The Wizards coaching change presser

Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld held a press conference earlier today with new interim head coach Ed Tapscott to discuss the firing of Eddie Jordan, the hiring of Tapscott, and the sorry state of the franchise. Michael Lee of The Post breaks it down for us, but what it really comes down to is the record, 1-10. 

- Grunfeld said that Tapscott will be the coach through the remainder of the season, at which point “we evaluate everything.”

- Grunfeld wouldn’t say exactly when he reached a decision but said it has been “building,” and then the final decision came “quickly.” He informed Jordan early this morning, around 8 a.m. and called Tapscott in to name him coach shortly after that. Tapscott said he came to work this morning having “no idea” what was in store for him.

-Grunfeld said he considered Randy Ayers but went withTapscott because of his level of comfort with the man. They go back to the early ’90s when Ernie was running the Knicks.

-Tapscott ran his first practice this morning and it went longer than usual. That was because he wanted to emphasize a small set of key principles that he wants put into place right away. ” I wanted to make sure that we had a good, hard, sharp practice,” Tapscott said.

-Tapscott said he would likely go with a starting lineup of JaVale McGee, Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson and Dee Brown and wants to trim down to a reliable rotation of eight or nine players.

-I have called Eddie Jordan but have not yet heard from him. On a personal note, he’s always been nothing but a class act and total professional with me and other reporters and I respect him a great deal. He’ll be a coach again very soon, I promise you that.

Grunfeld on the decision to make the change:

“We have not performed up to our abilities,” Grunfeld said. “We have two all stars on this team and we have some very talented young players and some savvy veterans and we have to get them to play at a high level. Therefore, I felt a change needed to be made.”

On Tapscott: “We hired Eddie Tapscott, whom I’ve known many years. He’s a very respected basketball man. He’s been in basketball for close to 35 years, the professional ranks close to 16, 20 years. He’s an outstanding communicator, a very good motivator and he understands his x’s and o’s. I think he’s going to do a very good job for us.”

Tapscott has not coached a game as the head man since his days at American University in the late ’80s so he admitted that he’ll have some “butterflies” going tomorrow night when he makes his debut against the Golden State Warriors.

His first order of business will be, wait for it, tightening things up at the defensive end of the floor.

Tapscott: “We’re better than 1-10. We know it and we’re all responsible. So, we’re going to preach accountability and unity on this team. We all have to be accountable for what we do, we have to have greater unity. I really believe we’ve got to get better defensively. The numbers say that, our peformance says that. We have to play with a greater physical presence. We need to guard the rim, guard the lane and be a more physical team.”

More on defense: “First of all, we have to protect the rim and the lane. We’ve been a little sievelike. Many people go down the lane. If you don’t protect the rim and the lane, people will continue to drive it on us. And then as we try and scramble and catch up, squeeze in, out goes the pass to the three-point line and needless to say, there have been a barrage of three-point shots attempted and made against us. So, our philosophy will be to protect the rim and the lane. Fold out and run people off of the three-point line and make people take contested two point shots contested off the dribble. That’s the most difficult shot to make in the NBA.”

- Only a few players stopped to talk to the media today including Antawn Jamison, Juan Dixon and Nick Young. Caron Butler rolled out with a hood over his head and said “I just can’t do it today, sorry.” Butler almost never says no to a interview, win or lose, good game or bad so that was telling. Gilbert Arenas was nowhere to be found.

- An agitated Jamison (and he’s almost never agitated) when asked by a TV talking head whether Jordan “deserved it” : “Next question.”

Was he shocked: “I was shocked. Why would I not be shocked?” 
Reporter: “Because the team is 1-10 sometimes that happens when a team is 1-10.”
Jamison: “The team is 1-10, not the coaching staff. Next question.”

More Jamison: “As players you take the responsibility for going out there and getting the job done and we didn’t get it done. Unfortunately they got rid of coach and we have to take it from there.”

We’ll see if Tapscott can make any real improvements in defense. I find it hard to believe the team will be even mediocre in defense until Brendan Haywood returns next season or Javale McGee continues his rapid improvement and becomes a good defensive center some time around early March. 
I found Jamison’s comments particularly interesting. It’s clear to me that Jamison blames himself and his teammates for the fact that Eddie Jordan is currently unemployed [though hardly unemployable]. Jamison is angry — and rightfully so. My guess is that Jamison — the only player who has been playing as he should be playing — has had or soon will have had sharp words for every player on the roster. A 1-10 record speaks for itself and as I argued earlier today, it seems as if the team had tuned out Eddie Jordan, necessitating his firing. Nevertheless, these players got Eddie fired, whether Eddie deserved it or not. The players should see this as a personal failure of theirs. Jamison seems to get that. I hope the other players do, too.