3 things the Washington Wizards need to change after a third of the season

The Washington Wizards defensive intensity has been far too inconsistent for a team looking to contend.

The Wizards got off to a great start on defense to begin the season, but as time wears on, that has subsided, and we are now left with a team that struggles to close out consistently.

While there have been some exceptions to this, mainly Jordan Goodwin and Deni Avdija, the Washington Wizards have had an incredibly inconsistent defensive effort. This has hurt them in games where they face a skilled opponent as the teams can get into a shootout and the Wizards can’t keep up.

If the Wizards could provide a league average defense every night, they would hardly ever lose a game. However, they can’t give 48 straight minutes good defense right now. Whether this is due to a lack of defensive leadership on the roster or due to a coaching issue is unknown, but their subpar defense is unacceptable.

The IQ has been horrendous on defense this season. There was a critical moment late in their loss to the Clippers where Deni Avdija was guarding Kawhi Leonard, a player who has yet to have a good game this season and was not great against the Wizards, and a teammate left Nic Batum wide open to help double team Leonard from two steps inside the arc.

This defensive blunder led to a three-point make from Batum, who had two other threes in the quarter. Eventually this mistake cost the Wizards the game at home.

Other times, players find themselves out of position and it leads to a good look for the opposition. These mistakes lose basketball games. The worst part is it should be an easy fix for the coaching staff.

If the Washington Wizards fix their defense, they will start seeing wins pile up in bunches.