Flip Saunders, the master of coaches who choke, is finding new ways to sabotage the Wizards in Agent Zero's absence . In an environment of historic chaos, he's fulfilling his legacy as a coach who inspires players to underachieve.
The Wizards have 21 wins with 12 games left & Flip is on pace to his fewest coaching wins in any season, including his 25 wins in both the lockout year and when he was fired after 51 games in '05.
We continue to hear more about Arenas & Crittenton's gun wielding wilding out in the locker room including new reports of text messages from team captain Zero instructing players to lie to the organization during the investigation. Arenas has never been the model player or teammate. Under Saunders, he went criminal and thought it was funny until the police showed up.
Yesterday Flip went public & accused Andray Blatche of being uncoachable & indifferent to going back in to a game. The truth is that Blatche stayed ready with a heat pack while he was waiting to go in. Why would a player who didn't want to play use a heat pack? Blatche was emerging as a possible bright spot in Washington and now he's at odds with his ineffective coach.
The Wizards' roster has been gutted. But it wasn't until Flip and his questionable leadership skills showed up that the Wizards went into full character melt down with public dirty laundry.
Kevin McHale gave Saunders his first NBA coaching job with the Timberwolves mid-season in Kevin Garnett's rookie year. He coached the Marbury/Garnett teams that are now more memorable for a thong commercial than wins on the court. That talented tandem couldn't get out of the first round of the playoffs.
Under Saunders, Kevin Garnett was an MVP & a Defensive Player of the Year. Michael Jordan is the only other player to have won both awards. And yet Saunders only got to 1 conference finals with Garnett, losing to the Lakers who went on to get crushed by the Detroit Pistons.
After being fired by McHale, Flip went to the Pistons who had been in the previous 2 NBA finals, winning one. He got Detroit out to their best start ever, 37-5. They finished with the best record in the NBA. In the playoffs, Flip barely got the Pistons past young LeBron's Cavs in 7 games before losing to the Miami Heat in 6. That debacle marked the 2nd time Flip failed to even get a team to the finals while coaching them to the best regular season record in the NBA.
4 time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace complained that Flip didn't know how to utilize his talents on both ends of the court. Larry Brown went to the finals twice with Ben as a huge part of the Pistons' success. A team that was known for defensive dominance under Brown was in defensive disarray under Saunders.
The following season, the Pistons blew a 2-0 lead, losing in 6 games to the Cavs during the playoff emergence of LeBron James.
Saunders managed to get to 3 straight conference finals with the Pistons. Considering they'd been to the previous 2 finals & had outstanding regular season records, Saunders' overall tenure with the Pistons was a letdown for a championship franchise that had its contracts in order & roster set for years.
Flip's latest troubles with the Wizards reveal more about a coach who doesn't get the best out of stars while alienating valuable role players like Ben Wallace & budding talents like Andray Blatche.
Kevin Garnett left the Timberwolves and immediately got a ring with the Celtics in his last dominant season. How many more rings would he have had with a better coach?
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