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Wizards fire coach Eddie Jordan

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.

Read and join in fan discussion of this news.

Nov 22: Knicks 122, Wizards 117

The AP reports: Quentin Richardson had 34 points and 12 rebounds in one of his best games since coming to New York, and the short-handed Knicks held on to beat the Washington Wizards 122-117 on Saturday night. Richardson made seven 3-pointers, two shy of the franchise record, and fell a point shy of his highest-scoring game since the Knicks acquired him from Phoenix in June 2005. He scored 35 points against the Wizards on Jan. 17, 2007. Nate Robinson had a season-high 27 points, Wilson Chandler added 23, and David Lee had 22 points and 12 rebounds to help the Knicks snap a three-game losing streak. Antawn Jamison had 29 points and 13 rebounds for the Wizards, who dropped their fifth straight and fell to 1-10, their worst since the 1966 Baltimore Bullets also opened 1-10. Caron Butler finished with 23 points, 19 in the second half.

Wizards change starting lineup

The Washington Wizards are banged and long-term injuries to starters Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood mean some rotation alterations don’t really mean much in the big picture, but with that said, they’ve made some changes. The Washington Post (Ivan Carter) reports:

The final result was familiar — a loss — but the look and feel were different for the Wizards on Wednesday night against the Atlanta Hawks, and that is something Coach Eddie Jordan believes his team can build upon. Jordan typically gives his a team a day off after playing on back-to-back nights, but he held a practice yesterday. Jordan said he was leaning toward sticking with a starting lineup that includes Dee Brown at point guard and rookie JaVale McGee at center when the Wizards (1-8) host the Houston Rockets (7-5) tonight at Verizon Center. Brown and McGee started in place of Juan Dixon and Etan Thomas, respectively.

With one win and eight losses the Wizards have been awful this short season. Caron Butler (20.8 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.67 spg) and Antawn Jamison (18.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.22 spg) have been very good, but they’ve gotten almost no help. Other than Nick Young’s 14.1 ppg no one is scoring 9 points per game. But their problem is defense: Wizards opponents are scoring 101.4 ppg on 47.4% shooting. The Wizards are also bricking their three-pointers in extremely ugly fashion. They’re being out-rebounded and out-assisted. Other than that, everything is great!

Nov 19: Hawks 91, Wizards 87

The AP reports: Marvin Williams hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 26 seconds left and matched his career high with 14 rebounds, and the Hawks overcame Caron Butler’s 32-point effort to beat the Washington Wizards 91-87 on Wednesday night… Williams scored 21 points to help the Hawks snap a four-game losing streak. Hawks coach Mike Woodson noted Williams also defended Washington’s Antawn Jamison, who had 18 points… Mike Bibby led the Hawks with 25 points, including 15 in the third quarter… Joe Johnson, who had 19 points, eight assists and eight rebounds, answered with a 3-pointer for Atlanta with 57 seconds left to cut the lead to a point… Zaza Pachulia, who filled in for Horford at center, scored only four points but set a career high with 18 rebounds.

Nov 18: Heat 94, Wizards 87

The AP reports: The Heat beat the Wizards on Tuesday night for the second time in five days. Dwyane Wade scored 19 points, leading six players in double figures in a 94-87 victory. “We would love to have a game like this where everybody is in double figures all across the board,” said Wade, who also had 10 assists, six rebounds and five turnovers despite rolling his ankle Sunday against Toronto… Antawn Jamison (25) and Caron Butler (21) had 46 of the 59 points scored by the Wizards starters. Nick Young added 12 points off the bench, but his four turnovers included a bad pass in the final minute that ended Washington’s attempt to comeback from a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit.

Nov 14: Heat 97, Wizards 77

The AP reports: Dwyane Wade scored 24 points before taking the fourth quarter off, the Heat held Washington without a field goal for 9 minutes in the second half and outrebounded the bigger Wizards by a huge margin on the way to an easy 97-77 victory on Friday night. A 20-1 run in the third quarter turned a six-point lead into a rout for Miami (5-4), which needed 20 games to hit the five-win mark last season… Michael Beasley scored 19 points, Udonis Haslem had 13 points and 13 rebounds and Marion—who had missed two games with a strained groin—added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Heat, who held a 52-33 advantage on the boards… Antawn Jamison finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for Washington, which fell to 0-4 on the road and an Eastern Conference-worst 1-6 overall. JaVale McGee and Nick Young each added 13 points for the Wizards, while former Heat standout Caron Butler was held to six points.

Wizards quotes

WIZARDS HEAD COACH EDDIE JORDAN

On carrying the momentum from last night’s win: “Our leaders are great leaders. They continue to echo that message that it’s one game and that we need to continue to do the things that we did last night in each game – 48 minutes of hard, smart basketball with winning plays at the end. Even if the shots don’t fall we can still rebound, get into people and be physical. Let’s keep that message and see if we can follow it a little bit more.”

On the defense against the Utah Jazz: “I think we got our hands on a lot of balls: deflections, steals, blocked shots. We kept the ball alive on the glass. That was one of the Utah Jazz’s comments that we controlled the paint. We started early with a couple of steals and some deflections and you feed off of that. You can feel that frenzied attitude.”

On the Miami Heat: “We need to keep him (Dwyane Wade) off the rim, off the glass and out of the paint. They’re young and they play fairly small. They open the floor up. They’re going to feel good at home. We’re going to go with what was good for us last night – we’ll go sort of big. We certainly can play small or big just as long as we keep the harmony and the chemistry, and that is what we are trying to develop.”

On JaVale McGee: “His bloodlines are genuine. He’s been taught the right away – how to compete, how to behave. He is learning at an early age how to pay attention and how to compete. No one teaches how to love the game, but he loves the game. He is a special player right now because of his growth and all of the intangibles.”

WIZARDS FORWARD CARON BUTLER

On the Miami Heat: “It’s going to be tough. They play with a lot of effort and energy. Dwyane Wade is definitely back – he’s playing at an unbelievable level right now. We have to bring it. It’s not going to be easy to win in Miami, but it’s definitely something we can accomplish.”

On JaVale McGee: “He’s doing great. A lot was expected of him, and I think he came in and did exactly what he was supposed to do. He played with a lot of effort and energy. When you apply that much energy and effort out on the court, good things are going to happen on the offensive end. Guys are going to reward you and throw the ball up there. He’s been doing great; he’s been finishing strong and getting the crowd into it. He was a real big part of our success last night.”

WIZARDS GUARD JUAN DIXON

On getting a win: “We’re happy to get a win. I thought we played a lot better on the defensive end and we moved the ball a lot more on the offensive end. As long as we continue to play with the energy we played with last night and execute on the defensive side, I think we’ll be fine.”

On the Miami Heat: “We have to contain Dwyane Wade. We have to be on point like we were last night (against the Utah Jazz). Miami has a young team and they have their All-Star (Dwyane Wade) playing at a superstar level right now. We have to do our part on the defensive end.”

Nov 12: Wizards 95, Jazz 87

The AP reports: Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison scored 15 consecutive Wizards points during the fourth quarter. The duo’s spurt ended with Jamison’s 3-pointer that put Washington ahead 84-82 with 2 minutes left. “The deciding factor,” said Jazz point guard Deron Williams, who had eight points, seven assists and six rebounds in his second game of the season… Butler finished with 27 points and nine rebounds, while Jamison had 21 points and eight boards. They combined for 20 points in the final period, including Butler’s 3-pointer with 30 seconds left that made it 91-82… McGee set personal NBA bests with 13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. “I was impressed,” said Carlos Boozer, who paced Northwest Division-leading Utah with 20 points.

Nov 8: Magic 106, Wizards 81

The AP reports: Dwight Howard had a season-high 31 points and 16 rebounds and also blocked three shots and had three assists to help the Orlando Magic win their fourth straight game, 106-81 over the winless Washington Wizards on Saturday night… Howard, who leads the NBA in blocked shots, hit 11 of 13 shots and nine of 14 free throws. Mickael Pietrus added 18 points for the Magic (4-2), and Keith Bogans had 13, including three 3-pointers… Nick Young had 20 points for the Wizards (0-5), the only team in the Eastern Conference without a victory this season. DeShawn Stevenson added 14 points.

Nov 7: Knicks 114, Wizards 108

The AP reports: Jamal Crawford led new coach Mike D’Antoni’s never-take-a-breath attack with 23 points, and the Knicks spread the wealth with five players in double figures and 51 percent shooting Friday night in a 114-108 victory over the Wizards. “It’s fun,” said Chris Duhon, who had 12 assists and no turnovers… Zach Randolph added 22 points and 13 rebounds, Wilson Chandler and Nate Robinson each scored 17 points, and David Lee had 13 points for the Knicks, who also had 3-pointers from seven players—by halftime… Caron Butler scored 30 points, and Antawn Jamison had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Wizards, whose 0-4 record prompts eerie flashbacks to last season’s 0-5 start.