Have Washington Wizards Turned Things Around?

The Washington Wizards have been in a dark place for the past few months, but there may be reason to celebrate again in the nation’s capital.

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After going through a 4-13 rough patch that seemed to send the team spiraling out of control, the Wizards won seven of nine games, including five in a row, to launch themselves back into the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.

Unfortunately, their winning ways didn’t last very long, as they dropped four in a row after that and barely hung on to beat the Charlotte Hornets in double overtime on Friday.

Every time the Wizards do something positive, there seem to be two negatives waiting to happen. For all of John Wall‘s assists, there seems to be double the amount of turnovers. For all of Bradley Beal‘s made threes, there’s a myriad of missed lay-ups to follow. No matter what this team does right, they just can’t seem to put together consistent stretches of excellence anymore.

That isn’t to say they can’t and aren’t capable, because they are. The talent on this Washington squad is some of the best in the league when broken down by individual players. Wall is arguably a top point guard, Beal is one of the best young players at the shooting guard position, and Nene and Marcin Gortat can hang with anyone in the post.

However, they don’t seem to always have the best chemistry playing alongside one another, but it’s not even their personalities that are clashing. Rather, it’s their fit in terms of skill sets.

Wall is one of the fastest guards in the NBA, and with his ball-handling abilities he likes to get the ball in the lane and make something happen inside, whether it’s a shot attempt at the rim or a kick out to one of his teammates on the perimeter. Wall is the star of this team, so one would think the team should be built around his strengths to maximize the team’s effectiveness.

Well, that’s not really the case.

Both Nene and Gortat take up a lot of space inside because they are both better playing by the basket versus a few feet out. Neither one is a lights-out shooter from the mid-range or beyond, so with both of them playing close to the rim, Wall can’t penetrate as well and get to where he wants to go more times than not.

Wall also hasn’t had the kind of three-point talent that he needs around him to bring out the best in his game. Sure he has shooters on the team, particularly Beal, who’s turned into one of the better snipers from deep the league has to offer, but consistency has still been an overwhelming issue.

One night the team can’t miss from range, and then they won’t be able to hit anything the next.

Paul Pierce and Rasual Butler started the season great shooting from distance but have cooled off a bit from late, and if Wall doesn’t have trusted shooters to kick the ball out to, then that means he has to do more work by himself creating his own shots and more often than not taking a lot of contested ones.

Wall also doesn’t get as many good looks in close because of the space that Gortat and Nene are taking up.

All of their parts are great individual talents, but it just doesn’t seem that the Wizards have completely bought all-in on building around Wall. If everyone’s playing to their highest potential, then the team can roll on both ends and hang with anyone, but that hasn’t been the case.

Yes, every team and player is going to go through a period in which they struggle, but consistency still has to be there in some capacity, and it just looks like this team doesn’t have a lot in the tank to work with.

The Wizards haven’t turned the corner yet, as the offense is still a major work-in-progress. With how the roster is currently made, however, that turnaround may not be coming till the offseason when the team can make better moves.

Next: Can Wizards Survive Another Beal Injury?

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