WIZARDSINSIDER Friday, January 9, 2004

> washingtonpost.com > Sports > Leagues and Sports > NBA > Wizards
>
> WIZARDSINSIDER
>
> Friday, January 9, 2004; Page D04
>
> WHO'S NEXT?
>
> at Orlando
>
> Tonight, 7
>
> WBDC-50, WTEM-980
>
> ORLANDO, Jan. 8 -- When the Washington Wizards and Orlando Magic, the
> NBA's worst teams, face off Friday night at TD Waterhouse Centre,
> Washington Coach Eddie Jordan will continue to juggle his rotation
> depending on how certain players are performing.

Since when has performance meant anything to Jordan? Arenas has to be on
the floor because he has a $64,000,000.00 contract, the driving strategy
of 20 years of Wizards dysfunction.

>
> Jordan, ideally, would like to have a nine-man rotation with certain
> players logging a designated amount of minutes and reserves coming
> into games at predetermined times. However, until players earn a

See? He's got 12 players that don't vary much in ability and he wants a
9-man rotation. Popovich would be playing 12 with this squad. Young legs
and lungs have certain uses, you see.

> steady dose of minutes, playing time could be unstable, something that
> has some players privately grousing.
>
> "Number one, we have to win games, that's why, if we have to play
> different lineups, we're doing it," Jordan said. "I'm not playing
> different lineups just because it's prefabricated. It's not
> predetermined. I'm going to play, through the course of the season,
> who's playing well or what groups are going to play together well."
>
> Adjustments to the lineup because of injuries and inconsistent play
> has prevented the Wizards from establishing cohesiveness on either end
> of the court. The return of leading scorer Gilbert Arenas into the

A system that doesn't work and a coach that thinks Arenas is a PG have
prevented decent team play.

> starting lineup five games ago after he missed 14 games with an
> abdominal injury has not been as smooth as hoped.
>
> "Before I got hurt we were doing good," said Arenas, who is shooting
> 33 percent from the field and 44 percent from the free throw line
> since his return. "Everybody's not in sync anymore. We've got to find
> a way to get the ball to the scorers instead of everybody trying to
> worry about scoring 20 a night. We've just got to find a way to win it
> by any means necessary."

"everybody" being him and Hughes, apparently. They had to get to 9-24 to
stop thinking about stats?

>
> Guard Larry Hughes has struggled with his shooting since Arenas's
> return, making 27 of 82 shots (33 percent). He was not pleased about
> playing just 23 minutes in Tuesday's blowout loss to San Antonio.

Where's the quote? I doubt Hughes blamed anyone but himself.


> Jordan also kept him off the floor for most of the third quarter of
> Wednesday's 97-87 loss to New Orleans as he played point guards Steve
> Blake and Brevin Knight together in attempt to generate an offensive
> flow.
>
> Knight, one of the few veterans on the team, said players must take on
> the responsibility of correcting things if Washington is to improve.
>
> "You've got to hit rock bottom and right now we're probably close to
> that point," Knight said. "Sooner or later you've got to dig yourself
> out. We'll need to show the character of our team -- soon."

That will be when Grunfeld fires Jordan. That will show some character. If
Grunfeld doesn't show some, don't expect to see any from his victims.

>
> -- Steve Wyche

humbubba.DeleteThis@smart.net

Rick Hohensee
Precision Mojo Engineer