Eddie Jordan Fired as Wizards Coach

The Washington Post has reported that Eddie Jordan has been fired as Wizards head coach this morning. Jordan is the second head coach already fired this season in the NBA, the first being P.J. Carlesimo from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Wizards without Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood have started the season 1-10. Though Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler have been solid, and Nick Young and JaVale McGee are continuing to grow, no other player has shown effectiveness for Washington.

But this is not the fault of Eddie Jordan. This problem was entirely on management. The front office can't put a decent, healthy team on the court. They spend $111 million over six years to keep Gilbert Arenas, who may be more harm then good with his injuries, the fact his teammates play better without him, and his running mouth. They let Roger Mason go, who is averaging 15 points a game with the Spurs. With the re-signing of Jamison for $50 million over four years (that was fine, he is an All-Star forward), the Wizards basically spent $161 million dollars to stay the same. Yes they got to 43-39 last year plus the playoffs, but it that really worth spending all that money?

There is nothing to suggest that the Wizards have a strong future. Arenas is rarely healthy. Young and McGee look like rising players, but they have a way to go. Worse, Etan Thomas, Brendan Haywood, Antonio Daniels, and Darius Songalia combined this year average 12.3 points per game. This season, those four are making over $17 million combined. So how is this Jordan's fault?

Eddie Jordan was not a great coach. But he was a good one. He got his team in line when the star got hurt, and his teams made the playoffs the last four seasons. You can't blame him because of injuries and terrible team management by the front office. He did not deserve this.

(Photo credit: NBA, all salary statistics provided by HoopsHype.com)