Coach Eddie Appreciation Thread again.

[doclinkin]

The RealGM re-set killed off a number of useful and favorite threads (grr...) one of which was the 'EJ: Good' thread with insightful quotes from various experts, pundits, scouts, stat-heads and the more cogent and thoughtful posters on this board. So here we go again.

Point of the other thread was to remind folks that it's always far easier to complain than it is to recognize when someone is doing a good job. And that our Coach Eddie has actually been doing a pretty remarkable job under tough circumstances.

Consider this year just past. Realistically no one would have expected the team to finish with a winning record if you told them ahead of time that Gil would miss basically the entire season, and that Caron once again would come up lame. Stat freak Hollinger suggested we'd win like 30 some-odd games with a healthy Gil.

No one would have thought we had the firepower and moxie to win the season series over the #1 seed in the East, much less the eventual league Champions -- In back to back games especially, where you can't sneak up on anyone and revenge factor comes into play, in their house.

It's been a trademark of the team under this coach to play giant-killer, to beat the teams they shouldn't beat. Every year we pull off some season series against a powerhouse we have no business beating (usually Detroit).

This year despite offseason shenanigans (the Tom Tippytoe do-si-do; the pilgrimage to Haywood; the Dray Blatche nookie bust) the Coach managed to put in a creditable job under tough tough circumstances. No veteran upgrades were added to the bench. We dropped in a ton of rookie raw talent with alot of energy and little on-court sense, and management decided to carry a short roster due to money issues. This became key when after injuries the team had to scrimmage with assistant coaches, and management was unable to offer more relief than one 8th-rate PG on a single 10-day stint.

And yet the team fought like mad. Won games they shouldn't have, and with (some) continuity and a defensive assistant coach added, the team won with improved defense. Some pundits even suggested the team was better without Gilbert. Less talented, but winning anyway -- why? Couldn't have been the coaching, right? I thought EJ suxxored?

And once again players had career years under EJ. DeShawn raised his game and justified the contract, made up for fan distress at 'losing' the Spanish escort JCN in the luxtax limbo. Caron developed better in the offense, Roger Mason earned a significant contract bump, and the long-time malcontent Brendan Haywood had the best year of his career and became the team leader that the Caoch asked him to be in their offseason tete-a-tete. Just want to make sure these things don't get lost in the muddle.

We have a pretty dern good coach when you look at it without hate colored glasses. Can we do better? Yes, but evidence suggests given a little luck, a little health we WILL do better. This team hasn't reached the end of it's potential, yes not even under this Coach.

Go wiz.

[tkunit]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO




rable rable

[doclinkin]

Speaking the truth though.

Even the dedicated critics had moments throughout the season where they admitted to be proud of the team and gave credit to the coach. It's easy to lose track of all that now in the wavy soft-focus of waning short-term memory, and late-season frustration, but think back to when we kicked the tail of those Celtics, before the injuries mounted up and our defense became tired.

You're safe for now with no access to the archives, but we saw Coach appreciation from unlikely sources like Lyrico and Jwiz. Facts is facts, you can be disappointed all you want and hope for better, but you have to admit the Team did mighty work this year when all looked it's bleakest. And once again we enter the season with something to prove. Pissed off, with gunbarrel focus.

Put it this way, players tend to become more efficient and offensively successful under this coach. Now imagine Nick Young more offensively proficient...

[newslowsad]

You wrote all of that about praising Eddie. That's too much.

[doclinkin]

You wrote all of that about praising Eddie. That's too much.

Right, that's about the argument we've come to expect from the hate squad:

'You make too much words... No smiley icon no pretty picture. Shat me!'

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The reason why I can't join in with the Dirty Thirty (as of July, 12, though that list seems to be growing exponentially!) is I think EJ is a genuinely good person.

I like the way he mentors his young guys. Keeps criticisms largely private, and in the lockerroom. Doesn't tolerate non-sense or bad attitudes, as he demonstrated with Kwame in the past. EJ is a player's coach. Even with DeShawn talking about a certain player being overrated, EJ rallied behind him by making sure Stevenson got ample shots, minutes, and opportunity to defend to try and back it up. Eddie didn't distance himself from his players when a lot of coaches would have.

EJ's loyal like the best of friends are. I truly respect that.

What I think the man's best quality is he's at his best under adverse conditions. It was no accident they made the playoffs with guys like an inexperienced Mason filling in. (Roger will be a very good player for the Spurs, BTW). I loved the team better when EJ had LESS to work with. He got the most out of less talented lineups. Darius did find his shot. Before Gil came back hurt and Andray sort of stagnated at the end of the season, the scrappy team was fun to watch. I credit that to EJ not being one to quit on a team, a la Larry Brown. When the coach doesn't quit or throw players under the bus, the players will stick together. Wizards have consistently done that and with good team chemistry despite season after season of injuries suffered at the most inopportune times. Kudos to EJ in that regard.

So, keeping things balanced (no need for me to hammer EJ, cuz others have that down) I think Eddie could become another Doc Rivers if the Wizards (1) Stay healthy, (2)Get a solid veteran backup at SF who can DEFEND, and either (3)Trade for a veteran PF or get a major improvement out of Blatche/Etan without benching Haywood.

EJ isn't so bad that he can't win. It's a player's league and the talent rules foremost. Give EJ talent, health, and better options than small ball or excessive minutes to his starters, and anything is possible.

DISCLAIMER: Dirty Thirty, you're not lying on his bad points. I just hate to see all the over-zealous hate for EJ. I love him when he's winning. He was almost the all star coach when the Wizards played like a 60-win team for two month two years ago. That might happen again. OTOH his substitutions and really weak defense might sink the team and he'll be gone soon. We'll see.

(I am staying right on the love-hate fence with EJ. )

[JWizmentality]

You wrote all of that about praising Eddie. That's too much.

Right, that's about the argument we've come to expect from the hate squad:

'You make too much words... No smiley icon no pretty picture. Shat me!'

Copyright Infringement!!

[doclinkin]

You wrote all of that about praising Eddie. That's too much.

Right, that's about the argument we've come to expect from the hate squad:

'You make too much words... No smiley icon no pretty picture. Shat me!'

Copyright Infringement!!

No such thing on a direct quote. Nor on satire-- take your pick Jeez, you 'shatheads' don't seem to know nothin' do ya.

[FreeBalling]

Nice post Doc. I'm on the right side.

http://psychy.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/positive-thinking.jpg

[yungal07]

http://hoopshype.com/coaches/eddie_jordan.htm

the credentials (or lackof) speak for themselves.

[Benjammin]

http://hoopshype.com/coaches/eddie_jordan.htm

the credentials (or lackof) speak for themselves.

Hey now, don't go bringing in cold hard numbers into a discussion like this. I'm sure EFJ apologistas could name a number of coaches whose careers started with a record like EFJ and absolutely blossomed into outstanding coaches. I'm sure they could also point to current NBA coaches with similar records and years of service with the same squad.

Of course, the wins could also be a series 45,42, 41,43, and solve for X the next number in the series.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Of course, the wins could also be a series 45,42, 41,43, and solve for X the next number in the series.

The geek in me is thinking "Now is that a geometric series, an arithmetic series, or what? Is there some sort of modal distribution in there? Range scores? Man I sucked at statistics ....

Uh, I dunno but an eyeball guess says 44 wins, Ben.

What I do know is it's best to leave numbers out of the EJ appreciation thread, unless you're talking about consecutive playoff appearances and EJ's years as head coach.

(DEFINITELY don't go with numbers on minutes played for Brendan Haywood, or you'll be posting in the Dirty Thiry thread, and with the quickness in doing so.)

[fishercob]

The reason why I can't join in with the Dirty Thirty (as of July, 12, though that list seems to be growing exponentially!) is I think EJ is a genuinely good person.

We might need to give you a refresher on exponents

But I'm with you in a certain respect. He seems like a fundamentally decent human being, and a hallmark of this "EFJ" movement is that it's mean-spirited, vitriolic, and quintessential of an internet message board. If this discussion were held in the town square, most of the "anti's" would temper their language bigtime; hell, if half of them ran into the guy on the street they'd shake his hand and say they were big fans. But these internets sure do embolden us.

The other annoying thing is this misnomer of "apologists." I don't apologize for anything. I'm not alone here as someone that once advocated EJ's ouster and now think otherwise. But I fail to see how removing EJ now -- with this roster -- would make any sense. Give him a shot with a deep, healthy ( ) team and then re-assess next summer. If he doesn't cut the mustard, or if there's a better guy out there to lead a re-made roster to the promised land, then yeah, by all means make a change. I have yet to hear one legitimate argument as to how firing him now would help anything , though. Just a whole lotta bitchin'.

[FreeBalling]

Who was the last great/very good coach the Bullets/Wizards had if it's not EJ? Then tell me how many time we were in the playoffs. It's just a two part question. I look foward to reading your posts.

Cheers.

[HoopsAvenue08]

He did do a good job because we had a lot of injuries and still managed to finish pretty good, but I am setting the bar high this season and if we don't get out of the first round I will probably be calling for him to be fired unless there are extenuating circumstances again. Arenas is 26 now and it is partly the coach's job to make sure he matures as a PG so I think if he takes away from Butler and Jamison's game, then EJ has to take some of the blame for that. I think we should win close to 50 if not more.

[Benjammin]

Those are fair comments. Outside of chat I generally am more dispassionate when it comes to EJ. It may not be fair to label all EJ supporters as "apologists" but some of them seem to fit the description rather well. It's also a reasonable comment to wonder if there would be any point to getting rid of him now. How many times have we heard "give him a shot with a deep, healthy team and then re-assess next summer"?

Has he demonstrably improved in his areas of weakness? Frankly I'd be hard pressed to name too many coaches in the last several years with similar levels of achievement (in other professional sports as well) getting an easier ride than EJ does. He's a nice guy. He's the hometown favorite who made good. The media loves him. That's great, and warm and fuzzy, but eventually even EJ has to be judged on the body of his work and the trajectory of performance. There will always be extenuating circumstances. There will always be injuries. The roster will never be perfect. Personal attacks are not productive and I apologize for when I have used them. However, it seems like pointing out the record does not matter. Nor does it seem to matter to point out the subjective weaknesses of this coach. To be fair what is also frustrating about him is that he does have strengths and skills, and his weaknesses seem reasonably possible to correct. However,the word that comes to mind for him is "stubborn" and his level of success and achievement does not seem to validate being that stubborn.

[DCZards]

He did do a good job because we had a lot of injuries and still managed to finish pretty good, but I am setting the bar high this season and if we don't get out of the first round I will probably be calling for him to be fired unless there are extenuating circumstances again. Arenas is 26 now and it is partly the coach's job to make sure he matures as a PG so I think if he takes away from Butler and Jamison's game, then EJ has to take some of the blame for that. I think we should win close to 50 if not more.

Setting the bar high? That's fair. I'm one of those who has been called an EJ "apologist" but all I've consistently said is that the guy deserves a chance to see what he can do with a full deck...in other words a healthy squad. I don't think it's making excuses to say that a coach can't win without his top horses IGA.CB) or with a bench that features Jarvis H. and M. Ruffins. And that's what EJ has had to deal with the last couple of years. Yet, as doc and others point out, the Zards have done pretty darn good even with a shorthanded team and having to rely on younguns like NY, AB and Dom Mac.

The talent level on the Zards has gone up over the past year and so...and now we have McGee and D. Brown. But we're still kinda young so the vets will still have to carry us.

Next season, hopefully, the Zards get a healthy GA (hey, he's pretty good) and a healthy ET back and I'm thinking with a little luck (and good health) we might just reach that 50 plus win plateau. We''ll even get homecourt advantage and get out of the first round.
We'll see.

[Wizards2Lottery]

Maybe even get out of the first round.

MAYBE?

[Benjammin]

Maybe even get out of the first round.

MAYBE?

Come on now, if the Wizards win a first round series they will have doubled their number of playoff series wins under EJ in only six years of coaching. Anyway, we're on the twenty year plan. The old Soviet Union had five year plans. They'd never reach their goals or quotas, but that's all right because the next five year plan would solve everything.

[rrini]

His substitution patterns which contribute to injuries and poor defensive schemes leave him vulnerable to fair criticism. So does his mediocre record, especially in the playoffs. Since this is a love-fest, and he seems like a decent human being, I do not want to be thought of as a mere hater. But you will hear me calling for the Wiz to fire Jordan and hire TT if they get off to a poor start.