Who should be the next coach of the Washington Wizards?

[Nivek]

^^^ So what you're saying is that Wittman should have chosen better lineups?



Doc Rivers is one of my favorite examples of how talent makes a coach muuuuuuuuuch better. Bill Simmons wrote one of his novel-length blog entries on how Rivers was the worst coach in the league! The next year, they won a title with that worst coach -- who suddenly became a good coach when he got KG and Ray Allen.

[manifested]

^^^ So what you're saying is that Wittman should have chosen better lineups?



Doc Rivers is one of my favorite examples of how talent makes a coach muuuuuuuuuch better. Bill Simmons wrote one of his novel-length blog entries on how Rivers was the worst coach in the league! The next year, they won a title with that worst coach -- who suddenly became a good coach when he got KG and Ray Allen.

On the flip side, Avery Johnson is the reverse Doc Rivers. Bunch of 50-60 win seasons with the Mavs including a trip to the Finals (where his team was on the verge of 3-0 lead before some controversial officiating/Wade took over).

But his WL record in NJ hovers just north of .300. Does that make him a bad coach? Does his trip to the Finals make him a good coach? Was he a good coach then and a bad coach now?

http://www.basketball-reference.com/coa ... av01c.html

[hands11]

I have no problem with Wittman getting a shot to earn a job next year. This next year is still very much a transitional year, and though I expect progress, I think the do or die year for this team will be in 2013 when Washington has considerable wiggling room under the cap.

If I'm Leonsis I probably would have done the same thing. Your GM is only under contract for two more years, and you're still on the hook for the headcoach he chose to be his guy.

They are not on the hook for Flip. And EG has not chosen Wittman to be the guy yet. But signs point that he will be. And it seems a good bit of those signs are the players themselves which is a very good sign. And now Ted is on record as saying he was impressed with his interviews with him. I can't wait for them to make it official. I want Randy back. Always did. I think he will prove a lot of you wrong next year. I think Randy is about to go on a good long run and in a few year will be considered one of the better coaches in the league.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wiz ... _blog.html

To a man, they like Randy and want him back.

Interesting how much Ted talked about vets and FA. Should be interesting to learn what that means. He sounds like he wants to use the pick and add the second rounder. Mason wants to come back. We all like Singleton. I hope they don't go overboard just yet but Ted said the rebuild phase is over. No TANKS. He is not looking for return to the lottery. They are entering a new phase.

Everything is going as planned.

[hegotgame132]

Man we are crazy if with stick with Wittman, the team would've performed better with anyone coaching after the Nene trade in a bunch of meaningless games. The guy is a bottom 5 coach in the league and SVG is consensus top 5 just sitting there on the market. I don't care that much whether the players like Wittman, we've all seen how awful players are at picking coaches. They will love SVG if we are winning and thats all that matters. If Wittman is really that great why hasn't he proven it already? He's 52 it's not like he hasn't had his chance. The guy has a .331 lifetime win percentage, yuck. Make it happen Ted this team is ready to make the leap.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Randy have not be mediocre. Why do people act like he was. What more could he have done then what he did ? He took over a team that was losing and undefined and simplified the play book. Got them playing D Benched Dray. Played KS. Get the pick and roll working. Tanked until it was in the bag sitting Nene. Brought him back in time to win 6 to close it out. Got Wall playing great PG. Integrated a few D leaguers. Got the players trust. And was always a class act.

I don't get fooled by late season stretches when we beat a bunch of sorry teams or playoff teams resting guys.

Wittman is an older retread coach. The future upside is very low with him.

I'd rather go out and try to get the next Thibodeau/Brooks, a younger guy who can grow with the young team.

I eventually want Joerger, a younger guy who can grow with the team, if/when Randy falters.

That said, Randy Wittman is approximately median-aged among NBA coaches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cu ... ad_coaches

Larry Drew 54
Doc Rivers 50
Avery Johnson 47
Tom Thibodeau 54
Byron Scott 51
Rick Carlisle 52
George Karl 61
Lawrence Frank 41
Mark Jackson 47
Kevin McHale 54
Frank Vogel 38
Vinny Del Negro 45
Mike Brown 42
Lionel Hollins 58
Eric Spoelstra 41
Scott Skiles 48
Rick Adelman 65
Monty Williams 40
Mike Woodson 54
Scott Brooks 46
Doug Collins 60
Alvin Gentry 57
Kaleb Canales 33
Keith Smart 47
Greg Popovich 63
Dwayne Casey 55
Ty Corbin 49

Randy Wittman 52

He and Rick Carlisle are 52. Eleven coaches are older. Fifteen coaches are younger One relatively new head coach, Tom Thibodeau is actually a couple years older than Randy Wittman.

Also, Randy has coached in Cleveland and Minnesota, so technically, he is a retread coach. However, if you look at the roster of each and every team Wittman has inherited, they had little to no talent. He could not have won much with those players, no matter how well he coached them. I don't fault his coaching at all. Look at the rosters and then you'll understand .331 overall winning.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/coa ... ra01c.html

Wittman had some bad, bad rosters to work with. This past season, Randy inherited Wall's broken jumper, Nick shooting for a contract, Javale and Pam McGee vs the Wizards management, Jordan Crawford shooting as often as Michael Jordan only much less accurately, Vesely who could only dunk, Chris Singleton who couldn't guard Carmelo's shadow, and Andray "Buffet after Lap Dance" Blatche. Seraphin was a relative unknown.

At the end of the season, the Wizards won 6 straight, including two over the Heat. Players respect Randy Wittman. He's the first coach I haven't complained about since year 3 or 4 Eddie Jordan. I respected the heck out of Eddie's coaching for a good while. I still think Eddie Jordan is a class act. So is Randy Wittman.

Randy Wittman is a good coach IMO.

I believe Dave Joerger is a potentially great coach, but Randy deserves this shot to make good, IMO. Wittman IS NOT too old and I do not consider him a retread, either.

[hegotgame132]

If only the last 3 weeks of the season counted as the whole season we'd be a top 5 team in the league every year! But they don't because real teams shut down their stars to prepare for the playoffs like both of those heat wins, and bad teams are tanking. How many years running are people going to get excited about closing the season strong before we realize it's a farce? Randy did a serviceable job now it's time to move aside and let someone more qualified take us where we need to go.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The Wizards won at Chicago and they won at Miami. In their finale at the Verizon Center, the Wizards beat Miami by 34 with guys like Chalmers, Battier, Miller, and Haslem all playing big minutes. The Heat weren't counting on that happening.

Getting a new coach NOW IMO is a great way to ruin chemistry. You get a dude like Nene who makes 13M a year, the best way to make him start taking days off like he did in Denver is to shuffle in a new coach. Nene was all smiles and so was Kevin Seraphin.

Randy turned Flip's turds into gold as far as I'm concerned. What Flip touched turned to feces but Randy came in and did a Midas job.

[Ruzious]

The Wizards won at Chicago and they won at Miami. In their finale at the Verizon Center, the Wizards beat Miami by 34 with guys like Chalmers, Battier, Miller, and Haslem all playing big minutes. The Heat weren't counting on that happening.

Getting a new coach NOW IMO is a great way to ruin chemistry. You get a dude like Nene who makes 13M a year, the best way to make him start taking days off like he did in Denver is to shuffle in a new coach. Nene was all smiles and so was Kevin Seraphin.

Randy turned Flip's turds into gold as far as I'm concerned. What Flip touched turned to feces but Randy came in and did a Midas job.

Wittman did a solid job - and I agree with the decision to keep him if they're not going to take a shot on a guy like Joerger, but Chalmers (who I like), Battier, Miller, and Haslem without le big tre will get you a bacon cheeseburger, large fries, and a scalding cup of coffee at Wendys. They still have a ton of improving to do to be a good team.

[Shorty]

Wittman it is.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/221330/Wizards_To_Bring_Back_Randy_Wittman

[jivelikenice]

I don't mind the move although I would have liked a fresh start with the FO and coaching staff. That being said, I think Ted views it as they finally figured out what they have on the roster and what kind of pieces they still need and bringing in new FO personel and a new coach could disrupt that. It also doesn't hurt that its a much cheaper option considering Ernie likely took a pay cut (according to reports) and Wittman will likely be one of the lowest paid head coaches in the NBA. Hopefully the savings will be used towards amnestying Dray, buying our Rashard, and FA. Frankly, I wouldn't even mind selling 2nd round picks this year if it would guaranty dumping those two guys.

[tontoz]

I am fine with Randy coming back. I think he did a good job even before the trade. Seraphin and Vesely made some big strides on his watch. He also scores major points with me by telling Blatche to GTFO.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I don't mind the move although I would have liked a fresh start with the FO and coaching staff. That being said, I think Ted views it as they finally figured out what they have on the roster and what kind of pieces they still need and bringing in new FO personel and a new coach could disrupt that. It also doesn't hurt that its a much cheaper option considering Ernie likely took a pay cut (according to reports) and Wittman will likely be one of the lowest paid head coaches in the NBA. Hopefully the savings will be used towards amnestying Dray, buying our Rashard, and FA. Frankly, I wouldn't even mind selling 2nd round picks this year if it would guaranty dumping those two guys.

I think you are 100% on point, jivelikenice.

One of the first things EG under Leonsis' watch as owner was to save Ted money by trading Gil for Rashard. Lewis being a high character guy was an ancillary benefit to him having one less guaranteed year, and thus him being much less expensive than Arenas. That didn't hurt EG from keeping is job one bit.

i fully expect the Wizards to move Blatche and/or Rashard via trade. The Wizards have plenty young dudes. It might be very reasonable to move unwanted contracts, trade the pick, and then spend the money saved on quality free agents. With guys like Ryan Anderson, Ersan Ilyasova, Nicolas Batum, Eric Gordon, Andre Miller, Chauncey Billups, Steve Nash, Grant Hill, Michael Redd, Anthony Randolph, etc. all free agents; I think trading the pick might not be as bad as some think. Crowder, Denmon, Barton, Draymond Green, Machado, Kevin Jones, Drew Gordon--these guys might be there in round two and they can help NBA teams as much as DX's projected round 1 picks.

Jivelikenice, I think the Wizards can trade them and either get a sign a quality FA, or acquire a good player in a trade. For instance, the Lakers might love to have MKG. They might take crap contracts, give up Pau, and a first round pick which the Wizards could use for Jae Crowder.

A lot of things can go down.

[BigA]

I guess things are set with Wittman, which is okay with me, but Jerry Sloan hasn't been part of our conversation. I didn't realize he was interviewing:

Sloan interviews with Charlotte.

What do people think? If they were going to go retread I would take Sloan over D'Antoni or either Van Gundy.

[hands11]

I guess things are set with Wittman, which is okay with me, but Jerry Sloan hasn't been part of our conversation. I didn't realize he was interviewing:

Sloan interviews with Charlotte.

What do people think? If they were going to go retread I would take Sloan over D'Antoni or either Van Gundy.

It was covered in this thread. We knew he was out there.

[FAH1223]

great topic to re-visit

Wittman's offensive system is bad, guys.

Wall and Beal won't grow with him as HC.

[dobrojim]

we can bloviate all we want (why not it's the internet)

but Witt ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

[BruceO]

its good to see ccj was right about joerger. ccj you should really get into some aspect of this game professionally. Some of your instincts are good on limited knowledge that these guys have.

that being said I did think with man deserved the shot since we transformed under his watch. maybe not cause of him but coaches deserve a good run with a roster as a reward when they've endured the bad..as opposed to getting tossed the moment they become good. coaches would stop being motivated to see it through.

[dobrojim]

great T tonight by Witt, especially when the player, Bosh iirc, missed it.
That's great defense.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

great topic to re-visit

Wittman's offensive system is bad, guys.

Wall and Beal won't grow with him as HC.

I feel the exact same way over 2 years later:

1.Wittman is a good coach.
2.Joerger is potentially a great coach.

I made a case above to say Randy took the same players Flip turned into "feces" and like "Midas" turned those into gold.

Wittman beat Tom Thibodeau in playoffs. If not for youthful inexperience, Paul George being better, Roy Hibbert balling out, and clutch play by David West; Randy might have beat Coach Vogel in round two.

I thought Wittman didn't coach them up against the Pacers. Atlanta had Indy on the ropes. Spacing, small ball, and threes to make Hibbert come out of the paint is what I think Wittman should have done.

All of that said, Washington is 11-5. Wittman has been very solid. I am happy with him.

The offense is not the key. Grinding out wins is more than sufficient IMHO.



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[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

its good to see ccj was right about joerger. ccj you should really get into some aspect of this game professionally. Some of your instincts are good on limited knowledge that these guys have.

Thanks for your kind words, Bruce.

I would LOVE to do just that. May I use you as a reference?

I give all the credit to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Any talents or gifts I have come from Him. Also, thanks to my mom and dad. May they both rest in peace. I thank God for their investment in me of time, patience, wisdom, and most of all their LOVE.

Also, the love RealGM because it allows me to interact with you and others. Like it says in the good book, iron sharpens iron!
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