When you have a record of 13-44, like the Washington Wizards do, it is felt by everyone directly and indirectly affiliated with the organization.

The fans are upset at the quality of play, so their natural reaction is to boo incessantly.

Veteran players are visibly upset because the young players are not matching their intensity on both ends of the floor while younger players get frustrated at their lack of consistent playing time.

Journalists rack their brain to find new ways to write about the poor effort and mounting frustration they see on a nightly basis, and fan websites are filled with post after post pertaining to how they would improve the team this year, in the draft and beyond.

But there is one person who bears the brunt of these losses more than anyone else: the head coach.

Head coaches are required to give both pre and post game conferences regardless of  how tough the game was that night or the night before.  They are forced to listen to journalists’ questions that are basically highlighting the very ineptitude they watched up close and personal from the bench.

Unfortunately, Coach Ed Tapscott has had to discuss losses at press conferences 44 times, including after the Wizards’ 106-98 loss on Wednesday night to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Reporter: It seemed like turnovers did you all in tonight.
Ed Tapscott: We worked hard the last two days on pressure defense, and we just didn’t execute when we needed to execute and I think our lesson has to be execution and hard work.  We were outworked and outexecuted.  Bottom line – we were outworked and out executed.  There were different portions of that game.  First half, first quarter in particular, we were pretty good.  We had control, we had order, we had some discipline to us, and of course we came out with the lead.  And then they started getting into us and from that point on, right up until the last six or seven desperate minutes, they outworked us and out executed us.  And that’s a lesson we’re going to have to learn.  And unless we’re at the very frontier of our energy and effort level, we’re not going to have success.

Reporter:  Tap, you never try to point to a play or anything like that, but for a team that’s confidence level really isn’t that great, in terms of winning, for [Andre] Iguodala to hit that shot at the end of the third quarter, it just depressed the place.  Do you think that any effect going into the fourth [quarter]?
ET:  I look at all the mistakes, its hard to pick out one that I thought was critical.  There were a series.  How about all the time we had easy plays to bring the ball down, simple starts to the offense, but we threw the ball out of bounds? Just not focused enough, not executing, so we really are going to have to check what our preparation is before a game.  And if that means I’ve got to script a preparation period before the game for the last 20 some odd games, then I’ll check with the team captains and we’ll have a script.  And if that means I’m out there on the floor in my sweats before I come talk to you guys [the media] we’ll do that.

Reporter: Six minutes for JaVale McGee tonight?
ET: The flow of  the game — I just didn’t think there was enough effectiveness there in doing the things we needed.  A flashy dunk is not necessarily playing well.  You gotta’ look at what’s given up on the other end when coverages aren’t being made.  And so I don’t want to single him out, he wasn’t alone tonight ok?  He had some struggles as well as a bunch of other guys, so we needed execution, and I went with the guys who I thought would be able to execute the best.

Reporter: You mentioned preparation or lack thereof, does that criticism apply to your veterans as well as the young players?
BT: That criticism applies to everybody tonight, everybody played a part today in what wasn’t our best effort.  Like I said, we had a segment of the game where we played well, but if it’s one lesson you would think we would have learned by now, a segment of the game is not enough.  Focus, concentration, effort and execution has to be a 48 minute process for us.  What we need to do an hour or an hour and a half before the game to get that, we need to start to take a look at.  Because I’m trying to figure out what it is because I know there was nothing they did today that was a surprise in terms of their schemes.  We know that they run 2-2-1 pressure; we know you’re supposed to get the ball to the middle of 2-2-1 pressure; we know we’re supposed to break certain people in and this is the fourth time we’ve played them.  So you know that’s on us.  I’ll give them some credit, they played with great energy.  The 76ers bring it, they lost a number of games in a row, so they were looking for a win, and they got it.  We need to be as hungry.

Reporter: Coach can you talk about Dom’s [Dominic McGuire] performance tonight?
ET: I would think that if there was a silver lining or something I’m happy with, it was that Dom did seem to be one of the guys who brought some energy and focus.  And to his credit, he covered [Andre] Miller, he covered Iguodala, he covered [Louis] Williams, he covered [Marreese] Speights.  There was hardly anyone on the floor he didn’t have a hand in trying to defend at some point.  In addition, he played with the type of energy that gives you 14 rebounds, 14 points on the type of points we need, effort points.  You see right now we have a lot of guys who have their hands ready running to the ball.  The thing that he does he runs to the rim, and that’s the lesson some other guys need to learn.  So I’d say he was the silver lining.

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