NBA News 2016: Wizards Coach Wittman Still Coached Game Amid Brother's Death; Knicks' Porzingis Avoided Being Drafted By 76ers?
Washington Wizards head coach Randy Wittman put his grief aside for a while and carried on to coach his team last Saturday night.
According to a report by Albert Lee for SBNation.com's "Bullets Forever," Wittman's brother Rick passed away on Saturday morning. On that same night, the Wizards travelled to the Toyota Center in Houston, to play against the Rockets.
Washington did emerge victorious with a score of 123-122. Point guard John Wall was the superstar of the night, putting up a double-double, where he had 19 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists. Big man Marcin Gortat was able to do the same, scoring 13 points, and grabbing 11 rebounds.
After the game, Wittman still granted interviews for the press, where he was rightfully highly emotional about his most recent loss.
"Tough day," Wittman simply told reporters.
The Washington Wizards are currently situated at the number 10 spot at the Eastern Conference standings with a win-loss record of 21-26. They are scheduled to play against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night at home.
Meanwhile, New York Knicks rookie sensation Kristaps Porzingis was apparently in the radar of another team during the 2015 NBA Draft.
The 20-year old Latvian player was selected fourth overall by the New York Knicks, but in a report by Adrian Wojnarowski for Yahoo! Sports, Porzingis' agent Andy Miller made it a point that the Philadelphia 76ers would not be able to successfully add him to their roster.
"Miller didn't make it easy for Philadelphia to draft Porzingis at No. 3. The Sixers wouldn't be afforded Porzingis' physical, nor get a private workout, nor even a face-to-face meeting," an excerpt of Wojnarowski's report reads.
The report adds that 76ers' manager Sam Hinkie went up to Miller personally to ask for a meeting with the player, in which the latter responded saying "I said, 'I'd try,' and it's not going to work out."
