How much of a leash should this current Wizards team have?

The Wizards are currently 1-5 and had to win in overtime to avoid an 0-6 start. There is the optimist that will also point out that Washington could be 3-3 instead if they won their first two games at home, but the Wizards have been historically poor rebounders, bad passers, and even shooters.

All of these things indicate one thing: it may be time to blow the Wizards up and start a rebuild. John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Otto Porter have time on their side as individual players. But they make over $70 million combined this season and will make over $92 million in the 2019-20 season once Wall’s supermax extension kicks in.

If the Wizards were like the Warriors, that’s okay. Free agents will take less money to play in Washington. But the Wizards have been firmly on the Treadmill of Mediocrity and haven’t been able to acquire free agents who can get them past the second round of the playoffs or win 50 regular season games. And so far, it looks like the motor in that treadmill may be in disrepair.

If the Wizards decide to start a rebuild, it isn’t realistic that they will start blowing it up today or next month. The trade deadline in February is a more realistic time. So in the meantime, it’s possible that things could turn around, in particular when Dwight Howard can make his season debut.

But even then, the Wizards are still poor at rebounding (though Howard can improve it), and their passing and shooting aren’t suddenly going to jump in to Golden State Warriors territory. So, it’s unlikely that this team will be more than a .500-ish squad like they have been for each of the past five seasons.

So how long should the Wizards have before making some drastic changes, whether it’s changing the head coach, making a trade, or something else? Let us know in the comments below.