Washington Wizards: Franchise Future in Doubt Midway Through Rough Season

To say the Washington Wizards have suffered growing pains this season would be both an understatement and a fallacy. Though owner Ted Leonsis has tried to assure fans that struggles come with rebuilds, there is little that can be done to excuse the ineptitude displayed by players formerly considered franchise building blocks.

Though still in the early stages of a true rebuild, the 2011-2012 season has provided the Wizards with more than a few reasons to blow it up and start from scratch.

Flip Saunders was a victim of circumstance, coaching the Wiz to a 2-15 record before being axed and replaced by assistant Randy Wittman. He came to Washington with the goal of taking the likes of Gilbert Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison past the first round of the playoffs.

He did not come to Washington to babysit a couple of knuckleheads ruining things for the players taking things seriously.

Since the coaching change, Wittman has notched five wins in his 16-game stead as interim head coach. He owes those victories to the depleted Bobcats, shaky Raptors and equally ill-equipped Pistons.

Though Wittman's no-nonsense attitude looked to be hitting home with his players, they let their paltry success go to their heads.

If it isn't Nick Young playing black hole on offense, it's JaVale McGee running back on defense when his team is still on offense. If it isn't McGee throwing the ball off the backboard for a dunk, it's Young attempting an acrobatic layup when a textbook lay-in would have sufficed.

The players and coaches have each shared the blame so far this season, but it may be time for Leonsis to clean out the front office.

Ernie Grunfeld is apparently untouchable as the Wizards general manager despite numerous failures. Sure, he helped break apart the roster in the effort to rebuild, but he was responsible for shelling out $100 million to Arenas. It was Grunfeld who failed to value the draft, throwing away picks for players like Mike Miller and Randy Foye.

Washington's future is in peril if they don't do something about their front office situation.

Best case scenario for the Wizards is that Leonsis overhauls the front office, bringing in a proper basketball mind to assess the state of the roster. From there, the new GM brings in a coach capable of working with those players deemed worthy of keeping around.

As of right now, there are only four or five players worth keeping around for the future.

John Wall, Chris Singleton, Trevor Booker, Jan Vesely and Shelvin Mack are on the short list of players worth Washington's time. Jordan Crawford is worth a spot coming off the bench, but is by no means a true starter.

If the Wizards intend to get the most out of Wall, they need to make a change to allow him to flourish rather than regress.

With so much going wrong in the middle of the season, Washington may have to wait until the offseason to start anew. It isn't likely that they'll be particularly active around the trade deadline, so dropping dead weight for some sort of return is out of the question.

As they are built now, the Wizards are not going anywhere worth following. Leonsis is committed to building through the draft, but he needs to put the right people in place to evaluate the talent currently assembled.