There were nights \u2014 many nights \u2014 when Ted Leonsis would sit courtside at Capital One Arena and not particularly like what he saw on the court, which was expected. Worse, though, might have been what he heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were some moments where people are yelling at you,\u201d Leonsis said. \u201cSome of the social media posts were enlightening, I\u2019d say.\u201d<\/p>\n
When you care about what people think \u2014 and Leonsis cares about what people think \u2014 going through a \u201cdeconstruction\u201d (his word) of your NBA team can be emotional and painful. Since Leonsis took full control of the Washington Wizards in the summer of 2010, only the Detroit Pistons have lost more regular-season games. In the three seasons since Leonsis hired Michael Winger as the top basketball executive to oversee the \u201cdeconstruction\u201d (which we\u2019ll define later), the Wizards have lost 196 games. That\u2019s 20 more than any other team.<\/p>\n
The plan worked perfectly. But everyone \u2014 from the most ardent fan all the way up to the owner who signs the checks \u2014 had to endure it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s never easy, that\u2019s for sure, because you can\u2019t fake it,\u201d Leonsis said in a Zoom call Wednesday from his Florida vacation home. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to go to the games. You\u2019ve got to go to meetings. You\u2019ve got to talk to the sponsors. You have to talk to the players and the coaches to assure everyone that you have a strategy, you have a plan and you can speak with some authority that there could be gold at the end of the rainbow \u2014 and the only way that you\u2019ll know is when you get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wizards are finally, mercifully there. \u201cThere\u2019s luck involved,\u201d Leonsis said, and the un-Wizards-like luck came in the form of landing the No. 1 pick<\/a> in Sunday\u2019s NBA draft lottery.<\/p>\n