mohammed10 wrote:hands11 wrote:There will always be good coaches available. Problem has been that the Wizard organization was such a joke that they couldn't attract any of them. Flip was actually the first legit coach they got in a long ass time.
I see the team getting better. They are doing it the right way. The way many of us suggested that do it. Go through the pain of being really bad and getting top picks and build slow.
As for Randy, I guess I am already on record as staying I think he will be a legit NBA coach. Way better then EFJ ever was. I think he will do us well. By the time his contract is up, I think there will be a larger group here wanting him extended. I think he will prove to be that good.
I think this is his time and this team is turning the corner right along with him. Great fit.
* sips Kool Aid *
Put me on record as saying: 1) Flip was a terrible coach of the Wizards. 2) Eddie was much more successful
on and off the court as Wizard coach than Flip Saunders. Look at the winning percentages and the players he mentored successfully and I believe Jordan was a better fit.
I know Flip is knowledgeable and a good coach, but not with the Wizards he wasn't. He was inflexible and locked in on his guys and his way of doing things. Miller and Foye, Oberto, Quinton Ross, Hilton Armstrong--none of them worked out. Miller was hurt and so was Antawn when Flip came to town. Arenas was a shell of his past self. None of that was Flip's fault. Young, immature players the organization drafted weren't his fault, either. Still, Flip latched on to jump shooting Blatche and Yi Jianlian. Legit coach or not, Flip made all the wrong moves IMO. He CONSISTENTLY made the wrong moves. Seraphin NEVER would have played under Flip.
Eddie was terrible in the playoffs vs the Cavs because he didn't value defense, size, and Brendan Haywood. Otherwise, Eddie won a ton of games with minimal talent. He made the playoffs with Antonio Daniels, DeShawn Stevenson, and Roger Mason Jr. as his guards. Eddie NEVER had a team with length and defense like this one. Jordan had Gilbert, Antawn, and Caron and he used them effectively relative to what they were as players. What other success have Jamison and Butler had with other clubs? No more than they had with EJ. Larry Hughes? EJ got him well paid. Jordan was once an all star game coach. When you want to knock Eddie Jordan go back and see who the Wizards lost to in those playoff runs. Lebron James teams! The other time they were swept by a team with Wade, Mourning, Haslem, and Eddie Jones.
IMO Ernie Grunfeld fired Eddie at 1-11 and with many injured players the year after a playoff run. The Wizards were bush league in the way they did it and they got just what they deserved: YEARS of losing afterward. Nobody even close to .500 coaching. Flip had the very same players EJ had and he won around 15-20 games less. He threw players under the bus and never manned up for his bad coaching.
It really sets me off to hear people call EJ a terrible coach. I am not a Sixers fan so his failure with them doesn't mean beans to me. Collins did way better. Similarly, Randy Wittman has turn Flip's failures around.
I am willing to evaluate Wittman objectively because I have seen each and every roster the man has coached. Commensurate with the talent he has had he's done a reasonable job. I have NO IDEA how Randy will do this season. I do not think the Wizards should have given him 2 years and gone public with their support, but I guess that is the protocol and Ted by rewarding EG and Randy is trying to go for stability with the young roster in mind. Things ended on a good note and MAYBE it isn't fool's gold.
Sorry for the long rant, but Eddie did a fine job all things considered. Flip can coach but he made all the wrong moves in DC, just like EJ did in Philly. I think a lot of coaching success is purely situational. Does the roster reflect the coach's type team and what is the talent level--they determine the success of that coach.
Randy had this team playing some sick defense, post Nene trade. I was blindly supportive of Javale, but I have to admit the pick and roll defense took a quantum leap forward after the trade. Having big men who could finish inside was quite a revelation from both Seraphin and Nene. Bigs that pass back to the guards was very exciting. Nene can catch the ball and deliver it back. He is unselfish and proficient. I loved what James Singleton and Cartier did. Wittman was the guy overseeing the transformation and UNLIKE the past, they have stuck with a guy who seems like he can relate well.
Randy Wittman clearly has a very good rapport with the players. That matters a lot. I wanted Joerger and I like guys like Jeff Van Gundy, as well as Reggie Theus. Stan seems stressed out and might do a Flip here, but he is a very good coach. Those are the sexy names but the fairness and time says stick with Randy for now.
We will see.
Bye bye Beal.