[ESPN] The Philadelphia 76ers fired coach Eddie Jordan

GlenRice · Apr 15, 2010

PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers fired coach Eddie Jordan after one season Thursday.

Team president and general manager Ed Stefanski announced the move, saying the Sixers took an "unacceptable" step backward after two straight seasons in the playoffs.

Eddie Jordan's career record
Eddie Jordan, fired Thursday by the Philadelphia 76ers, has won fewer than 43 percent of his games as an NBA coach with three teams.

Jordan is finished after a woefully underachieving season that had the Sixers near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Jordan was hired last summer and sold his Princeton offense as the way to turn them into contenders.

Instead, players were unhappy with his system almost from the start and the Sixers struggled to put together any kind of winning streaks. The Sixers finished 27-55 and missed the playoffs for the first time in three years.

The Sixers will look for their fourth coach in three seasons.

Jordan, who was fired last season by Washington, has two years left on his contract and is owed $6 million.

Stefanski hired Jordan last May. Jordan, who starred at Rutgers, had ties with Stefanski from their four seasons together with the New Jersey Nets.

Jordan said Wednesday he was "not concerned" about his job security before the Sixers lost to the Magic 125-111 to end the season. Jordan had said he anticipated a team meeting, player-exit meetings and taking his staff out to lunch Thursday.

"If you want to be judged alone on the record, then we are where we are," Jordan said. "But as far as track record, as far as how the league works, as far as evaluating your personnel, maybe we need more time."

He won't get any more.

Jordan's dismissal had been widely speculated for months. His hire was panned by fans and media from the day he arrived and the players never warmed to the Princeton offense.

Marreese Speights, Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams were among the promising core of young players whose progress took a major step back this season. Elton Brand hasn't performed up to the $80 million contract Stefanski gave him two summers ago, Samuel Dalembert was his usual erratic self and Andre Iguodala continued to prove he can't carry the franchise.

The decision to bring back former franchise great Allen Iverson was a short-lived bust.

"The talent is there, it is just a matter of putting it all together," Iguodala said Wednesday.

Philadelphia was the Eastern Conference's No. 6 seed last season, eliminated in the first round by the Magic in six games. Now the Sixers are headed for the draft lottery. Their only key loss was point guard Andre Miller.

"They judged the team from their performance last year and the personnel lost," Jordan said. "Obviously, the personnel changed, maybe, maybe expectations should change. Maybe."

Brand was healthy for the first time in three years, but the power forward who was once a 20-10 regular, was often benched for long stretches and crucial fourth quarters. Jordan openly criticized Brand and Dalembert's effort and missing defensive awareness after a loss last week.

"There were times things happened (under Jordan), but it was a feel-out process during the season," Brand said after Wednesday night's game. "That is understandable and didn't work that well for us as the record indicates."

No one expected the Sixers to contend for the Eastern Conference title. But this kind of steep drop-off was a surprise.

This move could be seen coming in January when Stefanski refused to say Jordan's job was safe for the rest of the season with the team off to a 10-25 start, nor did he offer a single word of praise for his first-year coach.

Jordan had a 230-288 record as coach of the Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings, but Stefanski gave him a three-year deal.

Stefanski now has to wonder if he'll be the one calling the shots on the next coach.
Click to expand...

Yr. Team W L Pct.
'96-97 Sacramento 6 9 .400
'97-98 Sacramento 27 55 .329
'03-04 Washington 25 57 .305
'04-05 Washington 45 37 .549
'05-06 Washington 42 40 .512
'06-07 Washington 41 41 .500
'07-08 Washington 43 39 .524
'08-09 Washington 1 10 .091
'09-10 Philadelphia 27 55 .329
Career 257 343 .428

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5092747

ItsMyFault · Apr 15, 2010

Nothing new here... the guy sucks as an NBA head coach. He should move on to College ball.

Juxtaposed Jolt · Apr 15, 2010

Don't know about the first two years (was Sac good then?), but this guy has been the coach of crap teams his entire tenure.

Sac to Washington to Philadelphia?

No wonder he keeps losing.

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[ESPN] The Philadelphia 76ers fired coach Eddie Jordan

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