A better Jordan for the Wizards

Sporting News, The, July 28, 2003 by Sean Deveney

Eddie Jordan has hope. He thinks his stay in Washington, D.C., his hometown, can be long and fruitful and that when he does finally part ways with the Wizards, it will be without controversy.

That would buck a few trends. Jordan will be the ninth man in eight seasons to call himself Washington's coach, so earning tenure with the Wizards looks historically impossible. And considering the way things wound up when Jordan was coaching the Kings in 1997 and '98, and more recently in New Jersey--where Jordan was Byron Scott's assistant--controversy might be difficult to avoid. It seems to follow Jordan, through no fault of his own.

Jordan abruptly was dumped in August 1998 by the Kings after slightly more than one season. True, Sacramento closed the 1997-98 season with a stretch of 26 losses in 29 games, but the lineup was terrible. In the offseason, the team traded for Chris Webber, drafted Jason Williams and signed Vlade Divac. Things were looking up. Jordan never got to coach that group, though; he was axed in favor of Rick Adelman, who happened to be a chum of general manager Geoff Petrie.

Jordan did not think the firing was fair, just as he did not think it was fair that, after heading to Washington, his name was dragged into the ugly rumors surrounding Scott and Jason Kidd in New Jersey. Kidd preferred Jordan, who did most of the work for the Nets, the rumors went. Scott reportedly did very little, leaving the task of running the team to his assistants, and by the time The Finals came around, Jordan was so miffed with Scott that the two were not even talking. Jordan denies that rumor. "Whoever put my name in these things is wrong," Jordan says. "I did my job. I was honest, I was loyal, and I worked as hard as I can work."

As for Scott's style, Jordan says, "Byron had a way of coaching, and it was effective. It was successful. You cannot knock history. It worked."

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but Jordan, understandably, would prefer to talk about the future. So would his Wizards charges, who are coming off their own years of upheaval and controversy, thanks to the often intimidating two-year reign of Doug Collins and Michael Jordan. "I think the attitude will be a lot different," says forward Kwame Brown, the player who most keenly felt the barbs and criticisms of the old regime. "I think we're going to learn more under coach Jordan, and that's what we need."

Indeed, the Wizards are built on an odd foundation, and they have a lot to learn. Jordan is setting himself up for a difficult process. They have a big-time scorer in Jerry Stackhouse, surrounded by decent young talent--Juan Dixon, Larry Hughes, Jared Jeffries, Brown, Brendan Haywood and rookie Jarvis Hayes. Jordan wants to employ the same Princeton-style offense he installed in New Jersey (when he coached the Kings, one of Jordan's assistant coaches was Princeton guru Pete Carril), but it's a difficult system to learn, especially for a team so young.

It's a screen-heavy offense that relies on reading and finding the holes in the defense, then reacting with the correct cut, screen or pass, and having confidence that your teammates will react the same way. That takes longer than one training camp to learn. It took the Nets a full season to master. With a team built around Stackhouse, who prefers to dominate the ball and create his own shots, and with precious few shooters on the roster, this version of the Wizards looks ill-suited to play a Princeton offense.

"We ran something similar at Georgia, so I understand it pretty well," Hayes says. "I like shooting off screens, so it fits me. But for guys who have never played in it before, it probably is going to be tough because it is a lot different than some other sets."

Jordan is not installing the offense all at once and says he must adjust to his personnel. Still, he is teaching calculus to guys who struggled with long division. The Wizards are coming off consecutive 37-win seasons, and only five teams averaged fewer than Washington's 91.5 points per game last year. Jordan claims to be pleased with the progress so far, but his voice betrays him--he is hoarse and admits that yelling at his players in summer-league games and workouts has given his larynx a strenuous workout.

"We're trying to put in the principles of it, not necessarily all of it," Jordan says. "Just trying to tweak the same principles for the strength of our team. It's a little bit different than what you've seen the last couple of years. We're experimenting and trying to break some new ground."

New ground in Washington would be a good thing for Jordan. After all he has been through in Sacramento and New Jersey, he's a little tired of thinking about the old ground.

It's signing season. Things are happening fast. Titles are being won and lost. But what does it all mean? Find out at www.sportingnews.com/nba

M@IL BONDING

SEAN DEVENEY ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS

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