Saturday’s defeat in New York —headlined by Wizznutzz as “(WIZARDS) FALL TO KNICKS LINEUP OF ROSE, ROBERSON, JARED JEFFRIES’ ROOMATE, KENNY KRAMER, TWO 7 FT HASIDIC STOCKBOYS FROM B&H CAMERA!” left Washington with an Oklahoma City-esque 1-10 record, as well as marking head coach Eddie Jordan’s last game in charge. The Washington Post’s Ivan Carter and Michael Lee report Jordan got the axe, “shortly after he and his wife, Charrisse, handed out Thanksgiving turkeys to the needy at a team-sponsored charitable event.” Which is just as well — had Jordan been terminated earlier, he might’ve been tempted to keep a bird or two for himself.
Ed Tapscott, who had carried the title of Director of Player Development but traveled with the team and essentially served as an extra assistant coach, takes over on an interim basis.
How much of the poor start can be attributed to Jordan is highly debatable. Injuries to Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood left him without his best player and best center. Veteran guard Antonio Daniels has been limited to six games due to a right knee injury and the rest of the team’s veterans — players like Darius Songaila, Etan Thomas and Andray Blatche — have performed at a subpar level.
Without wishing Jordan any ill will, the prospect of Avery Johnson or Jeff Van Gundy taking over in DC is awfully enticing, if for no other reasons than either potential hiring supplying tons of easy blog copy.
Nah, Ed Tapscott’s got the gig for the remainder of the season. OK, so win #1 came against a fuckless Golden State team(???). The REAL test is tonight (on TNT) against Orlando.
Don’t fuck this up, Ed. It’s probably the ONLY fucking time you get to be a head coach in the NBA.