Ball Don't Lie - NBA

Thu Nov 06, 2008 12:30 pm EST

Wizards need new direction, new coach

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 ...

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51 Comments

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  1. Marc
    1. Posted by Marc Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:50 pm EDT

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    maybe a general manager that doesnt spend $150 million to stay exactly the same
  2. E Book
    2. Posted by E Book Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:57 pm EDT

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    I don't know if blatche is "an emerging talent". He's been playing like a scrub recently. Give me some javale mcgee!!
  3. Matt K
    3. Posted by Matt K Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:23 pm EDT

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    Jordan was asking for a loss when he let Daniels and Stevenson basically play the final 6 minutes of the game -- ridiculous....
  4. N/A
    4. Posted by N/A Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:59 pm EDT

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    1) Jordan has led this team out of slow starts 2 out of the last 4 seasons. He's done this both times without Gilbert.
    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....
  5. greg_oden_is_my_grandpa
    5. Posted by greg_oden_is_my_grandpa Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:13 pm EDT

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    Well said #4. My thoughts exactly.
  6. Key-vee
    6. Posted by Key-vee Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:49 pm EDT

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    I don't think Jordan needs to be fire. I still believe he's a great coach but the line up does need to be shaken up a bit. I under stand why young and dixon don't start because if they did we wouldnt have any scoring off the bench. second I do feel that blatche has plenty of talent having watched him the last 3 seasons but he's playing out of position, he's not a C or PF because he lacks the strenth, jumping abillity and aggresiveness. He would be perfect at the 3 his lenth speed ball handeling and mid-range jumper would make him a stand out player in that role throw in Darius at the 4 and JaVale at 5 along with young and dixon the would be a pretty affective bench. Or even replace Stevenson with Nick Young in the starting line up presenting three totaly different but equally as dangers scoring threats all on the floor at once
  7. KC in Hawaii
    7. Posted by KC in Hawaii Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:49 pm EDT

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    I think the major blunders have been made by Grunfeld in signing Gilbert and Antawn to very expensive deals, instead of getting players who defend at their positions.
    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.
  8. doubled105
    8. Posted by doubled105 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:47 pm EDT

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    eddie jordan needs to fix the lineups with this squad. start nick young n mcgee and we are good
  9. dfhoops31
    9. Posted by dfhoops31 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:42 pm EDT

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    wizards suck
  10. Phil b
    10. Posted by Phil b Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:49 pm EDT

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    we stood pat, after another close .500 season, and early exit from the playoffs last year. Good teams dont do that, I dont know if anyone noticed.
  11. steakums
    11. Posted by steakums Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:16 pm EDT

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    Jamison is an aging pro and has no defensive game. He is a total liability on the floor. Why we resigned him is beyond me. We could have spent that money on a young, defensive talent.
  12. haha5680
    12. Posted by haha5680 Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:15 pm EDT

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    "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 "
    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.
  13. Unsilent Majority
    13. Posted by Unsilent Majority Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:16 pm EDT

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    N/A- I'm not saying that the Wiz can't recover from the early losses like they have in the past two years, but both years they've hovered around .500. Another slow start followed by a midseason surge towards respectability isn't exactly moving things forward.
  14. Unsilent Majority
    14. Posted by Unsilent Majority Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:16 pm EDT

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    "We could have spent that money on a young, defensive talent. "
    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?
  15. Baby Boy
    15. Posted by Baby Boy Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:25 pm EDT

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    Grunfeld in signing Gilbert Arenas stems to be the problem
  16. oddmanout
    16. Posted by oddmanout Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:51 pm EDT

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    Lets get to real story here. The Wiz are Garbage!
  17. princegeorges15
    17. Posted by princegeorges15 Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:18 pm EDT

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    3 loses out of a 82 game season? Give me a break. Thank god your a writer and not a GM unfortunately too many people are drinking your koolaid. I guess the fact that the star guard and center are missing has nothing to do with it. As for Daniels and Stevenson, they have proven in the past that they can produce and given their defensive prowness they deserve to have a chance to finish the games. I remeber the bullet teams with losing records year after year. Maybe your too young and too unfrateful to realize how much better our situation is.
  18. Ncognito357
    18. Posted by Ncognito357 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:39 pm EDT

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    i have only seen some of the last game, but it may be time for young to get the majority of the minutes. He has more energy from what I have seen. some of the substitutions by Eddie has always left me puzzled. Not to say he isn't a good coach, but at this point the team isn't as "cohesive" as it was last year. Gilbert is a "free-lance" player, and his skills always carried him. This team excelled without gilbert last year when they executed properly.
  19. Goodie Goode
    19. Posted by Goodie Goode Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:11 pm EDT

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    Ok Ima have to agree with princegeorges15.... Ur WAY overreacting. Its only been 3 games so calm down. Have a coke and a smile and chill out. The Wizards are going to make the playoff again...AND depending on if the team can get healthy we might be able to go deep into the playoff
  20. Charles E
    20. Posted by Charles E Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:27 pm EDT

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    When things get "Stale", it's time for "Fresh"!! Butler seems to be the player with the most Heart on the team.
    Darius, Blatch, and Jamison, also play like they care. Work with Young, he's a Star waiting to shine bright!
  21. doubled105
    21. Posted by doubled105 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:47 pm EDT

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    lol we shud put jamison on the bench. maybe he can be 6 man agen haha. but forreal lets start mcgee, nick young and songaila. have jamison produce offense from the bench
  22. RobertJ
    22. Posted by RobertJ Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:22 pm EDT

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    The problem with the wizards is "REBOUNDS". No one is feeling in the void, and with out a strong presents in the middle getting rebounds they can hang it up, or wait to get bumped out in the first round should they make it to the play offs. And don't hold you breath wait for Gil to come back. If the wiz can not win with out him they are done.
  23. acleex
    23. Posted by acleex Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:45 pm EDT

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    I'll give Jordan the benefit of the doubt for the first three games as he sees who is going to be a main part of the rotation for this team. But when players are hot, they need to stay on that court. The Wizards also know their playbook as well as anyone out there, so they will win their fair share of games. I will say this for sure however. Unlike last year, the Wizards cannot succeed without a healthy Arenas, and Daniels is a liability at the PG offensively when he's not fouled while shooting, since he gets most of his points on driving layups and dunks and free throws when he gets fouled trying to do the above.
  24. TC
    24. Posted by TC Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:52 pm EDT

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    I have read most of all the post. Some make sense some other well.....its not Eddie's fault only unless he let himself get talked in to bring back Gil. I like Gil but what I have seen so far his best days are behind him. Antwan is serviceable at best. I have not seen the Wizards so far to comment on them this year. I can go wayyy back as one poster pg15 I believe it was when they were the bullets and I could ony get the game by radio. Great radio! help me to develop a hatred for ALL NY, and Boston teams and the Pistion with Dave Bing then. Having said all that....its still only 3 games and we did limp into the playoff last year.
    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.
  25. wizfn
    25. Posted by wizfn Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:14 pm EDT

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    there seems to be a kneejerk reaction in the NBA to fire the coach, because its easy. Sometimes its right, sometimes its useless, & many times things get worse. The Wiz franchise player hasn't been healthy for 3 yrs now, they still compete hard all year & make the playoffs.
    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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