The Washington Wizards held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to announce that assistant Randy Wittman was promoted to replace head coach Flip Saunders, who was relieved of his duties that morning. Team president Ernie Grunfeld was on hand as well to field questions from the media. Wittman will finish out the remaining of the season as the interim head coach, the rest of the coaching staff was retained.
Wittman emphasized his experience being an interim head coach:
“I have coached in this league on a number different teams. It is not an easy transition. I have done this before and I have been on a staff and taking over in the middle of the season. I know what is about and what change needs happen to try to make this a positive situation … The main thing that I learned the first time that I stepped in — this is even more magnified because of the condensed schedule and playing so many games without practice time — we just got to simplify things … you can’t flood these guys with information overload … just two or three things to concentrate on and take the baby steps after there.”
The removal of Saunders brought a level of personal sadness:Read more »
Washington Wizards coach Flip Saunders made his official return to the Verizon Center press table on Friday afternoon to speak with the media. He made some statements, he made some observations, he set some goals, and he dished out a couple zingers. Afterward, a handful of media members assembled in an impromptu huddle to comment on how much Flip seemed ready to talk. Hey, the man is just glad to have a season and a team to coach. For now, if media ears are around to listen, well, they come with the blissful territory. Let’s run through Flip’s Top 11 quote tid-bits…
#11 On areas of improvement…
“We need to be better offensively, as far as on turning the ball over. That cost us a lot. I always believe that if you don’t turn it over you’re going to have a chance to win.”
Representatives of the owners and players emerged from the umpteenth NBA lockout negotiation session on Wednesday (actually, Thursday — this one was of the 12-hour variety, 1 pm to 1 am), with an agreement to continue to negotiate on Thursday. Neither black nor white smoke emerged, but rather a bunch of smoke blown up our collective butts. That and the telltale sign from covering media via Twitter: ‘Two different press conferences, you know what that means.’ It means no basketball.
No news is not good news, it’s no news. Yet, people are forced to look for silver linings, some citing the mere fact that NBA commissioner David Stern “stopped the clock” (his words) on a previously given ultimatum of a 5 pm Wednesday deadline (for a player acceptance of the owners’ offer) as a positive sign. Afterward, neither side could publicly say whether progress was made.
“I can’t characterize whether they showed flexibility or not in certain system issues,” said player rep Derek Fisher. “Nothing was worked out today,” said Stern. Media sources have, however, indicated a semblance of progress. “Progress was made on three system issues,” wrote the Twitter account @WojYahooNBA.
When asked by Howard Beck of the New York Times if the NBA was in a position where they could give the players some semblance of what they want (in terms of in exchange for a 50-50 Basketball-Related Income (BRI) split) Stern said, “I don’t know how you would define ‘some semblance’.” Exactly.* Nothing appears as it seems, or vice versa.
Why should you care about the 56th pick? These guys rarely make NBA teams, right?
Not this year, not with the Wizards.
And regardless, you should be intrigued by Hamady N’diaye, the man who is simply known as “H” wherever he goes. It’s easy to see what attracted the Wizards to N’diaye, he exemplifies Ted Leonsis’ “Business of Happiness” philosophy.
Growing up in Senegal, N’diaye didn’t find basketball as a serious outlet until around age 15, mostly playing soccer when he was young like Solomon Alabi and others from the African continent. But with height as a natural tool (he now measures 6’10.5″ without shoes with a 7’6″ wingspan — Saunders says he can touch about 12’7″ on the backboard), N’diaye saw an opportunity and jumped on it. He left his family and came to the U.S. at 16, by himself and speaking very little English, to pursue a career in basketball.
Going from the Life Center Academy in New Jersey, then to Florida Prep, where he and a couple friends/teammates from his home country had to literally escape from poor conditions in the middle of the night, and finally ending up at Stoneridge Prep in California, you could easily call making it to the NBA a long shot for N’diaye.
There was a larger than usual media contingent at the Wizards’ practice this afternoon. I can’t really say this with conviction since it was only my second time attending a practice, but let’s just say there was a presence on a national level. And we’re talking about practice.
Waiting to be let into the gym, I surveyed the media scene. A bunch evil, lazy looking mofos … with daggers in their eyes and hate in their blood. Of course, I’m being extremely facetious here. But in the eyes of Gilbert Arenas, that’s what they are. Ok, again, I must confess, I’m putting words in Arenas’ mouth … but he did call the media “lazy.”
Arenas spoke in such a sullen and somber tone, he seemed like a kid who’d just lost his puppy. I halfway expected him to break out in a smile, but he didn’t. I know I broke out a couple uncontrollable smirks myself. When Arenas was done, he just quietly put his head down and walked to the locker room.
Ernie Grunfeld didn’t reveal anything new in Thursday’s press conference, just ask Michael Lee of the Post and Mike Jones of the Times, both alluding to the recycled themes we’ve heard for most of the summer.
But it’s been “one of the longest summers ever,” according to Grunfeld. He’s anxious to get the season started and have his “wait and see” mantra put to the test.
“I haven’t been this excited in a very long time because of the change that we have. There’s a different sense around here. There’s a different sense around the team. The players feel this new kinda of enthusiasm, there’s a new kind of professionalism, and just a new way of doing things. I think it’s exciting for us and exciting for the players.” -Ernie Grunfeld
I attended the H Street Festival in D.C. on Saturday and saw him from a distance … is that ‘him’? The guy who only Mike Jones of the Washington Times was able to catch up with … for which Jones continues to receive congratulations? The mysterious figure faded into the crowd before I could ever find out if he was real or not. A true agent with the label of zero.
{UPDATE: To be clear, before anyone asks, I didn’t ‘really’ think that was Arenas … was being a bit facetious. It would, however, be funny if he wore his own jersey about town.}
I had the opportunity to attend Flip Saunders’ presser this afternoon. Many thanks to the Wizards PR team and their openness to blogs. Mike Jones of the Washington Times was also there (obviously), as well as Mike Prada of Bullets Forever. My thoughts, quotes, tid-bits, and reads are below.
“Right now I plan on playing him strictly as a one,” Flip told David Aldridge, shooting down the idea of Gilbert Arenas spending time off the point. “He has to maintain his scoring aggressiveness as a one, and let people play off of him,” continued Saunders. Meaning, team scoring and passing will be on Arenas’ shoulders. The ball will be in his hands a lot, eighty-percent of the time according to Saunders. “He has a great opportunity to really improve because he’s gonna have the ball in his hands like never before.”
Speaking of that ‘off the point’ position, Saunders said it will be an open competition for the starting two-guard role. He went on to explain that in his offensive system, “twos and threes are pretty much interchangeable,” and that it’s about the “guys who play the best together.”
