There have been a lot of negative pixels surrounding the Washington Wizards and their slow start this season. Many, including myself, have been disappointed in the lack of effort, defense and commitment shown by everybody not named John Wall, Bradley Beal or Otto Porter.

The team has serious flaws and that’s undeniable.

The defense, or lack of it, has been concerning. Randy Wittman‘s club has been a top-10 defensive team ever since he became head coach in 2012, but that hasn’t been the case after the first seven games. Instead, the team has shifted its focus on playing a more up-tempo style of basketball. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been going according to plan.

Washington is currently turning the ball over more than any other team in the league and their offense certainly doesn’t resemble the Golden State Warriors’ brand of up-tempo ball.

It’s been easy to look at the negatives, really. We all do it. We’ve all inevitably taken Wall and Beal for granted. They’ve become the best back court in the Eastern Conference and arguably the second best in the entire NBA. Porter is blossoming along side the starters and has shown flashes of becoming the team’s third most important player.

When the team hits a slump, though, it’s important to look at the positives — or at least I believe it is. We’re only seven games into the season, after all. It’s going to take some time for the team to implement a new offense. We all knew that the Washington Wizards would take some bumps along the way, we just didn’t anticipate it right at the beginning of the season.

I’m confident — as you should be too — that Washington will ultimately have another successful season.

Today, I was reminded why things aren’t so bad in Washington…

I have an unapologetic disliking for the Sacramento Kings. I love the fans — I really do. They’re passionate and their persistence was evident after the team was almost moved to Seattle. I’m glad, truly, that they kept their team. But, they deserve better.

Rumors have resurfaced that Sacramento’s new front office — comprised of Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic and other successful former Kings that never won a championship in Sacramento — is looking to potentially fire George Karl. Now, let me remind you that things should’ve been better after Vivek Ranadive bought the team from the Maloofs.

Sacramento was supposed to build a team around DeMarcus Cousins, a legitimate franchise player who’s spent six years of his career in the worst situation imaginable for such a talent. The front office has fired numerous coaches, including Mike Malone (a coach that Boogie and the rest of the roster actually adored), and they’ve gone through a number of front offices members as well. Quite frankly, the team hasn’t improved since Ranadive bought them a few years ago.

But, things should be better when Vinny Del Negro gets hired. They will! They won’t. Good luck finding a self-respecting coach that will take the job after the dozens of coaching changes that have taken place in the past few seasons. Oh, you mean John Calipari — the most popular and successful coach in college basketball? I’m sure he’ll leave that situation for Sacramento…

They’ve made irrational decision after irrational decision — many that can permanently damage the team, or at least damage them enough to make them undesirable for a very long time.

They’ve drafted shooting guard Nik Stauskas after selecting Ben McLemore in the lottery the season prior, knowing they could’ve used a point guard and Elfrid Payton was on the board.

They’ve traded Stauskas along with veteran players to create cap room to sign veteran players that haven’t helped them win.

Rajon Rondo. Marco Belinelli. Kosta Koufos.

There’s been absolutely zero stability in Sacramento. Will any of the aforementioned players help Sacramento win in the Western Conference? How can you possibly believe that such roster turnover will lead to success after just a few weeks of training camp? You can believe it because it’s the Sacramento Kings.

And here we are, complaining about the Washington Wizards.

I’m not going to compare the two, even though I essentially did. I just wanted to point out that, as the late Flip Saunders said, don’t think it can’t get any worse because it can.

The Washington Wizards are a stable group led by two of the best young guards in the NBA. Comparing them to one of the worst franchises in sports doesn’t do much, because they should obviously aim higher than the Kings, but it’s important to note how much worse things can actually be.

In a few weeks, we’ll probably forget how bad the Washington Wizards were during the first seven games of the season. Things will be OK. I promise.