Flip Saunders was hired to take the Wizards deep into the playoffs. Then he was tasked with presiding over and developing young players on a team that was starting over.
The Wizards decided he never quite did either, even if the failures weren’t exactly his fault. They relieved Saunders of his duties Tuesday after a 103-83 loss at Philadelphia on Monday dropped the franchise’s NBA-worst record to 2-15.
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“I think it was cumulative,” Wizards president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld said. “[The 76ers game,] obviously, nobody was happy with, including the players and everybody, but we all felt like it was time for a different voice and to maybe try to do some different things to take advantage of the talent of the players on the team.”
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| Bobcats at Wizards |
| When » Wednesday, 7 p.m. |
| Where » Verizon Center |
| TV » CSN |
In Saunders’ place, Grunfeld elevated assistant coach Randy Witt?man, 52, who proclaimed himself the polar opposite of the close friend he sat next to on the bench for more than two seasons.
“This is a black mark on all of us, absolutely,” said Wittman, using a presidential campaign reference to contrast his task over the remainder of the season. “I’m not looking for votes. I’m looking to get this team going in a positive direction. If I’m telling the fans, I’m here today because I believe this team is better than where we are right now.”
The 56-year-old Saunders, who had been to the playoffs 11 times in 15 seasons — including seven with 50 wins or more — leaves the Wizards with a 51-130 record and more than one-and-a-half seasons left on his four-year, $18 million contract. He was hired in 2009 after a season in which the Wizards started by losing 10 of their first 11 games, at which point Grunfeld fired then-coach Eddie Jordan. Ed Tapscott was named interim coach as Washington tied a franchise worst with a 19-63 record.
With Saunders at the helm and veterans Mike Miller and Randy Foye added to the roster in a trade that sent the fifth pick in the 2009 NBA Draft to Minnesota, the Wizards were expected to contend for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and perhaps even gain homecourt advantage in the first round.
Saunders won two of his first three games but then dropped six in a row and has had a losing record ever since. The Wizards were 11-21 before Gilbert Arenas was suspended for the remainder of the 2009-10 season after bringing guns into the team locker room, and they suffered a franchise-record 16-game losing streak in the spring of 2010.
Washington dropped from 26 to 23 wins in 2010-11 after adding John Wall with the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. He is playing alongside Andray Blatche, who complained about the offense and once refused to come back into a game; JaVale McGee, whose off-the-backboard dunk last week epitomized the franchise’s lack of focus on team basketball; and Nick Young, who was benched at the start of the third quarter of the Wizards’ loss in Philadelphia on Monday.
“We take responsibility,” Grunfeld said. “We had issues that happened to us that were out of anybody’s hands the last two or three years.”
After losing their first eight games this season, setting a record for the worst start in franchise history, the Wizards had played better last week, notching an upset over Oklahoma City. But on Monday, they matched their season low with 14 points in the first quarter and trailed by as many as 30 points before suffering their 11th loss of the year by double digits.
“I don’t think we totally understand how you have to play as a young player to be competitive night in and night out,” said Wittman, who intends to raise the tempo of a team that is already third in the NBA in fast-break points. “That’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Wittman, who has a career coaching record of 100-207 during stints in Minnesota and Cleveland, replaced Dwane Casey in 2007 when the Timberwolves were 20-20. They finished 32-50.
The Wizards retained the rest of Saunders’ coaching staff, including his son, Ryan.
