Washington Wizards: Are Their Preseason Woes a Sign of Things to Come?

The Washington Wizards played the first of two preseason contests, testing their preparedness against the Philadelphia 76ers. If you happened to miss it, consider yourself lucky, as the Wizards failed to impress on any level throughout the game.

One preseason game does not a season make, but their first action coming out of the lockout raised a lot of questions about their composition.

The biggest concerns coming out of the supposed tune-up game was the awful ball control and shooting percentage the Wizards half-heartedly mustered. They finished with 20 turnovers to just 10 assists and shot a miserable 32.9 percent from the field.

Michael Lee of the Washington Post said in an offseason report said John Wall had been working on his shooting. The commentary team mused about how Wall was finally 100 percent healthy heading into the season, but he looked out of sync throughout the game.

Wall finished 3-for-12 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. He had no trouble blowing be defenders, but he couldn't get any shots to fall and made some questionable passes that resulted in turnovers.

If you look at the box score, Andray Blatche had a solid night, but he has not changed his approach to the game and that is not an encouraging fact.

Blatche spends too much of his time in the 10- to 15-foot range on offense, which is fine if he's sinking those shots. The issue with his play is that he does not do enough to fight for position on rebounds despite having a size advantage over every forward the Sixers put on the floor last night.

However rededicated Blatche supposedly was this offseason, he looked sluggish for all 24 of his minutes on the floor.

JaVale McGee returned to showing flashes of his potential instead of building on his previous successes. He relied too much on his raw athleticism during the evening and lost position in the block, limiting his scoring opportunities and hindering the opportunities he did have.

The brightest spot for Washington was the solid play from the rookies Jan Vesely, Shelvin Mack and Chris Singleton.

Though the stats will show the trio went a paltry 7-of-20 from the field, they displayed the very skills that the Wizards drafted them for. Vesely moved well in the open court, but showed how undeveloped his shooting still is. Mack played the physical point guard role to Wall's distinctly delicate approach.

Singleton had the defensive play of the game when he broke up a three-on-one Sixers break and regained possession of the ball.

Nick Young remains unsigned, as his price tag may be higher than the Wizards are willing to pay. Teams that were rumored to have interest have either filled their need or do not want to shell out the money he supposedly demands. New Orleans just added Eric Gordon via trade, the Bulls signed Rip Hamilton and Sacramento re-signed Marcus Thornton.

The Wizards are playing a waiting game with Young, and may end up getting him at a more reasonable price.

Washington has another preseason game to play against the Sixers coming on the 20th, and the hope is that their first game was an act of shaking off the rust rather than a taste of things to come. New uniforms and a new dedication to building through the draft can only take the Wizards so far, and the season starts a less than two weeks.

If they can't work out the kinks in the next month, consider it a guarantee that they'll have another lottery pick come draft time.