SAUNDERS NOT COACHING MAGICIAN WIZARDS NEED
By PETER VECSEY
April 12, 2009

The Wizards have committed to Flip Saunders as their next head coach, and officially will announce as much sometime this week. This contradicts a pretty reliable source who claims Avery Johnson is first in line.

That actually makes infinitely more sense. You have got to be off the reservation to have a pot shot of getting through on Gilbert Arenas' wavelength on any kind of a regular frequency, and the Little General is out there.

Saunders is far too normal. He had trouble gaining the respect and keeping the attention of a reasonably stable core (overlooking Rasheed Wallace, otherwise it ruins my argument) of polished Pistons. Imagine trying to accomplish something constructive while suffering Agent Zero's histrionics.

May as well team up Arenas with Nate Robinson, put a tent over the Verizon Center, and call it a circus. Their new act could be passing the ball around their backs to each other on the free throw line.

Saunders is far too normal.

I've heard a lot of criticisms about coaches, but this is a first.

Dealing with certain players brings certain problems.

I think Arenas' problem is that he doesn't actually have the confidence inside himself and creates all these distractions to conjure up an excuse if/when he falls short.

The problem then is that his created distractions are partially to blame for him falling short.

Dude is trapped inside his own Matrix of fear.

I don't think that's true. I think the guy is just an ego maniac and not devoted to basketball. He loves himself much more than the game.

He and Jamison will love Flip's jumpshot offense though and slacking off in zones defense all the time.

nonetheless, they could flourish in Flip's setup as a team more built for his pussy ball.

Fuck. I thought the Wiz hired Flip MURRAY! The main forum page cuts off at "Flip.."

Swat this shit.

I don't think that's true. I think the guy is just an ego maniac and not devoted to basketball. He loves himself much more than the game.

He and Jamison will love Flip's jumpshot offense though and slacking off in zones defense all the time.

I disagree Fool

I think that he acts like he loves himself so much but deep down inside at places you don't talk about at parties he's a scared little boy that doesn't believe that he's good enough to hang with the big boys.

He was told in high school he wouldn't get to a decent college. He was told in college he wasn't good enough for the NBA. NBA teams didn't think enough of him to draft him in the top 30. Golden State thought so much of him they didn't even give him a 3 year contract.

Dude has been doubted all his life and while that makes some people bitter and twisted (and pissed off so they fucking go balls to the wall and make it personal to prove everyone wrong) I think he actually has believed all those people and relies on humour and bullshit to deflect attention from his great basketball skills.

His humour is his self defence mechanism kicking in, giving everyone shit to focus on so they don't talk about his basketball talent.

Then again everything I'm typing could be complete bullshit - I have no background in this area. Just calling it how I see it.

I just read a report that Flip has selected Sam Cassell to be one of his assistants.

Well, the Alien might be able to speak Gil's language:

Arenas is fluent in Sam-I-Am?
Will wonders never cease?!

People love to bag on the guy because he's so arrogant, but there is nobody better at getting an NBA story first than Vecsey.

I bag on him because there is also nobody better at getting an NBA story wrong than Vecsey.

Also, because he writes poorly and uses those Mother Goose like rhymes and almost unintelligible phrasing like a life support system.

I meant "people" as in "people everywhere", nt just "people here", but yeah, he gets a good deal of stories wrong too, for sure. You have to wonder how many of those stories actually have merit and then fall apart.

He's a risktaker, and he's probably earned his reputation no matter what you think of him or the shitrag he writes for.

The deal reportedly is worth close to $19 million over four years.

That's not big money when you think about it.

LOL - Flip is a MLE coach

Vecesey likely gets stories wrong cause he's the first to report it - at least the guy is out there getting stories. Othr "reporters" just comment after the fact.

GD - didn't you have another story that Vecesey printed first? I can't remember what it was about...

Vecesey broke both Sheed and Arroyo to the Pistons.

Well, there's 2 more I didn't think of/remember

I try to blot out Arroyo.

Racist.

Well, the Alien might be able to speak Gil's language:
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x147/dspiewak/cassell-ET.jpg

LMAO

Saunders: I can work with Agent Zero

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

The star of his new team is famed for his outspokenness and quirkiness, but Flip Saunders doesn't flinch when he's asked about managing Gilbert Arenas.

The new coach of the Washington Wizards insists that he has zero reservations about working with Agent Zero.

"I think we'll do great together," Saunders told ESPN.com in his first public comments since agreeing to a four-year deal worth $18 million to succeed Eddie Jordan and interim coach Ed Tapscott.

Saunders and the Wizards reached an oral agreement more than a week ago, and the 54-year-old coach will be formally introduced at a news conference on Thursday.

"The thing about Gilbert is, no coach is ever going to have a problem with how much he loves the game," Saunders said. "He puts in an unbelievable amount of time working on his game. He's a competitor and he wants to be great.

"If you look at my teams, I've had a point guard-oriented offense pretty much everywhere I've been. Myself and my point guard, we're usually joined at the hip."

Saunders and Avery Johnson are widely regarded as the most accomplished coaches available this offseason, but the former was Washington's preference largely because Saunders was seen as the better fit for coaching Arenas than the hard-driving Johnson.

After signing a six-year deal worth $111 million in the 2008 offseason, Arenas played in only two games this season thanks to a painfully slow recovery from a third surgery on his left knee. Getting the 27-year-old back to an All-Star level is by far the Wizards' top priority, largely because they are projected to be nearly $7 million over the luxury tax line in 2009-10. As presently constructed, they have almost no flexibility to make significant roster changes to a team that went 19-63 unless Caron Butler or Antawn Jamison were traded away.

The Wizards' plan entering the summer is to keep that three-man core together, believing that the pass-first flashes Arenas showed in his two-game return -- an assist-to-turnover ratio of 20-1 -- and Saunders' history of success with aggressive lead guards (Stephon Marbury in Minnesota and Chauncey Billups in both Minnesota and Detroit) are a promising combination. The Wizards also expect to have defensive anchor Brendan Haywood back next season after a wrist injury limited Haywood to just six games.

Saunders and Arenas have already had some contact to discuss the coach's philosophy, prompting Arenas to tell the Washington Times: "I think he's going to help me turn into a real point guard. Under [Jordan] we ran the Princeton offense, and in that system it was just two guards, two forwards and a center.

"I was the only scorer at the guard position so I took that over the scoring position," Arenas said, according to the Times. "So now we're coming into a regular system when I'm going to be the point guard. It's my chance to really manage the team for the first time in my career. [Saunders] is going to put the ball in my hands and just let me run the team."

Said Saunders: "You don't 'control' players. No coach does. Phil Jackson doesn't control Kobe Bryant and he didn't control Michael Jordan. What you do is put players in situations where they can be successful. And I think I've always done that.

"I really believe that Gilbert, if he comes back healthy, he's going to have a very good year. He doesn't like the idea of not playing this year and not being in the playoffs. He wants to win."

Because of Saunders' nonconfrontational style and his offensive leanings, there were loud calls in Washington for the defensively deficient Wizards to pursue Johnson instead. But there's a sentiment around the league that Saunders has an underrated résumé after reaching the conference finals in each of his past four full seasons -- once with Minnesota and in each of his three seasons with Detroit -- and winning at least 50 games in seven of his 10 full seasons. The Wizards haven't had a 50-win season since going 54-28 in 1978-79.

Saunders was fired by the Pistons after last season's loss to Boston in the East finals, but the willingness of Pistons president Joe Dumars to trade Billups away just a week into this season has given further credence to the idea that the title window had closed for a stubborn group of players that wasn't always easy to marshal in the playoffs.

It's believed that the Pistons' occasional resistance to Saunders -- described by one insider as a belief among some Pistons veterans that "the team could coach itself" -- stemmed from the championship Detroit won before his arrival under Larry Brown and Saunders' lack of a championship ring. Yet only four active coaches in the league have won a championship: Jackson, Brown, Gregg Popovich and Doc Rivers.

And Saunders' four teams that reached the conference finals were denied by teams led by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 2004, Dwyane Wade and O'Neal in 2006, LeBron James in 2007 and Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen in 2008.

"I learned a lot in Detroit and I hope that the players learned something from me in my time there," Saunders said. "There was always one message from Joe and that message was that if you didn't win a championship, we always considered that as a failure. I'm disappointed that we didn't win a championship ... but I don't consider getting to the conference finals three years in a row as being a negative. If it was easy, a lot of people would do it.

"Sitting out for a year and just watching the league and watching how people do things, I think I became even more entrenched in the belief that how I did things was the right way. You become even more confident and more entrenched."

As for the claim that he's too offensive-minded, Saunders said: "People say that our teams didn't defend, but a lot of times stats don't lie."

In his three seasons with the Pistons, they finished third (90.2), second (91.8) and first (90.1) in points per game allowed and improved from 13th in 2005-06 (45.2) to sixth in 2006-07 (44.5) and third in 2007-08 (43.7) in defensive field goal percentage.

When asked what to expect with the Wizards, who certainly don't have the defensive personnel those Detroit teams had, Saunders vowed: "We'll defend."

Following four successive trips to the playoffs, Jordan was fired after a 1-10 start. Washington's 19-63 record matched the worst season in franchise history.

The Wizards, though, haven't opened a season with all of their top players healthy since October 2006. Saunders, who was dismissed in Detroit with one season left on his contract, will also have to address the young Wizards' maturity issues, with even Arenas admitting recently that they need to stop being "a goofball team."

Saunders' basketball involvement this season was generally restricted to an observer role at the University of Minnesota, where his son was on Tubby Smith's staff, but Saunders was a special guest coach of Jordan's at Wizards training camp in October.

So if they plan to have Arenas, Jamison, Butler and Haywood back, who will they NOT have?

Something is rotten in Denmark.

I guess that means there will be big interest in Etan Thomas (7.3 mil), Songaila (4.5 mil) and Mike James (6.5 mil).

No mention of their Draft Pick, so maybe they trade the pick with one of those shitty contracts to a team like... US and go from there?

Would we be willing to take on Thomas, James or Songaila if they came with the #3 or #4 pick?

No mention of their Draft Pick, so maybe they trade the pick with one of those shitty contracts to a team like... US and go from there?

Would we be willing to take on Thomas, James or Songaila if they came with the #3 or #4 pick?


That's a tough one. Not if it disables Joe from getting a stud elsewhere.

We want a 3pt shooter. How many years are on James's shitty contract? We could take him and his crappy contract/37% 3pt shooting (not phenomenal but okay) and Thabeet in the draft. I would take on one crappy contract (if it isn't more than a few seasons) to grab a top 3 pick.

http://hoopshype.com/draft.htm

comparison for Griffin - Amare, for Ricky its Nash
the next 2 guys Jordan Hill- Chris Wilcox, Thabett - Dalembert...


imo the 3,4 pick is not worth a lot, and certainly theres no impact player who could play right away

Thabeet may not turn into a stud, but if he even becomes a great post defender I'd say its worth it. Take on a crappy contract and get a solid young big-man on a rookie contract? In a heartbeat.

If you could get Sammy with a cheap contract right now by taking on poor contract with him, would you do it?

How long are Thomas, James and Songaila's contracts for?

Don't know the length of the contracts but let's say we take Songaila and the pick.

We draft some quality big (not Griffin, who would go #1). We'd still have $10 million or so to get a big in free agency, although that would mean no Antonio McDyess return.

Of course we could always trade Kwame for Chandler and then bring back Dice using whatever cap space we had remaining.

So, we'd be:

C: Chandler/Rookie
F: Dice/Maxiell/Amir
F: Prince/2nd Rounders
G: Rip/AA
G: Stuckey/Bynum

Is that better than what we have now?

I think we'd take thabeet for sure with any pick not #1. You don't pass up agile 7-footers that can block shots that easily.

Especially after watching the current bigs get destroyed against the cavs.

Is he anything like Darko?

He was a talented 7 footer we couldn't/didn't pass on, but should have.

about Thabeet:

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Hasheem-Thabeet-1061/

no thanks, ain't worth the 3rd or 4th pick...

Blair (Pit) flipped Thabeet over his(Blair) back for rebound. He's tall but is soft, imo. I think Thabeet started crying, iirc.

But he'll definately go at the top of the draft.