Loading ...
The Washington Wizards are in a precarious situation as the NBA regular season comes down to the final three weeks. They can either limp into the NBA Playoffs and get bounced in the opening round (which seems to be the course in which this ship is steering) or, they can salvage a season that had so much hope and expectations.
One thing is clear however… this is not the team that made a huge dent in last year’s Eastern Conference Playoffs. This 2014-2015 team, save for the steady emergence of point guard John Wall as one of the NBA’s elite players, has not lived up to the seemingly lofty expectations that many of us in the media as well as fans thought they were capable of.
Head Coach Randy Whitman has preached defense since the day he arrived in D.C. The problem with this team is that no matter how hard and aggressive they are on defense they can’t score on offense.
If the Wizards don’t come out with an edge offensively to start their remaining games, the rest of the season’s outing will be flat-out painful to watch. They consistently get into ruts where there is no one to turn to who can will get them to a win on the offensive side of the ball.
Wall, for all of his prowess (it is rightfully deserved because he has worked on his game continuously over the past four seasons), is not a true scorer in a half-court set. He is a distributor, second in the league in assists-per-game at 9.9, trailing only Los Angeles Clippers’ point guard Chris Paul (10.1 apg). Outside of Oklahoma City’s point guard Russell Westbrook, Wall is one of the most dynamic one-man fast breaks in the game.
The issue with the Wizards is that when Wall is not pushing the ball up the court, they look stagnant.
Who is the go-to guy? Who is the player that wants to take the big shot? Do they even have that player on the roster?
Shooting guard Bradley Beal should ultimately be the choice to be “that” player. But at this point in his career, he is not aggressive enough with the ball. His game is still developing and the aggressiveness of attacking the basket and shooting one of the best pure shots in the game is not there for a full 48 minutes.
The team is made up of veterans and young players and yet, leadership is void at the present time.
Forwards Paul Pierce and Nene Hilario are veteran players that will try to round up the troops but should that be their roles?
The role must fall on Whitman and it’s obvious that he has somehow lost this team. Some players will deny this and insist that it’s on them. This is the right thing to say but after the team’s hot start, it’s obvious that they’re doing anything but playing for their coach
One thing is for sure… if the players don’t start playing better and the coaches don’t start coaching better, a new group will be here this coming late autumn.
Leave a Reply