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SB Nation NBA Reacts Week 9, Part 1: Most Wizards fans have lost confidence in the team due to losing stretch in December

We also gave our November MVP award to Montrezl Harrell.

By Albert Lee
/ new
Utah Jazz v Washington Wizards
Yeah, things aren’t looking good for Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards right now.
Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Thank you for your responses to this week’s SB Nation NBA Reacts survey. The results from our Washington Wizards fan survey will be out in this piece. and tomorrow I’ll have the results from our national survey.

Wizards fan confidence drops to 40 percent!!!

It felt like a great time last November. The Wizards started out the season 10-3, Tommy Sheppard got a contract extension and a 50 game season felt inevitable. The Basketball Gods were like Santa Claus coming to Washington throughout November. This was how nearly every Wizards fan like you and me felt at the time.

Fast forward one month ... and this is how we feel instead. Looks like the Grinch took all of our gifts away!

Fans have lost patience with the losing. For the first time ever this season, most fans don’t have confidence in team direction. In fact, only 40 percent of Wizards fans (319 in all) said so.

SB Nation

Last week, fan confidence was at 66 percent.

Why are fans confident? In short, these fans believe the Wizards are just going through a rough stretch in the schedule. Every team does. Here are some of the responses:

  • “I still believe in the talent they have and Rui and Bryant have yet to return.”
  • “Beal, our best player isn’t playing up to his potential yet, but Deni is a legit defender. The return of Rui Hachimura and Thomas Bryant will also help.”
  • “There’s enough talent on the team that they’ll be competitive if healthy. But Dinwiddie and Beal need to develop.”
  • “NBA Twitter has been all over Beal for good reason, but with time he will figure things out. I have more confidence in close games this year compared to last, despite Beal's drop in production. There are no issues that seem too big to overcome in the next month and a half of the season. Chemistry will shift again once Rui and Bryant come back, so not too concerned with that at the moment.”

And why are fans not confident now? It wasn’t long ago when 95 percent thought things were A-okay!

  • “The team lacks direction and has a very low ceiling right now. The goal should always be to eventually win a championship and this team does not have that ceiling. Bradley Beal is nowhere near the type of star that deserves a supermax but I’m worried Tommy promised Beal the supermax.”
  • “The defense and energy are lacking. It would be one thing if it’s a talent issue, but this seems to be a team that hasn’t brought enough focus and spirit to compete the last 15 or so games. I still love Wes Unseld. And I think that if any combination of Beal, Spencer Dinwiddie, Montrezl Harrell, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope all having drops in statistics at the same time is rare, and they can still turn it around if those 4 can play slightly better. But I’m worried about a team that’s being led by Beal. This is his team and I do not feel like he’s taking a step forward as a franchise player. And what makes it worse is the Beal comments about commitment to the organization, If you’re a franchise player you gotta bring it every night at both ends of the floor, and I’m not sure that Beal has answered that call.”
  • “The league seems to have figured out Unseld’s scheme, the new players are regressing to the mean and reminding us of their flaws (with no AD or LeBron to hide them), and Beal is out of sorts.”
  • “They are not using Trezz. Wes said other teams are guarding him different. That’s not the problem. He rarely plays Beal and Trezz together. Nobody else throws him the ball under the basket. kHz rarely throws the ball to him EVER. kHz is selfish. Look at his assist totals each game. He clearly has some issue with Trezz. Beal is certainly not playing like he can. Dinwiddie is a big disappointment. Where’s his production. You can’t blame Trezz when nobody is playing well!”

Hopefully, things change later tonight when the Wizards play the Sacramento Kings tonight.

Backcourt chemistry is behind the Wizards’ woes

SB Nation

Thirty two percent of our respondents said that the lack of chemistry between Beal and Dinwiddie is the primary reason why the Wizards haven’t been playing well lately. This was followed by their lack of great three point shooting (25 percent) and Beal’s cool start (22 percent). Either way, backcourt play is a major reason behind fans’ recent pessimism over the Wizards.

Most fans don’t think the Wizards will finish this month over .500...

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As the late Flip Saunders once said, “Don’t think things can’t get worse, because they can.” Knowing that we’re talking bout the Wizards, we just assume things will get worse, except for last month perhaps.

The Wizards are 15-13 as of today before tonight’s game against the Sacramento Kings, so it isn’t unrealistic that they will be worse than .500 by the time December passes. If they lose tonight, and then their last two games against the Suns and Jazz, they’ll be 15-16 at that point.

Our November MVP? MONTREZL HARRELL!

SB Nation

Not a surprise here. Harrell averaged 14.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 15 games in November. He shot 65.6 percent from the field and even shot 77.1 percent from the free throw line. Let’s get this man more time!

Tomorrow, we’ll share the national results. Thanks again for all the responses!

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