NBA Season Preview: What to Watch for and Expect from the Washington Wizards

The Washington Wizards enter the 2011-2012 season after finishing last season with a 23-59 record.

The Wizards are a young team looking to grow together and improve defensively, as they ranked 24th in the league last season.

Flip Saunders is looking to get his group of young talent to grow up and play consistent ball and inspired defense.

The Wizards have a lot of talent and much to look forward to for the future. The question is how will they fare in the upcoming season?

After two losses to the Philadelphia 76ers, it's apparent that while there were signs of improvement, the Wizards still have much work to do this season.

As mentioned, the main aspect the Wizards need to focus on is playing consistent defense. That means playing a complete defensive game and not giving up plenty of uncontested threes, as they did to the Sixers.

The other thing we need to see from the Wizards is for some of their talent to mature and become the players they potentially can be.

We need to see JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche develop and I expect John Wall to improve very much this season and limit his turnovers, playing smarter with the ball.

Andray Blatche can average a double-double during the season, but that's only if he decides to play to his potential.

I see overall improvement from the Wizards in the upcoming season, but expect lapses in defenses and showing signs that they are still a young team.

They will be competitive and have more wins than last season, but will miss the playoffs.

Hopefully the Wizards don't start the season off too slow, or Flip Saunders' days as head coach in Washington could be numbered.