Anima

The Washington Wizards offense should be in good hands for a while now that coach Eddie Jordan has his contract extension. The defense? That's another matter.

Jordan's teams have been nearly as good at allowing 100 points in a game as they've been at scoring 100 during his two years in Washington. That's one reason why, at the suggestion of owner Abe Pollin and president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld, Jordan is thinking about hiring an assistant coach who will work specifically on defense.

"I've talked to some people, gathered about five or six names that I'm considering if it comes to that," Jordan said Monday. "If the stars fall right, maybe we'll find the right guy and we'll move forward on that. We want to improve in every way we can."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/b...al-sports-more

MikeDC

Now if only they'd add some defensive players.

Jamison, Haywood, Thomas and Songaila are what I'd consider below average.

Daniels is ok. Arenas is ok. Butler is ok. OK meaning they definitely aren't above average or anything. Butler tries hard, but he's not a great athlete by any stretch of the imagination.

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cpawfan

The Wizards have the pieces to become an above average team defense even without great individual deffenders. This is where coaching is huge.

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MikeDC

I dunno if that's really true. Aside from Arenas, who on this team even has the potential to be an above average defender? Arenas could be great if he played D as hard as he plays O, but the other guys are nothing special.

To really be above average, I think you need at least a couple players who are above average.

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cpawfan

Team defense, if done properly, really is a sum greater than its parts. Rick Carlisle and Lawrence Frank have both been able to get teams to play team defense at much higher level than any of their players during times when they've dealt with injuries and suspensions.

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