Eddie Jordan Fired
Link here. Ed Tapscott, an assistant coach, will take over in the interim. I’ve never been a fan of Jordan as a coach — his player rotations didn’t make sense to me, and he didn’t seem to understand how important Brendan Haywood was to the team’s success. That said, their troubles this year don’t have a great deal to do with any problems with Jordan. Rather, their stinky performance just tends to illustrate the point that Haywood was a more important part of the team than many people realized.
Under a new coach, I think we can expect this team to be just as bad. What’s worse, the Wizards will probably be bad for a long time. They made some weird contract decisions aimed at locking into place a roster that was decidedly mediocre — limping into the playoffs in a weak Eastern Conference.
43 Responses to “Eddie Jordan Fired”
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November 24th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Jordan is one of the better coaches in the league. The available replacement coaches will almost certainly be worse. I can’t think of anyone worth having who is available. The Bulls, after all, ended up with Vinny Del Negro.
The Wizards fucked themselves.
November 24th, 2008 at 11:47 am
If a gutless wonder like Brendan Haywood was an important part of the team, then the coach shouldn’t be the only one fired.
November 24th, 2008 at 11:49 am
There is only one option now for Abe Polin: Pay Charles Barkley whatever he demands to be head coach. It would be the funniest thing in the history of sports, and the team could not possibly get any worse. Also, he can out-crazy Gilbert Arenas and teach their stable of undevloped big men a thing or two about post presences AND how to gain weight quickly.
November 24th, 2008 at 11:51 am
The Wizards path to contention could be surprisingly short. If McGee really is a player, and he seems to be, a little luck in the lottery would have them on knocking on the door in no time. A devastating setback is far more beneficial to the long term health of the franchise than another 45 win season.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
The problem with the current NBA cap structure is that limping into the playoffs is about all most teams can hope for unless they manage to acquire at least one player worth more than the max contract. Without that, it takes amazing management to produce a real contender. And look at all the thanks that Dumars has gotten for that achievement.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Thinking about it a bit more, I think I should add that you can also be a contender if you have stud on a rookie contract. But again, not so easy to arrange.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Presuambly after the season Larry Brown will be available.
Bad fit. The Wiz have at least two athletic players on the team.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
The problem with the current NBA cap structure is that limping into the playoffs is about all most teams can hope for unless they manage to acquire at least one player worth more than the max contract.
I’d argue that none of the Celts are currently worth a (second-time) max contract. But I’m pretty stingy.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
As Warner Wolf used to say, “never fire the players, always fire the coach.”
November 24th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
no one slept on haywood. its a centers league. the point was always how to get dude to not play soft.
i think *most* people understood this year would be a fight for the 8th spot, if that.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Three years of Cavaliers then out playoff basketball got tiring. The ridiculous re-signing of Arenas will encumber the team for some time. A guy who, in effect, hasn’t played for 2 years. And the dirty little secret with Arenas is that after the all-star game two years ago, he was much less effective than before it.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
“Without that, it takes amazing management to produce a real contender. And look at all the thanks that Dumars has gotten for that achievement.”
I think Dumars is rapidly heading for the overrated bin. He’s basically put together one particular group of players and ridden them to a lot of success in an era when the Eastern Conference has mightily sucked. Draft-wise, he has yet to make up for DARKO! I’m not sure letting Ben Wallace walk really turned out to be such a great move and I can’t believe anyone is fooled into thinking that trading Billups for AI does anything but hurt the Pistons chances this season. If he thinks some young max contact stud is going to sign on for the tail end of this aging Pistons team, he’s sorely mistaken.
Mike
November 24th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
No, Eddie Jordan was awesome. I think he’s had more success than any Wizards/ Bullets coach in 30 years. But as always the real reason for firing the coach is to leave the public satisfied and stupefied.
“Presuambly after the season Larry Brown will be available.”
Call it the reverse lottery. If you’re really bad, you might get the first pick in the draft, but you could also end up with Late Vintage Larry Brown. He’s killing the system the NBA has in place to help bad teams. He’s like the drug dealer who accepts food stamps.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Hey, maybe now they can dump a few players and have enough cap space to get James/Bosh/Wade/etc in 2010! That’s a good idea, too! Them and the 16 other teams with cap space, none of whom will get anyone besides maybe Bosh or Stoudemire.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Yeah, clearly what this team is missing is Haywood, not Arenas. Those close losses show that at cruchtime they are really missing a lazy underachiever, not a good offensive player that can create his shot at any time. And no way this team was a fluke last year….no, no, no, whats a bunch of flukes are all those stats that show gil to be one of the best offensive players in the league when healthy.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I believe Jordan is a very good coach, but he had to go. At 1-10, only bank executives keep their jobs at that level of failure.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I’m surprised, just because the Wiz seem to operate on geological time when it comes to front-office moves.
This season wasn’t EJ’s fault, and as an old-time Boulez fan I respect what he did for the team and fear what’s next (I hear Gar Heard is available).
And yet the players had pretty clearly given up on EJ. That’s probably their fault, but you can’t fire the whole team, blah blah blah. And losing to a Knicks squad playing the second half of a back-to-back with a 7 or 8 player rotation and nobody over 6′8″…that’s not good.
So the Wiz will go with youth and maybe win 20 games instead of the 14 they would with EJ. But if they get lucky in the lottery they may grab the next Ledell Eackles!
November 24th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Colatina: beautiful comment up there…
“Larry Brown’s like the drug dealer who accepts food stamps.”
November 24th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I can still recall earlier this year Matt telling us that the Wizards were just as good as The Cavs as they went on to knock them out of the playoffs for the 3rd year.
This organization is a joke, perhaps not all Jordan’s fault, but the head coach always takes the heat.
November 24th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I’d argue that none of the Celts are currently worth a (second-time) max contract. But I’m pretty stingy.
Are you kidding me? I don’t know what story you want to provide for how the Celtics beat the Lakers, but I’m pretty sure any reasonable one requires a pretty substantial contribution from KG on the defensive end. If he wasn’t one of the best players in the game, I’m pretty sure they’re not a title team. I think Pierce also played at an above max contract level for that series. Now we all know that team is a ticking time bomb. If you extend Pierce and KG with the max, you’re going to be in salary cap hell and a non-contender in about 3 years. And that’s not even mentioning what you do with Ray Allen.
think Dumars is rapidly heading for the overrated bin. He’s basically put together one particular group of players and ridden them to a lot of success in an era when the Eastern Conference has mightily sucked. Draft-wise, he has yet to make up for DARKO! I’m not sure letting Ben Wallace walk really turned out to be such a great move and I can’t believe anyone is fooled into thinking that trading Billups for AI does anything but hurt the Pistons chances this season. If he thinks some young max contact stud is going to sign on for the tail end of this aging Pistons team, he’s sorely mistaken.
This kind of criticism just baffles me. They won a title and had multiple solid title runs. What more do you want from a GM who isn’t blessed with Shaq, Duncan or MJ? Fact of the matter is that he found great value players that fit together, then acquired one final piece, a heavily underrated at the time Rasheed, and had a legit title team for a few years. Now he’s trying to see if he can extend the run or transition without the typical hangover. Maybe you can quibble with some decisions, but the Pistons have been one of the top 5 run teams of the decade, without a doubt.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
With their deplorable defense the Wiz are essentially playing against Nash, Iverson, Iguodala, Josh Smith and Shaq every night. Whereas, the Lakers (league’s best defense) play five guys whose star power is still at full name status: Jose Calderson, Luol Deng, Raja Bell, Ryan Gomes and Tyson Chandler.
So long as the Arenas mindset permeates the organization this will continue to be mind numbing.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
If he wasn’t one of the best players in the game, I’m pretty sure they’re not a title team.
I just looked up Garnett’s PER from last season: fourth in the league, so fair enough.
The other exemplar would probably be the Pistons of the last five odd years.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
The other exemplar would probably be the Pistons of the last five odd years.
This is specifically why I think Dumars achieved something significant as a GM.
November 24th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
“I think Dumars is rapidly heading for the overrated bin. He’s basically put together one particular group of players and ridden them to a lot of success in an era when the Eastern Conference has mightily sucked. Draft-wise, he has yet to make up for DARKO!”
The Darko pick was a huge fuck-up, no doubt. He’s got a eye for talent, though. He snagged Tayshaun late in the first round, Rodney Stuckey (15th pick) was a great pick-he’ll be an All-Star eventually. Maxiell- 26th pick.
He’s definitely one of the best GMs in the leauge- top 5 at worst.
November 24th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I’d argue that none of the Celts are currently worth a (second-time) max contract. But I’m pretty stingy.
You wouldn’t give Paul Pierce the max?
November 24th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
You wouldn’t give Paul Pierce the max?
No. My recollection is that his shot selection is abominable, and that he often turns into a volume shooter. Reminds me a bit of his former mate, Walker. His PER last year marked him as a borderline All-Star. (His PER in prior years is better than I would have thought.) That seems about right. Two caveats: (1) I think there are only fifteen or twenty players in the league worth a max contract, and he’s not among the fifteen or twenty I’d select first. (2) He is a throwback Celtic: so physically ungainly that it sometimes seems impossible that he’s a pro athlete. Of a piece with Bird, McHale, and Parish. So I kind of hate him on general principle.
November 24th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
“He is a throwback Celtic: so physically ungainly that it sometimes seems impossible that he’s a pro athlete.”
Yeah-I’m kind of surprised that someone with a paunchy physique like that is such a badass, especially for a perimeter player. I’d be shocked if he’s done any serious weight training- dude has the arm definition of a fat chick. Hell of a baller, though.
November 24th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Paul Pierce plays summer ball here in Los Angeles, and I’ve had to opportunity to watch him, Baron Davis and a few other guys play several times in a small gym close up. What I’ve noticed about him and is game that you can’t appreciate on TV is how big he really is, and how well he takes advantage of his size. He’s got great size all around. Some NBA guys might have huge arms, but skinny legs. Pierce is big everywhere. He’s effective at throwing his weight around to get good shots for himself and to get to the free throw line. He’s also a great perimeter shooter which makes him tough to cover. He’s currently among the top four in the league: Kobe, James, Paul, and Pierce. And certainly deserving of the max contract that he receives. As long as he keeps it up, I think you extend him at the same level. You just don’t give him 6 more years. Maybe 3 instead.
November 24th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
It’s a pitch for Obama support. I think Tapscott went to Sidwell.
November 24th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Pierce has definitely stepped up his game on both ends of the court. I don’t see how he’s not one of the top 5, much less 15-20, best players in the game.
Grunfeld should take at least 80% of the blame for the Wizards, but of course he gets to spout off about how 1-10 is not acceptable and fire the coach.
November 25th, 2008 at 11:25 am
“No. My recollection is that (Pierce’s) shot selection is abominable, and that he often turns into a volume shooter. Reminds me a bit of his former mate, Walker.”
SCMT is officially an idiot.
Pierce is easily the second best small forward in the association.
—–
“limping into the playoffs in a weak Eastern Conference.”
The Eastern Conference is officially better than the Western Conference so far this year, and I’d expect that to continue.
Matt might want to try following the league, rather than relying on his memory of how things were two years ago.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
By the way, saying only 15-20 players in the NBA deserve a max contract is absurd. The average NBA contract is about 5M/year. If you have 10-12 guys on your team, that is the salary you’re paying your marginal starter. And that average is pulled down somewhat by players on rookie contracts. The max contract this year for a 7-9 year veteran is about 15M. For guys with 1-6 years of experience, it’s about 13M I would say that every team in the NBA should have at least one guy who is worth 3 times the average NBA salary. Anything less is preposterous.
Where teams get themselves into trouble is with signing veterans to long term max deals that can escalate each year faster than the max contract is increasing each year. This is how you get guys making 20M. And when a guy is in his mid 30s, he may not be worth that much anymore. But there are plenty of guys in the league in their late 20s who are a bargain for the max contract.
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