The Washington Wizards are one of the biggest disappointments of the new season so far. After a disastrous start to the season, John Wall and Co. have two victories and eight defeats. The wizards are thus clearly following their own expectations – stress is pre-programmed.
At the beginning of October the world was still in its best order with the Washington Wizards. After the rather disappointing end of last season’s play-off after six games against the Raptors, the euphoria seemed to be felt in every nook and cranny of the US capital – and especially by the team itself.
“Many people mistakenly don’t have us on their screens,” noted Austin Rivers a few weeks before the start of the season at CBS Sports. “The team got me, Dwight Howard and Jeff Green on board and still nobody’s talking about us.”
The newly formed team has a lot to be trusted with, according to the opinion of the new member of the Los Angeles Clippers. The core around John Wall and Bradley Beal reinforces with Rivers and the former Superman? “I think we have a chance to play up east.”
About three weeks later, however, the Wizards faced a completely different situation: four of the first five games were lost, the temporary low point was a 112:116 bankruptcy in Sacramento. There was no trace of euphoria afterwards, instead: Frustration.
“I think that sometimes we all play for ourselves. You complain about the throws, the playing time, whatever. Everyone only thinks of themselves,” Beal lamented, for example. Backcourt colleague Wall became even clearer.
“We have players here who only think of their own throw,” said the visibly annoyed Point Guard. “Even if you hit or miss, you have to play defense on the other side. If you don’t play hard on both sides, you don’t have to play at all.”
In short: In 2018/19 the Wizards only needed five games, almost 240 NBA minutes, to seem to implode completely. Even for this franchise, which has already made headlines in recent years more with chaotic circumstances in the Locker Room than with sporting success, this is likely to be a new record.
Wall and Beal also did not provide for the hoped-for trend reversal with their hearty comments. The negative run continued, first with a 32-point slap against the Clippers, shortly afterwards the Thunder let themselves be swept out of the hall by the Thunder. After all, they managed to win against New York – only to be overtaken by the Mavs 100:119 a few days later.
The biggest problem – apart from the obvious lack of team chemistry – is the defense. On average, the Wizards’ opponents scored 120.5 points per game (29th place in the league), while Washington ranked 28th (114.3) in terms of defensive rating.
Even Dallas, who is not necessarily the number one candidate for the title, gave the wiz 70 points in the first half alone. “We played one too cool in halftime,” Rivers analyzed after the game.
“But being cool only brings defeat. And there’s absolutely nothing cool about defeats,” the Point Guard continues. This “coolness” was to be observed against the Mavs above all defensively, whereby the term would fit lethargically probably just as well.
Far too often, the landlords came to the basket far too easily, and the lack of communication on the part of Dallas’s guests made it possible to have open throws again and again. Luka Doncic, Wes Matthews and Co. punished the latter with the excellent shooting this evening (15/34 threes).
Apropos shooting: This is another weak point of the Wizards. In addition to the defense, Wall and Co. were also more or less catastrophic at the other end of the court at the beginning of the season. From downtown Washington hits just 31.3 percent (27th place), the offensive rating (104.3) is the Association’s fifth worst.
So it’s missing at every turn. It is not easy to say whether the sporty downhill ride will be encouraged by the interpersonal problems of the Wizards or exactly the other way around. But one thing is certain: Washington cannot go on as before.
Not surprisingly, after such a start to the season, the media first question the head coach. However, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported after the Kings debacle that this question does not seem to arise after a change of coach in Washington.
Scott Brooks is also confident that there will soon be an improvement: “I have a lot of confidence in our guys that they will stand together. And I have a lot of faith that they’ll play better.”
However, the 53-year-old has so far failed to use tactical means to adjust his team well to the respective games, nor to provide sufficient motivation. The latter was not only evident in the game against Dallas.
“You have to do your best every night,” Rivers knows, even if this hasn’t always been seen by the Wizards. “It’s hard to win in the NBA games – unless you’re the fucking warriors.”
And the wizards certainly aren’t. Although the team is basically very talented, Wall, Beal and Co. have not been able to turn this talent into real success – especially in the playoffs – in recent years.
Rather, the team gave the impression that the individual pieces of the puzzle simply didn’t want to or couldn’t fit together. This circumstance was apparently not changed much by the new arrivals in the summer.
The fact that D12 missed their first seven games of the season due to a buttock injury served as a good excuse for the Wizards’ enormous weaknesses in defending the Zone and rebounding. But even since Howard’s return there has been no great progress.
And anyway: Can Dwight Howard really be the saviour for a so far corked up Wizards season? The Dwight Howard who, according to numerous media reports, made fun of his teammates at all his last stations in the NBA? With the explosive mixture in the Locker Room of the Wizards this seems rather unlikely.
So the prospects for the Wizards aren’t necessarily rosy. The weaknesses of the team became more than clear in the first weeks of the season, the strengths are currently sought in vain. If the wizards don’t manage the turnaround soon, the first trade demands from the fans will certainly be loud.
Wall, Beal and Porter will receive almost 93 million dollars in the coming season, when the Supermax extension for the Point Guard comes into force. That’s about 85 percent of the salary cap! If the franchise is looking for changes, this trio will probably have to be blown up, with Beal still appearing to be the most likely trade candidate due to the expected countervalue.
But if the team stays together in the current constellation, it could be a very long season. It is quite conceivable that the current negative trend is not just a slip-up, but rather an indication of what the rest of the season could look like – albeit not to such a catastrophic extent, of course. The attack on the title in the East announced by Rivers currently seems so far away, however, as it has not been for a long time in recent years.