Countdown to Ernie Grunfeld Firing

[Tyrone Messby]

Sell the team Ted. The Wizards are officially the worst run pro sports team in all of sports. Keep it up coward, you're going to lose me and countless others as fans. The Skins break my heart enough, but at least they're committed to winning even though it may be through countless trial and error. There is hope there. There is none for the Wizards. Not right now at least. I'm disgusted.

[dobrojim]

here was my post


Osman is dead on correct. FWIW, I’ve heard more than a few of my fellow season tix holders state emphatically that they will not re-new unless/until EG is replaced. His record of futility speaks for itself. Fans are looking for you to impose the same kind of accountability that Randy has tried to impose on the players. I understand this is not an easy thing to do on many levels. But that it needs to be done is beyond obvious at this point in time.

[leswizards]

2005: The 20th pick and Laron Profit were traded to Orlando for Brendan Haywood.

It was Michael Jordan and not EG who traded the pick to Orlando.

[Higga]

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.

[closg00]

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.

+1 I am totally exasperated, disgusted, and depressed all-at-once. I am without hope right now.

[GhostsOfGil]

"We have built our team around two key players who haven’t played at all or much for us yet this season. Nene has played parts of two games to date. In those minutes, we are a plus 40 points. When he is in our lineup our team has performed well last season and so far this season. I am grateful to him for working on his physical rehab so diligently and for being such a great teammate. We do think we are a much improved team when both John Wall and Nene play for us. We also think when our point guard returns, several players whose games revolve around running the floor will prosper. "

This might be a reasonable statement if Nene wasn't averaging ridiculously unsustainable numbers (like his PER of 50.0 at the PF position)

[closg00]

Williams should coach the Wizards, and Ed Tapscott, already on the payroll, should be in charge of personnel — reporting to Williams.

Need a good laugh today, read this. Another DC sports writer who knows nothing about basketball or the Wizards.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

[Nivek]

When I read that article by John Feinstein -- a smart writer who's normally excellent -- I wondered if we're all being punked.

This column was as stupid as Romney's 47% comments.

As stupid as candidates talking about rape.

Gobstopping, jaw dropping, forehead slapping stupid.

[Nivek]

By the way, Feinstein makes solid use of one of the more annoying canards -- referring to what John Wall "remains" and "continues" to do. Umm, memo to Feinstein (and everyone else using this construction)...JOHN WALL HASN'T PLAYED THIS SEASON.

He MIGHT continue to be a one-speed player. He MIGHT continue to shoot poorly. Those aspects of his play might even be likely.

But he hasn't "continued" to do anything since April except dress up real spiffy for the games.

[closg00]

When I read that article by John Feinstein -- a smart writer who's normally excellent -- I wondered if we're all being punked.

This column was as stupid as Romney's 47% comments.

As stupid as candidates talking about rape.

Gobstopping, jaw dropping, forehead slapping stupid.

Yep, I thought the readers were being punked also, that was one of the worst Wizard-related articles I have read in a while.

On a side-note, has anyone seen/heard Tony Massenberg on TV/Radio? Again all analysis and commentary that I have heard is all focused on the players and coaches. Ernie remains above the fray pretty-much as-if the roster assembled itself.

[pineappleheadindc]

I stopped reading Feinstein's column the moment he mentioned Ed Tapscott being in charge of player personnel.

If you (the general you out there) continued reading more after that, it's on you.

[dandridge 10]

When I read that article by John Feinstein -- a smart writer who's normally excellent -- I wondered if we're all being punked.

This column was as stupid as Romney's 47% comments.

As stupid as candidates talking about rape.

Gobstopping, jaw dropping, forehead slapping stupid.

+1,000,000. NBA players would tune out Williams' yelling and ranting in a heartbeat. And, elevating Tapscott to the GM? What's the purpose of firing Grunfeld if you just hire one of his lackies. Feinstein should stick to talking about golf and the NCAA.

[Nivek]

I know Tapscott and like him. We're not buds or anything, but my daughter went to high school with his son -- his son plays the same instrument as my son does. When I see him in the grocery store, I'll chat with him for a few minutes. He's very smart -- like Tommy Sheppard is very smart and a good guy.

But, all those smart, all that goodness contributed to building this team. They helped put this franchise right where it is today.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I stopped reading Feinstein's column the moment he mentioned Ed Tapscott being in charge of player personnel.

If you (the general you out there) continued reading more after that, it's on you.

I haven't read it and don't plan to.

Tapscott was 18-53 and part of Ernie Grunfeld's injustice to Eddie Jordan. I associate him with the start of the Wizards becoming vapid. He has been here a while and we see how the scouting and player development have been so far.

[closg00]

Tapscott may be a nice fellow, but he is also in-charge of player development. Nuff-said.

[Nivek]

Read an article today that made me think of the Wizards. Article was about how Romney won virtually every group he specifically targeted yet lost the election. In other words, his campaign did a lousy job of setting goals.

Sounds really familiar to me. Wizards front office wanted to add veterans: check. They wanted the certainty of not pursuing free agents (and possibly striking out): check. They wanted to avoid adding "too many" youngsters: check. They wanted to be "clever" (getting Something for Rashard; playing draft and stash with Satoransky; signing Price because of defensive on/off numbers): check. They wanted to "reward" Wittman for a better-than-awful run to end the season: check.

But somehow in all that they didn't seem to set a basic goal of finding better basketball players. They're STILL pinning their hopes on the "development" of their "young core." They didn't seem to ask the question: Is Randy Wittman actually the best coach for this team? They hired him because he was there and because he was cheap.

Dunno, but maybe the team would be better off if they focused less on being perceived as being clever, and less on being perceived as rewarding people, and focused more on getting the best possible people to do the jobs that need doing. Start winning and people will line up to tell you how clever you are.

[dobrojim]

saw nate's post on TedsTake

nice

[miller31time]

Yeah, I enjoyed Nate's post as well.

It's truly astounding to me how blind Ted is right now. This was my favorite post....

Ted,

The worst thing about this team is that you don’t realize the problem, when practically everyone else does.

Nothing else matters.

[closg00]

saw nate's post on TedsTake

nice

Well heck, somebody please Re-post Nate's entry here before it gets deleted.Thx!

[dobrojim]

And to further evaluate Grunfeld, one must factor not only his results but his methodology. To some degree, GMing is a crapshoot. I recognize that luck plays a role and maybe Grunfeld has merely had a poor string of bad luck.

Consider this offseason. When the decision was made to trade Lewis for Okafor and Ariza, Blatche was still on the books and we therefore had just $5M in cap room if we bought out Lewis. Presumably, Grunfeld concluded that Ariza and Okafor would be better than what we could otherwise acquire with that $5M in cap room. I can even buy that premise. The problem is, Grunfeld turned around and amnestied Blatche AFTER acquiring Okafor and Ariza! But with Okafor and Ariza on the books, there was no cap room left even after dumping Blatche. This is inexcusable management. Grunfeld was just haphazardly making decisions in the offseason without a coherent plan. If Blatche was to be amnestied, Grunfeld should have done so immediately. That would have freed up $12M in cap room (assuming a Lewis buyout). Certainly, it was obvious that we could do better with $12M in cap room other than Okafor plus Ariza. Ryan Anderson went for $9.5M. Omar Asik for $8M. Elton Brand $3M. Haywood $2M. Lou Williams went for $6M.

I don’t understand how you let this blatant mismanagement take place. We’re not talking about evaluating crapshoot moves with 20/20 hindsight. I’m talking about common sense management of the team’s cap resources – something Grunfeld had total control over.

FWIW, I did not notice any posts being deleted