Randy Wittman is not happy with media’s treatment of the John Wall injury (Video)
On Thursday, it was reported that Washington Wizards guard John Wall suffered five fractures in his left hand and wrist in Game 1 of his team’s victory over the Atlanta Hawks. The kids aren’t home from school yet, we’re all adults here, and we don’t have to think twice before pointing out that this sucks.
[Follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]
The Wizards seemed poised to turn the corner with Wall as their lead guard, the team’s defense was driving the once formidable Hawks offense batty, Washington won five consecutive games to begin its playoff turn, and Wall was the point man on both sides of this attack. The injury knocked him out for not only Game 2, but likely the rest of the postseason.
The frustration behind the loss is clearly getting to oft-mocked Wizards coach Randy Wittman. Witness his rant from Friday’s media session:
Wittman is referring to a rather benign and no doubt accurate report from longtime Washington Post Wizards beat writer, and now national Post NBA columnist Michael Lee:
“I knew when I fell on it,” Wall said earlier this week. “You never know when you’ve got a lot of energy and power going down on the ground, so I thought I broke it. Kind of the same type of injury.”
Wall refused to accept the initial diagnosis of a “real, real bad sprain” after X-rays immediately following the game were negative. According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Wall clashed with team medical staffers before sitting out Tuesday because he felt something more serious had caused his hand to explode. After a few days of confusion and concern, Wall got the confirmation of bone fractures that he never really wanted, leaving fans of the team with broken hearts.
You can suspect us of with siding with Lee merely for our press allegiances, that’s just fine.
The logical turn, though, as Wall had to seek a second and then third opinion on his wrist after the Wizards’ staff initially diagnosed it as a “sprain,” seems to agree with Lee’s off-record report. Wall’s hand and wrist are clearly in terrible shape, and yet the Wizards waited until just an hour before Tuesday’s Game 2 to report that he was going to sit with an injury that wasn’t properly diagnosed until Thursday.
There should be no doubt that the Wizards’ medical staff is, like Wittman points out, working its tails off. What is clearly the case here, however, is that the same staff is working under the same auspices that we routinely discredit the NFL for – it may not have pushed Wall to play on his “sprained” wrist, but in dismissing its severity the staff allowed for its reputation to come under question by us Monday Morning Doctors.
I mean, how many X-Rays do you need to see before finding five fractures? This isn’t Bill Walton’s foot. This equipment isn’t from 1977.
NBA.com’s David Aldridge has been a must-follow throughout this ordeal:
The Wizards are currently tied 1-1 with the Hawks and working with home-court advantage during its semifinal matchup with a top-seeded squad from Atlanta. The team is more than capable of taking a game or two in this series even without Wall, but its championship hopes were more or less dashed when Wall went down.
The mere fact that we’re talking about a championship for this Wizards squad is not only due to John Wall’s fantastic play, but also due to the recent coaching work of Wittman – he’s gone small with his lineups and allowed his team to shoot three-pointers as it sees fit. He was in the middle of saving his job with Washington before this unfortunate turn took place.
An outburst like this, no matter the frustration that comes from a season’s worth of work shot to bits in one bad fall, is inexcusable. Everyone’s earned a lash-out or two over the course of a tough season, but to call out Michael Lee (one of the more respected and certainly one of the best NBA writers you’ll have the good fortune to click across) is unprofessional and flat-out wrong. Some media will report things incorrectly, and some media will make things up, but it’s safe to assume that someone like Michael Lee did not make up the part about John Wall’s back and forth with Washington’s medical staff.
You don’t have to have a slapfight or yelling match in order to “clash” with someone. You can just have a disagreement about how something went down, which appears to be the case with Wall. You can do as much with a civil tone.
As such, we’re clashing with how Randy Wittman is handling himself these days.
– – – – – – –
Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
