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

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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#41 » by hands11 » Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:36 am

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.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#42 » by mohammed10 » Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:07 pm

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.


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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#43 » by Higga » Wed Jun 13, 2012 2:53 pm

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.



It doesn't matter how bad the organization is. Coaching an NBA team is still a prestigious position, only what 30 or so of them exist?

Instead of taking a chance on the next Brooks/Thibodeau, we're running another veteran retread. Awesome. :-?
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#44 » by closg00 » Wed Jun 13, 2012 3:25 pm

Ted wrote this in his recent blog.

Soon we will hire a new coach, which means even more change. I sometimes worry about the amount of change we have in our franchise as we add and subtract players, change systems, change voices. Change can be good, but it also may set you back. This is precisely why we scrutinize change and look at all of the variables.


So Witt, the assistants, and Ernie himself, are all on two-year deals. Unless Ted mis-spoke, Witt is gone in two years and with him perhaps everyone else. Does Ted consider Witt a new hire coach?
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#45 » by tontoz » Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:18 pm

closg00 wrote:Ted wrote this in his recent blog.

Soon we will hire a new coach, which means even more change. I sometimes worry about the amount of change we have in our franchise as we add and subtract players, change systems, change voices. Change can be good, but it also may set you back. This is precisely why we scrutinize change and look at all of the variables.


So Witt, the assistants, and Ernie himself, are all on two-year deals. Unless Ted mis-spoke, Witt is gone in two years and with him perhaps everyone else. Does Ted consider Witt a new hire coach?



Or maybe you misread. He owns more than one sports team.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#46 » by closg00 » Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:10 pm

tontoz wrote:
closg00 wrote:Ted wrote this in his recent blog.

Soon we will hire a new coach, which means even more change. I sometimes worry about the amount of change we have in our franchise as we add and subtract players, change systems, change voices. Change can be good, but it also may set you back. This is precisely why we scrutinize change and look at all of the variables.


So Witt, the assistants, and Ernie himself, are all on two-year deals. Unless Ted mis-spoke, Witt is gone in two years and with him perhaps everyone else. Does Ted consider Witt a new hire coach?



Or maybe you misread. He owns more than one sports team.


I re-read the blog, it was just poorly written, he was talking about the Wiz and the Capitals in his piece.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#47 » by Chocolate City Jordanaire » Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:39 pm

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.


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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.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#48 » by nate33 » Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:47 pm

I can buy the argument that Eddie Jordan did a better job of getting more out of his talent than Flip. My problem with EJ was his inability to get the team to pay attention to detail on defense. He just didn't seem to care about defense as evidenced by his unwillingness to play Haywood and his "defend the paint" strategy which yielded the league's worst 3-pt defense year after year.

Our pathetic defensive mindset led to a wildly inconsistent team, even when we had talent. We won if our offensive players were hot, we lost when they weren't. We couldn't win ugly because nobody cared about defense. It became our core weakness, and it was the reason nobody ever respected us even when we won. Teams knew that they could get good shots whenever they wanted.

For that reason alone, EJ had to go. Perhaps Flip wasn't the right replacement. I can't argue with that sentiment. But I did support the EJ firing and still do.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#49 » by Chocolate City Jordanaire » Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:57 pm

nate33 wrote:I can buy the argument that Eddie Jordan did a better job of getting more out of his talent than Flip. My problem with EJ was his inability to get the team to pay attention to detail on defense. He just didn't seem to care about defense as evidenced by his unwillingness to play Haywood and his "defend the paint" strategy which yielded the league's worst 3-pt defense year after year.

Our pathetic defensive mindset led to a wildly inconsistent team, even when we had talent. We won if our offensive players were hot, we lost when they weren't. We couldn't win ugly because nobody cared about defense. It became our core weakness, and it was the reason nobody ever respected us even when we won. Teams knew that they could get good shots whenever they wanted.

For that reason alone, EJ had to go. Perhaps Flip wasn't the right replacement. I can't argue with that sentiment. But I did support the EJ firing and still do.


I agree with all of this, but outside of Brendan Haywood who could defend? DeShawn was decent. But between Gilbert, Antawn, and Caron how much of the erratic defensive intensity was on EJ? Eddie foolishly preferred really undersized players inside, but that was all he had on the roster. Songaila, Ruffin, and Etan was it. Okay, I used to complain for more Haywood and (young, not neck fat) Andray Blatche. That was on EJ. Otherwise, EJ didn't have the most talent to work defensively--his teams were destined to not be defensive juggernauts partly because of personnel.

However, nate, I agree with your two points. One, EJ was bad defensively, at times epically so. OTOH the dude was an offensive mastermind a good bit of the time. Yep, inconsistency was the hallmark of the Wizards. Gilbert couldn't get off against Wade. Defensively, players like James and McGrady (I never will forget his 62 point game) just mauled the Wizards. "Protect the paint" was the dumbest thing. EJ didn't seem to value effective field goal percentage with respect to how much giving up threes could kill a team. Washington was always near last in perimeter defense. (Much of the blame IMO was on Gil and DeShawn.) Eddie reacted to being undersized by packing his own players in the lane defensively and leaving teams open threes; to the team's detriment most of the time. Your second point I really agree with: Flip just was not the right coach.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#50 » by nate33 » Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:59 pm

I think there is a little "chicken and egg problem" when analyzing EJ's performance. People like to say that EJ's teams didn't play good defense because he didn't have defensive talent, but at least he was a very good offensive coach. My response to that was that he wasn't such a good offensive coach. The only way his offense worked was if he stacked the team with a ton of really good offensive players. But since most good offensive players aren't also good defensive players, his offensive system necessarily lead to a bad defensive team.

Good coaches can get by with two good offensive threats, a respectable third option, and two defensive role players, only one of which can shoot. EJ needed three good offensive threats and sometimes a forth and fifth threat in order to create shots.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#51 » by Chocolate City Jordanaire » Wed Jun 13, 2012 7:56 pm

Fine, but Eddie seemed to be really good at winning with mediocre guys, nate. He made Hughes almost an all star. Only a return from injury made Grant Hill beat Larry out. EJ had guys like Songaila and Ruffin at C in the playoffs.

I disagree with you 100% on EJ as an offensive coach. The year that AD was the PG they made the playoffs with Jamison and Butler as the only offensive threats. That team ran the actual offense and shared the ball. They were a joy to watch sans Gilbert and the high-powered offensive emphasis.

Before he was with the Wizards, Jason Kidd was a huge EJ fan. New Jersey got to the NBA finals and EJ got a huge amount of credit as their top assistant. Eddie earned another shot to coach and he stayed Wizards coach a lot of years. I think you sell him too short offensively, nate.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#52 » by nate33 » Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:07 pm

That NJ team was pretty bad offensively. Take away all their fast break points, and they were awful.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#53 » by Chocolate City Jordanaire » Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:22 pm

nate, I hate when I'm wrong.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NJN/2002.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NJN/2003.html

The Nets were first defensively back-to-back finals appearance years in both 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. They finished 18th and 17th out of 29 teams both seasons. They absolutely were bad offensively. :(

All I can say is Kidd and Scott both liked Eddie and that he was well-liked for his ability to coach by them and by some of us. I liked Eddie. Period.

Now that I'm clearly losing steam here, I want to talk Wittman. I HOPE he turns out to be good. :lol:
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#54 » by mohammed10 » Fri Jun 15, 2012 3:40 pm

Higga 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.



It doesn't matter how bad the organization is. Coaching an NBA team is still a prestigious position, only what 30 or so of them exist?

Instead of taking a chance on the next Brooks/Thibodeau, we're running another veteran retread. Awesome. :-?


Higga- You know, I wouldn't mind a retread, just as long it was a retread with a history of winning (ie - taking his team deep into the playoffs - read: Jerry Sloan).
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#55 » by Jay81 » Fri Jun 15, 2012 5:33 pm

maybe in a few years when boston is done and were ready to make our move up the NBA Charts....our new coach would be Doc Rivers?
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#56 » by Higga » Fri Jun 15, 2012 5:59 pm

mohammed10 wrote:
Higga 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.



It doesn't matter how bad the organization is. Coaching an NBA team is still a prestigious position, only what 30 or so of them exist?

Instead of taking a chance on the next Brooks/Thibodeau, we're running another veteran retread. Awesome. :-?


Higga- You know, I wouldn't mind a retread, just as long it was a retread with a history of winning (ie - taking his team deep into the playoffs - read: Jerry Sloan).


Honestly I don't want Sloan either. He's way too old and I just don't think there is much long term upside there. The only retread I'd consider would be SVG because he's not that old, he's experienced success but hasn't won a ring yet(so he'd still be hungry)and he'd love to stick it to his old two teams which happen to be two of our division foes.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#57 » by mohammed10 » Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:05 pm

Higga wrote:
Honestly I don't want Sloan either. He's way too old and I just don't think there is much long term upside there. The only retread I'd consider would be SVG because he's not that old, he's experienced success but hasn't won a ring yet(so he'd still be hungry)and he'd love to stick it to his old two teams which happen to be two of our division foes.


Higga- Understand re: Sloan. SVG would be a good choice as well. I was merely using Sloan as an example of a coach who has history of moving his teams deep into the playoffs.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#58 » by hands11 » Fri Jun 29, 2012 6:35 am

http://www.nba.com/wizards/video/2012/0 ... WE-2141513

Randy seems like a happy man since they landed Beal.

Its going to be so awesome they he get to work with the rookie this summer and get busy with last years class who missed out on this training after they were drafted.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#59 » by Halcyon » Fri Jun 29, 2012 6:39 am

Randy is kind of refreshing, I think he'll continue to be a decent coach for us and won't mind being a soldier with a bad -> improving team. He ain't bad.
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Re: Official Randy Wittman Appreciation Thread 

Post#60 » by Rafael122 » Mon Jul 9, 2012 6:06 pm

Interesting hire: http://www.nba.com/wizards/wizards-name ... tant-coach

Apparently he's been working with the Spurs the last 7 years or so.
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