Appreciate Eddie Jordan, even if you wanted him gone

by Mike Prada on Nov 24, 2008 3:07 PM EST Comment 13 comments

I don't have much time today to write a ton about the Eddie Jordan firing. The short version, to me, is that it's unfortunate, but necessary considering that, at 1-10 with losses to several bad teams, a high seed in the playoffs was never going to happen. This team needed a new voice at the helm, and Eddie Jordan isn't it. I will always wonder what would have happened to this team if there were no injuries, but injuries cannot excuse a 1-10 start like this.

However, before we ride Eddie off into the sunset, I think we need to remember what he brought to this team. It's a cliche, but before Eddie came on board, this franchise was a laughingstock. We were coming off the Jordan years, a period that robbed our roster of all its young talent and saddled it with overpriced veterans. To turn things around as quickly as we did is a credit to Ernie Grunfeld, but it's also a credit to Eddie Jordan. It was Eddie Jordan that was here to make this franchise respectable again and it was Eddie Jordan who provided the building blocks for future success, no matter how disasterous this season has been.

It was Eddie Jordan's system that turned our offense into one of the league's best over the past few years. Throughout his tenure, Eddie Jordan was dealt a team that lacked a prototypical pass-first point guard and a strong post-up big man. He was given a team with three extremely talented perimeter scorers (first Hughes, then Butler) that lacked several seemingly essential tools for their respective positions. Gilbert Arenas and Larry Hughes were seen as shoot-first gunners that were combo guards. Antawn Jamison was seen as a soft tweenter. Caron Butler had been traded twice because his team could not find a position for him. And yet, Eddie created an offensive system designed to make the most of those players' talents, rather than putting square pegs in round holes. He put them in a position to succeed, which will be essential for the next coach of this club. And for that, he deserves a ton of credit.

Eddie always got his teams to play hard, even by the end of his tenure. The players loved him and did all they could for him. Eddie's coaching job in bringing last year's team to the playoffs without Arenas was outstanding. We should not overlook it.

Of course, Eddie had too many faults to continue as head coach. We've talked about them before, so there's no need to rehash them here. I support Ernie's decision to relieve him of his duties and I am confident it will eventually help the team.

But gosh-dang-it, Eddie Jordan still deserves some appreciation during his swan song. He brought an air of respectability and professionalism to a franchise desperately seeking it. For that, he should be commended.

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arenas

one thing that nobody has brought up: how will arenas react to this?

a couple years ago arenas leveraged eddie into a contract extension by threatening to leave if eddie left. what happens now?

by joshp on Nov 24, 2008 3:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I don't know what he thinks

But he has to realize that he’s a pro and he needs to “man-up” and play for whomever is brought in. I think Arenas is generally realistic and practical when it comes to big picture stuff; he’ll get over any hurt feelings. He’s not a malcontent. Also, he cares about what people think, and he he’s smart enough to realize that he doesn’t have much political capital these days given the length of time he’s been off the court. He may be upset, but I doubt we’ll see him throw a major hissy fit or refuse to play.

Getting buckets since 2003.

by Icantfeelmyface on Nov 24, 2008 3:24 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

i dont know

part of me thinks Gilbert was never an Eddie fan. sure he leveraged his staying for EJ’s contract extension, but that could have been more a “i got a good situation here where i can do anything and need EJ around” thing

section 401 Row H seat 1

by jackpitt on Nov 24, 2008 4:08 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Right

Gilbert needs someone to push him, not coddle him.

by Romans12 on Nov 24, 2008 5:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Great Post

I agree with alot of what you said. While I understand the need for the firing, I can’t say that it seems very “fair” to me at all. But fairness and business don’t seem to always coincide.

by DynaMix on Nov 24, 2008 4:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Eddie

I especially appreciated Eddie Jordan’s calm demeanor. I’m not a big fan of screaming coaches who complain on every whistle and publicly berate their players. I think that Eddie was a professional until the end. He did a good job and I wish him luck.
I don’t disagree with the firing though.

by hotplate on Nov 24, 2008 4:02 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

EJ

Any insights on Abe Polin’s role in the termination? Certainly he must have allowed for it to happen since Eddie was always his guy, right? Sad to see Eddie go, but it is probably best for him – though most likely not for the team.

by mogoman on Nov 24, 2008 4:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Based on the reports

and what’s posted below, it appears that Abe let Ernie make this call. But as everyone’s saying “being 1-10 speaks volumes,” so it wouldn’t be surprising what kind of role Abe played.

by Pryme on Nov 24, 2008 4:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

So bittersweet-

I’ve been depressed all day. I know he had to go but it’s still sad to me. He helped turn this franchise around and I’ll always be grateful for that. Going to tomorrow night’s game and hearing someone else introduced as coach will be hard for me.

by ooba on Nov 24, 2008 4:31 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Ooba

I agree. I’m sad, too, even though I did see problems with his coaching.

by gbkdc on Nov 24, 2008 4:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I second your sentiments

That is exactly how I feel

"Would you like to shoot me now or wait till you get home." --- Daffy Duck

by George Templeton on Nov 24, 2008 5:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

undeserved

i was PISSED at EJ a few years back when he was playing jarvis over caron, but i don’t think caron knew the offense at that point and in hindsight EJ was justified in sitting caron until he knew the plays and also justified in giving jarvis a chance to show what he could do.

that kind of sums up how i feel. you get annoyed with some of the things EJ does, but then you can understand where he’s coming from, and at the end of the day, i respect the results. we had some huge inspiring wins under EJ and being a fan of this team in recent years on the whole has been pretty sweet.

my favorite reason for why EJ was justifiably fired is that AB hasn’t developed. as if that’s more on EJ than on AB!

as closely as i follow the wiz, i don’t know all the things that go on with an NBA team but i really do think EJ had to put up with a lot of crap we didn’t know about and i think he did a fantastic job with the wizards. i think he’s not perfect, and yes, someone could have probably done better (which is almost always the case), but i think EJ did an excellent job and in all the straightforward aspects his firing was completely undeserved.

in a roundabout way, maybe this is good for EJ – he gets out from under a GM that doesn’t support him and from a trainwreck of a team this year that’ll be headache city for any coach, especially when the GM is breathing down your neck and doesn’t have your back.

i sincerely doubt that another coach will be able to do a significantly better job next year than EJ would have been able to do. i wonder if a lot of nba gms wouldn’t agree.

good luck mr. tapscott. you’ve come a long ways from the wizards post game show. maybe if we go 1-20 we’ll fire tapscott and replace him with glenn consor.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Nov 24, 2008 7:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I agree...

with darrell and his sentiments.

I think some of the blame needs to put on EG and the drafting and signing of the last few years. One could place the blame on EJ for not developing Pech, Blatche ect as much as he could have, but I would think that EG could have placed a greater emphasis on drafting players who could have a more immediate impact. For three years, the Wizards bench has stunk, and I don’t think the blame can solely be placed on the coach but also on the man who assembled it.

I’ll use Prada favorite player Songalia as an example. We know that Songalia can do two things, pass the ball well, and the the occasional 10 footer. However, for Songalia to be effective, there need to be other people out there who help him make the use of his limited skills. If your bench consists of Blatche, Etan, et al, how are you maximizing his (limited) skill set?

The bench has always been patchwork on the Wiz, consisting or retreads like Ruffin and Booth and raw players like Dray – and as a GM who knows that his “Big Three” are faberge eggs, I think he did EJ a disservice by not prociding those “All Stars” with adequate support and instead drafting long term projects..

I think this was a gigantic mistake. Probably needed, if the backstage antics between EJ and EG are what we assume they are, but I think this cure is going to end up being worse than the disease.

Its always Roger Mason (Jr.) time!

by ledellforlife on Nov 24, 2008 7:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs