(Image Source: The Washington Post)

BY TOM MARTIN

Seventeen games -- that’s all it took for the Washington Wizards to fire head coach Flip Saunders. The Wizards own a 2-15 record this season and reports say tempers flared behind the scenes.

CBS’ Ken Berger reports, this move was a long time coming.

“The writing had been on the wall since … Washington's eighth consecutive loss to start the season. After the 93-72 loss to Minnesota, [one Wizards player] stated that the players had begun to tune Saunders out.”

ESPN’s Chris Broussard says, strangely enough, the players wanted Flip to hold them more accountable:

“They held a players-only meeting early in the season, and the young players told the veterans, we want Flip to hold us more accountable. They went to Flip, the vets did, and told him that. But I think a pattern had already been set in the previous two years.”

Now that Flip’s on his way out-- Ball Don’t Lie’s Kelly Dwyer writes-- the Wizards fixed the wrong issue.

“This is the dumbest basketball team I've ever seen … Saunders wasn't the problem. Sure, player development (stop laughing) could have been better, but his outfits in Minnesota and Detroit played some of the more ... intelligent basketball we've seen in our lifetime.”

So what say Wizards fans? DC blogger Mike Prada offered a simple assessment.

“To be honest, as nice a man as Saunders is and as earnestly as he tried, it just wasn't working. This was the right move to make, so long as it's the first of many to turn this program around.”

Saunders’ exit caps off a miserable 2009 coaching class. NBA teams hired five new coaches that year -- all five have since been fired.