The Washington Wizards went 20-46 and had the second-worst record in the NBA last season, but that’s not stopping former No. 1 overall draft pick John Wall from expressing confidence in his team.

Wall has spent the past week in Las Vegas playing for the USA Select Team, and he spoke to The Washington Post about the Wizards’ future.

“We finished the season very strong and then you make those trades in the offseason and drafting the right people, we’re going the right way,” Wall told the Post after practice on Tuesday. “We have a great chance now to make the playoffs, but it’s up to us.”

Keep in mind this is the same Wizards team that was so bad fans were doing homework and sleeping at games last season. The Wizards acquired Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza in a trade and drafted Bradley Beal, so they should be improved. But do they have a “great chance” at making the playoffs? I wouldn’t go that far. Not unless the selfishness on the team that Wall complained about last season is now gone, and not unless their players are as committed to improving as Wall seems to be.

We may not know exactly what the 2011-2012 season has in store for the Washington Wizards, but we certainly know they aren’t going to be patient. Washington has lost its first six games of the season. They have done very little right to this point, and haven’t really come close to beating anyone. Even John Wall is averaging just under 14 points per game, which is second on the team to Nick Young. Wall’s modest 6.5 assists per game leads the team. According to the second-year guard from Kentucky, selfishness is an issue for the Wizards.

“It’s like everybody blanks out,” Wall said after the Wizards record-breaking sixth straight loss to start the season, according to the Washington Post. “Everybody going for their own. And we don’t have anybody on our team that can just go get his own bucket whenever. You see everybody being selfish on the offensive end and on the defensive end, we’re not trusting each other … If we don’t find a way to play together and win games, it could get ugly this whole season.”

Before the season began forward Andray Blatche insisted he was willing to die for his teammates.  One game into the season, he was already complaining about the way the team was using him offensively.  That is almost certainly part of what Wall was alluding to in calling the team selfish.

Washington entered this season hoping to improve upon an abysmal 2010-2011 campaign, but this is not the start they were looking for.  They were one of the worst teams in the NBA last year and it looks like they might be the worst this year.  Wall is right about one thing: if the Wizards don’t turn it around in a hurry and taste a couple victories, things will get extremely ugly.