Disappearing Act

Eddie Jordan was the coach of the Washington Wizards professional basketball club, but this morning he was shit canned.

Some would say he was fired or (more diplomatically) "relieved of his position", but there's no doubting this fact: he was shit canned.

Eddie Jordan came to the Wizards as a highly-regarded assistant coach from the New Jersey Nets.  His first season was rocky, with only 25 wins (out of 82 games), but in the following four years he led the team to 40+ wins and four straight playoff appearances, something that the Wizards haven't done since the late 80s.  Eddie Jordan has never had the luxury of a healthy team and his boss has proven less than competent the past two or three years, but Jordan found a way to lead his team to the playoffs.

In the offseason the Wizards failed to sign any relevant free agents and let Roger Mason, an important locker room presence and a solid player, sign with the San Antonio Spurs.  Oh yeah, they re-signed an enigmatic point guard who hasn't met an injury he didn't love to a 124-million-dollar contract that lasts until 2014, essentially handcuffing the franchise to the fate of Gilbert Arenas' knees.  Ernie Grunfeld, the man responsible for all of this, seems to be putting his faith (and our sanity) in the hands of a bunch of very risky gambles.  High reward, certainly...but still very high risk.

So naturally, as the Wizards plummet to the bottom of the standings, Ernie Grunfeld eliminates the only good constant in the equation: the coach.  

Eddie Jordan gracefully fell on the sword and is paying a humiliating price for the sins and misfires of another, untouchable man.  

On top of this, Jordan is being replaced by a man, Ed Tapscott, who has never had any NBA coaching experience.  In fact, he has no coaching experience greater than low-level, division 1 college ball, but I guess coaching American University to a scorching 109-117 record over eight seasons.  

Good.

Great.

It's going to be a long, long season.