Washington Wizards: It’s Time To End The Randy Wittman Era

By Ben Mehic | Jan 26, 2016

Jan 26, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Washington Wizards head coach Randy Wittman talks to his players at the bench during a time out against Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /

Washington Wizards Need To End The Wittman Era

I hate seeing people lose their job, but sometimes it’s just a necessary move the higher-ups have to make.

In the case of the NBA, head coaches are almost always hired to eventually be fired.

There isn’t a coach that I could think of besides Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich in the modern era that hasn’t lost their head coaching gig. Heck, Jerry Sloan was essentially forced to quit his job after serving as head coach of the Utah Jazz for nearly an eon. It’s just the nature of the business.

The Washington Wizards are entering a familiar territory right now.

After having high expectations at the start of the 2015-16 NBA season, the Wizards have found themselves three games below .500 and out of the playoff picture. We’ve recognized that the Wizards are just a few games behind the teams occupying middle seeds in the playoffs, but we haven’t seen anything that should indicate improvement.

The Wizards had four straight games at home, but lost all but one.

Besides the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers — who are widely considered two of the worst teams in the NBA — the Washington Wizards are the only team in the East with a losing record at home.

Not only are the Wizards dropping games in the nation’s capital, but they’re getting blown out by the likes of the Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics. Given how much success the team had over the past several seasons, the results this season — particularly at home — are simply unacceptable.

Even though the Wizards have missed more games to injury than any other team in the league, they’ve finally gotten some key pieces back in the rotation and the results haven’t changed. Bradley Beal was available for recent blowout losses and Nene was too.

The injury excuse is a solid one, but it’s not valid anymore. The Wizards did a good job of staying afloat while key players were hurt, but those players are back now.

They’ve continued to lose.

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Wittman is an old-school, stubborn coach.

The players, coaching staff and management have great respect for Wittman — make no mistake about it.

Wittman has dedicated his entire life to professional basketball.

He played in the NBA and shortly after began coaching.

He’s coached for virtually his entire life after his playing days were over.

Wittman’s never had the opportunity to coach a great basketball team and his best time as head coach came last year, where the Washington Wizards swept the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the playoffs and came close to advancing to the Conference Finals.

Wittman took over for Flip Saunders in 2012, installed a new defensive scheme and the team bought in completely.

We all knew that Wittman was a flawed coach. After all, this is the same person who told Kevin Love to stop shooting threes in Minnesota. He’s preached defense first and offense never for his entire coaching career. He’s a fan of the grind-it-out style that most teams nowadays have abandoned.

Wittman made the change this summer, too.

The Wizards had experienced plenty of success with Paul Pierce at the four spot during the playoffs and it was enough to convince the Wizards to make the switch over to small-ball. Ernie Grunfeld constructed a versatile, albeit flawed roster, and Wittman rolled with what he had.

They tried starting Kris Humphries at the four spot, but his perimeter shooting was too inconsistent. Wittman ultimately went with Jared Dudley as the starting power forward. Dudley was brought in from the Milwaukee Bucks after successfully filling that role for Jason Kidd‘s club the year prior.

As I mentioned previously, the Wizards struggled mightily earlier in the season because of injuries. They played small, the offense improved, but it wasn’t enough to get them above .500. John Wall was putting up the best numbers of his career, Dudley was atop the league in 3-point percentage and Garrett Temple suddenly became reliable.

It’s not a coincidence that Washington looked competent offensively when they played with an offense oriented around increased pace and space.

Did the results reflect the expectations?

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Absolutely not.

Even after playing faster, the Washington Wizards continued to lose.

But the offense wasn’t the problem.

The problem was injuries and lack of depth.

When you have to sign Ryan Hollins because Dudley is playing center, you’re going to have trouble winning games.

Recently, though, Wittman has decided to abandon what the Wizards have been working on this entire season. Instead of continuing with small-ball, Wittman has reverted to what he knows best: traditional lineups and overuse of veterans.

Nene is back in the starting lineup and the offense has become a disaster once again. Wall, who just a week ago had space to operate and facilitate, has been bogged down by the two big men. The Wizards are no longer relying on 3-point shots, but have instead focused on getting ugly mid-range jump shots.

The Wizards are running their offense through the post and the elbow as if LaMarcus Aldridge or DeMarcus Cousins is on their roster. The problem is, neither one of those guys is rockin’ a Washington Wizards uniform. The Wizards have Nene and Marcin Gortat — two players who aren’t capable of being primary offensive options.

To make matters worse, Wittman has benched Kelly Oubre — who thrived in the improved offense. Instead of giving the 20-year-old rookie a chance, Wittman has played Gary Neal and Drew Gooden — who are probably the worst defenders in the NBA.

For a defensive-minded coach, Wittman has decided to trade basic principle for mind boggling lineups that clearly haven’t worked.

Ramon Sessions and Neal have constantly shared the court, even though they’re the worst perimeter defenders on the team. Oubre, who’s already one of the team’s best on defense, rots on the bench. Gooden hasn’t done anything productive recently, yet he plays over Oubre, who’s likely going to be a key piece going forward.

Nothing Randy Wittman has done recently makes sense. It’s as if he’s coaching to get fired. If that’s his goal, then he’s certainly on his way to accomplishing it. Now, I’m not saying that much would change if Wittman gets fired, but there’s no logical reason to keep him around anymore.

I respect what Wittman has done for the team. He’s one of the primary reasons why the Washington Wizards are no longer a complete joke. The team’s culture has changed because they bought into whatever he was originally selling. But the league has evolved and Wittman has stopped.

He deserved credit for changing his style, but now he’s going back to what failed to work. We’re midway through the season. Changing styles this late won’t benefit anyone, but Wittman would rather lose his job doing what he knows best than conform.

Firing a coach typically gives teams a spark, for some reason. The Wizards have solid assistants that are itching to get a chance. Don Newman, who coached under Gregg Popovich and George Karl prior to coming to D.C., is someone who deserves a chance. Newman was interviewed by the Denver Nuggets for their head coaching job this past summer.

Ultimately, the Washington Wizards won’t keep Wittman around after this season unless they make a completely unexpected turnaround. It would take a trip to the Conference Finals to save Wittman’s job. He’s in the final year of his contract. If the Wizards could land a top free agent, they’re going to part ways with Wittman anyway and allow the team to basically pick the next head coach.

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The Wizards are going to pay Wittman regardless, so why not pull the plug? He’s put the team in strange positions recently and he’s running out of options. Reverting back to what doesn’t work is insanity. Wittman is sticking to his guns and will go out blazing. But it’s time to end it. The Wizards need someone who’s going to utilize his players correctly and stick to what works, and it’s become clear that Wittman is unwilling to do that.

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