Washington Wizards: Evidence continues to mount against the Wizards

Evidence continues to mount that the Washington Wizards are a bad team. 

Through the first few weeks of the season, the Washington Wizards found themselves at 10-3 and near the top of the Eastern Conference standings. It appeared that while perhaps the Wizards were not a true championship contender, that they at the very least had a good chance of making the postseason.

Roughly two months later, and it’s been an entirely different narrative that has been forming around the Wizards.

In fact, for the majority of the season, the Wizards have not been that upstart team that many thought they were through November 16. Instead, over the last six weeks, Washington has been one of the worst teams in the league.

Since November 16, the Wizards are just 8-15, have a bottom 6 offensive rating, defensive rating, and net rating. Their prized offseason acquisition has been, quite frankly, bad over the last six weeks for the team.

And you can’t help but wonder if that’s a big reason for their recent struggles. Spencer Dinwiddie, who was intended to act as the team’s No. 2 option behind Bradley Beal, has not lived up to the expectations.

Certainly not in the last six weeks.

In his last 17 games, Dinwiddie is averaging just 10 points on 36 percent shooting from the field and 30 percent shooting from 3-point range. He’s also been a net minus-6.2 when he’s on the court for the Wizards.

As a team, what has brought the Wizards back down to earth has been their struggling defense. During the first 13 games of the season, Washington had a top 5 ranked defense. Over the past six weeks, the Wizards have the fourth-worst defense in the league as they are surrendering nearly 12 more points per 100 possessions than they were at the beginning of the season.

And their offense has taken an even bigger dip over the last six weeks. They have not been great on that end of the floor, but certainly aren’t even playing at an average level offensively at the moment.

That, coupled with a struggling defense, is no recipe for moving up or even maintaining, in the Eastern Conference standings.

It remains to be seen how this could all impact Beal and the impending decision that he must make regarding his future. One thing’s for sure, however, and it’s that it cant help it.

The Wizards have been a bad team this season more than they’ve been a good one. Maybe their hot start was nothing more than just a hot start. Right now, all the evidence suggests that this team just isn’t good.