At 0-5, the Wizards are hearing it from all sides
The Wizards opened practice to season ticket holders on Tuesday. As players went through drills, assistant coach Ed Tapscott conducted a Q&A. With the team at 0-5, even the Wizards’ most loyal fans are posing tough questions.
“Why are we giving up so many threes this year?” asked one fan.
Everywhere they go the Wizards are facing a barrage.
“I hear it from my mom every day,” said guard Nick Young. “After we lose, it’s, ‘What happened?’ I tell her, ‘It’s coming, pray for us.’”
With their next six games against teams with winning records, the Wizards might test the faith of even the most devout moms.
The numbers tell an ugly tale. Opponents have out-rebounded the Wizards, 41.8-38.8, out-shot them 50.2 percent to 44.8, and out-assisted them 28.0-19.8. No team in the league has surrendered more points (108.8), yielded a higher shooting percentage, or failed to win a game.
A year after establishing themselves as one of the league’s toughest defensive squads, the Wizards have struggled. According to Caron Butler, integrating new players has hurt the Wizards more on defense.
Butler wore goggles yesterday to protect his injured eye, badly swollen after he bumped heads with Orlando guard Mikael Pietrus Saturday night.
To re-establish their defensive presence, the Wizards will look to Butler, the team’s toughest player.
“The veterans have to lead by example,” said Butler. “This is a place where we’ve been before. We started off 0-5 last year. Different personnel, but it’s still the same team for the most part.”
Notes » Injured Brendan Haywood will not be ready until March. But he’s still on the ballot for the NBA All-Star Game, along with Wizards Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Butler.
Jazz at Wizards
» Going into last night’s game at Philadelphia, Utah was off to a 5-1 start despite the absence of G Deron Williams (ankle). The Jazz may also be without C Mehmet Okur (15.5 points per game), who missed last night’s game to attend to a family matter in his native Turkey. F Carlos Boozer (20.5 ppg, 11 rpg) leads the Jazz along with sixth-man, F Andrei Kirilenko (15.5 ppg, 1.7 bpg).
