles and minutes. – 10:44 PM Neil Dalal @NeilDalal96
Wes Unseld Jr. will challenge Cam Thomas’ and-1 3 as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope says he kicked his foot out
Doubt it is overturned meaning it could be a 109-107 Wizards lead after Nets free throw with 1:06 left – 9:59 PM Neil Dalal @NeilDalal96
Wizards closing lineup vs. Nets
Raul Neto
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Deni Avdija
Kyle Kuzma
Anthony Gill – 9:54 PM Neil Dalal @NeilDalal96
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope not rocking a headband, first time this season? – 7:49 PM Neil Dalal @NeilDalal96
Wizards available tonight vs. Nets
Deni Avdija
Thomas Bryant
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Anthony Gill
Rui Hachimura
Corey Kispert
Kyle Kuzma
Raul Neto
Isaiah Todd
Cassius Winston
Joel Ayayi – 4:11 PM Chase Hughes @ChaseHughesNBCS
The Wizards’ new depth chart would look something like this (minus Beal, who is out for the year)…
G: Neto, I Smith
F: KCP, Kuzma, Hachimura, Avdija, Kispert, Gill
C: Porzingis, Bryant, Gafford, Carey – 3:44 PM Jeff Zillgitt @JeffZillgitt
Given the contract situations for the Wizards, Beal’s injury and the decline after the solid start, the writing was on the wall. Teams also interested in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, too. – 2:50 PM Ben Anderson @BensHoops
Fire sale in Washington, I’ll be curious where KCP is in a half hour. – 2:36 PM

More on this storyline

The Wizards have now lost seven of eight games and in this one went down by as many as 36. When asked for the mood in the locker room as they navigate a low point, Montrezl Harrell didn’t pull any punches. “It sucks, bro. That’s the mood of the team. It sucks. Coming in here and teams are basically beating our from start to finish. So, it sucks, man,” Harrell said. “Nobody likes losing. Everyone in our locker room is competitive-minded people and love to compete and get after it. But it just sucks right now because over the last eight games we’ve played, we lost seven of them. That’s tough for anybody to withstand or have on their plate. So, that’s the energy in the room right now, it just sucks.” -via NBC Sports / February 6, 2022 Harrell seemed to suggest the Wizards lack energy and effort. He is known for those things, but lately there have been complaints by head coach Wes Unseld Jr. and others about a lack of urgency. Harrell seems to be particularly bothered by it. “I don’t know, but I’m tired of hearing the energy thing, bro. If you can’t energize yourself or fire yourself up to be able to come here to play the game of basketball, bro, which is your job and you make a lot of money to do it, brother, then you’re in the wrong field, man. I’m tired of hearing that,” Harrell said. -via NBC Sports / February 6, 2022 And in the loss, the Wizards’ problems stemmed, in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s eyes, from a lack of communication — specifically on the defensive end of the floor.  “A lot slips with communication, I don’t know what it is,” he said postgame. “We love talking to each other, but when we get on the court, no one talks to each other. That communication, it helps a lot. It helps on the defensive end, getting guys in position to defend or help. Offense, just talking everybody through it…We just don’t have that consistency in the communication and playing hard.” -via NBC Sports / February 6, 2022