Countdown to Ernie Grunfeld Firing

[BigA]

If you want someone to drive the tank, Tapscott's your guy.

[pineappleheadindc]

If you want someone to drive the tank, Tapscott's your guy.

We don't need to purposefully tank. Our existing roster is our tank.

We need somebody to fix the *problem*.

SMH at Ernie Grunfeld still having a job.

[keynote]

Speak truth to power, Jason.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

When it comes to the draft, Grunfeld is mostly known for shooting air balls. Guard Michael Redd is the only all-star Grunfeld has selected in more than 20 years as a player-personnel executive in New York, Milwaukee and Washington. Even accounting for all the variables that go into drafting — team needs, who’s available, draft position, etc. — that’s an incredibly long, undistinguished run by any criteria. And Grunfeld has had some glaring first-round misses.

Last season, Grunfeld made Jan Vesely the sixth overall pick. Vesely, who shoots poorly, isn’t even good enough play for the Wizards: In Washington’s last five games, he has played a total of 32 minutes and scored two points. Two. Instead of Vesely, Grunfeld could have taken sharp-shooting guard Klay Thompson, versatile forward Kawhi Leonard or inside force Kenneth Faried.

“Vesely brings a lot of energy and a lot hustle on defense,” Grunfeld said.

Undrafted free agents also can do the same things. A sixth overall pick is supposed to make an immediate impact, especially on a team with desperate needs.

But when you talk to Grunfeld, you get the sense he sees progress where there’s none. “We have young players . . . who have all shown signs of having some legitimate ability to help a team,” he said. “How good they’ll be? Only time will tell.”

The Wizards have had more than enough time to show something that would lead us to believe they’re on the right path. But they don’t even know what it looks like — and no amount of ping-pong balls will correct that.

[Silvie Lysandra]

Ted has officially become the worst owner in D.C.

Ohh how the mighty have fallen. I thought Ted would modernize this franchise and turn us around, like what Cuban did with the Mavs.

But he's just another Abe Pollin at this point.

In hindsight, why did anyone ever think that? He was a part owner since 1999 or so. The Caps turned around sure but he lucked into Ovie. But what did he do anywhere that was so revolutionary? Except I guess say a lot of nice things that made him seem revolutionary.

[closg00]

We have won 1 game and Ernie has not been motivated to do anything except when he had-to when he brought-in Livingston. How about some ideas for improvements Ernie can do now.

One thing Ernie could do is waive Baron and or Martin and start using the call-up on hungry D-League guys with a legit shot at making the roster for the remainder of the year. We can't get any worse.
http://www.nba.com/dleague/

[Dat2U]

http://live.washingtonpost.com/ask-boswell-120312.html

THOMAS BOSWELL :
Plenty of us have been wondering for a couple of years how Ernie keeps his job. I make some joke about it here periodically. It seems there are only two things that he is especially weak at evaluating: players and people.

Seriously, he doesn't nail his draft picks, but, until recently, he also led the league in collecting rockheads, out-of-shape big men who play like guards and even guys who pull guns on each other. Then, when he tries to dump salary, he adds two useless vets who ADD salary. Ernie reminds me of the student who got four "Fs" and one "D." The lenient father said, "Son, seems to me you're spending too much time on that one subject." Ted is the forgiving father.

I thought Jason Reid's evaluation of the Wiz drafting record was right on the mark.

As I've said, I think that, once they get Wall back, they will move up off the very bottom of the league __probably just enough to have a few less ping pong ball

[closg00]

Thanks Dat, didn't see this. Ernie has zero support in the media. That or conspicuous silence.

[pancakes3]

It's bad when the beat writers stop holding their tongues. Deserved or not (HAH! or not...) EG has to be sacrificed.

[miller31time]

As has been said before, the most tragic thing about our situation is that everybody and their mother knows the problem -- except for the one guy that actually matters (Ted).

[closg00]

Groundhog Day, read it for a sense of Deja-vu.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizard ... hness.html

[BigA]

For everyone who is despairing, remember Ted has made some quick retreats and reversals from his stated public positions over the years. So we really shouldn't assume he believes what he's saying at any given time. Remember all the stuff about Gilbert being an core part of the team at the beginning of the 10-11 season?

He acts like he's open and straightforward, but he's just putting a PR spin on things.

He's not going to criticize Ernie until he's ready to fire him. Which he obviously isn't yet. But unless the team makes significant progress when Wall comes back, Ernie's going to be gone at the end of the season, if not sooner.

[montestewart]

^
That's probably the case, but Leonsis is horrible at PR. He's about as trustworthy as the neighborhood crack addict, and pretty soon that will be his reputation among even casual fans. He should at least hire someone that has a clue about basketball to make up more convincing BS for his blog.

[BigA]

That would have to be a pretty good PR person.

This is why most team owners and executives get to the point where they say as little as possible.

If you're cultivating this "open persona" like Ted, it's fine when things are going pretty well. But when things go bad, you have the choice of throwing some combination of the players, the coach, and the GM under the bus, taking some action before you might want to, and lying.

[MJG]

ESPN Article - Fix the Wiz: Grunfeld's got to go

More and more people are taking notice of the issue, Ted cannot ignore forever ...

[dandridge 10]

ESPN Article - Fix the Wiz: Grunfeld's got to go

More and more people are taking notice of the issue, Ted cannot ignore forever ...

I was thinking of the possible reasons why Ted may be reluctant to fire EG. What if this summer EG laid out for Ted various options they had on the table. For example, what if he laid out the Okafor and Ariza trade as one option and also laid out the possibility of waiving Lewis, and then using the cap space to get cheaper vets that might be available. What if EG went over the potential pros and cons of each option, and it was Ted that decided to choose the Okafor/Ariza path instead of waiting. Even if it could be argued that it was foolish to even put the Okafor/Ariza option on the table, this could explain why Ted is reluctant to hang EG on this move.

I don't know if the above scenario played out or not. However, there could be a bunch of inside stuff that we don't know about which can explain Ted's decision to stand by EG, at least for now.

[Nivek]

Good post, dandridge. I can't find a flaw in your thinking.

However, in some ways, it makes me feel worse. The way most pro teams work isn't with the GM presenting options and the owner choosing. The GM is usually empowered to make the decisions he thinks are best for the team. If Ted is effectively the GM...that's a problem.

[Mmat11]

Ernie Grunfeld is still an above-average talent evaluator. He made some massive failures in the draft with Euros but otherwise he has found some good pieces with lower draft picks. He was the one who got together Arenas-Butler-Jamison, the type of success this franchise experienced seems like a pipe dream now.

Grunfeld made atrocious trades the past year, and for that he should be fired. Not because he was necessarily convinced they were good trades, but he did it for his job instead of the benefit of the Wizards franchise long-term.

With that said, a lot of fans here were on board with the Nene-McGee trade, and a portion were also content with acquiring Ariza and Okafor.

McGee is doing well this year. Who would love a 24 year old center right now with freakish athleticism and a 24.38 PER? Even Blatche is a solid contributor.

Our main issue last year was youth and lack of familiarity. The starting lineup did not even consist of a 3rd year player. That requires patience to get through, not a complete overhaul. We found a scapegoat in McGee and blamed him for everything. All that did was wrongly assign the majority of the blame disproportionately to what is easy to pick on but not the real issues. Sure, McGee was not the smartest player. But we acted like he was a detriment to the team, which he was not.

We had a lot of issues last year, but we made the completely wrong moves to address them. Letting go of Blatche is understandable, he had a bad attitude. McGee less so. But had we not wanted him we could have waited until the end of the year until a team outbid us for him as he was a RFA. That would have at least saved a bunch of cap space and our future would be a little less bleak. Instead we panicked and for a sense of fleeting comfort we sent our most valuable asset after Wall away for a guy who cannot even get on the court.

I hope everyone is happy with these "high IQ" old players who are not even as talented. You play with the cards you are dealt. And we made the worst out of a bad but redeemable situation. And it has jeopardized the future of this franchise.

[Illuminaire]

Ernie Grunfeld is still an above-average talent evaluator.

I think you are exceedingly generous. Do remember that his decision to trade the 5th pick a few years back was based on his evaluation of the talent available in the draft.

Grunfeld made atrocious trades the past year, and for that he should be fired. Not because he was necessarily convinced they were good trades, but he did it for his job instead of the benefit of the Wizards franchise long-term.

On this we can agree. Le sigh.

McGee is doing well this year. Who would love a 24 year old center right now with freakish athleticism and a 24.38 PER? Even Blatche is a solid contributor.

McGee is getting paid like a starting quality center, but can't stay on the court - and PER hides his massive defensive lapses. Meanwhile, Blatche needed to be fired (amnestied) to get motivated to play at an average level, as a backup. He was never going to be worth his contract here.

I hope everyone is happy with these "high IQ" old players who are not even as talented. You play with the cards you are dealt. And we made the worst out of a bad but redeemable situation. And it has jeopardized the future of this franchise.

If you're talking about the OkaRiza trade, you will find very few posters who supported that move... so I'm not sure what that 'hope you're happy' line is all about. If you mean the Nene/McGee swap, let's be real. The Wiz have played much better when Nene is in the lineup, Denver isn't exactly tearing up the league, and we were still in line to have max cap space before EG fricked it up.

Agreed on our future being in jeopardy now, of course. Yay for mediocrity and bad management.

[dandridge 10]

Good post, dandridge. I can't find a flaw in your thinking.

However, in some ways, it makes me feel worse. The way most pro teams work isn't with the GM presenting options and the owner choosing. The GM is usually empowered to make the decisions he thinks are best for the team. If Ted is effectively the GM...that's a problem.

Thanks Nivek. However, I wasn't trying to put a positive spin on it...I was just trying to come up with some possible reasons why Ted may be reluctant to fire EG. Its hard to come up with any!

I would also feel worse if Ted is actually making the player personnel decisions on this team.

[Mmat11]

Ernie Grunfeld is still an above-average talent evaluator.

I think you are exceedingly generous. Do remember that his decision to trade the 5th pick a few years back was based on his evaluation of the talent available in the draft.

Grunfeld made atrocious trades the past year, and for that he should be fired. Not because he was necessarily convinced they were good trades, but he did it for his job instead of the benefit of the Wizards franchise long-term.

On this we can agree. Le sigh.

McGee is doing well this year. Who would love a 24 year old center right now with freakish athleticism and a 24.38 PER? Even Blatche is a solid contributor.

McGee is getting paid like a starting quality center, but can't stay on the court - and PER hides his massive defensive lapses. Meanwhile, Blatche needed to be fired (amnestied) to get motivated to play at an average level, as a backup. He was never going to be worth his contract here.

I hope everyone is happy with these "high IQ" old players who are not even as talented. You play with the cards you are dealt. And we made the worst out of a bad but redeemable situation. And it has jeopardized the future of this franchise.

If you're talking about the OkaRiza trade, you will find very few posters who supported that move... so I'm not sure what that 'hope you're happy' line is all about. If you mean the Nene/McGee swap, let's be real. The Wiz have played much better when Nene is in the lineup, Denver isn't exactly tearing up the league, and we were still in line to have max cap space before EG fricked it up.

Agreed on our future being in jeopardy now, of course. Yay for mediocrity and bad management.

I like what I see of Nene when he is on the court. He really does have a "high basketball IQ" especially on the offensive end. He is a great passer and shooter.

I want to see more of him and Wall together. But that is if he can even stay on the court. McGee would have helped us more this year than Nene overall, simply because Nene has been out of games due to injury. For the record I would much rather have opted to let someone else outbid us for McGee this offseason than any other scenario. But overall McGee is far more valuable to his team this year than Nene.