With LeBron James leaving the NBA's Eastern Conference, the conference became a little more wide-open. Teams like the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks were the first teams to be mentioned as contenders in the East. One other team that was mentioned as a wildcard in the East was the Washington Wizards.
Led by the talented backcourt duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal, the Wizards definitely have the talent to compete. And with the Wizards having upgraded their bench this offseason, they had just as good a shot as anyone to contend. Unfortunately, their level of play has not lived up to their level of talent. The Wizards are now 1-7 after getting blown out at home by the Oklahoma City Thunder and things are spiraling dangerously out of control.
Bradley Beal and John Wall recently had a team meeting before their game versus Oklahoma City to discuss the me-first play of the team. The duo may not be on the same page all the time on the court, but they sure are when it comes to the different agendas.
The reality is that outside of a few players on the team, there are plenty of guys trying to secure the bag. When you have players trying to shine more than they are trying to win, then issues come about and winning becomes secondary. The Wizards players need to understand that although securing the bag is very important, teams are going to find it hard to bring players in they know have been selfish teammates.
Most think of selfishness affecting offense, but that is not necessarily the case all the time. The Wizards were 15th last season in defense, only giving up 106 points per game. They were solid in their assignments and doing their best to make everything hard on the opposition.
Fast forward to this season and the Wizards are giving up 123.9 points per game, which is the worst by any team in the NBA since the 1990-1991 Denver Nuggets. That Nuggets team only won 20 games that season after giving up a ton of points. For them to improve, the Wizards have to communicate better defensively. Far too many times, they give up wide-open shots and that isn't good for a team trying to compete for the playoffs let alone a conference title.
Offensively, the Wizards are just as much a mess as they are defensively. Brooks has been known as an isolation basketball coach on the offensive end all the way back to his days coaching the Thunder with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. He brought that same style to the Wizards with Wall and Beal and although both are talented, that type of offense is contributing to their selfishness.
Brooks, as much he may not want to, has to change his style of offense to get more people involved because as it is now, the Wizards are 24th in the league in assists and they don't have a bunch of individual talents that are good one-on-one players. Beal and Wall along with others ought to be creating more shots for themselves and others with ball movement and not isolation basketball.
The Wizards are not looking good and if this trend continues, then Scott Brooks will be the next coach fired. Wall and Beal have pointed out the issues with this team and have tried to handle it, but eventually Brooks has to say something and do something too. The Wizards are currently one of the most disappointing teams in basketball and only they can dig themselves out of this hole. If they let it keep going the way it is now, they can not only count on missing the playoffs, but there could be serious changes coming soon for the makeup of this team.
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