At 13-18, the Wizards are one of most disappointing teams in the NBA this season. But according to several players and President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld, the team's current standing can't be pinned on Coach Eddie Jordan and his staff.

"I understand that this is a player's league and the first person to go is the coach, but coaches run practice and we play games, so they get penalized for our mess-ups during the game," guard Gilbert Arenas said following Friday's ugly 113-92 loss at New York. "It's all on us. We have to go out there and play hard. We can't sit there and say, 'We're losing and it's coach's fault.' No. Coach is doing a great job of preparing us in practice and we need to go out there and do it in games."

Forward Jared Jeffries, who is in his third season playing for Jordan after one year under previous coach Doug Collins, said a recent stretch of poor defense (eight of Washington's last nine opponents have scored more than 100 points) is the team's main problem.

"When you're out there giving up 110, 120, 125 points, that's on the players," Jeffries said. "It comes down to each one of us as men giving an effort and we have to start giving that effort. Everybody. We're a team, and it starts with us as players. We're having too many breakdowns over and over."