Why Are The Wizards Struggling?

Why Have The Wizards Gotten Off To Such A Bad Start?

Tonight, the Washington Wizards will be stepping foot in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia as they are set to take on Joel Embiid and the 76ers. As of now, the Wizards are last in the Eastern Conference and have the second worst record in the entire league only second to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies look lost as they have been without their leader in Ja Morant. Well, what’s the excuse for the Washington Wizards. They have been healthy all season long. Why are they struggling so bad?

Jaren Jackson Jr (last 2 games)

28.5 PPG
8.5 RPG
2.5 APG
2.0 BPG
1.0 SPG
63% fg
50% 3pt (6.0 APG)
+14
124 Offensive Rating
103 Defensive Rating
1.0!!!!!! Personal Fouls Per Game

You won’t hear about this in the media because he didn’t foul out pic.twitter.com/3JG66MfYTZ

— Cole 𝕏 (@CREAMYCOLE_) November 6, 2023

Thus far, the Wizards have played a number of elite big guys. They started the season against Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers and Jaren Jackson Jr of the Memphis Grizzlies who are both some of the best three and d players in the league. They both get a lot of blocks every game and stretch the floor on a consistent basis. They also took on Kristaps Porzingis who falls in that same category. They then faced one of the most versatile bigs in the NBA who is similar to Nikola Jokic, Bam Adebayo. Now, they must figure out a way to deal with Joel Embiid tonight. 

The Wizards don’t really have a big man that teams have to worry about. No one is reading a scouting report about Daniel Gafford. Now I am not knocking Gaff, because he has been solid as a starter but the Wizards aren’t doing anything to help him. He doesn’t have any plays called for him. It is very rare that you see him down on the low block demanding the ball or even on the perimeter stretching the floor. Gafford is only averaging three shots a game so that explains why he is shooting 86% from the field this season.

Daniel Gafford is available for tonight’s matchup in Miami! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/kjcKDoLqOr

— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) November 3, 2023

There are two options that I see for the Wizards. They can either sign and/or trade for another big man or they can expand Gafford’s usage rate. He needs more touches. Either way, they need a backup center still. Despite this being a heavy guard league, big men are still important. In fact, they’re the ones winning the MVP Awards nowadays. The Wizards are struggling simply due to not using Gafford enough. It’s almost like they’re playing four on five when he’s on the court. The Wizards will have to address this sooner rather than later.