SB Nation Reacts: Wizards fans remain overwhelmingly pessimistic about team direction

Thank you for your responses to this week’s SB Nation NBA Reacts survey. Our team results are below. Let’s see how everything went Wizards fans!

Fans are slightly more confident in the Wizards than before, But if you have absolutely NO confidence, you are probably more dug in than before.

SB Nation

This week’s SB Nation NBA Reacts survey was our first in quite some time. So first, WELCOME BACK REACTS TEAM! We also have a cute graphic to share with you on how you feel about the Washington Wizards heading into the Christmas holiday.

After our survey this week, 86 percent of fans are not confident in the Wizards’ direction. That is down from an impromptu poll I did last week when 93 percent were not confident. I would not use this as a direct comparison because the polls were not done via the same medium. That said, it is notable that the results were consistent nevertheless.

Why were some fans confident in the direction of the Wizards? Is it because these fans define the team direction as that of a tanking team? I only had a handful of responses, so here they are:

• Get that draft pick! I’m confident that rock bottom is close and is being intentionally moved toward.”
• “VICTOR WEMBANAYAMA!!!”

Really, I didn’t get a SINGLE reason why someone is optimistic about the Wizards!

Now, why are people NOT confident?

• The majority (50+ responses) said that Bradley Beal’s supermax contract was why they didn’t feel confident in the team’s direction. Even the most optimistic of Wizards fans will have to acknowledge that the Wizards probably gave Beal more money and status than he warranted on the open market. It screams … DAN SNYDER … to me!
• A few other said that Wes Unseld, Jr. is in over his head as the Wizards’ head coach. I don’t disagree with that — and he was NOT my dream choice as head coach in the first place.

Wizards fans thought that the team would be performing, or have their goals a bit more down to earth.

SB Nation

Sixty-six percent of fans said that the Wizards are performing what their hopes were for. I think most fans wanted a team that would put up a fight with an overmatched young roster. However, the Wizards re-signed Beal to a supermax, while Porzingis and Kuzma remain here on their current contracts. This is supposed to be the Wizards’ “2006-08-esque Big Three.” They should be relevant and competitive enough for a playoff berth …. But they clearly aren’t.

Thirty-three percent of fans though the Wizards were playing to their expectations and just one percent thought they were playing above expectations.

Over 90 percent of Wizards fans want the team to start rebuilding …. AHORA! MAINTENANT ! NU! 지금! ŠIMDI!

SB Nation

If the vast majority of Wizards fans aren’t confident in the Wizards’ direction (which I define as a Round of 16 playoff appearance as the No. 8 seed), it is no surprise that NINETY-TWO, NOVENTA Y CINCO, NONATE-DEUX, QUATRE-VINGT-DOUZE, 구십이 OR TWEEËNNEGENTIG percent of Wizards fans want to see the team to start rebuilding … NOW!

I wrote that it was time to rebuild earlier this week. Quite frankly, I believed this last season and for longer than that. Sure, previews and recaps I write will have SOME optimism, namely that the Wizards will defy expectations and come out ahead. But I don’t see how this team can realistically make the play-in, let alone the playoffs.

Our next poll will come up next week!