The Washington Wizards have had their fair share of problems this season, the worst of which has been their 8-10 record. The Wizards came into this season with the hope that they could build off of last season and contend for an Eastern Conference Championship but the way they are playing now they would be lucky to make the playoffs. Because of the bad start head coach Randy Wittman's job security has come into question but he is reportedly not in too much danger, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
Wittman signed a three year contract extension with the Wizards last season and he is currently in the first year of that. The Wizards reportedly see replacing Wittman this season as a "last resort" and they are not actively considering making the change. Wittman is in his fifth season as the Wizards head coach and he has improved their win total in every successive season. In each of the past two seasons Wittman led the Wizards to a playoff series victory before being eliminated in the second round each time.
There is some concern in Washington that the team might already be tuning out the 56 year old head coach which would be a good reason to make a change but Wittman has done a great job of growing with the team over the past few seasons and will likely get more time to right the ship.
This season Wittman implemented a new offense which involved playing smaller and playing faster but it hasn't worked well for the Wizards despite the fact that it looked great in the preseason. Wittman's star player, John Wall, has publicly questioned Wittman's strategy already this season and Marcin Gortat was none too happy about Wittman's public criticism of him back in the middle of November so there is clearly some dissension between Wittman and his players.
The fact that Wittman and his players have not gotten along in the public eye is likely not a good sign for his future but the reality is that his players just haven't been playing all that well. Wall leads the team with a 19.9 PER but after him there isn't much that stands out as everyone else is either around league average like Bradley Beal (16.2 PER) or well below league average like Jared Dudley (9.9 PER.) This is a talented roster that has some really good pieces but they aren't performing well right now and that could be a bad sign for Wittman. He might not be on the hot seat right now but if the Wizards don't turn it around he will likely find himself there before too long.
