The Washington Wizards struggles to start the season have been difficult to watch not only for the fanbase, but the coaching staff too.
Washington's roster is better built than what their record shows, and considering the leaps from players like Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George, you'd expect the Wizards would have shown some type of progress when comparing their start to the season to last year's bizarre 82-game campaign.
However, not much has changed, which alone is a concerning sign for a team that many believed was building in the right direction.
Instead, the Wizards have seemingly taken a step back to start the season, especially when considering the team's lack of effort shown on the court through the first month of the season.
Sitting at not only the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, but the NBA as a whole, a trying start to the season has led to head coach Brian Keefe's frustration boiling over and leaving a challenge for his players following the team's recent blowout loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night.
Keefe didn't just challenge the Wizards to play better, but to look themselves in the mirror and evaluate what they want to build in Washington.
The head coach's challenge left the team understanding that something had to change.
Not just for the team to begin stacking wins this season, but to build something special in Washington like many believed general manager Will Dawkins was doing all along.
As a result, the team's core players held a players only meeting giving the team the opportunity to air everything out.
Allowing frustrations, worries, and anything players needed to get off their chest the chance to do exactly that.
When second-year man Kyshawn George was asked about the meeting, here's what he had to say:
"To make sure we put everything at zero," George said. "We said what has to be said to come back with the right mindset the next day…being able to speak to each other felt good and it will eventually help us go in the right direction."
These type of meetings are never good, and they rarely happen for rebuilding teams.
Majority of the time, only playoff-caliber teams dealing with struggles go through these issues.
For Washington's young group to call a players only meeting, it suggests the team's young core may genuinely care about turning things around.
Obviously, the early struggles aren't fun, especially for the fanbase to obersve. However, if it leads the team to figuring things out, maybe a bit of frustration could be best.