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.
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The Sacramento Bee (Sam Amick) reports: By the time November is done, the Kings will have played a league-high 17 games during the month. Utah, Milwaukee and Oklahoma City will share the distinction, with the Kings and Jazz the only two that will go the entire month without more than one day between any of their games. The Kings have four sets of back-to-back games in all, with two this week (at the Lakers on Sunday and at Portland today; at Utah on Friday and home against Dallas on Saturday). The combination of the two major factors to the season’s start was, quite obviously, far from ideal. Kings coach Reggie Theus said the only solution is to continue focusing on the bigger picture. “One thing is for sure is that you can’t worry about the end result,” he said. “We just have to keep playing and finding a way to play. … But we have to accept where we are, what our goals are, and understand that the fight to get to the next place is always there.”
The New York Post (Tim Bontemps) reports on Nets rookie center Brook Lopez: The Stanford product, who was the 10th pick in the draft in June, has seen his production increase dramatically since a promotion to the starting lineup. After averaging a bit over four points and five rebounds a game as a reserve, Lopez’s averages have jumped up to 14.6 points and nine rebounds as a starter over the past five games. “He had a couple games coming off the bench where he was struggling a little bit,” Frank said. “I think getting in the role of a starter kind of got his confidence back in the right direction, and I think he’s been very, very consistent. You don’t necessarily have to play through him and he still gets those numbers.”