Is it time to flip flop on Flip?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I'm not going the Official Countdown to Firing or Amazingly Sucky route just yet, but I'm pushing away the koolaid and taking off the rose colored glasses on Coach Saunders. A lot of things are bothering me.

1. Oberto's minutes. How does a guy who generates nearly as many fouls as points or rebounds get starter's minutes? Bothersome is that McGee is out of the rotation and getting criticized by fans of Oberto. Bringing Fab was supposed to stabilize things. Guy does a lot of nice things, but the Wizards are in the penalty and at a deficit a lot of time because of Oberto. That's Flip's guy.

2. Foye's defense. What defense? This is Flip's guy to the extent Young sucks and is out of the rotation.

3. Veterans getting benefit of a doubt. Flip was critical of Young not knowing where to be and what to do, and he has McGee nailed to the bench or confused. But he still plays Stevenson and James and gives them respect. I think it's a continuation of what we saw with EJ, only worse. Eddie let McGee play through mistakes and he never had Young this uptight.

4. The Hawk. It's a dove so far. I don't know the Xs and Os. I'll also say Jamison looked great on offense prior to injury and Miller was quite the facilitator. Blatche looked good prior to tonight. That said, this offense is much less effective. I think guys are thinking on offense. That's apparently worse than the chucking with impunity the big three used to do.

5. The short rotation. I wouldn't be questioning it if the Wizards were 4-2 or 3-3 instead of 2-4. To me, the man should have figured out that McGee is a very effective scorer and he should play alongside Haywood. Oberto's gotten way more run than he should have. A short bench on a losing team looks really bad. That's on Flip.

6. Flip's been chill. Too chill when the team has melted down in the Cleveland game and the Atlanta game for my taste. Go off on the officials and get tossed. Do something radical IMO.

I think Flip is going to have an uphill climb.

Others, especially those with faith in Flip, please feel free to tell me why the sky isn't falling.

[mohammed10]

^^^ Great analysis, CCJ

Who was it that was telling me to step back from the ledge????

[Halcyon]

When your two "stars" are -24 and -22 on the +/- chart, I don't see how you can blame the coach. Maybe the young guys should be getting more run with Miller and Jamison out, and Flip could be doing a better job with that, but when your expected key contributors play like ass the coach can't do much, can he?

[mohammed10]

BTW, CCJ - We are 2-4 right now. If it makes you feel better to call Sunday's Suns game a loss right now, I may join you as they are 5-1 and look very impressive.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

BTW, CCJ - We are 2-4 right now. If it makes you feel better to call Sunday's Suns game a loss right now, I may join you as they are 5-1 and look very impressive.

Thanks mohammed. I edited it. Feels like 2-5.

[Gilbert0Arenas]

Dude the season just started... seriously?

[mohammed10]

Thanks, mohammed, I edited it. Feels like 2-5.

I know what you mean, my friend.

[mohammed10]

Dude the season just started... seriously?

I think we all said the same thing around this time last year, too

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

When your two "stars" are -24 and -22 on the +/- chart, I don't see how you can blame the coach. Maybe the young guys should be getting more run with Miller and Jamison out, and Flip could be doing a better job with that, but when your expected key contributors play like ass the coach can't do much, can he?

Yes he can. He can shuffle the deck and start McGuire in place of Miller. He can also start Blatche in place of Oberto. He could make McGee come in for Blatche and Oberto come in for Haywood. The frontcourt starters are too stiff and unathletic.

Arenas, McGuire, Butler, Blatche, and Haywood might get outquicked but it won't get outrebounded. It's a big, athletic, lineup.

Flip has done damage IMO to the young players by insisting on his system over actually looking at the +/- of guys like McGee and McGuire. One thing he can do from here on out is let them get more minutes and not take out his frustration by giving them a quick hook, while turning a blind eye to guys like Butler and Arenas being -20. Play whoever's getting it done or not sucking at the time.

[Gilbert0Arenas]

Dude the season just started... seriously?

I think we all said the same thing around this time last year, too

This is just ridiculous now.

[go'stags]

New coach, new system, tons of new players, this is to be expected. We don't look in sync on offense.

Heres the thing: We have played 6 games. And we had 2 starters missing today.

I would be panicking, too, if Flip hadn't had a great offense everywhere he has been. He is a very smart coach, he will figure it out.

I think he needs to realize that Gil works better in space, not with a pick clogging things up, and maybe Caron should be used as more than an isolation scorer. That might get him going. Having Jamison and Miller back will also help a lot. It hurts to only have 2 big men who can challenge u at all offensively

We haven't looked great so far, but maybe that Mavericks game played with our heads. Most here expected us to start slowly, but that changed quickly after the first game. Well, it seems this is what "starting slowly" looks like. Flip is a smart coach, I think we will be fine.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

New coach, new system, tons of new players, this is to be expected. We don't look in sync on offense.

Heres the thing: We have played 6 games. And we had 2 starters missing today.

I would be panicking, too, if Flip hadn't had a great offense everywhere he has been. He is a very smart coach, he will figure it out.

I think he needs to realize that Gil works better in space, not with a pick clogging things up, and maybe Caron should be used as more than an isolation scorer. That might get him going. Having Jamison and Miller back will also help a lot. It hurts to only have 2 big men who can challenge u at all offensively

We haven't looked great so far, but maybe that Mavericks game played with our heads. Most here expected us to start slowly, but that changed quickly after the first game. Well, it seems this is what "starting slowly" looks like. Flip is a smart coach, I think we will be fine.

I agree with you. I get just as upset as anyone here after a loss, but I told myself I have to give the team time. That goes both ways, I wasn't ready to claim our top 3 spot after beating the Mavs and im not ready to claim us as a bottom team fighting for an 8th spot now.

[LyricalRico]

I think Flip is doing just fine. Once Jamison gets back the offense will look better. Then Ernie will make a trade or two and we'll be back on track.

[Munson79rip]

"I was trying to get someone to play hard," Saunders said. "I told those guys, I can't coach effort. You got to come out and be prepared and play hard.

[dandridge 10]

I'm not going the Official Countdown to Firing or Amazingly Sucky route just yet, but I'm pushing away the koolaid and taking off the rose colored glasses on Coach Saunders. A lot of things are bothering me.

1. Oberto's minutes. How does a guy who generates nearly as many fouls as points or rebounds get starter's minutes? Bothersome is that McGee is out of the rotation and getting criticized by fans of Oberto. Bringing Fab was supposed to stabilize things. Guy does a lot of nice things, but the Wizards are in the penalty and at a deficit a lot of time because of Oberto. That's Flip's guy.

Oberto has not looked good the last couple of games, but at least he plays within the scheme of the offense. McGee just does his own thing out there. No coach is going to like that. You know that Flip has told McGee to concentrate on defense and rebounding out there, and it appears that all McGee cares about is getting his points.

2. Foye's defense. What defense? This is Flip's guy to the extent Young sucks and is out of the rotation.

Foye gets burned on defense because of a lack of quickness not from a lack of effort or being in the wrong spot. Besides, Foye is at least bringing something else to the table...scoring and some assists. Young hasn't brought ANYTHING to the table yet this season.

3. Veterans getting benefit of a doubt. Flip was critical of Young not knowing where to be and what to do, and he has McGee nailed to the bench or confused. But he still plays Stevenson and James and gives them respect. I think it's a continuation of what we saw with EJ, only worse. Eddie let McGee play through mistakes and he never had Young this uptight.

Every NBA coach is going to give veterans a benefit of the doubt. You ain't going to find a coach that doesn't so you might as well get over it.

4. The Hawk. It's a dove so far. I don't know the Xs and Os. I'll also say Jamison looked great on offense prior to injury and Miller was quite the facilitator. Blatche looked good prior to tonight. That said, this offense is much less effective. I think guys are thinking on offense. That's apparently worse than the chucking with impunity the big three used to do.

Of course the guys are thinking on offense...that comes with a new system. We all predicted a slow start because of this reason.

5. The short rotation. I wouldn't be questioning it if the Wizards were 4-2 or 3-3 instead of 2-4. To me, the man should have figured out that McGee is a very effective scorer and he should play alongside Haywood. Oberto's gotten way more run than he should have. A short bench on a losing team looks really bad. That's on Flip.

Flip played everyone on the bench last night looking for someone to give them a spark. Everyone sucked, including your boy McGee

6. Flip's been chill. Too chill when the team has melted down in the Cleveland game and the Atlanta game for my taste. Go off on the officials and get tossed. Do something radical IMO.

Maybe, but if the players can't get up and have the intensity to play the game after only 6 games and only winning 19 games last year, you have to question what kind of heart the players on this team has and whether a coach ranting and raving is going to make any difference

I think Flip is going to have an uphill climb.

I think your post is extremely premature.

Others, especially those with faith in Flip, please feel free to tell me why the sky isn't falling.

My answers are in the text of your quote. The sky is not falling......yet. However, I still have concerns about the make-up of this team.