doclinkin wrote:But if EG were hiring a coach other than Eddie, I expect actually JVG would be one of the first phone calls he'd make. Then he'd definitely re-structure the team in a defensive mode and build around Brendan Haywood as the centerpiece. Woo. Fun. Yay.
Yeah, that would suck - watching our boring team score 85 points per game in the Conference Finals.
I've been back and forth about a hundred times on whether EJ should be back or not.
At the end of last season - with the benching of BTH and the horrific team defense - I was thoroughly frustrated wit hEddie and thought the team would be better off with another cocah. But, given the injury issues, etc., I fully understood the decidion to give him another year.
If I were EG, I would have told Eddie that he had to get to the ECF in order to keep his job. Let him know that he HAD to improve the defense, and that if they didn't improve (especially if he kept up his spat with Brendan and refused to play his best defender), his services would not be needed.
Fortunately, the Wiz started the season well (after the first 5 games). They were playing pretty good defense, and were doing it all without their best player. Maybe EJ had turned the corner. I really hoped that it meant he had matched up his skills in motivating players and coaching offense with a reasonably solid defensive scheme (from Aters, it would seem?)
Then, they had the game at GS. Anyone else remember that one? The one with the blown 23-point lead? Giving up 36 points in the 4th Quarter? Where Mason's 32 points were wasted? Where, yes, Brendan sat for the final 5 minutes as the Wiz coughed up an 8-point lead. That to me was the omen of things to come. Aside from the loss of defensive focus, the overplaying of guys who were hurting was tough to watch.
Still, the positives for the season outweighed the negatives, IMO. Haywood played better - and was given the chance to be a central part of the team on both ends. Guys seemed to know their roles, and overall, played above their heads. All of this speaks well to the abilities of Eddie as a coach.
But this series has been disappointing. They overdid the rough-em-up strategy in the first two games. They had an outstanding game 3, but then fell back into their Achilles heel in Game 4, 3-point defense. How can you lose the game like that? How do you give up five 3-pointers in the 4th quarter, with only one 2-point basket? They'd have been far better giving up some fouls (esp. to Ben) or letting LeBron score from inside the arc. Why, oh why can't they stay at home on the 3-point shooters?
So what does it all mean?
My opinion is that EJ is a great coach for teaching his offensive system. He gets a lot out of many guys who never reached the same levels on other teams. But he has had a really poor defense throughout his tenure here - and it appears to me that it's more of a system issue than a personnel issue (they may not have many naturally gifted defenders, but there's no excuse to be that bad).
But the team needs to have real structure. Not just a smoothly running weave at the top of the key, but a coherent strategy on both ends of the floor. I look at coaches like Sloan, both Van Gundys, Popovich, Cheeks, and McMillan (plus, Byron Scott looks a lot better right now) - those guys almost always have teams that outperform their talent. At this point, I think I'd rather have a "system" coach who may be less exciting, but whose teams won't beat themselves.
Who are those guys? The same two that come to mind are the ones who have been on the radar all season - JVG & Rick Carlisle. Originally, I would have pulled for Carlisle, but now I'm thinking JVG. He has history with EG, and could put in a system that would certainly not give up a league record for 3-pointers made.
Right now, I'd be about 70-30 leaning toward making a change to bring in someone like JVG. This series isn't over, but if the team plays like it is in Game 5, we need a change.
