It is the NBA record for early-season futility — in 2009 the Lawrence Frank coached Nets started the season 0-18 (Frank was gone after 16 of those, Kiki Vandewighe came in). It was ugly and bested the 1988-89 Heat and 1998-99 Clippers who had started 0-17. It was just part of the history the Nets tried to leave behind when they washed off New Jersey and headed with a clean start to Brooklyn.
The Washington Wizards are 0-12 to start this season and poised to make a serious run at ignominy.
With injuries robbing the Wizards of any offensive firepower to speak of (they miss Nene and John Wall) they have gotten off to a horrific start. What are the chances they could lose six more and tie the record? Seven and set a new one?
Not really that great. They likely get their win. But it won’t be easy.
First, let’s look at their schedule. The next seven games for the Wizards are hosting the Trail Blazers, at the Knicks, hosting the Heat, at the Hawks, at home against Golden State then on the road against the Hornets and Rockets.
The most likely shots for a win in that group are the Blazers (this Wednesday), hosting the Warriors (although that is the second night of a back-to-back) and at the up-and-down Hornets and Rockets. Certainly the way the Wizards are playing there are no easy wins — now teams come into Washington thinking, “we don’t want the embarrassment of being their first win — but those are the more beatable teams.
What Washington needs is some offense. Nene can help provide that — he was back in limited minutes for two games and was a +31 in them, but the plantar fasciitis that has bothered him dating back to last season and through the Olympics is still there, so he sat out Monday night against the Spurs. With Nene in the lineup the Wizards lost by one point in overtime to the Hawks and then in double-overtime to the Bobcats — both losses but they were in the games.
And they need to play desperate. They need guys to step up. They did that against the Hawks and Bobcats and did for the first quarter Monday night against the Spurs, until the relentless execution of San Antonio wore them down (as it does most teams).
The Wizards need Trevor Ariza to have a game like he is getting paid for. They need Bradley Beal to find his stroke. They need someone like Kevin Seraphin or A.J. Price or Martell Webster to step up with a monster night. The Wizards defense hasn’t been great this season but it has been pretty middle of the NBA pack, it’s the offense that has lagged at a level close to last-season’s Bobcats. The seven-win team. To be fair, that Bobcat squad was just as bad on defense as offense. But they also won two of their first six (they didn’t really round into form until a little way into the season.)
I expect Washington will find a way to get a win before they set a record — they have been close before and just didn’t get the bounce they needed. One will go their way, soon.
That win will not answer questions of roster construction or team leadership, but it will at least keep them out of the record books.
