Randy Wittman sort of clarifies comments about playing time

Thursday's Washington Wizards practice did not give us a chance to hear from John Wall again after his poor performance against the Pistons and his tense postgame interview. It did, however, give us a chance to hear more from Randy Wittman after he ripped his players for caring more about their own minutes than the actual game.

Via J Michael of CSN Washington:

"'Till the earth stops spinning, there's going to be guys concerned about minutes. That's the nature of our business," Wittman said. "But there's a time and a place to be concerned and to have that question about minutes. Its not during the game....If there's a question about the game, come into my office, the next day in practice, we can sit and talk about those things. But in the midst of the game there's got to be a focus on the game. Not what's transpiring for me."

Wittman didn't name names, and he won't ever name names publicly. I would guess, though, that Chris Singleton is not one of those players. Here's what he had to say about the issue, via the Washington Post:

"Coach has an open door policy," Singleton said. "If you want to go talk to him, go talk to him. It's on you."

But Singleton added, "It's not something you do during a game."

It's also possible that Wittman wasn't directing his criticism at any one player. Sometimes, when you don't like the general mood of the team, you'll go to a complaint like this to wake everyone up. I don't think we can rule out that possibility.

Wittman, of course, also discussed Wall's situation. Here's a transcript of his radio interview on 106.7 The Fan yesterday.