Washington Wizards 2016 Midseason Review: Can We Have A Mulligan?

Washington Wizards 2016 Midseason Review

At 23-28, the Washington Wizards have 31 games to make up for what thus far has been an uneventful and wasted basketball season.

Standing three games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with three games in three nights coming out of the All-star break, the Wizards may quickly learn if they can flip the proverbial switch or if they are the uneven basketball team that we’ve seen beat San Antonio after losing to the New York Knicks just two nights earlier in the same building.

Dating back to the turn in the calendar last season, the Washington Wizards are 47-56 over their past 103 regular season games.

103 games is beyond a sample size: it’s a reality for what this team is. Their winning percentage over their past 103 regular season games (0.456) is nearly identical to their current season winning percentage (0.451). This team is what we’ve seen and to expect otherwise is wishful thinking.

To simply achieve a .500 record this season, the Wizards would have to go 18-13; a 0.581 winning percentage, to finish the season, and even that wouldn’t guarantee a playoff berth.

With the trade deadline looming, Ernie Grunfeld has an opportunity to clean up his own mess, which is a specialty of his. The problem is, this time, the mess may be too much to undo with his typical trade deadline tweak.

A move for this year’s Ramon Sessions or Andre Miller won’t be enough to move the needle or alter the outlook for what this season has become — a redshirt season.

The goal this season was to continue to improve and set the organization up so that an unnamed free agent to be in ’16 would be the final piece of the puzzle. Ted Leonsis has set this goal from the get-go, but it could be altered given the Washington Wizards’ current situation.

Let’s start there.

If the goal was for the Washington Wizards to incrementally improve and set themselves up as a free agency destination, their record over their past 103 regular season games and current standing as the 10^th seed in the Eastern Conference marginalizes that.

They are not a team that’s viewed as being really good and on the cusp of greatness. They’re not viewed as a team void of that one ingredient that’s ready to take it over the top. The actual foundation of this roster is in question.

John Wall made his third consecutive all-star game. He’s been one of the few reasons why the Wizards have the win total they currently have and are watchable.

As I wrote earlier last week, his performance versus Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors was eyeopening; a true glimpse at what his greatness can be. The problem — as I also wrote last week — is in his consistency.

This season is a perfect example.

Is it based on how much of a burden he carries for this roster and the lack of quality help around him? That’s possible, but his inconsistency is what’s holding him back from entering elite NBA status.

Bradley Beal’s season has once again been defined by injuries, having missed time for a shoulder injury, his fourth stress reaction to his lower leg, and a broken nose.

His play has improved but how indicative is that progress if it’s not viewed in the scope of a larger sample size? If Bradley Beal suffers a setback every few weeks just as his game seems to start clicking, aren’t we back to where to were to start the season: viewing Beal as a his potential 22-year-old shooting guard who needs to stay healthy and sustain a high level of play before the Washington Wizards can truly rely on him as part of their core?

Otto Porter received a great opportunity this season with the departure of Paul Pierce in free agency.

He’s responded by having a solid season average 12.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game on 46.7 percent shooting from the field.

Otto will always move without the ball and do the fundamentally right things, but the problem has been his struggles behind the 3-point arc.

Otto is shooting at a 31.7 percent clip, on what on many occasions are uncontested wide open 3-point attempts.

There’s also the issue with aggression. Randy Wittman very recent said this of Otto Porter: ”

"Now we got to get that to be a consistent nature of his, being aggressive. That helps him at the other end. He can be a good rebounder. We need help rebounding the ball. … When Otto’s a passive guy (offensively), he’s passive in almost every area of the game."

Lastly is on the defensive side where the expectation was that the younger Otto Porter would be an upgrade to the departed Paul Pierce.

DRtg (points allowed per 100 possessions)

2014-2015 Paul Pierce: 104
2015-2016 Otto Porter: 107

While Otto has done some things well, their hope had to be that there would be some more 3-and-D from the 3^rd overall pick of the 2013 NBA draft.

Finally, at head coach, the jury is still out in Randy Wittman’s transformation to a pace-and-space coaching philosophy. The offensive results have been positive in comparison to last year.

The offense has made strides but the defense has suffered.

Washington, which was top 10 in the NBA in points per game allowed, is now tied for 24^th.

In terms of defensive efficiency or points allowed per 100 possessions, the Washington Wizards were 5^th in the NBA last season and now stand at 21^st overall.

Defense, which was a staple of Randy Wittman teams since taking over as the full-time head coach has suffered immensely.