Sources: Wizards players’ concerns about the offense are worsening Washington’s free-fall

SALT LAKE CITY — Early this season, the Washington Wizards played with a high level of resilience and heart that propelled them to one of the best starts in franchise history. They displayed all the right intangibles.

But not anymore. After a 10-3 start, the Wizards are in a free-fall, and the concern isn’t just that they’ve lost seven of their past eight games. How they’ve lost is what’s most worrisome. Most opponents have wiped them out. Even head coach Wes Unseld Jr. agrees his team’s recent struggles go beyond run-of-the-mill slippage.

“This is not the normal amount, in my opinion,” Unseld said after Thursday’s 118-98 loss in Phoenix that dropped the team to 15-15. “It’s been gradual. I mentioned this before: We’ve got to get the care factor up, and we’ve got to get back to playing for each other.”

The Wizards’ effort and unity were not in doubt as they opened the season or even after a Dec. 1 home victory elevated their record to 14-8. But cracks have emerged in the team’s foundation. The once-solid intangibles of energy and grit, which were team strengths and celebrated by the players and Unseld alike, have faded.

The Wizards have trailed by at least 25 points in four of their past eight games and allowed double-digit deficits in each of those contests. Many factors have contributed to the recent slide, including a difficult, road-heavy schedule, adjustments to new teammates and a new coaching staff, and the continued absences of Thomas Bryant and Rui Hachimura. But most of those same obstacles also were present during Washington’s stellar start, and they do not fully explain why it has plummeted this far, this fast.

Frustrations are high, and players have obliquely voiced concerns about the offense during recent media sessions.

“At the end of the day, it’s like the old saying, ‘You’ve got to throw a squirrel a nut,'” center Montrezl Harrell said. “We’re not saying throw it to us and let us clear out and iso and go and do our thing. No. But at the same time, let us feel it, not just off rebounding and then giving it to a guard. No, let us get a touch early to get a shot. Let’s give us something to let us feel like we’re involved in the game as well.”

Like Harrell, point guard Spencer Dinwiddie did not directly criticize anyone. Dinwiddie also noted he supports Bradley Beal receiving more shots than anyone else. But when Dinwiddie was asked why his own numbers and assertiveness have dropped off dramatically in recent weeks, he noted that the Wizards employ an “equal-opportunity system” on offense in which everybody other than Beal takes a nearly uniform number of shots per minute.

During the offseason, the Wizards acquired Dinwiddie through a sign-and-trade deal, committing an average base salary of $18 million per season to him over three years. The vision was to give the Wizards a dynamic backcourt duo along the lines of Portland’s Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, though perhaps not quite that prolific. But Dinwiddie has not been aggressive, in part because he often does not have the ball in his hands; on some occasions, he stands in the corner, waiting for someone else to make a play.

“We’ve got a lot of dynamic duos in the league,” Dinwiddie said after Monday’s game in Denver, a loss in which the Wizards trailed by 33 points midway through the third quarter and Dinwiddie attempted just eight shots in 24 minutes. “The process has got to be right, though. So if we’re equal-opportunity and that’s our thing, then that’s our thing, and I’m fine, whatever it is. I told you from the jump: Whatever it may be, I’m here to do whatever I’m asked to do.”

Over their first 13 games, the Wizards routinely played with superb energy on defense, albeit sometimes with imperfect execution. They navigated through screens and made multiple efforts, and in the process, they ranked fourth leaguewide in defensive efficiency, allowing just 102.7 points per 100 possessions.

From their 14th game through Friday, their defense ranked 27th in the NBA, allowing 115.3 points per 100 possessions. Many factors have contributed to the slide. When the Wizards miss shots or do not get to the free-throw line — two painfully stubborn problems for them — they have not been able to set their defense as often as they would like. Plus, as the season has progressed, opposing offenses leaguewide have started to gain cohesion and find their rhythms, making them more effective.

At the same time, however, the simple eye test reveals the Wizards have lacked the effort and attention to detail that typified their approach early in the season.

It requires hard work to play upper-level NBA defense. In that sense, what Unseld and his assistant coaches are asking of their players aligns exactly with what other coaching staffs ask of their teams. But as Unseld has noted, the Wizards’ effort on defense has waned.

One of the reasons for the decline in effort and attention to detail on defense has been players’ opinions about how they’re being utilized on offense. The Athletic asked Unseld about that issue Saturday after the Wizards’ shootaround in Salt Lake City.

“I think that might be a valid point,” Unseld said. “The challenge, I think, would be for them. If they don’t like where they are or what they’re doing, we could put more time into shooting and doing the individual work, (but also) let’s look at what we’re running, and let’s look at how guys are being used. It’s one thing to just say, ‘Hey, I don’t like it right now.’ Then come talk to me. I think I’ve been more than open to suggestions, more than open with whether it’s criticism or just suggestions. I’m trying to put guys in spots I think can help us collectively. Sometimes it doesn’t involve that guy. Other times, it does. But don’t just complain about it. Let’s talk about it, and let’s fix it.”

Unseld said some players have reached out to him directly in recent days, adding: “I love the feedback. I think that open dialogue helps. It’s one thing for me to say it, because I’m seeing it from a certain lens. And I think it’s also important to take their opinions into consideration because they’re the ones going through it and living it. All I want is what’s best for this group. So if it helps the group, then I’m all ears.”

Unseld nonetheless held firm about his expectations for the defense, saying players’ frustrations with their offensive roles or aggravation at missing shots cannot detract from their effort on defense.

“You’re fighting human nature,” he said, referring to any player who is struggling on offense. “I get that. Whether you feel like you’re involved or you’re not getting a touch or whatever it is — maybe you’re getting a touch and it’s just not going in for you — there’s frustration. That’s a normal, probably human reaction to that. But it shouldn’t affect your energy and focus on the other end.

“Now, do the numbers say, hey, we have to get different guys different looks? Is it we’ve got to get more guys to be aggressive? I think there’s some of that, too. But I don’t think it affects defensive focus or energy — or it shouldn’t.”

The Wizards enter their game Saturday night against the Utah Jazz with their first record of .500 or worse since the season started. Nearly two-thirds of the season remains. Yet there is a sense the team is either confronting a crossroads or already has reached it. Given how steeply the Wizards are trending downward, the much more preferable scenario, of course, is that the crossroads is still at hand.

The other night, veteran swingman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was asked why Washington, without any new injuries, is struggling this much, this quickly, after such a strong start. He was speaking in general terms, but his answer was telling.

It also offers a preliminary road map for the players and coaches to rejuvenate their season.

“It just all boils down to that communication, trusting each other, being able to rely on each other, being able to take criticisms from each other,” Caldwell-Pope said. “There’s a lot that goes into it. We know we’re losing right now, but we can’t let that dictate our play and our trust with each other. We’ve got to find a way to just get it done.”

When asked whether the team is having the honest, face-to-face communication it needs, Caldwell-Pope answered: “We have them talks individually (and) as a group. I just feel like there’s not enough of them.”

(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)