Randy Wittman to return as Wizards Head Coach

[fishercob]

The Wiz played better at the end of the season, esp. when Nen was on the floor. But was it fool's gold? Against teams that didn't care? We've seen this play before. My bigger concern is Teddy now only cares about the bottom line and if Wall walks, I really don't know what to think about a franchise I've rooted for since I was six. By keeping Witt and EG, Leonsis is showing he won't do what it takes to win and will accept at best, a competitively medicore team.

what reasonable indication is there that Ted only cares about the bottom line?

[tontoz]

The Wiz played better at the end of the season, esp. when Nen was on the floor. But was it fool's gold? Against teams that didn't care? We've seen this play before. My bigger concern is Teddy now only cares about the bottom line and if Wall walks, I really don't know what to think about a franchise I've rooted for since I was six. By keeping Witt and EG, Leonsis is showing he won't do what it takes to win and will accept at best, a competitively medicore team.

what reasonable indication is there that Ted only cares about the bottom line?

Ted isn't willing to spend the money to bring in a high priced, quality vet. Oh wait....... never mind.

[Nivek]

Abe Pollin was ripped for being cheap literally when he was in the grave. While it may have been true at one point, it had stopped being true 15-20 years before his death. Now Ted owns the team and the same complaint arises -- again, despite ample evidence to the contrary.

[Rafael122]

Aren't coaches salaries down across the board anyway?

[jivelikenice]

There's a difference between being cheap and not ok'ing a plan to spend an additional $10 MM when you have a potential amnesty and a buy out that will already cost the team approximately $30 MM.

[mohammed10]

F this abomination of a franchise. They make striving for mediocrity look like a Herculean task.

Now Wittman for one more year isn't that horrible in the grand scheme of things, but coupled with EG's retention and talk of trading a top 5 pick for our usual great bag of shiny objects and beads, only getting the top pick tomorrow is going to give me any real sense of optimism. Yet, like a bad car wreck, I'm sure I won't help but gawk at the scene as it unfolds.

Benjammin - way to channel your inner Ji...and welcome to the dark side.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The Wiz played better at the end of the season, esp. when Nen was on the floor. But was it fool's gold? Against teams that didn't care? We've seen this play before. My bigger concern is Teddy now only cares about the bottom line and if Wall walks, I really don't know what to think about a franchise I've rooted for since I was six. By keeping Witt and EG, Leonsis is showing he won't do what it takes to win and will accept at best, a competitively medicore team.

Actually I suspect John Wall's bluntly direct support of Witt was the tipping factor in Ted's decision on this front. Constant turnover and instability and bad coach-to-star chemistry could be contributors in Wall's decision to stick or split. Here Witt's re-inking bridges John's option/extension year, allowing us to potentially extend Wall before making a decision on Witt.

Wall had reason to support him. Everyone who says those last few games were meaningless needs to recognize Wall's play was dramatically improved those last few games, under Randy Wittman.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... elog/2012/

If you look at his ORtg and DRtg the last 10 games, played 4-09-12 thru 4-26-12, you will see dramatically improved defense from Wall in 7 of the 10 games. The Wizards went 8-2 over that stretch of games.

The bottom line is Wall enjoyed winning as an NBA player for the first time under Randy Wittman. Milwaukee still had playoff hopes. Chicago was going for the best record in the NBA. Washington went to their arena and won. Orlando was still trying to make the playoffs after sliding. Miami certainly didn't want to lose twice to the Wizards, and they got blown away the last time. Not all those games were gimmies against bad teams.

The interesting thing will be to see whether the trend continues. Will this coaching staff continue to get improvement and wins? I think they will because end-to-end the Wizards are really fast. They can play stifling defense at times.

[dobrojim]

Those last 11 games, John Wall was much more effective on both sides of the ball. His defense was just short of spectacular and his offense was steady. There were improvements by Seraphin and Vesely. KEVIN was probably the most improved player at season's end. Nene played like dominating force at both ends, with the exception of one game against Indy.

I think signs were overwhelmingly positive at the end of last season. I am curious to see if Cartier Martin and/or James Singleton will secure long-term deals. I hope Morris Almond shows his best offense in summer league and the same kind of defense he played in his brief apperances. Making the Wizards might be tough, but summer league gives guys opportunities throughout the league.

Bringing back Randy for continuity's sake and to build on what he seemed to get going makes sense to me.

fixed.

Jan did improve and I guess you could argue he came further than Kevin did.
Jan produced OK as a starter but I think Kevin produced even better with the string
of double figure scoring games on generally good shooting.

I'm OK with the move based on how we played post-trade and esp with Nene
in uniform as well as and maybe more importantly given how solidly the team
had his back in exit interviews.

[mohammed10]

Its Official: Randy Wittman Returns
I dont feel like posting links but Im sure you can easily find it. Im not on board with this. I always say that its not about playing well or whartever. Its about winning a title and if you dont think this guy can win a title then why hire him.

I still dont like the system but I think he could be bailed out by us having better bigs now which will make his system look better but Wall will never be elite in it to me. Im not totally upset since I guess you could "argue" that he deserved atleast a shot but I honestly just dont get it. Oh well.

I also think they are having a presser today

+1

It's like Ted doesn't even want to try to win with this team...

[FAH1223]

As long as Joerger is still an assistant coach for 2 years, I'm whatever with this move. Wittman does currently have the respect of the players and they all wanted him back. Seraphin also emerged with him... so we'll see what happens.

[closg00]

Leonsis pinching pennies

Randy Wittman sticking with the Wizards may be clearer indication of a trend toward austerity. [When] teams like Washington don't even interview people like [Mike D'Antoni and Nate McMillan] in order to keep Wittman, who's expected to get a two-year deal at less than $2 million per season, the gravy train seems to be slowing. ... At first glance, with all of the available alternatives out there, the Wizards' decision to keep Wittman, who has a career coaching record of 111-238, and whose previous coaching stints in Cleveland and Minnesota never came close to producing playoff teams, seems odd. And league sources say that new owner Ted Leonsis is reluctant to throw out big money while the Wizards are rebuilding.

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumo ... ref=fromSI

[verbal8]

Are there many examples of teams rebuilding successfully with an established coach?

Doug Collins with the Sixers, does seem to be an example and I guess you could say Karl in Denver also. However Brooks(OKC), Hollins(Memphis), Pacers(Vogel) and Tyrone Corbin(Utah) had little to no NBA head coaching experience.

Leonsis pinching pennies

Randy Wittman sticking with the Wizards may be clearer indication of a trend toward austerity. [When] teams like Washington don't even interview people like [Mike D'Antoni and Nate McMillan] in order to keep Wittman, who's expected to get a two-year deal at less than $2 million per season, the gravy train seems to be slowing. ... At first glance, with all of the available alternatives out there, the Wizards' decision to keep Wittman, who has a career coaching record of 111-238, and whose previous coaching stints in Cleveland and Minnesota never came close to producing playoff teams, seems odd. And league sources say that new owner Ted Leonsis is reluctant to throw out big money while the Wizards are rebuilding.

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumo ... ref=fromSI

[tontoz]

Ted sure was pinching pennies when they traded for Nene's huge contract.

[tontoz]

Its Official: Randy Wittman Returns
I dont feel like posting links but Im sure you can easily find it. Im not on board with this. I always say that its not about playing well or whartever. Its about winning a title and if you dont think this guy can win a title then why hire him.

I still dont like the system but I think he could be bailed out by us having better bigs now which will make his system look better but Wall will never be elite in it to me. Im not totally upset since I guess you could "argue" that he deserved atleast a shot but I honestly just dont get it. Oh well.

I also think they are having a presser today

+1

It's like Ted doesn't even want to try to win with this team...

The bigs were better in large part because Wittman told Blatche to get lost.

[cwb3]

A whole lot of *yawn* over the hiring. Seems like more of the same for next year. And YES. . .those last 11 game WERE meaningless. We've seen those phony late year surges enough to know better by now.

[terperoni]

Wittman rehired as head coach? Wow shocker!

Who the hell else are they going to get to coach this POS team?