Bullets Fire Eddie Jordan

[PennSkinsFan]

Story from DC Pro Sports Report forthcoming.

[Spence]

After a miserable 1-10 start, the Washington Wizards have fired Head Coach Eddie Jordan and replaced him with Eddie Tapscott. Eddie Tapscott held the post of Director of Player Development, but he travelled with the team and served as a kind of extra assistant coach. He’ll handle his first practice today starting at 11 AM.

Jordan was in his sixth season with the Wizards and led the team to the playoffs each of the past four. In September, shortly before the start of training camp, the Wizards picked up a one-year option to keep him under contract through the 2009-10 season.
He leaves as the Eastern Conference’s longest-tenured coach and No. 3 in the NBA behind Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz and Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs.

It’s hard to argue that a coach deserves to keep his job after his team starts the season with 10 losses in 11 games. On the other hand, Jordan is coaching without his best player and scorer, Gilbert Arenas, and without his best defensive player, Brendan Haywood. Most nights, the only guys in the starting lineup who deserve to be there are PF Antawn Jamison and QF Caron Butler. The rest are either too young [Javale McGee] or just journemen [Dee Brown, Deshawn Stevenson, Juan Dixon].

I’ll have more on this later…

[cpayne5]

I just saw this new scroll across the screen on ESPN and it shocked me. Yeah, the Zards are off to a terrible start, but Eddie Jordan is a good coach and one who, I thought, deserved better than this.

[Spence]

More thoughts on this matter:

Why did the Wizards fire Eddie Jordan 11 games into the season? [By the way, Jordan's pal and head assistant Mike O'Koren was also fired. Randy Ayers was promoted to head assistant coach.]

Well, for starters, the team lost 10 of those 11 games and coaches with that sort of winning percentage usually get fired. This is the worst start for the franchise since 1966, when the team was called the Baltimore Bullets. But how did it come to this and how much blame must Eddie Jordan accept?
My guess is that things in the locker room are pretty bad right now.

I first began to suspect something bad was going on when Antawn Jamison — the ultimate good guy — fumed in public about his teammates.

Read it all!

[PennSkinsFan]

So I take it Tom that there was absolutely no indication this was int he works? I can remember back when the Caps fired Glen Hanlon, every indication was given, not to mention the defeaning chants of Fire Glen. Nothing going on like that at the Phone Booth?

[Spence]

Originally Posted by PennSkinsFan

So I take it Tom that there was absolutely no indication this was int he works? I can remember back when the Caps fired Glen Hanlon, every indication was given, not to mention the defeaning chants of Fire Glen. Nothing going on like that at the Phone Booth?

People weren't chanting "Fire Eddie" at the Phone Booth, but the team tanked that game against the Knicks. NY had only 8 guys on the roster due to a trade they'd just made. The Bullets not only lost a game they shouldn't have lost, they didn't seem to particularly care. And it was just one 4th quarter collapse after another. I didn't see the firing as imminent, but now that it has happened, you can use hindsight to see it coming.

[BDBohnzie]

Writing was on the wall with the slow start...straw being the loss to the 8 man Knicks the other day. Reading the paper yesterday, I thought to myself how long will Jordan last. I figured longer than this, but it is what it is. Consider another season tanked.

[hooskins]

he is a good coach though. God I hate the NBA

[SmootSmack]

Interesting you called them the Bullets in the first thread, intentional?

Anyhow, waht I've seen of the Wizards this season has been simply embarrassing. The blame though has to lie with Ed Grunfeld in my opinion, whose reputation from past teams has made him like a teflon don it seems. But you look at the roster he's put together and it just doesn't make sense to me. Although, I will say that I think he might have got it right with McGee. I was against drafting him because I thought what's the point since we already have Blatche. But I think Blatche is a bust. Pecherov looks lost out there, Songaila seems like a waste of a contract, McGuire can't find minutes, Nick Young is a solid player but he's not a dominating guard who takes over a game (not yet at least) and I would have rather we took a solid point guard like Crittenton because we have no true point guard (other than maybe Daniels, who is like the James Thrash of Les Boulez).

Happy to see a former AU guy taking over in Ed Tapscott, but I can't imagine he's the long term answer nor should he be. They need to figure out what sort of team they want to be, and it seems like what Grunfeld wants is to be a 1990s Knicks defensive-type team. If that's the case then I'd go after Jeff Van Gundy (I wanted him to be HC before Eddie Jordan).

[JLee9718]

I've said this before and I probably don't need to repeat it again, but during the preseason when the Wizards would hold scrimmages, the first team guys were getting beaten on a regular basis by the second team. That tells me that a few didn't care about winning or losing. Also, if the "Princeton Offense" was ever being used, I couldn't tell it.

[Spence]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Interesting you called them the Bullets in the first thread, intentional?

Yeah, I was a fan of the team long before they chose the awful name they carry now. I live in hope that Ted "E-mail" Leonsis will get the team and restore the proper name.

[itvnetop]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

They need to figure out what sort of team they want to be, and it seems like what Grunfeld wants is to be a 1990s Knicks defensive-type team. If that's the case then I'd go after Jeff Van Gundy (I wanted him to be HC before Eddie Jordan).

Wow... I like it! JVG... I was thinking Avery Johnson, but I think he'd get into too many conflicts with Gil.

EJ is a good guy and I'm grateful for his playoff appearances. There were just too many flaws with his rotations and coaching style that don't build a championship team. Perimeter defense has always suffered, even when healthy. The Princeton offense would too often bog down with unnecessary passes that killed the shot clock. Plus, the players seemed to have tuned out a while ago.

I consider this season a wash anyway (we need a Rubio or Griffin to compete in the East in the future) and I think EG's gonna do some roster reshuffling. The youngs are gonna get the burn they need. Anything from here on out is totally on EG now.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by JLee9718

I've said this before and I probably don't need to repeat it again, but during the preseason when the Wizards would hold scrimmages, the first team guys were getting beaten on a regular basis by the second team. That tells me that a few didn't care about winning or losing. Also, if the "Princeton Offense" was ever being used, I couldn't tell it.

The "Princeton Offense" was used and was most effective frankly when Arenas wasn't playing last here and Daniels was running the point. This isn't to say the team is better off without Arenas but they are better off with him playing off the ball, not as the point.

[mooby]

I'm grateful for what EJ did for the Wizards, but I feel like he lost control of this team. And when that happens honestly the only solution I see is that the coach needs to go. Good luck to him in the future but I'm glad to see this change coming, honestly I feel like this season is a wash but we will be setting ourselves up for a better chance at a high draft pick and I feel like I'd rather set the team up for future success rather than have another 42-40 team that fails to get it done in the playoffs. Not to mention I wasn't really a fan of his Princeton offense, I mean when we had the right personnel in it worked but with injuries and pretty much losing the team it wasn't working anymore.

[SmootSmack]

Not a bad start for Tapscott

ESPN - Golden State vs. Washington - Recap - November 25, 2008