Wizards GM on the unique 2nd season:
“This is a different, unique ramp-up... we’ve had lockouts in the NBA where guys were separated from basketball due to injury or something, but nothing where the entire league really has not played a game at all during this entire stretch…When you have such a unique time, you have to have a unique ramp-up. We’re really relying on our performance staff and their advice on how to best ramp up. We rely on them because they are the very best at what they do, and they have been great for us.”
Sheppard on John Wall:
“His leadership is felt every day, Sheppard said. “He’s jumping in, texting guys and calling guys. He’s been on Zoom calls with the team as we’re preparing for this. We hear from him, we see him, and we know what he’s doing.”
“The last thing I ever have to worry about is John Wall’s work ethic."
Sheppard on who goes to Orlando:
“For us, you want to take as many healthy players as possible... the final list is still a work in progress. We’re going to take anywhere from 15 to 16 players. Obviously, Davis (Bertans) isn’t going to go. John (Wall) won’t go. Then we’re probably going to have eight coaches, seven medical (staffers) and then some additional positions. I will go, we have a security person, an athletic trainer – PR has a couple folks going. Who those people are going to be kind of depends on how these next couple weeks go. We are assuming that everybody that we have listed today, they’re going to be healthy and they will go. But you have to be able to think logically and that if something doesn’t work, if somebody contracted the virus, that you have somebody ready to go just in case. So these are our 35 today.”
“We are going to over-index on medical staff to make sure we have the best health and care possible for our player as they’re going through training camp,” Sheppard said. “(Medina’s) staff will be represented by seven people there. Comparing notes with most of the people around the league, that’s about what everybody’s doing.”
Sheppard on the goal in Orlando:
“We’re going there to win games,” Sheppard said. “We’re going there to try to make the playoffs. That’s 100% our goal.”
“If we didn’t have this opportunity, our next regular season game would be in December,” Sheppard said. “And possibly late December. The idea of not playing basketball that long, I don’t even want to think about that. For us, it’s all about gratitude that we do have the opportunity to train, get ready, to go there, to have another training camp, to play the eight games, to get that opportunity to go through the playoffs – that’s a tremendous opportunity for us. Going back to the young guys, you usually can find out how a player truly is with how they respond to pressure situations. This is a pressure situation.”
Sheppard on the Wizards social justice efforts in Orlando:
“One very important thing that we will be able to do in Orlando is continue (to use) our social justice platform... our players will be really free to speak on issues that are important to them. We’ve done a great job here. I can’t say enough about the contributions from Sashi Brown, John Thompson III, Sashia Jones – everybody that had anything to do with our players and the demonstration they did (on Juneteenth) with the Mystics, but also all the other events leading up to that and certainly the months ahead of us.”
“The players will have the freedom to do so many things in Orlando also and continue to raise that platform... we look forward to hearing from them and their programs that we support 100%. I think one thing that we continue to do is gain wisdom, get knowledge, and get educated exactly on what the issues are and how we can best serve moving forward to impact change. If it’s getting involved and getting a vote out, if it’s getting involved in local governments and how we can best educate everybody to the welfare of the whole. This is a very, very big opportunity. And the NBA has supported that for all of our players, and I think the Washington Wizards and Washington Mystics, specifically, have walked that walk. They’re challenging each other and holding all of us accountable to our actions moving forward.”