Eddie Jordan Fired... But Why?
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer - YourBlackWorld.com
On Monday, Nov. 24, The Washington Wizards fired veteran coach, Eddie Jordan, who helped transport the Wizards to the playoffs four years in a row. Over the last few days, however, many fans/sport columnists, pundits, and even coaches have expressed their regret over this brash and unexpected decision. Here are a few reactions:
We've all seen this movie before: A general manager stocks his roster with a dysfunctional mixture of players, but since he's the one who procured the players he thinks they're better than they really are. Eventually the team loses, and the coach is canned — because it's easier to fire the coach than to fire the players, and because the GM is certainly not going to fire himself. This is approximately what happened to Eddie Jordan in Washington. [...] Since he's been in Washington, Jordan has done a magnificent job with this team even though Arenas and Etan Thomas have been periodically down and out — repeatedly leading them into the playoffs.
- Charley Rosen from MSN Sports
When a team struggles out of the gate of a regular season, the fans harboring the fringe of the team's fanbase always begin hollering for a change of leadership.Some franchises are mature enough to disregard the cries of the extremists, however, others are as weak-minded as stormtroopers—easily influenced by forces beyond them [thank you, Obi-Wan Kenobi.] From the firing of Eddie Jordan and his assistant Mike O'Koren, the Washington Wizards have proven to be the NBA's weakest franchise as of this moment for the 2008-09 season and, perhaps, the next couple of seasons to follow. Moronic is not even a strong enough word for this debacle. Travesty is a better word. Abortion! Now, that is the best word for this fiasco...abortion! Disgusting, inhumane, immoral, stupid! [...] This decision to fire Eddie Jordan was not moronic. It was not a travesty. IT WAS AN ABORTION!
- Thomas Cogliano from The Bleacher Report
"I'm very, very disappointed, not just because he's a close personal friend, as well as Mike, but when he came to Washington (they) hadn't been to the playoffs in like 20 something years," Frank said, "(and they) go there four straight years and to do what he did last year, where you could have made a very easy argument that he should have been the coach of the year, or at least co-coach of the year along with Byron (Scott). [...] It wasn't like they were losing by 40 points a game. He was doing a hell of a job, so it's very, very disappointing he won't finish out what he started."
- New Jersey Nets Head Coach, Lawrence Frank at a Press Conference
So what was Eddie Jordan supposed to do? [...] Jordan has nursed the Wizards to the playoffs four years in a row despite dealing with, at different times, significant injuries to Antawn Jamison, Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. Now, this year, Haywood is out and backup point guard Antonio Daniels is sitting, too. [...] Don't forget, when the Wizards hired Jordan, he was one of the most sought-after assistants in the league, and his dedication to the Princeton offense makes him a unique asset. Just about every team in the league has stolen from Jordan's playbook[.]
- Sean Deveney in Sporting News
No comments:
Post a Comment