NBA Power Rankings: Celtics living up to hype; 76ers are better without Harden?

29. Washington Wizards

As was largely expected, the Washington Wizards have struggled to open the season. They’re 1-4 through the first five games of the season. Particularly, the Wizards have been one of the worst defensive teams in the league. With so many moving parts and unknown pieces, that’s not exactly surprising. One of the goals this season for the Wizards is to embrace the tank. While that doesn’t mean throwing games, part of embracing the tank is playing and devoting big minutes to unproven players.

That’s what we’ve seen from the Wizards through the first couple of weeks of the season. If there’s one concern for the Wizards, it’s the fact that Jordan Poole hasn’t had the bounce-back season that many believed, including me, that he would. Poole is shooting sub-40 percent from the field and less than 30 percent from 3-point range.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Wizards approach the remainder of the season, especially leading up to the trade deadline. The Wizards have a ton of figuring out to do over the next few weeks of the season. Unfortunately, what comes with that is likely more losing.