Eddie Jordan has jumped the...

A poll of 30 head coaches in the league would result in (roughly) 29 of them saying you should go for the stop in that situation. Whether it's his lack of confidence in his defense or just a sheer boneheaded decision, I'm not sure.

(Not that a lack of confidence in his defense is an excuse, considering that he is not only responsible for a large part of the blame for that defense but he also had a 20 second timeout to use to get his defensive personnel in).

When asked whether he thought Jordan was upset after the game, "reserve" forward Elton Brand responded with:
"Not really," Brand said. "Maybe because he said foul with 34 seconds left, maybe he was upset at himself for that."

Zing! Perhaps helping to get Jordan let go is the way Brand will earn his contract.

The following day at practice Jordan had this to say:
"I mismanaged one possession where I called for a foul.

Does that quote not amaze anyone else? I've never seen a coach try to deflect as vehemently as Eddie Jordan does. He couldn't just say "I made a mistake, no doubt". No, he tries to downplay it by throwing "one possession" in there. Even if that were true (which, clearly, it's not), that's not the way to take responsibility for your mistakes. A coach needs to be an example for his players, and holding yourself accountable is at the top of his responsibilities.

If it were just that mistake (which was of Barry Switzer proportions) it would be bad enough. His quotes about defense the following day?

"As a guy who's been around basketball a long time, I'm a true believer that you have to have the right kind of personnel to be a good defensive team."

Once again, it's not Eddie Jordan's fault. Washington wasn't his fault, and the Sixers clearly aren't. Please ignore the following splits in terms of defensive performance (league ranking, higher is better).



(Defensive rating is, essentially, points allowed per 100 possessions).

There have been only 3 major changes since last year when were were a midpack team in both overall defensive rating and in 3 point defense:
- Andre Miller has been replaced at point guard
- Eddie Jordan has been brought in as coach.
- Elton Brand is playing full time (at least, every night).

Elton Brand played 23 games before giong down for extended time last year, and the Sixers were 10-13, considerably better than the 7-21 the Sixers are now. Furthermore, their problems were largely offensively, both due to Igudoala and Williams struggling mightily to start the season and due to Elton Brand returning from missing a year. During those 23 games the Sixers were, again, a midpack team defensively and actually held their own on the defensive glass.

Andre Miller has never been regarded as a good defensive player, but he's clearly better than Louis Williams. That could help explain a small part of it (although Louis Williams still got nearly 24 minutes per game last year). That being said, this still falls on Eddie Jordan's shoulders. Last night Jordan started the second half with Louis Williams and Willie Green in the backcourt and has repeatedly said he envisions Louis Williams and Allen Iverson starting together, throwing defense completely to the wind in order to "get more ballhandlers on the court" (paraphrased). Louis Williams defensive deficiencies only exacerbates the poor decisions Eddie Jordan makes to favor offense over defense.

This brings us to Eddie Jordan, a coach who already owns the record for most three pointers made against and now owns a career 43.4% winning percentage as a head coach.

His teams ranks in defensive rating since he took over the full time head coaching gig in Sacramento in the 1997 season:
1997-1998: 22nd
2003-2004: 20th
2004-2005: 19th
2005-2006: 22nd
2006-2007: 28th
2007-2008: 24th
2008-2009: 29th (Jordan fired after 11 games)
2009-2010: 29th

Keep in mind, none of this is his fault. The fact that he's never finished better than 19th in the league defensively and is continually in the 22-30 range is not his fault. He's just been victim of having poor defensive personnel in his 8 years as an NBA head coach. Ignore the fact that he's the one deciding the rotations. Deciding to pull Brendan Haywood in and out of the rotation. Deciding to bench Elton Brand (one of the teams better defensive players). That he's deciding to sit Samuel Dalembert for long stretches of games (Dalembert's averaging 15 minutes per game in his last 4, despite the fact that he was averaging 9.6 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.8 blocks in his previous 5 games). Ignore the fact that he chose to sit Jrue Holiday 20 of 24 minutes in the second half against Washington, electing to go with Louis Williams and Willie Green instead, allowing both Earl Boykins and Gilbert Arenas free trips into the lane in one of the worst defensive performances I've ever seen (by Williams). This coming just off an 11-2 run spurred while Holiday was in the game to close out the second quarter and pull the Sixers close.

"We have a young team that we have to experience how to play defense in the league," Jordan said. "It's just my opinion. I could be wrong."

The previous two years they didn't need experience to play defense, but apparently now they do.

Keep in mind, coaches don't win games. At least, according to Eddie Jordan, who said this a few weeks ago.

"There's an old saying, I don't know how true it is, but it's 'Coaches win practices, players win games."

It's not Eddie Jordan's fault. None of this is.

But he could be wrong.

Elton Brand disgruntled at teammates?

"We should've won this game. They out-worked us. They put in their second unit and they got tip-ins. They did what they're supposed to do. The unit we had out there, certain guys didn't box out, didn't rebound and wasn't tough. Certain guys got a longer leash than others, so they played longer and the mistakes were shown. ... No one should be on a long leash if you don't box out, don't rebound or play "D". You shouldn't be out there."

There's two obvious candidates he's talking about, either Speights or Thaddeus Young. You could make the case for Louis Williams, but the fact that he brought up boxing out and rebounding make him a less likely target. Young only had a 4 minute run in the 4th, so one would have to imagine Brand is talking about Speights.

This is only supported by his comment the other day when asked about his game winning tip against Boston:
"Speights got the ball, and you know he wasn't going to pass. He doesn't pass."

Is there some dissension in the ranks? Brand has already been critical of Jordan, is there now some sort of a spasm between Speights and Brand?

Something to watch down the line.

(Not that I necessarily disagree with any of the criticism Brand has leveled against Speights. Or Jordan, for that matter).