Wizards hold postgame players'-only meeting after loss to the Nuggets

Players'-only meetings on the surface aren't a good thing when they're public. They indicate that there is some tension within the team. Or maybe something isn't going right.

The Wizards' players held such a meeting after the game before doors opened to the media. Bradley Beal gave this snippet that the meeting happened in a postgame locker room interview (via Truth About It's Kyle Weidie):

The #Wizards know what they need to do, per a players' meeting, according to Bradley Beal. pic.twitter.com/Dkf8SULIri

— Kyle Weidie (@Truth_About_It) January 29, 2016

Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post also learned about the meeting from Jared Dudley:

"It’s difficult because we were just on a four-game winning streak," Wizards forward Jared Dudley said. "We followed the blueprint of what we have to do as a team. So we have the tools. We have everything we need.

"For us, let’s be honest … except for this game none of the games have been close. It’s not a positive. But we have to be positive. We’re close to the halfway point but we got to get some wins and we got get some good flow and we got to get back to our style. This team can’t score 80 points. This team is in the 100s. We have to be able to defend the three and stop turning the ball over.

Castillo also noted in the beginning of his piece that the Wizards were hoping to replicate the same effect from what their 2013-14 meeting when they started the season 2-7.

While I'm not privy to what goes on in locker rooms, the situations in 2013-14 and 2015-16 are quite different.

First, in 2013-14, one of the main reasons why that meeting was a turning point was because it was the time when John Wall finally learned that he had to be the direct leader of the team. Other veterans on the team, like Nene or Trevor Ariza helped Wall become a more assertive player in that regard.

In 2015-16, we know John Wall should be a more directive leader on and off the court. If he isn't, then that's a problem. To me, if this meeting ends up with a positive outcome -- which we'll define as a 2016 playoff appearance -- then it isn't about Wall pointing to players and defining their roles.

Though Beal mentioned that specifics were kept "in-house," how Washington takes that meeting and responds from it will give us a picture where Wall stands as the team's locker room leader.