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D.C. Shakedown Washington fires head coach Gar Heard
Posted: Monday January 31, 2000 02:16 AM
WASHINGTON (CNNSI.com) -- Well, Michael Jordan never promised he would be tactful. From the day he pledged to put his "imprints and footprints all over" the Washington Wizards, Jordan gave coach Gar Heard the cold shoulder. Jordan spent virtually no one-on-one time with the coach while negotiating in secret to replace him. Jordan was not around when he fired Heard on Saturday night. He was in Atlanta for the Super Bowl, while Heard and his players were feeling good about a gritty victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. According to CNNSI.com's Stephen A. Smith, the Wizards will name former Toronto Raptors coach Darrell Walker as interim head coach on Monday. He will have a four-month deal. Walker is currently coach of the CBA's Rockford Lightning. The Wizards wanted Golden State assistant coach Rod Higgins, but the deal hit a snag. As part of the Chris Webber-Tom Gugliotta deal in 1994, Golden State is to receive this year's first-round pick from Washington -- unless the pick is among the top three in the draft. The Warriors were willing to release Higgins if the Wizards would dump the top-three clause and give the Warriors the pick no matter where it falls. The Wizards said no deal. "The timing [of the firing] was kind of funny," Washington forward Aaron Williams said. "Everybody's spirits were up after a good win that we really needed." Heard saw the writing on the wall shortly after Jordan was named part-owner and president of basketball operations Jan. 19. Jordan met individually with several veterans and at length with Unseld, but never with Heard.
"You never have a chance to show what you can do," Heard said. "Unfortunately, that's the nature of the business. I think they had their mind made up when he got here. I never got an opportunity to talk to him. When you come, in you want to bring your own people." Other than a 9-44 stint as interim head of the Dallas Mavericks in 1993, the Wizards were Heard's first chance to be a head coach, a reward for toiling 12 years as an assistant with Dallas, Indiana, Philadelphia and Detroit. He was given a three-year, $3.6 million contract on June 19, 1999. But his old-school style did not suit a team of veterans entrenched in their ways. Heard clashed openly with Rod Strickland and Juwan Howard, and he lay some of the blame on the players for the Wizards' 14-30 record. "As a coach, I know what to do," Heard said. "The point is, are they willing to do it? You have to work. You have to come to work every day. You can't not come to practice and play. "Most of the guys worked hard, but I'm sure you have some guys who think they're not getting fair treatment. As coach, you're the first one to go, the easiest one to remove." Unseld also said the "onus is always on the players" and refused to elaborate on Heard's shortcomings when the firing was announced Saturday night. Unseld did not return calls Sunday, and Jordan was not available for comment. Walker will take charge of a team that hasn't won consecutive games in more than a month, has not won a playoff game in 12 years and has underachieving veterans such as Strickland, Howard and Mitch Richmond whose high salaries make them almost untradable. Barring a trade, the Wizards are years away from having signficant salary cap room to sign a star player. "It's been tough around here," Strickland said. "The atmosphere hasn't been good. It's been a lot of negativity, so put it on the players, put it on the coaches, put it on everybody -- things weren't right, and it wasn't fun."
Also fired were assistants Butch Beard and Mike Bratz. Assistant Tree Rollins will be retained.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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