Wizards nearing extension with Wittman (Woj)

NbdyBeatsTheWiz · Post #41 » by **NbdyBeatsTheWiz** » Wed May 28, 2014 2:18 am

Most concerning from last year was the 12 double digit leads we blew + the 8 overtime games we lost.

Plenty of coaches have improved over time. Here's hoping Wittman is one of them.

FreeBalling · Post #42 » by **FreeBalling** » Wed May 28, 2014 3:37 am

^^^^
Players play the game. The Vets on the team love Witt because of his prep. It's been reported.

Illmatic12 · Post #43 » by **Illmatic12** » Wed May 28, 2014 3:50 am

NbdyBeatsTheWiz wrote:Most concerning from last year was the 12 double digit leads we blew + the 8 overtime games we lost.

Plenty of coaches have improved over time. Here's hoping Wittman is one of them.

So Wittman told Wall to blow the Kings game, or Game 4 against the Pacers? Or all the games the team lost due to missed FTs, they were Wittman's fault?

I'm just remembering off head, but of those losses at least 60-70% were directly on the players imo. There were games where Wittman could have done a better job with TOs, substitutions, or playcalling but at the end of the day he's not the one out there screwing up.

FAH1223 · Post #44 » by **FAH1223** » Wed May 28, 2014 4:15 am

Wall will never develop into a superstar caliber player with Wittman at the healm.

I appreciate the focus on defense but will Wall ever be on the levels of Westbrook or Parker?????????

TGW · Post #45 » by **TGW** » Wed May 28, 2014 4:16 am

I don't have that big a problem with Wittman...aside from his inability to be creative in designing an offense, I think he generally has the team prepared before most games.

He's not a good enough coach to improve this team past their limitations, but the players respect him, they play hard, and they seem to get along with each other--that is all controlled by the coach. The FO/staff in general need to do a better job of developing the talent however...I'm just not pleased with the lack of development by all the young players on this team, and that includes Wall and Beal.

Illmatic12 · Post #46 » by **Illmatic12** » Wed May 28, 2014 4:31 am

FAH1223 wrote:Wall will never develop into a superstar caliber player with Wittman at the healm.

I appreciate the focus on defense but will Wall ever be on the levels of Westbrook or Parker?????????

Scott Brooks is a terrible coach and he hasn't stopped Westbrook from becoming arguably the best guard in the league. If Wall is going to be great, it doesn't matter who the coach is.

Darko Miliminutes · Post #47 » by **Darko Miliminutes** » Wed May 28, 2014 5:28 am

I hope randy proves us all wrong. He did have a couple good playoff games. So there's always that.

Just love grading on a curve...

leswizards · Post #48 » by **leswizards** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:40 am

Without a doubt there are better coaches available than Wittman, but I am really not bothered by this move. The Wizards were 26-28 with Maynor and Temple as the backup pgs. The Wizards were 18-10 with Andre Miller as the backup pg. The Wizards might have won 50 games had the Wizards had a competent GM who is capable of getting quality players. The keys to Wizards success going forward are Wall, Beal and Porter developing into a big 3, and a competent GM capable of getting quality complementary parts. All they really need from the coach is someone who doesn't muck things up. Based upon this season, Wittman seems capable of that.

milellie111 · Post #49 » by **milellie111** » Wed May 28, 2014 11:24 am

Congratulations Randy Wittman.You deserve it after a successful season.

mhd · Post #50 » by **mhd** » Wed May 28, 2014 11:37 am

I have much more blame on EG than Whittman. I don't think Randy is a great coach (Hornacek is going to be awesome for the Suns), but he's not Tapscott-esque (worst Wizards coach ever).

Whittman has shown he can coach defense, and as other have said, the players do play hard and never give up. A 3 year deal was the minimum required, as a 1-2 deal would have evoked a sense of a lame duck coach.

verbal8 · Post #51 » by **verbal8** » Wed May 28, 2014 11:53 am

mhd wrote:I have much more blame on EG than Whittman. I don't think Randy is a great coach (Hornacek is going to be awesome for the Suns), but he's not Tapscott-esque (worst Wizards coach ever).

Whittman has shown he can coach defense, and as other have said, the players do play hard and never give up. A 3 year deal was the minimum required, as a 1-2 deal would have evoked a sense of a lame duck coach.

I do like the Wizard's defense under Wittman. Not a huge fan of the large number of long-2s. Overall I think Wittman is a pretty average coach.

I was expecting a minimum 2 year extension, since 1 year is pointless. If the 3rd year has a buy-out which the Wizards were in a position to negotiate, it is a decent move for the Wizards. My big fear is a 3 year extension for the coach means a 4 to 5 year one for the GM.

Similar to the Wall contract extension, I think the Wizards moved more quickly than they needed to move. I think they should have reached out to the Wolves/Kevin Love and seen if that was a real possibility. Not that Kevin Love should pick the next coach, but at least get someone who won't keep him away. The timeframe that Love has given(before the draft) means he Wittman would still be under contract.

JWizmentality · Post #52 » by **JWizmentality** » Wed May 28, 2014 11:53 am

Not what I would have liked but whatever. I guess you could say he "earned" it. Right now my biggest concern is Beal. Randy is teaching this kid really bad basketball

verbal8 · Post #53 » by **verbal8** » Wed May 28, 2014 12:00 pm

fishercob wrote:We have no info about him throwing GMGM under the bus. What we do know is that he was critical of Leonsis to his face, likely pretty respectfully. That takes some stones, no? Ted also said that this was the first time they had ever spoken so while he was an internal hire, he was new to Ted.

This seems strange to me, that someone who was assistant GM for 7 years has never spoken with the owner.

Post #54 » by **montestewart** » Wed May 28, 2014 12:30 pm

verbal8 wrote:
fishercob wrote:We have no info about him throwing GMGM under the bus. What we do know is that he was critical of Leonsis to his face, likely pretty respectfully. That takes some stones, no? Ted also said that this was the first time they had ever spoken so while he was an internal hire, he was new to Ted.

This seems strange to me, that someone who was assistant GM for 7 years has never spoken with the owner.

Not to be a broken record, but I don't understand why more people don't come away with distrust for Terd when these are the type of hard-to-believe statements he passes on in his weak effort at transparency. Kind of like when Pollin would use a phrase like "state-of-the-art" and you'd just think, "bargain basement."

FAH1223 · Post #55 » by **FAH1223** » Wed May 28, 2014 2:31 pm

[tweet]https://twitter.com/daldridgetnt/status/471433918541860864[/tweet]

Post #56 » by **Zonkerbl** » Wed May 28, 2014 2:49 pm

miller31time wrote:Not surprised but good lord is this a bad move.

And especially with the expressed interest in Love (a guy who apparently hates Randy Wittman), this doubly sucks.

#sowizards

Isn't Wittman the reason why Love got so good at the three pointer? By getting him to focus on taking shots he's comfortable with and then moving farther out?

Someone should ask Wittman this. Do you focus on two pointers precisely to allow your players to get comfortable first and focus on threes later? Or are you just an idiot?

Higga · Post #57 » by **Higga** » Wed May 28, 2014 2:50 pm

I'm fine with keeping Wittman. Lets make the playoffs and lose a couple more times, get a little bit closer to a ring, then we can get rid of Witt and go all in for a big name with championship pedigree.

This is a players league. Nobody thought Doc Rivers was any good in Boston, till he got KG and Allen and won a ring. Poppovich was a no name till he won that first ring. Ditto Spo, Phil Jackson, etc.

jeffsays · Post #58 » by **jeffsays** » Wed May 28, 2014 3:08 pm

I'd love for the wizards to bring in an offensive assistant like d'antoni (sp?). I think his type of offense would be great here and I think John would really thrive.

doclinkin · Post #59 » by **doclinkin** » Wed May 28, 2014 3:11 pm

JWizmentality wrote:Not what I would have liked but whatever. I guess you could say he "earned" it. Right now my biggest concern is Beal. Randy is teaching this kid really bad basketball

I dunno about that. Witt's insistence in forcing him to play with the ball (and outside of his comfort zone) paid dividends in the playoffs when he was able to come up with multiple games with good assist numbers. Yes he's taking too many long twos, and yes the offense is designed to get him open for that, but he's also learning to play off picks and screens, and work and re-work a pick until he is free. If he develops a good handle to go with it then he'll be a bigger threat also to drive off the pick as well. Also his defense under Witt has proven to be solid and reliable, he has good instincts but now sound principles to go with them. Yeah he's taking too many long two's. Okay. Beyond that I see him developing nicely, especially when thrown into pressure situations.

Post #60 » by **miller31time** » Wed May 28, 2014 3:16 pm

jeffsays wrote:I'd love for the wizards to bring in an offensive assistant like d'antoni (sp?). I think his type of offense would be great here and I think John would really thrive.

This is a great point - you can hide a coach's deficiencies with a good staff. I don't know if D'antoni is the answer but I would certainly hope we don't have the same bunch of assistant coaches by the start of next season.