before he deletes the comments...i cut and pasted all of them from the vesely blog that he wrote. Here it is lol...
4, 2012 at 4:04 PM said:
Ted, on April 5, 2011 you wrote a piece that supported Andray Blatche. That didn’t work out too well did it? Now you are doing the same with Jan? Why can’t you see what us fans see? Maybe you should consult with some of the other owners in the league like Mark Cuban, they may give you some good advice on how to run an NBA franchise.
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David Kiasi on December 4, 2012 at 12:31 PM said:
Please hire Phil Jackson as General Manager/senior coach. He’s available. I’ve attended one game in every Wizards playoff round for 15 years. Grunfeld is terrible, especially in the draft.
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Jorge Peynado on December 4, 2012 at 7:38 AM said:
Respectfully, I must disagree with you. When one hires a prodigy out of college, their own talent is one of a myriad of factors which leads to their development.
A successful environment, awe-worthy fellow employees, world-class management and hands-on training by immensely talented/successful superiors keep youthful “prodigy” egos in check and help ensure development.
From my perspective, The Wizards have none of these. A historically bad GM, a likeable, but highly unsuccessful coaching staff and a veteran presence which does not inspire any awe whatsoever (outside of Nene).
The Wizards are basically Prodigy or CompuServe in 1999. Aging management which insisted on “staying the course” to support a platform on life support. Any kid offered accepting a job with them at that time wasted 2-3 years of their professional career.
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Dave on December 4, 2012 at 4:55 AM said:
I understand your desire to support Vesely. It’s just going to make you look foolish to your fans, though. He is a bust. Not NBA talent.
Treating the fans this way, like you did with your “It’s just one game” post (it wasn’t one game, by the way, it was 5 years plus one game) is extremely short-sighted. It feels like you are lying to us. In 2 years, when Vesely is playing in Europe, what will you have gained by this?
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Joe Carpenter on December 4, 2012 at 2:32 AM said:
After reading this I just shake my head. It takes superstars to win. And not just one. It takes 3-4. John Wall may become one but thats it. Nene isn’t and won’t be a superstar. Bottom Line, until you decide to make the big move for some superstars, This team and franchise will be the laughing stock of the NBA. That kills me to say, but sometimes the truth hurts. And the truth is I’m quickly losing faith.
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BMB on December 3, 2012 at 11:06 PM said:
Hey Ted, Vesely wasn’t worth a 6th pick, the Okariza trade didn’t work (big suprise) and now we can’t sign any free agents because of it, Nene’s an aging big with a history of injuries. Wall’s going to get fed up and leave, you won’t fire the GM who has run the team into the ground, your biggest accomplishment has been changing the uniforms, the wizards have been one of the worst teams in the league since forever, maybe you should just sell it all, I hear Seattle’s looking for a franchise.
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Edward Wendling on December 3, 2012 at 7:10 PM said:
Ted, this was/is the wrong approach:
“building … a team that evolved around athleticism, running”
You need to surround John Wall with shooters, particularly perimeter shooters.
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Mick on December 3, 2012 at 5:56 PM said:
Blah blah blah.. The “season” is tough and difficult?? How bout the decade?? How bout the last 2 decades?? Wake up bro, the chef you pay to run the kitchen, can’t cook!!
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Reh on December 3, 2012 at 4:53 PM said:
NBA players do not, as a rule, become hugely better three to four years after they enter the league, do they?
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Dave Barros on December 3, 2012 at 4:38 PM said:
Another thing about Jan, HES OUT OF POSITION! should be playing the 3. thats seems to be his strength. regardless if its a half court or fast offense.
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Dave Barros on December 3, 2012 at 4:24 PM said:
Well, I appreciate your honesty in evaluating the situation in washington. Regardless if Jan is nba ready or not, as a 6 overall pick he should be starting. how else is he gonna get better at the nba level. Its not a popular decision to start him, but I beleive hes more than capable in learning the nba game. Hes just not gonna do it ON THE BENCH. He should have more minutes anyway given the fact the wiz are where they are at right now. Why not? Cant be worst. thats how he can learn. this might sound crazy, but HE NEEDS MORE MINUTES. Maybe he can round out. I want to see more of Jan before a final verdict on his game.
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Doug on December 3, 2012 at 3:43 PM said:
Ted, your pixels about players such as Jan Vesely being mis-matched with the system without John Wall are interesting and your point is taken. But please consider the larger mis-match within your organization: building through the draft with Ernie Grunfeld as your GM. Ernie has a track record making terrible teams palatable through some shrewd trades – he did the same with your Wizards while you were affecting your master plan on the 1st round playoff champion Capitals. He in fact traded for and signed all the players you now love to associate with prior ownership. When you kept him as your guy, you have to own his moves when Abe owned a frankly better Wizards team during the past decade. The trouble is, you are steadfast in building through the draft with a GM who is not good at drafting players. Your guy has drafted one all star in his CAREER. One. And it was Michael Redd – a guy he took a flyer on at No. 43, 12 years ago in 2000. And Redd played in one all star game. This is why the dwindling number of Wizards fans see Jan Vesely as a bust. This is what your guy does with lottery picks – he drafts players with more personal fouls than points through 12 games of an NBA season while he hopes the guy he picked in the middle of the second round becomes some great value pick, since that has happened to him exactly once. Building through the draft with Ernie Grunfeld as your right hand is the equivalent to expecting his lotto pick Jan Vesely, the guy with that great draft night kiss, to perform well in a half court offense while John Wall sits. And all the pixels in the world can’t change the 0s in his line scores every night. Sorry, Ted.
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Geoff on December 3, 2012 at 3:33 PM said:
As long as our management and ownership continues to ignore that this team simply isn’t talented, I guess I will just go ahead and give up on the season for good. I had hope that the right changes would be made, but it seems that my hope will not turn into a reality.
Guess I’ll just go watch hockey instead.
Oh wait…
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jay hatem on December 3, 2012 at 2:59 PM said:
The problem is other teams have rebuilt so much faster than you because they have capable front office people. Ernie has proven that he cant draft based on history of draft choices. What happened to the OKC model? You cant use that model if your GM is picking players who are mediocre or are role players when they should be starters. You want a good gm? Login into Real GM and see the ideas that are being discussed there by the wizards fans. Had they been our GM, we would of had Faried and Crowder instead of Vesley and Thomas Soransky or whatever his name is:
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justin jang on December 3, 2012 at 2:50 PM said:
What exactly is your definition of “fundamentally sound”? The kid has more fouls than points this year. His career free throw percentage is 48%. The fanbase isn’t clamoring for him be producing a double-double on a nightly basis, we’re asking for a SERVICEABLE player. You can talk about the small sample size last year where he played well for 10 games, but we’ve been down that road before. (Blatche) If a top 6 player is THIS reliant on another player to look like a half-decent player, that is worrisome in and of itself.
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AE on December 3, 2012 at 2:23 PM said:
Not sure how to take this. Its well and good to support a young player. But when you look around the league and see other young players develop while yours don’t. What does that say? Either the player doesn’t have the talent to have been picked at that spot, or there aren’t coaches to develop these players like other teams have. I’m interested if there is an Option 3 here.
If its a talent issue, that’s on your GM. If its a development issue, that’s on your coaches.
I think I just supported the players there.
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Frank Loversky on December 3, 2012 at 2:15 PM said:
Hang in there… stay the course. There is a larger group of fans than you know that support your rebuilding process.
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Ernie on December 3, 2012 at 1:55 PM said:
The Wizards had young players when they had Javale and Nick Young. Giong bau to the Bullets we had Rasheed and Ben Wallace as well as Richard Hamilton, whom we traded. They also gave up five first round draft choices for Chris Weber. As a organization you can draft players and then trade the away and expect the team to iimprove. The New Jersey Net’s didn’t take long to develope their team. This is big business and you have to know what you are doing when you make personnel decisions. Stop making excuses for poor general mangement.
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Bruce on December 3, 2012 at 1:25 PM said:
Nice to support the players….but until you get a new GM that knows what he is doing this team is not going to get better.
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Bruiser on December 3, 2012 at 1:22 PM said:
Ted, is Ernie Grunfeld going to be your Vinny Cerrato?
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Russell Penman on December 3, 2012 at 1:15 PM said:
Ted,
It is very nice that you support someone that you pay, however you also need to understand that you need the correct people to build your team through the draft. Face it Ted, Ernie G needs to be the first one to go and maybe just maybe you could call Maryland’s Ex Basketball Coach and perhaps hire him as a consultant. Because Ernie G’s fiasco with Agent Zero, Andray Blantche, to him bringing in Nene who is injury riddled to Emeka Okafor who is also pretty much a bust, do you not see things aren’t going well? I mean let’s add in the NHL Strike and I feel people will really start not supporting you or the teams you have purchased. I have always held a respect for you from the day I meant you in AOL with Steve Case when I worked there and I have purchased tickets to both Capitals and Wizards, but Ted honestly this is getting past pathetic. You need to blow this whole thing up, and try to get Phil Jackson in here, I don’t think anyone other than him can do what needs to be done here and also a serious GM because it’s evident you are in way over your head and backing the wrong guys. John Wall is a talent but you do realize as soon as his rookie contract is up he is gone right? No way he stays with the way things are going. I know I don’t have your wealth or your understanding, but what I do have is what I feel is the honest opinion of many other starved fans that want this team to be something other than the laughing stock it has become………..
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Ben Dover on December 3, 2012 at 12:47 PM said:
YOU Support? You don’t have a choice.. so?
BTW: Grunfeld is either lying to you or you are blind or dishonest.
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Chris on December 3, 2012 at 12:32 PM said:
Jan Vesely is a bust. A waste of a number 6 draft pick. We could have gotten kenneth faried or kawhi leonard. Javale McGee shouldn’t have been traded, you considered him a fool (look at Jan Vesely). Despite McGee’s mistakes he rebounded and blocked shots well. He could also score and not just on fast breaks.
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Trey on December 3, 2012 at 12:05 PM said:
Ted,
This is what true fans, who buy tickets to this team, don’t want to hear. We don’t to hear patience. We want to here “This is not only an embarresment to me, this is an embarresment to this our fans, our city, and to the NBA. We are going to make changes where changes are necessary to get this team respectable. I made a mistake in rehiring Ernie and I apologize for that.” Once we hear that – we can get behind your plan once again, but until now the only thing you have done right so far is get lucky in the 2010 draft lottery. 2010 draft lottery – it is about to be 2013.
This whole we will add via free agency – is to be honest a stretch of the truth. Unless we make major trades or can get a solid contributor for the MLE or less (which you can’t these days unless your the Lakers, Heat, Celtics, or Knicks) this team is the exact same next year – because of Okafur and Ariza. Why didn’t the owners of the NBA take a stand like you are doing in the NHL?
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Carlos on December 3, 2012 at 11:31 AM said:
First you asked us to be patient, then you told us we were in re-building mode and suddenly we are overpaying vets $43 million dollars over two years – who, yes may be the definition of professionals – but not what this team needed. We tied up so much of our cap space on two players who will be with us during this horrendous year and next – then what? Not to mention how unproductive they have both been in DC.
You mention that what the organization has not done is go after a big time free agent; how are we suppose to do that, when our money is tied up on second tier players and giving John a max extension? This is not even taking into consideration how you and Mr. Grunfeld don’t believe DC to be a destination for top NBA talent – YET, right?
Yes, not having John & Nene is hurting the team beyond belief. But to be a professional basketball team and have won 1 game, out of 14? We have a mish-mash roster, full of role players, slowly developing draft picks and over paid veterans.
I believe you Mr. Leonsis, are the ONLY person to believe that Ernie Grunfeld deserved a two year extension after the NINE years of suffering we have already endured under his tenure.
I imagine in the end Randy Wittman will be fired before the season is over. But this season and this team isn’t his fault, isn’t the injuries fault; it’s on the short-sighted moves and terrible decision making of your General Manager. Whom you had a chance to simply let go last year.
I am tired of supporting an organization who sees revamping an entire roster more important, than revamping the leadership of an organization who was miserably failed for years now.
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Calixto Perez on December 3, 2012 at 11:09 AM said:
Here’s a question that begs answering. If the success of our players is dependent on John Wall running the offense, then why hasn’t Ernie drafted, traded for and signed back up point guards that are capable of running a similar offense?
Two years ago he wasted a 2nd round pick on a backup PG in Shelvin Mack when he could have drafted a backup PG with a similar skill set as John Wall in Isaiah Thomas. Instead of signing a 3rd string backup PG who’d only started 3 games in his career, Ernie could have signed a starting European PG in Jeremy Pargo who again, has a similar skill set as John Wall. These are just two examples of players who could run the offense that this team was constructed to run.
Then there wouldn’t be an excuse that the team is handcuffed by the loss of John Wall and half court offense.
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Bruiser on December 3, 2012 at 10:14 AM said:
Hopefully we can get something good out of being such a bad team. Maybe the attendance and revenue will drop off enough at some point that you’ll get desperate enough to pull the fans in by changing the name back to the Bullets.
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Bruiser on December 3, 2012 at 10:05 AM said:
Just keep whistling past the graveyard Ted. You’ll soon see yourself with less and less attendance at the mundane games. I can see the O’Malley marketing strategy being ramped up again….”Come see the Miami Heat featuring Dwayne Wade and LeBron James take on the Washington Wizards.”
Fire Ernie.
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bryan rozof on December 3, 2012 at 9:47 AM said:
Come on TED you are living in denial! The drafting has NOT been good for this team. I mean there are players in the NBA now who where drafted last year making big moves! McGee was drafted the same year another big man who plays for OKC came out and was available to us! Wall was a no brainer so your GM gets no respect for that pick. Until you get a new GM in here who is serious about winning, tickets will cont. to sell on line for $4.00. Come on Ted, you can not be making money off of this! Aren’t you tired of being the laughing stock of the NBA!!!
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Larry Roberts on December 3, 2012 at 7:49 AM said:
The results of the past couple of seasons suggest that your plan is misguided. The fact is that the team has limited talent and simply isn’t fun to watch. I’m sure that you realize that fans actually do understand basketball and understand sports. What is apparent to everyone is that this team’s plan simply isn’t working, and instead, the team is getting progressive worse, not better. You are rapidly losing your fan base and that’s a shame.
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Calixto Perez on December 3, 2012 at 5:57 AM said:
With analysis like this, there really isn’t much hope for the future of this team.
How, in one breath, can you say that Jan Vesely is best suited for a running, fast paced offense and in another breath, say he’s fundamentally sound? If he were fundamentally sound, the type of offense wouldn’t matter? What is fundamentally sound about a player that can’t shoot a free throw? What does the pace of the offense have to do with that? You seem to be entirely focused on his offensive game. What about his defensive game? It’s hard to improve as a player when you can’t stay on the court because you’re always in foul trouble. What does the pace of the offense have to do with rebounding? Ernie and the entire orginization of done a disservice to Vesely by drafting him and trying to make him a PF. He was a SF in Europe but for some reason, Ernie decided he should be a PF in the NBA. You drafted him the 6th pick of the draft because he can run and is 7 ft. tall? Really? You can get that same player in the 2nd round. If he can only play in one type of offense, then you wasted the 6th pick in the draft.
I have no issue as a fan with the number of young players on this team. I actually applaud the orginization for the top to bottom rebuilding of this team. The issue is the players that have been drafted. If it were just run of the mill fans that were complaining I could understand but it’s seasoned basketball professionals that have called into question the players you’ve drafted.
Also, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You can not rebuild a team with the same Architect that built the previous flawed team. You have rebuilt a team on a faulty foundation and this team will come falling down like a house of cards just like the previous team did.
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hosch on December 3, 2012 at 2:23 AM said:
Come on man. Started from Scratch?? Ernie brought in the entire last goon squad, put together this goon squad, he has never developd a single player he drafted in the 9 years he has been here, and for those that actually understand what they are watching are sick of seeing Ernie’s awful personnel decisions hamper John Wall on the court. The roster constructed is a D League team. No one wants to see John Wall take a bottom feeder to .500, we want to see a championship contender built around John Wall and that ain’t ever happening with Ernie as part of this organization, because he is maliciously incompetent.
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OsmanBaig on December 3, 2012 at 1:34 AM said:
It’s ludicrous how you cite the change and corresponding results as a way to tell the fans “I told you so”….the fans didnt want Wittman’s or the trade with New Orleans….as a fan I wouldn’t have minded a slower offseason as long as I could see a logical plan being executed. The mistake was inretaining Ernie. That’s the one change that you didn’t make and was needed terribly….