Everything seemed to be going so well for the Washington Wizards. John Wall was supposed to have matured and be able to lead this team at point guard, Nick Young was going to add a scoring threat. Jan Vesely was supposed to be the best possible guy the Wizards could have taken and this team was going to be taking steps forward.
[caption id="attachment_189" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Wizards have not lived up to already low expectations thus far."]
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Well almost two weeks later, and the Wizards find themselves several steps back of where they started. 0-6 for the first time in franchise history, in the bottom five of every statistical category I can think of. Vesely has not even touched the court yet, and the Wizards have been getting pounded like a bad college team.
What has been the problem? And how soon can we expect it to be fixed? Maurice Evans, who has still yet to play this season, held a players only meeting where they addressed the issues that have faced this team so far, leaving them the only team in the league without a single win.
The result? Maurice Evans claims there is an “entitlement” issue and people aren’t trying to earn anything. Following the meeting, players held themselves accountable, blaming themselves for their poor performance so far. That is a step in the positive direction
The next step is to start winning games. John Wall shooting 33% while averaging 3.7 turnovers a game and JaVale McGee shooting just over 38% is going to have to stop. These players need to improve and the team will quickly follow suit. The Wizards need to start playing like a team, which they clearly haven’t done once this season. They average 14.8 assists per game which is good for 2nd worst in the league.
The struggles are not only on the offense as well. The Wizards are 26th in rebounds per game and 25th in points allowed per game out of 30 teams. This is a young team but they have talent. If the effort is there, results will come. It should not come to Flip Saunders getting ejected to get this team to want to play.
[caption id="attachment_190" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Flip Saunders' ejection was the only thing that has made the Wizards look like a competitive team."]
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The players only meeting is a start. Chemistry could be an issue and the team also needs to mature. Flip Saunders is a good coach and he will get his players ready. Blame the lockout, blame the schedule, but the Wizards have a nice home stand coming up where they should be able to win at least one of their next three games.
I find it hard to believe that this Wizards team is worse than last years. The fact that they are 0-6 and haven’t looked like they can come close to beating a team is a good reason to want to go back on my prediction that the Wizards are going to finish the season with 30 wins.
Nevertheless, I will stand by my prediction. This meeting is a very good thing for this young team. The players need more leadership and accountability which they now have. The Wizards are better than they were last year, and it won’t be long before they start playing that way.
The New York Knicks are an even worse team defensively than the Wizards, so what better time for a break out game than hosting the Knicks? The Wizards will beat the Knicks 102-99 (give or take) and go on to play .500 basketball from here on out.
Of course, worst case scenario, I’m wrong and the Wizards continue to suck, win the lottery and continue to build through the draft. It is too early to start looking forward to next season already so lets hope that it doesn’t come to that.
Here’s to getting our first win DC!
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