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Wizards results: Fan confidence up, Daniel Gafford is a grand slam, and fans remain very weary of Scott Brooks....
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I wanted to quickly address some of the critiques I have seen in the comments over this season and last over SB Nation NBA Reacts. The biggest one is that you aren’t seeing how many people are responding to each of the surveys. I also have explained that to the people who have those exact figures and share your frustration about the lack of data. Without a clear figure, these are just anecdotes. That said, I have received ranges and trends so I hope that helps assuage your concerns that sample sizes are too small.
That’s because Vox Media, the company that owns SB Nation and this site has a policy that won’t let me see or report those exact figures due to confidentiality reasons — the data is theirs. Not mine.
All of that said, I have been given some hints along the way, which is also partly because of your persistence, so I hope that at least gives you all confidence that it’s not like we have 10 Wizards fans who respond ... and that’s it. If we only had a sample size of 10 fans, I wouldn’t have posted on SB Nation NBA Reacts each week.
In last week’s survey, only ... three percent of email respondents said they were confident in the team. I was told that more than one person said that he/she/they are/were confident in the Wizards’ direction. So given this inference, we got around 60-80 people to respond in that one since rounding could bump the three percent figure up or down, assuming two people voted that they were confident in the Wizards’ in last week’s survey. We also received responses in this same general range. If it bumps up (or down) significantly and I’m notified about that, I’ll let you know.
Anyway, fan confidence went up from three to 20 percent in this week’s survey. Since the Wizards were on a five-game win streak as of the time the most recent survey ended, That’s nearly seven times the rate of last week, but I can also say that in last week’s survey we had more than one person say that he/she/they was/were confident in the team’s direction. Assuming two people were confident then 60-80 people voted in last week’s survey and this week’s numbers were also similar.
We had two questions just for Wizards fans. First, 71% percent of respondents said that they would give Daniel Gafford an “A” for his performance in Washington.
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While most fans are pleased with Gafford, it appears that most fans still seem to want head coach Scott Brooks fired, even if the Wizards make the play-in round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs. In fact, 77 percent of fans believe that the Wizards shouldn’t keep Brooks after the season just because of a hypothetical Washington play-in berth.
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Given these nuances, I can see that the Wizards fanbase can be both “pro-Daniel Gafford” and “anti-Scott Brooks” at the same time. If Brooks were fired earlier this season and the Wizards were performing like they are, do you think fan confidence would be higher?
National results: The play-in promotes more competitiveness in the NBA
In our national results, they focused on the NBA play-in rounds. The Wizards are in sole possession of the 10th seed, so this topic is certainly relevant to them. Since this is the first season with a clear play-in round, a solid majority of 63 percent found this idea exciting.
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A nearly 64 percent of fans throughout all team fanbases believe the play-in round keeps teams engaged in the league. After all, if the Wizards were in 10th place without a play-in, the calls to tank would be a LOT louder than they are right now.
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As a Wizards fan, I’m conflicted. It’s good to see fans be more engaged. And it’s encouraging to see the team stay engaged this late in the season when other teams in similar situations wouldn’t because of the lack of a play-in game.
But I also have no confidence in Scott Brooks taking this team to the promised land. Why can’t we have nice things in life like the Washington Mystics and Capitals did not too long ago?
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