The Washington Wizards have been on a steady decline since their impressive 2016-17 season. They had the fourth best record in the Eastern Conference and looked like a young team with much potential. This past year the Wizards dropped to eighth in the conference which is not great, but still gave them a playoff spot. Now, the Wizards have started this season with another lousy record of 5-11 which puts them near last in the conference and making one thing clear: the Wizards have lost their magic.
The team has had a serious lack of chemistry and have struggled to win their four games this season. Offensively they are in the top half of the league, but are one of the most inefficient teams in all of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Out of thirty teams the Wizards are 25th in shooting threes, 25th in offensive rebounding and are 20th in assists. These stats make it practically impossible to have a top tier offense in the NBA. They have most likely been the most disappointing team this season due to prior expectations of reaching the playoffs. With the Wizards level of play extremely low right now, it seems that the playoffs will be well out of reach by the end of the season.
John Wall was regarded as the best player on the Wizards in recent years, even with new, young draft picks. Many ignore how talented shooting guard Bradley Beal is despite the fact that he is the best three point shooter and scorer on the team. Beal is shooting his worst percentage from three this season and is still shooting a better percentage than Wall. Wall is also averaging one more turnover per game than Beal, which is not surprising. A huge downfall for the Wizards in past years is that Wall has tried to be the “man” for them too often. Whether it is taking a poor shot or turning the ball over, Wall needs to take some pressure off of himself. He has many talented players around him that are capable of stepping up in big moments and hitting clutch shots.
One of the main problems for the Wizards this year has been competing in games. Their plus/minus stat (which measures the average difference between their score and their opponents) as a team is almost negative six. That is 27th in the NBA and it is impossible to be a successful team if your average every game is a loss by six points. This team has young talent such as Otto Porter Jr. and Kelly Oubre that are useful tools in constructing a winning franchise. It often seems the Wizards have little drive to win. There are plenty of other teams with relatively equal talent, but they have a much larger will to win. It is necessary for the Wizards to show they care and start playing like it.
With the majority of the long NBA season ahead of the Wizards it is vital that they turn their performance around and start to win. They are quickly falling out of the spotlight in D.C. and playoff contention. Something has to change soon or they are going to be stuck in this hole for the rest of the season. The Wizards have been constantly improving over the past few years and a season without playoff contention could set them back many years.
