Wizards Defense at Bottom of the Barrel

The Wizards lack of resistance on the perimeter is what frustrates the majority of fans. Not only does Washington allow far-and-away more rim looks per game then any other team, they are also bottom five in three-pointers allowed per game. In today's game, defenses biggest focus should be limiting teams volume of shots and the rim and quality of looks at the perimeter.

Although Alex Sarr is as good as anyone in the NBA at detouring shots at the rim, there is only so much he can do. It will take a team effort for Washington to turn around their defensive struggles.

Lacking Personnel 

Coming into this season one of the bigger questions surrounding Washington's roster construction was how they were going to allocate matchups defensively. Despite having a roster full of solid young talent, Washington heavily lacks point of attack defenders and depth at the center spot.

As a result, in minutes that Sarr, Kyshawn George and Bilal Coulibaly are not on the floor, the team struggles to get anything going defensively. Far too many times this year, Washington has been forced to throw odd lineups on the floor where George is playing the point on offense and the center on defense, just so they can have any resemblance of a defense. 

Fixing this issue can not be done in one day. In order for Washington to over-hall their defensive struggles, trades and acquisitions will have to be made. Rookie Jamir Watkins has been given limited opportunity through the early portion of this season to make his impact felt defensively, but his offensive limitations hold him back from being a true impact player at the moment. Washington has the assets to go out and get an elite defender or two, but doing so may end up being counterintuitive to the tank. 

Nobody in their right mind would argue that Washington doesn't have immense problems defensively. How they are meant to fix these problems is a question that could raise discussion, but as of now the flat answer is changes have to be made. Washington's goal of bottoming out remains at the top of their priority list, but installing a better defensive scheme in order to make games more competitive would benefit both the development of young talent, and the engagement of fans.