Wiz of Awes
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Randy Wittman Should Still Be Fired By The Washington Wizards

By Ben Mehic

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As the old adage goes, NBA coaches are hired to be fired. Throughout history, there’s only been a handful of NBA coaches that have managed to stick around. For the majority, though, their fate has inevitably been met.

This off-season, we’ve seen the likes of Tom Thibodeau and Monty Williams lose their jobs despite seemingly successful seasons with their respective teams.

Both coaches have earned the respect they deserve around the league. Their teams made the post-season and improved under their guidance. That, however, doesn’t mean they deserved to keep their jobs.

Randy Wittman is a flawed NBA coach, and at this point, that’s undeniable.

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From botched substitution patterns to lack of player development, Wittman’s flaws have restricted the Washington Wizards from becoming a true championship contender.

The players love playing for Wittman and that’s helped him keep his job. His commitment to the game and old-school demeanor has endeared him to those in the Wizards’ locker room.

John Wall and Bradley Beal have become close to their head coach and the rest of the staff. They genuinely like playing for Wittman. Still, similar to Thibs and Williams, that shouldn’t be enough for him to keep his job.

For the second straight year, the Wizards were eliminated in the semifinals. Of course, Wall’s injury in Game-1 against the Atlanta Hawks did set them back and unfortunately derailed their chances of advancing. As Wittman would say: injuries aren’t good excuses anymore.

Wittman helped construct a flawed roster before the season even began.

During the 2013-2014 NBA season, Washington lacked front court depth. That caused Ernie Grunfeld and Wittman to sign 500 big men during the off-season. Kevin Seraphin, Kris Humphries, Drew Gooden and DeJuan Blair all competed for playing time.

This year, Washington had way too many bigs and not enough back court depth, causing them to become way too dependent on their starting unit.

People, including myself, have pointed to the changes Wittman made during the playoffs such as playing Paul Pierce at the four and giving Otto Porter a substantial amount of minutes. These changes should’ve been made a long time ago, though, and if they were made, Washington probably would’ve gotten home court advantage in the NBA Playoffs.

Heck, if Wittman opted to play Trevor Ariza at the four against the Indiana Pacers last year — a change that his assistant coaches had suggested, but Wittman refused to make — the Wizards probably would’ve made the conference finals last year.

Wittman has set a solid foundation. The Golden State Warriors are going to win the NBA Championship this season and they wouldn’t have done it without firing Mark Jackson.

Similar to Wittman in D.C., Jackson created a solid foundation in Golden State. He laid the structure, but then Steve Kerr came and expanded.

Kerr gave Draymond Green a chance to become a key piece to their success and relegated David Lee to the bench. Kerr has given Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson offensive freedom, allowing them to become the best back court in the NBA.

They’re no longer “barely above average on offense” and they’ve kept their defensive identity that Jackson helped instill. They’ve flourished since the change was made and there’s a number of teams around the NBA that would benefit from making similar changes and the Wizards are one of them.

Washington won’t fire Randy Wittman. After a disappointing second-half of the regular season, with losses to the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves, there was some speculation about whether or not Wittman would survive the season. He did and the Wizards won another first round series in dominant fashion.

If the Wizards did not bounce back and lost in the first round, then Randy Wittman probably would’ve lost his job.

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That wasn’t the case, though.

Washington needs a coach that will utilize the players to their capabilities.

Folks who don’t watch the team regularly have called the Wizards a “fast team”, often considering the speed of John Wall, but they haven’t played that style of basketball under Randy Wittman.

The Wizards were in the bottom half of the league in pace during the regular season.

The Wizards are going to change the roster this summer, hoping to play quicker and smaller. They’re going to add another young player this month through the NBA Draft.

Randy Wittman isn’t a coach that’s embraced small-ball nor had a long period of success playing a modern brand of basketball. The playoffs were an OK sample, but even then, Wittman failed by not making the changes earlier in games, often letting opposing teams gain leads before switching the lineup.

The player Washington chooses in this month’s draft will end up sitting on the bench or in the NBA D-League by January. Wittman’s reluctance to give minutes to young players has hurt the Wizards — Otto Porter sat for most of the season, often playing behind Martell Webster and Rasual Butler. The list of his failures in player development is honestly too long to list. That’s an issue.

Randy Wittman is going to remain the head coach of the Washington Wizards, even though his firing seems long overdue.

I’m going to hope he succeeds because I want the team to succeed. If they make a change, their chances of succeeding would increase. For now, we’ll just have to hope Randy Wittman can perform at Playoff Randy standards for an 82-game season.

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