Thu Nov 06, 2008 12:30 pm EST
Whew boy, they're getting restless in Washington. Here with a report on the Wizards' rough 0-3 start is Kissing Suzy Kolber co-founder, Deadspin weekend editor and Wiz season ticket holder Jack Kogod a.k.a. Unsilent Majority ...
Every day it gets a little bit harder to watch the Washington Wizards without the benefit of a few stiff drinks.
Last night's fourth quarter/overtime implosion against a Michael Redd-less Bucks team resulted in a third consecutive painful loss to start the season, and if a change is not made there will be a lot more in the coming months.
While it may seem grossly unfair to fire coach Eddie Jordan just three games into his newly extended contract, the team needs to make a drastic change, preferably before Gilbert Arenas returns to the lineup next month. If it makes it any easier on Abe Pollin he could always pass on the bad news in the form of a cake.
Jordan, the longest tenured coach in the NBA's Eastern conference has always done a good job in Washington. The franchise that's been mired in sub-mediocrity for the past few decades has benefited from Jordan's stable presence on the bench, but it's becoming abundantly clear that this team can't go much further under his guidance. Currently the team is a disjointed mess and even Jordan himself has indicated that he's at a loss.
Coming into the season the coach admitted that he was unsure how he'd utilize his bench, which came as little surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. Jordan's substitution methods could best be described as nonsensical, and more often than not the result is a five-man team that lacks any semblance of cohesion.
It's clear to anyone who follows the team that the starting backcourt combination of Antonio Daniels and DeShawn Stevenson is killing the team's half-court offense. Neither player is nearly aggressive enough with the ball, so instead of running actual plays they typically rely on Caron Butler's one-on-one scoring ability and Antawn Jamison's arsenal of awkward scoop shots while Stevenson unleashes two ill-fated fadeaway jumpers for every line drive put up by Daniels. And all the while Jordan sits back and watches his team dig themselves into another deep first quarter hole (17 and 18 point deficits in the last two games). While Stevenson and Daniels have struggled, their backups Nick Young and Juan Dixon have excelled. Unfortunately, Jordan refuses to shake up the veteran backcourt and Young winds up sitting for as many minutes as he plays.
The Wizards are growing stagnant and they are in need of a coach who will harness emerging young talents like Young and Andray Blatche instead of sticking them in the doghouse at every turn. This team needs change, and I think I know who might make the perfect interim coach ...

Ball Don't Lie is an NBA blog edited by J.E. Skeets. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

Posted Nov 26 2009
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51 Comments
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2) Can you name a team with more injuries to contributing players than the Wizards this year or the last four years for that matter?
3) Whether or not we're competitive in the playoffs, we still go to them under Coach Jordan's leadership. That's a better trackrecord than most coaches in the league...
4) We're only three games into this season yet we've seen good things from Javale, Young, and Dixon. When Gilbert gets back, they will be make up a solid bench with experience and depth.
5) The Wizards are a classy bunch just like their Coach. With the exception of DeShawn at times, they carry themselves very well on and off the court. Again, that's a trackrecord very few coaches can brag about -- having classy guys on and off the court
6) Why should the coach get fired for crappy GM decisions? Coach Jordan didn't just pay an injury prone player 110 million dollars....
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Jordan's probably cost the Wizards two of the first three games due to sticking to non-productive veterans Stevenson and Daniels. He allowed Jamison to jack shot after shot while playing bad defense even for him against Milwaukee. In the past two games he's comeback from huge deficits with Songaila at C, but he's stuck with it far too long only to watch Songaila get abused inside in both losses. Jordan should have played Young and McGee much more and he'd probably have won both games. The team should be 2-1 instead of 0-3.
I'm not defending Jordan or Grunfeld for their mistakes.
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what a load of crap. did you watch last year's playoffs? they came off looking like a bunch of cocky, mouthy chumps that didn't know their place. and it wasn't just doucheshawn - gilbert is as much of a head case as their is in the nba, and his continued calling out of a team that has beaten the wiz 3 straight years in the postseason (the cavs) is puzzling. brendan haywood also looked like a cheap shot artist last year with that flagrant on lebron too. the only guys with any semblance of class on the team are daniels, butler, and jamison.
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I must have missed the overwhelming number of good young defensive talents on the open market this offseason. You don't mean James Posey, do you?
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Darius, Blatch, and Jamison, also play like they care. Work with Young, he's a Star waiting to shine bright!
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Maybe some of you dont remember when they were called the Landover Md-Washington Captials. How about that. I'm on the west coast now and I have adopted the Lakers, the Sorry Giants, not the SanFrancisoc Giants lol...thank goodness we still have the Ravens. I have went trhough a lot of losing from my home teams over the years. So lets give Eddie a chance , hes not the one playing. If you want to get on some one if you ask me ....its Ernie and Abe. Spend all that money for two players that have seen their better days. It is the eastern conference...remember so the playoffs might not be to totally out of the question yet. Lets recheck after 40 games.
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Its easy to play GM as a columnist, & I didn't like your column. There's worse things than dropping 3 straight in an 82 game season. I like my coach. I'm waiting for the youngs like young & Blatche to pick up some slack.
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