Mystics fire Tree Rollins

It seems like it was only nine months ago we talked about Tree Rollins becoming the official coach of the Washington Mystics.

Well, that’s because it was — and since we’re talking about it, it’s because he was fired Saturday. From the Washington Post:

General Manager Linda Hargrove said the completely demoralizing nature of the back-to-back losses to New York (77-56) and Detroit (99-62) was the tipping point. The embarrassing losses put the playoffs farther out of reach for the Mystics (8-14), who’ve qualified for postseason play four times in their 11-year history.

“It probably wouldn’t have happened had we lost those two games, just lost them,” Hargrove said. “But the way we lost them and the way we didn’t compete . . . was very much a part of the decision.

“Whenever you are going through a bad stretch sometimes you can keep everybody together on the same page and continue to work toward a common goal. I don’t think I really felt the connectiveness with our team and Tree for a while. I think we won some games in spite of maybe not having a real together feeling with everybody.”

I guess you can ask yourself why he can’t get a full season to see if the team buys into his plan, but when you get your ass handed to you twice in a row, sometimes you don’t get to ask the questions.