Crossing With Jordan?

The mediocre 76ers have had some success recently but they were not happy with Mo Cheeks leading them. They allowed Tony DiLeo finishes out the year and to his credit the team did finish stronger than they started. They even gave the Orlando Magic a tough series in teh 1st round.

But clearly DiLeo was in over his head. And even he knew it.  Thankfully and wisely he informed the 76ers he was not interested in being considered for the full time gig. I don't think he would have had a shot anyhow.

Without much fan fare Eddie Jordan's name quickly popped into the fray. Really not to many other names of note were considered it appears.  Even Avery Johnson allegedly said don't bother asking me.

The 76ers did interview local Villanova head coach Jay Wright. Hopefully that was just a chance to get him an interivew for future pro job options. Because frankly that would have turned out to be a disaster. Name me a college coach who jumped right into the pros without any NBA experience and had success? Look at Pitino or Calipari just as an example. The NBA is far different from college. First of all the big time schools get superior talent. Naturally they should be somehwhat successful over inferior schools. In fact, I wouldn't hire Coach K right from Duke to a head coach in the NBA.

What about Jordan and the 76ers? I believe it has some promise actually. Jordan averaged 8.1 points, 3.8 assists and 1.82 steals per game in a 7 year NBA player career which included stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers, NJ Nets, Los Angeles Lakers, and the Portalnd Trail Blazers. He was the 33rd overall pick in the 1977 draft by Cleveland out of Rutgers. He had a reputation as a defensive player and a great ball stealer. He got a Championship ring in 1982 with the then World Champion Lakers.

Jordan started his Coaching career as a volunteer assistant at the school he played collegiate ball at, Rutgers. His boss Tom Young took a head coach job at Old Dominion and got Jordan a part time assistant job. That led to being hired by Jim O'Brien at Boston College as an assistant in 1986. In 1988 he was back at Rutgers as an assistant.

The NBA called in form of the Sacremento Kings. In 1992 he became an assistant coach for the Kings. His boss, Garry St Jean was fired with 15 games left in the 1996-97 season and Eddie was promoted. The Kings were only 6 and 9 in that stretch. The Kings gave Jordan another season to improve the team. He did not do enough with the young group it seems. He was replaced with Rick Adelman.

Eddie landed in New Jersey in 1999 as a the lead assistant coach. He worked with Byron Scott during the Nets back to back Championship appearances.

In 2003 he was hired by the Washington Wizards to be there Head Coach. He had some reasonable success there with a so so line up. His Head Coaching numbers are:

Kings 1996-96   6 wins 9 losses, 1997-98 27 wins 55 losses

Wizards 2003- 04 25 wins 57 losses, 2004-05 45 wins 37 losses, 2005-06 42 wins and 42 losses, 2006-07 41 wins 41 losses, 2007-08 43 wins 39 losses, 2008-09 1 win 10 losses

Career 230 wins 288 losses - .444 winning %

So with some positive experiences he comes to a Sixers team slightly more talented than the Washington teams he had. With an often injured Gilbert Arena's and a bunch of role players it is hard to say if he could of done more in Washington. At the same time I do not believe that the team or the individuals improved with time under his leadership. I am suspect of coaching like that. Development is a part of coaching for me. A team should be better at the end of your tenure than at the beginning. (Although Larry Brown seems to defy that general rule.)

And even though the Sixers are an upgrade in talent, he will have a daunting challenge. As the Sixers presently are assembled they need some change and improvement in some key areas. And what to do or how to use Elton Brand in the mix will be a big problem to solve.

We'll see I guess.