Wizards announce Ed Tapscott as interim coach

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the
team has relieved Head Coach Eddie Jordan of his duties. Ed Tapscott
will lead the team as interim head coach beginning immediately.

"This was an extremely difficult decision because I'm
personally very fond of Eddie,” said Wizards Chairman Abe Pollin. “He
helped bring our franchise back to the playoffs and became engrained in
the Washington, D.C., community. I will forever be grateful for his
dedication and hard work. However, sometimes circumstances force
changes. Our team is not performing to my expectations and I felt it
was time to make a change. We wish Eddie and his family all the best."

Jordan compiled an overall record of 197-224 (.468) during his
five-plus-year tenure as head coach of the Wizards (he was originally
hired on June 19, 2003). The Wizards have begun the 2008-09 campaign
with a 1-10 record.

“Our 1-10 record is not acceptable and, more importantly, the way we
have lost those games is not acceptable,” said Grunfeld. “We felt as an
organization that it was time to make a change and we’re looking
forward to the team moving in a positive direction.”

Tapscott was in his second season with the Wizards as director of
player development/programs. In that role, he assisted the coaching
staff in game preparation and player development. He has over 25 years
of experience in basketball, including front office leadership roles
with the New York Knicks and Charlotte Bobcats and a nine-year stint
(1982-1990) as head coach of American University. During his time at
American, he guided the team to more wins than any other coach in
school history.

Assistant Coaches Phil Hubbard, Randy Ayers, Wes Unseld Jr. and Dave
Hopla will remain with the team, while Associate Head Coach Mike
O’Koren was also relieved of his duties today.

"It was unacceptable," a Wizards man said Monday morning. "I mean,
look at the statistics. We're near the bottom in almost everything."
That's
undeniably true: Washington is currently 24th in the league in scoring
(94.6 points per game), 27th in points allowed (103.4 per game), 28th
in point differential (losing games by an average of 8.81 points per
game), 21st in field goal percentage (.435), 28th in field goal
percentage allowed (.475), last in the league in three-point shooting
percentage (.282), 20th in three-point percentage allowed (.363), 25th
in assists per game (18.2), 26th in rebounds per game (39) and 25th in
rebounds allowed per game (44.09). (The only team category that
Washington places in the top 10 so far this season is steals.)
Even
worse than the numbers was the attitude that too many people saw around
Washington players. One head coach who's played against them this
season told a confidant that it looked like the Wizards were already
mailing it in. There was concern about the output of All-Star Caron
Butler, who didn't seem to have the defensive intensity he exhibited
last season. Sentiment was growing that Washington's players were
tuning out Jordan's Princeton philosophy and becoming more selfish by
the day.
The Wizards also saw other teams that had lost star
players--most notably, Utah and San Antonio--yet managed not only to
compete without them, but win more than their share of games. Utah is
9-5 despite not having Deron Williams for most of the season, and
missing Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur for long stretches. And while no
one on the Wizards' roster is as good as Tim Duncan, the Spurs still
are winning with a rookie point guard (George Hill) and newly signed
shooting guard Roger Mason.
Ironically, Mason came from
Washington, where he was a key member of last season's team that made
the playoffs despite not having Arenas for most of the season. But with
Mason in the Lone Star state, and point guard Antonio Daniels mostly
ineffective all season with a knee problem, the Wizards have lost
almost all of their backcourt depth. They're starting Dee Brown, who
was playing in Europe last season, at the point, with rookie JaVale
McGee starting at center. McGee's backup is Etan Thomas, who's coming
back this season after undergoing open-heart surgery last year.