Official Randy Wittman Thread - It's Playoff Randy Time LOL

[nuposse04]

I think Vesely coulda banged with the likes of Grant Hill. When they went small, it became an issue. I understand why he wants to play big at times, but you only play big if you have bigs who can assert their dominance. While Okafor has been solid, he is a liability offensively with iffy hands at times down low.

And Vesely would have been better in that regard?

No but he would have been useful to guard their wing players. If Vesely can't dunk over and old as hell Grant Hill then he REALLY has a problem. When Okafor isn't really in the "flow' of the game every possession he gets makes me cringe cause its usually a brick or he gets stripped. He and Nene are the only big men we have that try to take charges. Seraphin wasn't in a rhythm, we should have went with Jan at some point. And we should have put in Temple for crawford way sooner than later. Its all moot now. We just need to trade crawford away. Badly.

[dlts20]

Does appreciation mean that you cant say anything bad about him?

Ive been saying it all along. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. I hate his Offense. Its basically just like Flips and it doesnt blend well with our Franchise guy. All he does is dribble side to side around a pick and is mostly forced to swing it back or take a jump shot. You can talk about Wall's J all you want but Im telling you there are Offenses where it would be easier for him to get the shot that he wants.

Then you come to this game. The guards have to take some blame on D but at the end of the day Witt is the coach. I was screaming at the TV all game long for Wall, Prince, & Temple to stay on IT's left side. He's a lefty so make him go right. He still might do something but it would be 10x harder. If you let him just have the left then the D is dead and we never adjusted all night. How can you guard him straight up like Price did? How can you stay on his left at times like Wall did but still allow him to go left?

Then Temple late just let him easily go left again right in the lane for an easy floater. You tell the PG to stay on his left, force him right, and send all the help that way. Dont let him do the easiest thing it is for him to do. I hate Witt. He had to tell his guys that in the TO. Again, to me its about winning a title and if you dont think he's the guy to win a title then why are we wasting our time? Passing up great coaches on the way. It makes no sense

[dobrojim]

I'm a big fan of overplaying a player's strong hand on D. But most players
who have made it to the NBA have adjusted to being played that way
often by first taking what the D gives them, then as soon as they have
an advantage, they go right back to their dominant side. Harden is a good
example of this. He reluctantly goes right when forced to, but eventually
ends up going left more often than not.

[hands11]

I'm a big fan of overplaying a player's strong hand on D. But most players
who have made it to the NBA have adjusted to being played that way
often by first taking what the D gives them, then as soon as they have
an advantage, they go right back to their dominant side. Harden is a good
example of this. He reluctantly goes right when forced to, but eventually
ends up going left more often than not.

And in the time it might have take him to do that, they game would have been over.

[hands11]

My only complaint is Randy seems to have way too much love for Jordan Crawford.

I think Beal's stroke and Wall's return have made Jordan now a useful sub.

You still think he loves Crawford to much ?

Dec numbers 35.8 min, 19 pts, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3.5 FTA per game

Jan. numbers 22 min, 10 pts, 10 pts, 1.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.6 FTA per game

This team is sorely missing the Swagger that the team gets when Crawford gets going.

If Beal was putting up Crawfords Dec numbers, most here would do back flips.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

hands, I'm not mad at you, brother.

*I have no energy left to defend Wittman. I think his run is about up. I'm not mad at him or you.

*EDITED: Today, 2/9/13, I am glad I was wrong. Randy has them playing well.

[hands11]

NY Game.

He did a better job with the rotations in this game. Webster got minutes at SG finally. Actually with Webster and Trevor A out there together, I swear I saw Trevor A playing the SG slot sometimes on offense.

Only dumb line up was when he had Kevins A and Singleton in the post with Price at PG. He still hasn't learned that he needs one of Nene or Okafor out there at all times. Okafor played 25 minutes and only had 1 foul so there is no excuse for not having him out there.

He played Temple, Price and Crawford less and Trevor A and Webster more which was the right move.

I have been hard on Randy for poor line up and bad rotations. I feel he screwed things up from the first game and didn't utilize the players he had better. But he did better last night. He has mostly been an assistant so he needs to learn just like anyone else. Hopefully he gets a handle on this roster and what works best.

I think Randy is one of those Pop type system coaches. Mostly what we saw last night is what he wants. That is why Crawford is now in the dog house. I think what he wants from him is more catch and shoot and better defense. That isn't who Crawford has been. He is more of a ball in hand player which makes him more of a PG in Randy's system. Which is where I said he should have played all along. Sadly Randy didn't use him that way when they had no Wall. Back up PG and SG but PG first. He is a better talent then Price so it would have been a better investment to groom there then giving those minutes to Price. But that moment has passed. Now Wall is back and they have Price and Temple to back him up.

Players like Webster and Okafor are the idea players to fit in with what Randy wants. 90% of the time they do exactly what is asked from them for the system at their positions and they do those things well. Trevor A is a nice fit for Randy as well. Temple is a player he would like for those reasons and even Price has developed into that kind of player. Mostly Price does what Randy asks him to do. He has taken less shoots outside the flow of the offense and mostly he just runs the offense.

And since you can only break so many horses at once, Kevin S seems to be the one that has had the longest rope. He hasn't played the way Randy wants. Not even close but they give him plenty of opportunity because that is the player they are investing in. They did the same thing with Beal. They do the same thing with Wall. They have gotten lots of burn regardless. Singleton, Ves and now Crawford. They get treated differently.

Singleton has been released from the rehab center for the time being and shown well. Let see if that puts Booker on the bench or not. Booker has rebounded well but he has also forced his offense.

Randy mostly played 8 players last night. That is more manageable. Players need to get in a groove with each other. When Beal comes back, he will most likely take Temples minutes which is to bad. I like Temples defense presence on the court.

You can slowly see the rotation coming together. Looks like Crawford may be the odd man out for now.

Wall/Price or Temple
Beal/Webster
Trevor A/Webster
Nene/Singleton
Okafor/Kevin

Bench. Crawford, Ves, Booker

He should just stick to this. Play one of Price, Temple or Crawford spot minutes at PG depending on what you need. Then rotate in Ves or Booker for Singleton sometimes. I wouldn't even have a problem with them starting Webster at SG and bringing Beal off the bench. Beal is a rookie. He can handle it. Let the more veteran Webster start the game and get things rolling.

[jivelikenice]

I've been critical of Wittman but he's been much better since the second half versus SA. He's spreading the floor, mixing lineups well, running a lot of high pick & roll, and isn't waiting too long to go back to the starters if the bench is struggling.

[hands11]

Two mostly well coached game by Randy in a row.

He held out a little to long on that run to end the half.

He still hasn't found his answer at back up PG when Price can't get it done.

For now, he seems to have figure out the better offense to run for Nene is to not feed him in the post so much but from the top down on pick and rolls etc.

Lets see how he handles integrating Beal back into things. For now, Temple is still starting even if he isn't playing start minutes. Temple really helps the defense. Hopefully figures out how to use both.

[hands11]

http://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/of ... efficiency

Well the defensive rating is excellent. Randy gets a lot of credit for that. I haven't cared for all of his game time adjustment but he has been a good HC regarding getting the team to learn, buy in and play lock down D.

That is why he turned to Temple at SG when Beal went down. Temple is a defensive presence on the perimeter. He and Wall can really mess things up for the other team.

Now he has to get the offensive rating up. The link above is the best I could find to help see off eff over time though it is only 3 games. It also shows a comparison to late year which interestingly was better, and home and away.

A top defensive team is one piece of a legit conference contender. The second part is eff offense.

Over the last 3 games the off eff is way up. I would love to see the number month by month to see a bigger picture trend for the team without going player by player.

Seems its up to Wall, Beal and Randy to keep those numbers moving in the right direction.

Nene
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_ ... /nen%C3%AA

Less post initiated offense seems to have helped Nene get his numbers up again after a tough Jan.

Wall needs to get his eff up.
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_ ... /john-wall
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ljo01.html

For now, Walls eff is at career lows.

Beal
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_ ... adley-beal
They also need Beal to find the groove he found in January when he was on fire.

So for now, with Webster rolling, Okafor looking like the Okafor of old, and Trevor hitting 3 balls, it looks like its up to Wall and Beal to lift the teams offensively efficiency. Randy can help Wall by getting him more isolation and letting him run plays off the high screens where he can drive. And Wall needs to save shooting those Js for when he is either hot or the game is already in hand. I would rather see him working on the floater.

[bgroban]

Bumpity bump.

Randy's no Zen Master (yet), but I want him back next season.

[Zonkerbl]

Wittman rawks.

[hands11]

Doing one hell of a job Randy.

Back to back games Okafor starts like an All Star and Randy wastes is with his crazy lines changes.

I called this game in lose near the end of the first quarter when I saw how Randy was doing the rotations.

Then he apparently is unable to coach Wall in any way at all. What the hell was that from Wall. It was like he learn nothing at all in 3 years and Randy just sat back and watched it.

Singleton to the bench for Booker for some reason.
Crawford rotting away behind Price. Not even a sniff of Temple for some reason.
At least he canned Kevin for being clueless.

I have a much faith in Randy getting the rotation right as I did in EFJ. Thats depressing. Its like they are the same coach only EFJ was all offense and Randy is all defense. And both as assistant coaches, not HCs

[hands11]

Exit Interview.
http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos ... ec17ed0000

Randy Wittman reflects on the 2012-13 season, discusses his plan for some of the players' off-season, talks about the turnaround the team made from...


So how do you'll think Randy did ?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I thought Randy did the same as what he said the team did. He "did a good job of dealing with a lot of ups and downs". The coach and team both were very resilient.

Wittman impressed me all season as being a stand up guy and the video shows why. This coach values feedback and is genuinely interested in hearing from players how they feel about the way things are going. He doesn't carp on negativity alone, but rather gives players his opinion of their strengths and weaknesses. I get the impression he does that with all his players.

If I have anything that gives me pause it is that Randy recognized Jason Collins immediately as a veteran who knows how to play. I think having the future and young players report to Randy is somewhat stifling and not in their best interest because stand up guy or not, Randy is an older, old-school coach who wants and needs to win now. Vesely is probably a lot more scared of Randy than he would be of a fresh face. The only young guy who played as well is Booker and IMO it's because Booker isn't afraid of anyone.

This coach IMO, hands, is good enough because he is progressive and a good communicator. He was sorry to see the season end. Randy is a grinder just like Jerry Sloan was. He will win with talent. I am so much more impressed with Wittman than I was with Saunders is all I can say is Randy is a decent man.

That said, I'm still looking to see if Memphis didn't renew Lionel Hollins because as soon as their playoffs are over they plan to hire Dave Joerger. Randy hasn't made me forget Joerger, but I do think Wittman will guide the Wizards to the playoffs if the team is healthy and their key parts return.

[nate33]

Nice post, CCJ. I agree with all of it. Wittman is solid. Maybe he isn't a strategic genius, but he's a communicator and a hard worker and his steady, persistent style has rubbed off on the team. I agree that he has done a better job than Flip Saunders.

Wittman has certainly done a good enough job to retain the head coach job assuming EG is still in charge. If Ted decides to go in a different direction, he better fire EG first. If a new GM wanted to hire his own guy, that's okay with me. I like Wittman, but it's not like I think he's a Coach of the Year candidate or anything.

[queridiculo]

hands, I'm not mad at you, brother.

*I have no energy left to defend Wittman. I think his run is about up. I'm not mad at him or you.

*EDITED: Today, 2/9/13, I am glad I was wrong. Randy has them playing well.

Curious, how much credit goes to Newman for the way this team has been playing on defense? Not to take anything away from Wittman, keeping this team together after that horrific start was quite a feat, but Newman arrived with a rep as defensive maven.

[pancakes3]

JVG tore into the Pistons front desk for burning through coaches and not addressing the personnel. As bad as the pistons are, this rings doubly true for the Wizards. We might have whiffed as bad as Darko but their first and second rounders have shown much more talent than ours especially considering since 2003 the highest pick they've had was the 7th with Monroe.

Our draft picks have been horrific and ever since signing Gil our free agency has been disappointing at best. The best GM moves you can point to has been in unloading the very talent that EG brought in.

I like Whittman fine enough but he is only doing a yeoman's job. It's understandable because he doesn't carry much cred but if he's confident in himself, he should be more vocal in his demands like Thibs and Carlilse.

[hands11]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wiz ... ant-coach/

Wizards promote Pat Sullivan to assistant coach

By Michael Lee, Published: June 29, 2013 at 11:31 pm

With Jerry Sichting moving on to Phoenix, the Wizards have promoted former advance scout Pat Sullivan to the role of full-time assistant. Sullivan replaces Sichting.

Don Newman, Don Zierden and Sam Cassell with continue to sit next to Wittman on the bench, while Sullivan and Ryan Saunders are expected to stay behind the bench. After the Wizards selected Porter and Glen Rice Jr. in the draft, Wittman said the team remains relatively young, which might lead him to add another developmental coach to his staff.

“I’m not going to just hire anybody, but if I find a situation like that, I might tweak something there,” Wittman said.

[hands11]

http://www.nba.com/video/games/nuggets/ ... index.html

Nice interview with Randy

10:10 really nice two man game with Ves for a dunk.

A little from Sam I am as well.

http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos ... ec17ed0000

Talks about Glen, Ves, and Singleton. Good details on where they are and what he wants to see.