{"id":17494,"date":"2018-11-05T15:06:29","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T20:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=17494"},"modified":"2018-11-05T15:06:29","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T20:06:29","slug":"should-the-washington-wizards-be-in-panic-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2018\/11\/05\/should-the-washington-wizards-be-in-panic-mode\/","title":{"rendered":"Should the Washington Wizards be in Panic Mode?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It may be early in the NBA season, but the wheels might already be falling off in Washington, D.C. Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/2018\/10\/07\/countdown-to-nba-tip-off-washington-wizards-season-preview\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">coming into the season<\/a> with high hopes and a retooled roster, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/washington-wizards\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington Wizards<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> sit at just 2-7 in early November. Only the Bulls and Cavaliers have worse records.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But even as <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/walljo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Wall<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bealbr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bradley Beal<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> call out anonymous players (most likely named <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/porteot01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Otto Porter<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) in post-game interviews, there might be some truth and solace in what players and coaches have been saying. All is not lost. There\u2019s still a lot of basketball to be played. Plenty of time to turn things around.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h1><strong>Should the Washington Wizards be in Panic Mode?<\/strong><\/h1>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">More Brooks: &quot;It\u2019s early in the season. I\u2019m glad it\u2019s not game 60, and we\u2019re still frustrated with how we\u2019re playing.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Fred Katz (@FredKatz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FredKatz\/status\/1056295593159516160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 27, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What&#8217;s Wrong with the Washington Wizards?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking at the Wizards\u2019 season thus far, there\u2019s one obvious reason for the slow start. The frontcourt is in shambles. It was an issue last year, one that John Wall couldn\u2019t help but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/wizards-insider\/wp\/2018\/04\/28\/on-his-way-out-john-wall-calls-out-teammates-calls-on-front-office-for-changes\/?utm_term=.e87f0b3a8ac1\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">talk about to the media<\/a> (sensing a pattern with Wall?). But Washington thought it had fixed its big man issues after signing <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/howardw01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dwight Howard<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the offseason.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Only now there\u2019s a bigger issue: Dwight Howard\u2019s butt. Thanks to a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BenStandig\/status\/1046564409798283264\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">long plane ride from China<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Howard has been sidelined with a back\/glute injury and has yet to see the court in a Wizards uniform. Thus, Washington\u2019s been forced to rely on <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mahinia01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ian Mahinmi<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithja02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jason Smith<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as their big men. But foul troubles and matchup problems have made Coach\u00a0<\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brooksc01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scott Brooks<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> get creative with lineups. The result: lots of small ball\u00a0with <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greenje02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Green<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/morrima02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Markieff Morris<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> tasked to fill the 6\u201911\u201d, 265 lb hole left by Howard\u2019s absence. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So far, they simply haven\u2019t been able to do so. And it\u2019s most glaringly obvious on the boards. The Wizards have been dominated on the glass, giving up an average of 53 rebounds per game while only grabbing 41. Even worse, opponents are grabbing about 14 offensive boards per game vs Washington. That\u2019s a lot of potential second-chance points. It\u2019s hard to truly identify a rebounding leader on this team seeing as how Morris, Green, Porter and <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/oubreke01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kelly Oubre<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are all averaging around 5.5 reb\/game. That lands you anywhere between 75-85 on the NBA leaderboard. Until Howard returns, don\u2019t expect that to improve. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But look over at the backcourt and you\u2019ll see all-star guard Bradley Beal doing exactly what he should be. Beal has scored at least 20 points in all but one game this year. He\u2019s shooting his three\u2019s at a higher clip, attempting 10 or more three times this season. And Oubre has shown signs that he\u2019s progressing as you\u2019d hope a young, promising player like him would. See not everything is terrible? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The optimist hopes a Dwight Howard return can have the same kind of domino effect his absence has had, only in a positive direction and not a cataclysmic one. But maybe even this problem is too much for Superman. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>New Wizards, Same Problems.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although some of the Wizards\u2019 early struggles can be explained away due to injury or just early-season rust, this year\u2019s team looks a lot like last year&#8217;s. The roster might have some new pieces, but the problems are largely the same.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It took less than one (1) month for John Wall to start calling out teammates in the media. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">John Wall: We\u2019ve got guys that\u2019s worried about who\u2019s getting shot&#8230;You should never worry about that. No matter if you\u2019re missing or making shots, you gotta be able to compete on the other end. You can\u2019t do it on both ends of the floor, you don\u2019t need to be playing.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Fred Katz (@FredKatz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FredKatz\/status\/1056057471561752576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 27, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gortama01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marcin Gortat<\/a><\/strong> wasn\u2019t the root of last season\u2019s locker-room tensions? And for all of Wall\u2019s finger pointing, maybe there needs to be some self-assessment, too. While Wall has looked great at times throughout the start of the season, he\u2019s also looked like a statue on offense when he doesn\u2019t have the ball. His defense looks lethargic at times (unless a chase down block opportunity arises), full of lazy switches and slow jogs that leave his team defending 4 on 5. And the turnovers, which have long been a problem for Wall, are still alive and well. Wall\u2019s play is explosive and exciting, nobody is denying that. Yet sometimes the Wizards&#8217; best stretches come when their super-max point guard is on the bench. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, it doesn\u2019t all fall on Wall. Not by any means. The entire offense still looks stagnant in the half-court. This was one of the Wizards\u2019 major issues last year: They look great in transition but often seem stuck when the game slows down. It has also been a familiar problem for Brooks, whose half-court offense has been questioned as far back as his time with <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/westbru01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Russell Westbrook<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hardeja01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Harden<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/oklahoma-city-thunder\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oklahoma City<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plus, it\u2019s not just offense where they look less than enthused. The defense this season has been, in a word, bad. So bad, in fact, that Kevin Durant requested to be subbed out after a monstrous dunk vs Washington earlier this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">KD called the Wizards weak and asked to be subbed out \ud83d\udc80 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gE3sdhLINF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/gE3sdhLINF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BleacherReport\/status\/1055321369259528192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 25, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through their first 7 games, the Wizards have had the worst defense in the league, allowing opponents to score over 122 points per game, on average. Through October, no one allowed more. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And let\u2019s not leave Porter out of this? The often-criticized max wing who vowed to be more aggressive and mirror <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thompkl01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Klay Thompson<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> throughout the 2018-19 season. That all sounded great before the season started. \u00a0The problem is, he hasn\u2019t quite done it. Porter\u2019s taking less shot this year than he did last season, and has only taken 10+ shots twice through the first seven games. Ideally, Porter would be great in a Thompson-like role for Washington. We just haven\u2019t seen it\u2026or anything remotely close.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Get Your Popcorn<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So is it a case of early season misfortune with sunnier horizons ahead? Or is it just a new year with the same old problems, the same old Wizards? Washington has yet to put out their ideal starting lineup, so it\u2019s hard to truly judge what they are. If you\u2019ve already given up, though, we don\u2019t blame you. Either way, keep your eye on these guys. If the games aren\u2019t any good, the drama surely will be.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Caption this. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/C2egSBcyXQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/C2egSBcyXQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Last Word on Basketball (@LastWordHoops) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LastWordHoops\/status\/1056915904603275265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 29, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is still early in the NBA season, but things are already looking rough for the Washington Wizards. Is it time to hit the panic button?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2216,"featured_media":14535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1608,2,62],"tags":[65,311,205,310,96,396,1316,456,309],"class_list":["post-17494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wizards","category-basketball","category-featured","category-nba","tag-basketball","tag-bradley-beal","tag-dwight-howard","tag-john-wall","tag-nba","tag-otto-porter","tag-otto-porter-jr","tag-scott-brooks","tag-washington-wizards"],"modified_by":"Barkev Sivazlian","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}