Okay, so as of today, I am officially on the "hire Eddie Jordan" bandwagon. Before today I didn't think there was anyone out there who could do the job, but I am now convinced that EJ can.
Here is my reasoning. Geoff Petrie is clearly looking for someone with previous success as a head coach (and I think he is right to do so considering our current state), which really narrows down our list. The only two such candidates we have interviewed are Paul Westphal and EJ. Having looked around a bit, I don't think there are any names worth adding to the list for various reasons (too old, inflexibility to name a couple). Between these two, Eddie Jordan clearly made the Wizards better, while Westphal clearly made the Sonics worse (I don't consider Westphal's Phoenix coaching since with all the talent and experience they had, Homer Simpson could have coached them to 55+ wins).
Westphal came to Seattle after George Karl left and promptly took them from contender to out of the playoffs in the lockout year. They got back in the playoffs the next year, but lost in the first round. The next year he got fired early on and Nate M was hired as head coach and led them to a decent resurgence after that. Westphal was the weak link in their succession of coaches. By the way, even in Phoenix, Westphal underachieved in the playoffs, losing playoff series even when they had homecourt advantage.
Jordan came to Washington after Doug Collins had attempted to coach the "Michael Jordan resurgence" which failed miserably and really set the team back several years in terms of development. They had hit rock bottom and needed someone to bring stability and experience to the team. After missing the playoffs badly his first year with the team, Jordan took them to the playoffs 4 straight years afterwards. They even won a playoff series without homecourt advantage against the Bulls. The next 3 years that they lost in the first round, but all 3 years were to Lebron and the Cavs, which I think is a bit more excusable. This past season the team started 1-10, thanks to their dreadful, recurring injury issues, and fired EJ, but the team clearly didn't do any better without him. The start wasn't his fault, and they should have kept him.
I don't think Jordan is going to win us a championship, and probably won't get us to the playoffs for a year or two, but I think he is the right guy to get us moving in the right direction and bring stability to the team.
Hire him, Geoff!
Here is my reasoning. Geoff Petrie is clearly looking for someone with previous success as a head coach (and I think he is right to do so considering our current state), which really narrows down our list. The only two such candidates we have interviewed are Paul Westphal and EJ. Having looked around a bit, I don't think there are any names worth adding to the list for various reasons (too old, inflexibility to name a couple). Between these two, Eddie Jordan clearly made the Wizards better, while Westphal clearly made the Sonics worse (I don't consider Westphal's Phoenix coaching since with all the talent and experience they had, Homer Simpson could have coached them to 55+ wins).
Westphal came to Seattle after George Karl left and promptly took them from contender to out of the playoffs in the lockout year. They got back in the playoffs the next year, but lost in the first round. The next year he got fired early on and Nate M was hired as head coach and led them to a decent resurgence after that. Westphal was the weak link in their succession of coaches. By the way, even in Phoenix, Westphal underachieved in the playoffs, losing playoff series even when they had homecourt advantage.
Jordan came to Washington after Doug Collins had attempted to coach the "Michael Jordan resurgence" which failed miserably and really set the team back several years in terms of development. They had hit rock bottom and needed someone to bring stability and experience to the team. After missing the playoffs badly his first year with the team, Jordan took them to the playoffs 4 straight years afterwards. They even won a playoff series without homecourt advantage against the Bulls. The next 3 years that they lost in the first round, but all 3 years were to Lebron and the Cavs, which I think is a bit more excusable. This past season the team started 1-10, thanks to their dreadful, recurring injury issues, and fired EJ, but the team clearly didn't do any better without him. The start wasn't his fault, and they should have kept him.
I don't think Jordan is going to win us a championship, and probably won't get us to the playoffs for a year or two, but I think he is the right guy to get us moving in the right direction and bring stability to the team.
Hire him, Geoff!
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Good points. It would be interesting to know who Rambis would hire, as well as Thibideau.
