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Wizards in the Media Thread

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Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#1 » by fishercob » Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:23 pm

Rather than a new thread every time there's an article written about the Wizards, I though we could keep things clean with this baby.

Sally Jenkins:

It became a nightly ritual for Jordan: He had to pray for the Wizards to score 110 points, because it was their only chance to win -- to score so much it covered up their fractional effort on defense. For five-plus seasons under Jordan the Wizards -- despite four playoff appearances -- were blithely unconcerned with stopping the other team, and that chronic lack of commitment was the undoing of a terrifically nice man and promising young coach. Jordan was never able to get the Wizards to play both ends of the floor. That was his real failing.


and
Jordan's supporters will say that the losses were inevitable, given injuries and a thin roster -- the Wizards are without their best player, Gilbert Arenas, and starting center, Brendan Haywood. But that viewpoint ignores the recurrent nature of the Wizards' defensive problems even with healthy players. The Wizards' defense is an open, swinging door, annually among the four or five worst in the league. It ignores the absolutely viral effect poor defense has on a team over the long term, how it saps a franchise. The Wizards' D has been like a drain through which everything disappears, all of their effort, money and commitment wasted.


Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02588.html

I think it's right on the money. Yes, Eddie did get a bit of a raw deal because of all the injuries, but ultimately it was the culture that completely de-emphasized defense that did him in.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#2 » by standupwiz » Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:42 pm

It seems sally jenkins got it right on why he was fired, seeing it as a body of work on the defensive side. While Mike Wilbon chose to just look at the current season.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/24/AR2008112402586.html

Definitely blame needs to placed on Grunfelds personnel moves the last two offseasons. But the defense could be better even with this group.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#3 » by Dat2U » Tue Nov 25, 2008 1:54 pm

Sally Jenkins wrote a damn good article. She's about the only one in the local media that had enough insight to see beyond "the local hero who led the Wizards to four straight playoff appearances" crap I've been reading and hearing ad naseum.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#4 » by mhd » Tue Nov 25, 2008 2:10 pm

I can't believe I'm saying this, but go Sally! Perhaps being isolataed from the area gives one a different perspective.

Oh, and Wilbon is a complete tool now. His trade idea of B-Diddy+Biedrins for Arenas? Why would GSW do that? Moreover, wasn't that deal impossible because of the cap holds responsible?
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#5 » by Benjammin » Tue Nov 25, 2008 2:24 pm

mhd wrote:I can't believe I'm saying this, but go Sally! Perhaps being isolataed from the area gives one a different perspective.

Oh, and Wilbon is a complete tool now. His trade idea of B-Diddy+Biedrins for Arenas? Why would GSW do that? Moreover, wasn't that deal impossible because of the cap holds responsible?


I think you hit the nail on the head. Sally Jenkins probably doesn't have a personal relationship with Eddie Jordan. It's hard to say critical things about someone you like. Sally didn't have that problem. She was able to look at his tenure in a dispassionate and detached view.

As for Wilbon, I have to least give him credit for taking my question during his chat yesterday. Basically I asked what role does Eddie Jordan being well-liked have to do with the coverage he receives. Also I pointed out that in sports five years is an eternity and during that time Eddie has won ONE playoff series. I also acknowledged the injury situation. I did not point out the pathetic defense which over several years did not show improvement. Wilbon admitted those were fair points whereupon he went back to the injury excuse and that Eddie is a good coach and did not deserve this fate.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#6 » by doclinkin » Tue Nov 25, 2008 2:43 pm

fishercob wrote:
Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02588.html

I think it's right on the money. Yes, Eddie did get a bit of a raw deal because of all the injuries, but ultimately it was the culture that completely de-emphasized defense that did him in.


I get the feeling this is one of them 'careful what you ask for' situations.

I think we'll find that EJ wasn't as much of a problem as you think on that front. I've repeated it ad nauseum, and TheSecretWizKev's article re-emphasized the point we've lost our best defensive player every year of Eddie's tenure except last year, and then for the first half we were pretty darned decent.

An area where EJ may be defensively improved upon is recognition of rotations, and on-the-fly adjustments to mismatches. Remains to be seen if in the interim ETap will be able to improve on the read/recognition game. Never know despite his inexperience, some people learn by viewing from the sidelines and not being under the pressure develop a good sense of how to fix it. Analysts who return to coaching occasionally coach better. But overall it sounds like ETap is asking only for the same things EJ did. A defensive emphasis in that case just means you're asking players to rededicate themselves and play harder on the defensive end. Ultimately I don't see how a coaching change makes the difference there. When quite frankly I don't see where our players can make up the difference of a sudden defensive improvement just by playing harder. We're looking at a shortfall in aptitude and capacity more than effort.

Jamison plays as hard as you'll see on this team, he's even been trying to the best of his ability on defense. But that 'defend the rim' emphasis is the same as EJ, and Jamison isn't going to suddenly add 20 pounds of athletic muscle. Daniels can't 'play harder' into being three years younger and more healthy. Stevenson won't play harder into a healthy leg. It's doubtful Etan will play harder into sudden and surprising eptitude. Andray Blatche could play harder, if he's not on the bench with foul trouble.

And the fact is, despite haplessness this team was playing hard. They weren't dispirited and mopey, bitching in the press, pointing fingers of blame. They didn't give up midgame or go on personal crusades to prove a point. It's an open question whether or not that changes. The probability is if you lose a well-loved coach players are gonna look around for someone who's at fault. And good chemistry can turn on a dime.

The probability is this team struggles worse now with a re-adjustment period. Interim coaches in a mid-year switch rarely see success. Which means the gleeful gravedancing on boards here, slows to a bit of awkward shuffling in the dust, then the pessimites go back to what they do best, identifying the suck of everything, griping, pointing fingers.

Meanwhile, you see how well-loved Eddie was in the media. Local, national, TNT (Kenny Smith loves EJ on national broadcast). The Wiz once again will be the punchline for a while. If we continue to lose, the Nelon Muntz analysts will take the easy route of shouting HAH-Ha and pointing fingers. "See, maybe it wasn't a coaching problem, ya idjits' will be a common refrain. No big deal except for a few decades of ineptitude behind us, which means players and agents will hear the echoing refrain (once again) that the Wiz are a poorly run franchise, etc. We get to hear Eddie Jordan eulogized and martyred again and again. (With a small compensation that ESPN will probably drop us like a a spoonful of egg salad with a roach on it). Still, a nice present for you all: How much fun will it be to hear the rueful hymn of 'Eddie Jordan's Unfair Treatment', and joyous chorus of '30 Years of Suck Again' broadcast from shore to shore on Christmas day.

No big deal in the interim. The best smartest long term plan would be to lose, lose with dedication to ensure a high draft pick, then add in Haywood and Gil and see what the future looks like. Blow it up offseason as needed, but more likely simply add a Tom Tippytoe, if he'll take the job, then let him re-mix the team, suggest midterm swaps (in all probability making the decision between Caron and Jamison).

Slow, patient careful application of the losing plan is the most sensible stratagem. Problem is our beloved owner doesn't have a strong tolerance for ridicule. Nor time; nor patience. He let go a popular coach that he hired and loved; let him go because of a laughingstock loss in front of the NY media. Thing is he expects the team to suddenly improve-- y'all know how Abe thinks. If he had patience and foresight and thickskin we'd have been the NBA champion Detroit Pistons. Darvin Ham and all. Ernie flicked the on switch of the circuit breaker under his own electric chair.

I'm a wizards fan. You know I hope we walk the tightrope. Late season win streak buying a little time. Ernie moving swift in the offseason able to hire a Coach who likes the raw ingredients. Ernie being allowed to select the draft pick with Coaching input. But y'all know better than most the track record of the franchise and whether our ass has been on straight. Just saying, the mission accomplished banner should probably be quietly removed, stowed with the ballast and given burial at sea, before the Gawds of basketball take note of our hubris. You know how this karma thing's a motherf*^&@r and thirty years of wasteland ain't that far distant in the rearview mirror.

Me I'll just say Thank You Eddie Jordan. Sorry it didn't work out for the long haul, but you brought exciting offensive pyrotechnics for a few years when we were healthy and helped some young players mature and display their best skills. We got a good collections of guys with positive attitudes, and kept a level head in some rough times and I'll credit you for contributing to a positive atmosphere. I'm sure you'll do well whatever comes next for you, and hope you remember fondly the most diehard of WizFans who at worst care too much, trying to make up for others apathy.

Appreciation and respect. Your boy,

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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#7 » by Soup's Uncle » Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:07 pm

Sally's right. Bad rap for EJ, but he shyed away from D like I do taking out the trash.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#8 » by Severn Hoos » Tue Nov 25, 2008 3:47 pm

doclinkin wrote:
fishercob wrote:
Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02588.html

I think it's right on the money. Yes, Eddie did get a bit of a raw deal because of all the injuries, but ultimately it was the culture that completely de-emphasized defense that did him in.


I get the feeling this is one of them 'careful what you ask for' situations.

I think we'll find that EJ wasn't as much of a problem as you think on that front. I've repeated it ad nauseum, and TheSecretWizKev's article re-emphasized the point we've lost our best defensive player every year of Eddie's tenure except last year, and then for the first half we were pretty darned decent.

...

Appreciation and respect. Your boy,

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2004: Kept Brendan Haywood.
2005: Kept Brendan Haywood.
2006: Kept Brendan Haywood.
2007: Kept Brendan Haywood.
2008: Kept Brendan Haywood.

Hmmm, seems like we actually kept the team's best defensive player every year of Eddie's tenure.

Just bustin' your chops, doc. I know you meant best perimeter defender - and I'd pretty much agree with that. But I do have a hard time (call it a blind spot if you wish) allowing that to be an "excuse" when every indication is that EJ did not recognize who his best defender actually was for so many years. And that he would sit said player during a playoff series. And want him off the roster in the following offseason. And now we're seeing what a Haywood-less roster would have looked like, and it isn't pretty - especially on the defensive end.

If EJ really was concerned about defense, but hamstrung by losing the better defenders, why did he underutilize the one guy he had who really was a very good defender?

I acknowledge that it could be a "careful what you wish for" scenario. It certainly could blow up completely, Gil gets ticked off, guys don't respond to the new coach, who knows? And for the casual fan, a JVG-style coach (if not JVG himself) might change a high-flying, erratic team into a more mundane, consistent one. I for one prefer 86-82 victories over 116-107 losses. But there will be those who complain, calling it "boring" - even if the wins come on a more consistent basis.

I didn't want them to give EJ the boot right now, in part because the perception would be out there that it was unfair. And right or wrong, the NBA is as much about recruiting (players and coaches) as anything, so if you're perceived as doing wrong by the coach by other players & coaches, it will make recruiting more difficult.

But I don't think it was unfair to Eddie. That's life as a coach. You can't fire the players, so the coach has to go. If you don't like it, go into another line of work - or go to the college ranks.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#9 » by doclinkin » Tue Nov 25, 2008 5:23 pm

doclinkin wrote:
Meanwhile, you see how well-loved Eddie was in the media. Local, national, TNT (Kenny Smith loves EJ on national broadcast). The Wiz once again will be the punchline for a while. If we continue to lose, the Nelon Muntz analysts will take the easy route of shouting HAH-Ha and pointing fingers. "See, maybe it wasn't a coaching problem, ya idjits' will be a common refrain. No big deal except for a few decades of ineptitude behind us, which means players and agents will hear the echoing refrain (once again) that the Wiz are a poorly run franchise, etc.



The bird of prey mega agent David Falk:
"It's not Eddie's fault and it's not Ernie's fault. The owner decided, when he decided to pay a guy that kind of money when he knows he's going to be out the first three or four months of the season. Why blame it on the general manager or the coach?" Falk said. "This is what's wrong with Wizards basketball. The buck stops at the top, it doesn't stop at the bottom. This is the owner's responsibility. He made the decision to sign Arenas. When you make the decision, you know the team is going to get off to a rocky start. You're missing your leading scorer, and in theory, based on the way they've paid him, he's their franchise player, right? What team expects to win when their franchise goes down?"
...
"It's why they haven't won in 30 years. A lot of coaches have come and gone, a lot of players have come and gone, a lot of general managers have come and gone. The one constant is the owner. These are the kinds of decisions -- you blame Eddie Jordan? Eddie Jordan is not a doctor. He didn't make the decision to sign Gilbert. There is not a coach in the league that can have success without 40 percent of his starting lineup. You can't blame the coach for that. That's absurd."


Get used to a few months of this stuff...
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#10 » by ZonkertheBrainless » Tue Nov 25, 2008 5:30 pm

I don't think you can deny that the zards simply do not know HOW to play defense. It's one thing to get beat and be FORCED to double down and then not have time to get back to the three point shooter. That happened to N1 in the NY game and he got a hand up in Q's face and he nailed it anyway. Fine. It's another thing when, in every single game, you see a perimeter player with a surprised look on his face, as if to say, I DIDN'T KNOW THAT 40% 3pt SHOOTER WAS OVER THERE, and start changing directions AS THE WIDE OPEN SCRUB IS ALREADY GATHERING FOR THE SHOT.

Don't tell me that didn't happen with Gil and Jamison and CB and AD and DS time after time after time every single game. You can't watch the zards play for 20 minutes and not see that happen. It is a CHRONIC problem. It is an UNNECESSARY problem. It is not an athletic problem, it is a between the ears problem. You can at least know where the ball will go and be prepared to make a move in that direction the instant the pass is made. Don't give me that "oh what a surprise they made the pass to the open guy on the wing" face. And WHY OH WHY was EJ's defense designed to have AJ RUN ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE COURT TO DEFEND THE SKIP PASS? Who is the idiot who designed this defense? To have your slowest player running out to the wing to defend the 3? WHY?

WHY are the defensive rotations so slow? Why are the perimeter players surprised by passes to 3pt shooting specialists on the wing? Why was AJ given the assignment of running out on wide open 3pt shooters on the wing? WHY WHY WHY?
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#11 » by LyricalRico » Tue Nov 25, 2008 6:17 pm

Dat2U wrote:Sally Jenkins wrote a damn good article. She's about the only one in the local media that had enough insight to see beyond "the local hero who led the Wizards to four straight playoff appearances" crap I've been reading and hearing ad naseum.


:nod:

And the end of the article was the best, especially for everyone in the "it's because we don't have any good players" group.

Grunfeld points out that the team has plenty of wherewithal even without Arenas and Haywood: The Wizards have two all-stars and locker room leaders in Butler and Antawn Jamison, and some promising young talent. To say that they aren't capable of fighting back, to give up on the entire season or blame it on the roster, is an easy out. This is not a defenseless team, no matter how much it's acting like one at the moment.

Anyone who thinks so should hear a story retired Hall of Famer Lou Carnesecca tells about Joe Lapchick, the legendary New York Knicks coach and his great mentor at St. John's. Carnesecca was a young assistant to Lapchick when he got his most important lesson in coaching. Their team was struggling and Lapchick simply wasn't getting through to some of the players. Carnesecca said, "Why don't you just get rid of a couple of them?"

Lapchick put an arm around Carnesecca. "Son," he said, "anybody can do that. It's your job to make them better."


That's absolutely true. When every single player brought in makes the exact same mistakes as the guy they replaced, when historically decent defenders regress as Wizards, and when everybody other than the three All Stars makes zero progress over a 5 year period - you have to look at the coach. I believe that Eddie's inability to develop anybody other than the most talented players (and even they only developed on one side of ball) was just as big a part of his problem as the lack of defensive coaching.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#12 » by mhd » Tue Nov 25, 2008 6:30 pm

doclinkin wrote:
doclinkin wrote:
Meanwhile, you see how well-loved Eddie was in the media. Local, national, TNT (Kenny Smith loves EJ on national broadcast). The Wiz once again will be the punchline for a while. If we continue to lose, the Nelon Muntz analysts will take the easy route of shouting HAH-Ha and pointing fingers. "See, maybe it wasn't a coaching problem, ya idjits' will be a common refrain. No big deal except for a few decades of ineptitude behind us, which means players and agents will hear the echoing refrain (once again) that the Wiz are a poorly run franchise, etc.



The bird of prey mega agent David Falk:
"It's not Eddie's fault and it's not Ernie's fault. The owner decided, when he decided to pay a guy that kind of money when he knows he's going to be out the first three or four months of the season. Why blame it on the general manager or the coach?" Falk said. "This is what's wrong with Wizards basketball. The buck stops at the top, it doesn't stop at the bottom. This is the owner's responsibility. He made the decision to sign Arenas. When you make the decision, you know the team is going to get off to a rocky start. You're missing your leading scorer, and in theory, based on the way they've paid him, he's their franchise player, right? What team expects to win when their franchise goes down?"
...
"It's why they haven't won in 30 years. A lot of coaches have come and gone, a lot of players have come and gone, a lot of general managers have come and gone. The one constant is the owner. These are the kinds of decisions -- you blame Eddie Jordan? Eddie Jordan is not a doctor. He didn't make the decision to sign Gilbert. There is not a coach in the league that can have success without 40 percent of his starting lineup. You can't blame the coach for that. That's absurd."


Get used to a few months of this stuff...


David Falk talking? He's become a nobody in the nba. Aside from Brand, he doesn't represent a single factor in the nba. He's nothing and simply holds a grudge.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#13 » by nate33 » Tue Nov 25, 2008 9:07 pm

doclinkin wrote:Jamison plays as hard as you'll see on this team, he's even been trying to the best of his ability on defense. But that 'defend the rim' emphasis is the same as EJ, and Jamison isn't going to suddenly add 20 pounds of athletic muscle. Daniels can't 'play harder' into being three years younger and more healthy. Stevenson won't play harder into a healthy leg. It's doubtful Etan will play harder into sudden and surprising eptitude. Andray Blatche could play harder, if he's not on the bench with foul trouble.

See, this is just it. I don't think the problem is effort. I think, for the most part, this team has given plenty of effort even when the season already looks lost. The problem is execution. Guys are slow to rotate because they don't know what they are doing. Guards always get sucked into the paint even though they are useless in help defense down there. What the heck is Antonio Daniels or Juan Dixon going to do sagging into the lane? Block a shot? If Blatche and Jamison can't handle the interior rotations, Daniels isn't going to help matters. He should just stay at home on his man in the corner.

The other thing that bothers me about all the EJ defenders in the media is this tripe that injuries are solely to blame. Well, of course injuries are a problem. Nobody is expecting the Wizards to be 7-4 right now. What we expect is 4-7 or even 3-8. At least show some signs of competency. There are two all stars on this team, a 1-10 record is pathetic. We shouldn't have a worse record than Charlotte, Indiana, Minnesota, Sacramento and Memphis. Other teams can lose their star player and still compete. Look at NY for cryin' out loud.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#14 » by fishercob » Wed Nov 26, 2008 3:32 am

While Ronnie Thompson is just awful on TV, I really like CSN's Wiz beat man Chris Miller. Yes, he's an unabashed homer, but he's unafraid to be critical and seems to have a high level understanding of good basketball.

Keep it up, Chris Miller.
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Wizards Snippets from Marc Stein 

Post#15 » by mhd » Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:09 pm

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime ... -081129-30

"I remembering hearing Bruce Pearl's name mentioned as potential future Wizards coach as early as last season, which undoubtedly stems from Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld cementing himself as a Tennessee legend long before Pearl took over the Volunteers.

Yet sources close to the situation insist that Pearl, as we were told back when this first came up, is not a legit candidate to matriculate to the Wiz and become the next college coach who fails in the pros.

Washington is quietly confident that it will have no shortage of good applicants when it decides it's time to choose a permanent successor to Eddie Jordan, with the Wiz believing, among other things, that the attractiveness of the job and the city where they play has only been enhanced by Barack Obama's forthcoming installment as the nation's 44th presiden"

AND
"Mark (Oregon): Can the Wiz really justify firing Eddie Jordan? They have so many injuries. That's why they're so bad.

Marc Stein: Yes and no. Looks to me like The Thief of Baghdad -- which will always be the first thing that pops into my head when I see Eddie Jordan because I can still hear the one and only Chick Hearn calling him that on Laker broadcasts from when I was kid -- was a victim of his own success.

I know I have to qualify the word "success," because the Wiz only won one playoff series during Jordan's tenure. But it's also true that Jordan's teams were almost never whole and, until now, had always coped well with their inevitable injuries. You'd struggle to remember the last time that the Wiz had their full complement of players, but the flip side of that is that Jordan's bosses had come to expect .500 ball (or something closer to it) no matter who was out.

Even The Thief himself said on the eve of his dismissal that he expected more from this group, admitting that "never in our wildest dreams" did the Wiz imagine starting out 1-10.

Jordan understandably got a lot of sympathy from peers around the league when this happened so soon, because he's a popular guy who won consistently in the regular season even though his teams were frequently short-handed. Yet I can't sit here and say that I was shocked or outraged that the Wiz did this now.

Yes: Jordan did just have his contract extended by one year in September. Yes: A lot of us have underestimated the absence of Brendan Haywood for a team that has major defensive issues even when Haywood is out there. But the fight that we've seen from this group in the face of injuries wasn't the same as it's been in years past and appeared to be dwindling. So management decided it was new-voice time, given that Jordan began the season with the longest tenure of any Eastern Conference coach. It happens.

(For the record: I asked Jordan about this once and he told me that it was actually Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who dubbed him The Thief of Baghdad. Chick is the one who made it stick. The irony, of course, is that Jordan got that nickname for his fast hands on D, whereas his defensive rep as a coach is less than flattering.)"
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Re: Wizards Snippets from Marc Stein 

Post#16 » by LyricalRico » Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:15 pm

Now THAT is an even-handed, well thought out piece. Kudos to him for not slobbing EJ down like every other journalist/analyst in the NBA.

It's also a colossal relief that we're not looking at college coaches...

(I'd like to merge this with the existing "Wizards in the Media" thread but it's not working.)
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Re: Wizards Snippets from Marc Stein 

Post#17 » by Rafael122 » Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:17 pm

I asked the same question to Lee in his latest chat. If Arenas is healthy, there's going to be a long list of coaches wanting this job. I'm sure Ernie realizes offense isn't the problem. We're still scoring a lot of points.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#18 » by miller31time » Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:35 pm

Bump to 1st page for merge.
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#19 » by lupin » Sun Nov 30, 2008 2:36 am

Miller, you need to give Rico some tutoring. :)
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Re: Wizards in the Media Thread 

Post#20 » by fishercob » Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:14 pm

If Ivan Carter went to journalism school, he didn't pay attention. I know people like to rip on him because he doesn't get much in the way of "scoop," but that's not what really bothers me about the guy. But an article from earlier this week set me off:

Lack of Effort Irks Wizards Veterans

By Ivan Carter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 13, 2008; E03

To a few Wizards veterans, the most humiliating aspect of Thursday night's 122-88 home loss to the Boston Celtics was not the ugly final score, or even the sight of so many Celtics fans cheering for their team as it left the floor long after Wizards fans hit the exits. It was the lack of fight displayed by some of their teammates.

Those frustrations spilled out after the game in the locker room, where yelling could be heard from the hallway.

Specifically, some veterans did not like the effort, attitude and body language of some players, particularly a few of the younger ones.


Okay, Scoop. Which ones? Name some names here. Half the Wizards roster is young players.

Ivan continues:

"Knowing who we were playing, knowing what happened last year -- they wanted to come in and whip our [backsides] last night, and they did it," Antawn Jamison said. "If that doesn't make you upset, then we don't want you on this team, I don't want you on this team. If you don't take it personal and play with a lot of pride, you are wasting our time. That was the message. Guys were definitely upset."

They had plenty of reason.

The Wizards suffered their worst defeat of the season and were bullied by the defending champions in the process. The Celtics not only won by playing better basketball -- they shot 55.7 percent, held a 41-26 rebounding edge and a 23-11 advantage in fast-break points -- they also played with more energy and passion, while at times physically manhandling the home team.

On one possession late in the first quarter, Boston's Kendrick Perkins posted up against Wizards forward Andray Blatche, received a pass, backed Blatche down, and easily scored to give Boston a 13-point lead.


OK, so Ivan reports that Jamison is upset. He then editorializes/opines that this feeling was justified. He then gives a quick paragraph with some stats demonstrating the extent of the C's domination of the Wiz the other night. Then -- seemingly out of nowhere -- he recounts Perkins scoring on Blatche (in Ivan's opinion, easily) on one possession in the first quarter.

So obviously, we're supposed to surmise that Perkins basket on Blacthe was due to Blatche's lack of effort and that that's why Jamison is upset. But Ivan won't name names -- or he can't get the vets to go on the record saying which of the kids' effort they're upset at. It's passive aggressive journalism at best. Ivan, if there's an actual story here -- that the veteran are upset at some of the younger players efforts -- tell us who they are! Don't throw out random hints and let the reader decide on their own. This is the Washington Post, dude.

Then Ivan posted this in his recent Insider entry:
I've been accused of being too hard on Andray Blatche (by Blatche himself - he feels that everything I write about him is negative) but it's hard to not notice where he is lacking on nights like this. That's not to say that he's the primary problem with this team but I counted at least three plays where he went up soft with one-handed floating finge rolls and missed when he could've scored and gotten a three-point play.


I wouldn't have a problem with Ivan criticizing Blatche in his blog, or reporting that other players or coaches are unhappy with him if he just came out and did so. But Andray has a legit beef with Ivan. Ivan basically decided -- in what was supposed to be an news article with fact and not opinion -- that the vets were upset with AB's effort -- but didn't have a fact or a quote to support it.

Boo.
"Some people have a way with words....some people....not have way."
— Steve Martin

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