Breaking News: The Wizards are in Trouble

When the Wizards lost to the Pistons on Sunday, alarms could’ve been heard from the nation’s capital. Going into the All-Star break, the Wizards were struggling and the injury to Bradley Beal had hampered the early progress the team had made in the Eastern Conference. Wizards were once contending for the top spot in the east, yet now they’ll consider themselves very lucky to have home court in the first round. The emergence of Atlanta, Toronto and the Cavaliers finally finding form combined with a terrible form the Wizards have gone into has signaled trouble for Coach Randy Wittman.  

After the 106-89 loss at the hands of the Pistons, Wittman said “We played the last couple of quarters like it was a pickup game.” Washington, who were blown out by the Cavs at home on Friday and had lost to the Hawks and Raptors prior to the All-Star break are now 10-17 vs. teams above .500.

The team did make a trade in hopes of changing the mood by sending veteran Andre Miller to Sacramento for Ramon Sessions but Wizards problems lie deeper. Without Beal on the floor, the team simply has no spacing and seems clueless on the floor. Paul Pierce’s inability to consistently deliver from the 3-point line hasn’t helped matters either. Also, Washington’s big strength in NeNe and Marcin Gortat only comes in the offensive end. Sunday proved once again that Washington can’t protect the paint as well as it should. Pistons big men Andre Drummond had 18 points alongside 16 rebounds. Former Georgetown star Greg Monroe had 15 points and 15 boards. The return of Beal might solve the team’s inability to shoot 3’s but the rest will be tough to figure out.