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

[dckingsfan]

Another source says that Checkers days are numbered too - could it be a twofer?

[Sluggerface]

Never mind. J.Michael just said he was told Wittman wasn't in jeopardy. **** me sideways.

[queridiculo]

Firing Wittman is pointless. Yes, his methods are archaic and his philosophy hails from the basketball dark ages, but with about 25 games left, is anybody currently on the staff really going to make a difference?

Leonsis has to think about the direction of this franchise over the coming offseason, and hopefully he arrives at a conclusion that has him parting with Grunfeld and gives the replacement the authority to pick his own staff.


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[MJ7]

Firing Wittman is pointless. Yes, his methods are archaic and his philosophy hails from the basketball dark ages, but with about 25 games left, is anybody currently on the staff really going to make a difference?

Leonsis has to think about the direction of this franchise over the coming offseason, and hopefully he arrives at a conclusion that has him parting with Grunfeld and gives the replacement the authority to pick his own staff.


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Don't know if I'm with you there. I don't think Wittman has 100% control of the locker room. Or maybe the team has no faith in his play designs.

[queridiculo]

Don't know if I'm with you there. I don't think Wittman has 100% control of the locker room. Or maybe the team has no faith in his play designs.

Ok, so you fire Wittman, how much time is left to establish a new offense, practice? Not a lot.

It's pretty much a grind from now until the playoffs, and when you have a team as old as the Wizards, do you really want to use the precious time off to practice and establish something new?

This Wizards are stuck, with whom they have on the roster, the front office and the coaches that are running the show.

The best thing that we can hope for as fans is that the Wizards fire Grunfeld and Wittman as soon as league business is over and find somebody competent to move forward.

[MJ7]

I think having an old team like the Wizards eases the transition for the new interim head coach. I see what you're saying though.

[dlts20]

Firing Wittman is pointless. Yes, his methods are archaic and his philosophy hails from the basketball dark ages, but with about 25 games left, is anybody currently on the staff really going to make a difference?

Leonsis has to think about the direction of this franchise over the coming offseason, and hopefully he arrives at a conclusion that has him parting with Grunfeld and gives the replacement the authority to pick his own staff.


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I totally disagree for a few reasons. 1st of all, its not so much about what another guy can do but its about what this guy cant do. You know you are going nowhere fast with Witt so why not just see if something else magically works. 2nd, someone else on this staff deserves a shot just like Witt got a shot. 3rd, you say there is no one on this staff but you have a guy who came from the best place in the league in Don Newman. 3rd, and I talk about this all the time. Toronto straight up owns us. They have beaten us 6-1 in the last 2 years and was well on there way to making it 7-0 but in the one game we beat them, its teh game that Wittman coincedently got ejected in. Newman came in, went small, and ran p&r with Wall & Gortat with 3 shooters around them. Both Wall & Gortat dominated while we scored at will. Witt never is that bright.

We also may have a Ralph Friedgen situation going on here where Newman maybe a solid coach but never gets a real shot because of his looks. I know what Im getting with Witt and I know where we are going with him this year. Newman may not be any better but I would rather take a shot with him then to just go down with the ship. To me it is very small minded to just go out like that when you know what the end will be under Witt. For all we know we could have another coach Bud on our hands who we arent giving a shot to and even if he's not coach Bud, even someone marginal is an upgrade over Witt at this point.

Not only that but its just not fair to the players to let them die a slow death like this. We are very stale right now. Its run its course. Even a terrible new coach would be a mini boost. We need a shot in the arm right now. However, Im starting to think that Ted is going to wait until Witt has a full roster before he makes a change. The problem is that time is running out. You cant make a change with 10 or 15 games left. Its now or never Teddy

[cdouglas]

I think having an old team like the Wizards eases the transition for the new interim head coach. I see what you're saying though.

I think a younger unexperienced team would more likely fit that description. We've been there and done that.

[Tricky_Kid]

EG and Witt are like Ying and Yang of badness. Need to cut them both ASAP

[nate33]

Firing Wittman is pointless. Yes, his methods are archaic and his philosophy hails from the basketball dark ages, but with about 25 games left, is anybody currently on the staff really going to make a difference?

Leonsis has to think about the direction of this franchise over the coming offseason, and hopefully he arrives at a conclusion that has him parting with Grunfeld and gives the replacement the authority to pick his own staff.

I agree with you that the priority should be to fire Grunfeld. But I disagree with the notion that firing Wittman is "pointless". Clearly, Wittman has lost the team. The team has learned all they're going to learn from him and they're not going to listen anymore. But the greater issue is that you can't have a coach whom everyone knows is a dead man walking. If EG is fired, it'll be understood that Wittman will be gone as soon as a new GM is in place. Nobody will listen to him. It would be better to have an interim coach like Newman who would at least be auditioning to be a coach under the new GM.

Finally, what if, while Wittman is still coach, the team suddenly gets hot from midrange in the first round of the playoffs and makes it to the second round? It would result in Wittman staying another year, and that's something I can't bear to watch.

When Ted fires Grunfeld, he should fire Wittman on the same day. It's the only way to do it that makes sense.

[Dark Faze]

My only issue with firing Grunsfeld is the possibility of an interim guy from the staff coming up and sending us on a mini streak and getting a two year deal because of it.

Wide, stinking, terrible darkness after a first round playoff sweep is almost ideal...because nobody on this coaching staff should be here next year.

[cdouglas]

What if they wait to fire Witman and all of his staff at the end of the year and another team should hire Newman and he turns out to be another good coach. If Wittman doesn't get this team together by the next couple of games, I would like to see what Newman can do with this team. If I'm not mistaken, our defense improved after he was brought in as the asst coach. Someone posted that we look like the Spurs, well it sound crazy now but in reality we have a coach who worked with Pops. I think he definetly should be considered and to find a good offense minded coach to assist. Our motto is "DC Rising"' this team needs to RISE above this and not end the year in shame. Something needs to be done immediately if they continue to lose at this capacity. Mgmt should think about how this is effecting the team when the coach doesn't have the answer. I would hope they wouldn't want this team after all of the excitement of winning and having a taste of being on top would end their season at the bottom. That would REALLY say a lot about the franchise. Franchises that are serious about winning championships does everything it takes to win and will cut their ties immediately if it stands in their way.

[hands11]

What if they wait to fire Witman and all of his staff at the end of the year and another team should hire Newman and he turns out to be another good coach. If Wittman doesn't get this team together by the next couple of games, I would like to see what Newman can do with this team. If I'm not mistaken, our defense improved after he was brought in as the asst coach. Someone posted that we look like the Spurs, well it sound crazy now but in reality we have a coach who worked with Pops. I think he definetly should be considered and to find a good offense minded coach to assist. Our motto is "DC Rising"' this team needs to RISE above this and not end the year in shame. Something needs to be done immediately if they continue to lose at this capacity. Mgmt should think about how this is effecting the team when the coach doesn't have the answer. I would hope they wouldn't want this team after all of the excitement of winning and having a taste of being on top would end their season at the bottom. That would REALLY say a lot about the franchise. Franchises that are serious about winning championships does everything it takes to win and will cut their ties immediately if it stands in their way.

Yeah.. That's the way to go.

Final straw was not only those MIN and PHI games but in an odd way, that DET game might have been an even bigger dagger even though they won.

Against DET, we played one style the first half and it was beautiful near perfect basketball. It was everything I wouldn't associate with a Randy run offense. More 3s. Walk up quick 3s. Quick shots in general on catch and shoot without 6 passes first on every play.

Then back to Randy style the 2nd half. One dimensional pounding of the paint. No quick shots. Slow developing iso post plays.
Ugly. Turnovers. lost the lead and grinned it out.

He just isn't going to get it enough of the time. There couldn't be a more clear contrast in one game. He is just not going to magically turn into a coach that preaches the kind of ball they played the first half. He will always revert to a grind it out coach in the mold of a Thibs. Which is why we play CHI well.

And as Beal gets healthier, I expect he will return to more inefficient stuff, dribbling to no where, playing peek a boo pick play with Gortat and Nene. Just more useless stupid crap. Gooden will return to rot on the bench and Hump will make his pretty FTL 2 pter and shoot 20 ft long 2s while never attempting a 3.

[gambitx777]

Final straw was not only those MIN and PHI games but in an odd way, that DET game might have been an even bigger dagger even though they won.

Against DET, we played one style the first half and it was beautiful near perfect basketball. It was everything I wouldn't associate with a Randy run offense. More 3s. Walk up quick 3s. Quick shots in general on catch and shoot without 6 passes first on every play.

Then back to Randy style the 2nd half. One dimensional pounding of the paint. No quick shots. Slow developing iso post plays.
Ugly. Turnovers. lost the lead and grinned it out.

Are we sure that was not a test maybe. Letting Newman or someone else run something different behind the scenes to see how it worked then letting randy do randy. See witch one worked better?

[hands11]

Final straw was not only those MIN and PHI games but in an odd way, that DET game might have been an even bigger dagger even though they won.

Against DET, we played one style the first half and it was beautiful near perfect basketball. It was everything I wouldn't associate with a Randy run offense. More 3s. Walk up quick 3s. Quick shots in general on catch and shoot without 6 passes first on every play.

Then back to Randy style the 2nd half. One dimensional pounding of the paint. No quick shots. Slow developing iso post plays.
Ugly. Turnovers. lost the lead and grinned it out.

Are we sure that was not a test maybe. Letting Newman or someone else run something different behind the scenes to see how it worked then letting randy do randy. See witch one worked better?

Now that would be great news. Though not sure anything like that has ever happened in the NBA before to a HC.

That really only happens in reverse when a HC get ejected. We got to see that a few times when Randy was able to HC when Flip was ejected and, like was just mentioned, when Newman coached against TOR when Randy was ejected.

If I was Randy, I would stay away from having that happen again. He can't afford to have Newman step in an beat a team like TOR again. Now if you can get someone like Webster or Gooden to become a ventriloquist, maybe they can throw their voices and get Randy tossed for a few games so we can see what Newman can do without even having to fire Randy.

[payitforward]

...Now if you can get someone like Webster or Gooden to become a ventriloquist, maybe they can through their voices and get Randy tossed for a few games so we can see what Newman can do without even having to fire Randy.

LOL I love this idea -- but maybe we can hire a real ventriloquist, then buy him a seat in the first row behind the coaches!

[gambitx777]

Don't know if I'm with you there. I don't think Wittman has 100% control of the locker room. Or maybe the team has no faith in his play designs.

Ok, so you fire Wittman, how much time is left to establish a new offense, practice? Not a lot.

It's pretty much a grind from now until the playoffs, and when you have a team as old as the Wizards, do you really want to use the precious time off to practice and establish something new?

This Wizards are stuck, with whom they have on the roster, the front office and the coaches that are running the show.

The best thing that we can hope for as fans is that the Wizards fire Grunfeld and Wittman as soon as league business is over and find somebody competent to move forward.

The main thing is, as bad as Wittmans offence and philosophies are. They can at least be serviceable if someone who has a better basketball mind is working with them and tweaking them. Just the way the in game tactics are handled and having someone the guys will listen too, would win us more games and make the team look that much better.

[hands11]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:1 ... Time=00:06

Former Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni sits down with his former employee Amin Elhassan

Cool little interview.

[keynote]

Brian Shaw's now available.

[gtn130]

Brian Shaw is legit awful. Bringing in a retread coach would be a nightmare