Official Countdown Grunfeld Era-2nd SuperStar?

[leswizards]

Seeing Dejuan Blair start for the Spurs makes me sick. I would love to know who is ultimately responsibility for making the trade that gave up the second round pick that could have been used for Blair. IMO, EG should have been fighting with all his might to convice Abe to keep the pick, and draft Blair. Anything short of that, and EG should be fired.

[WizarDynasty]

so i was reflecting on the game last night and finally figure out a universal truth about our team and the problem with FLip.
Our starting players don't know where the other 4 players should be at on the floor on a second to second basis of our basic sets.
Flip has not made this priority and neither and EG and Ted.
Until it is mandated from the top that the five starters should know the exact position of all 4 other positions on the floor at each second during a 10 second play of offensive, we will continue you to be bottom dwellers.
Flip and more importantly EG is the main reason for this. If the owner or EG aren't pushing the coaches for the this minimum requirement, Wizards will continue to be bottom dwellers and waste our time as fans.
This same Philosophy should be applied defensively as well. Our starters should be scouting teams 2 to 3 games in advance and have detailed second by second preparation for how to stop the other teams five top plays. There should be a 10 second rotation where each of the five starters and bench players should know the exact position on a second by second basis where they should be at on rotations to stop another teams top five plays.
i highly doubt this is being mandated By Ernie Grunfeld. Flip doesn't have the power that EG and TEd have since he has only been here a year and half and EG and Ted putting Flips job on the line if he doesn't get these basic systems installed with how our players prepare mentally.
Ted and EG need to understand basketball in terms of second by second strategy so that they can evaluate if Flip is actually doing his job.
Rashard hinted as to what all the elite level teams coaches say about the wizards-- Wizards starters haven't mastered where the other 4 position are suppose to be on a second to second basis in a 10 second play. he said in one of his interviews "I want to focus on learning the other four position in the playbook...(he implies that the wizards starters don't do this and everyone knows it)
This falls squarelly on the shoulders and FLIP, Grunfeld..and more and more on TEd Leonsis since he his true force that can create immediate cultural changes and demand results.

Just ask yourself..doesn't thornton appear to know what the center, of shooting guards are suppose to be at during the play..."NO"--
Does Young seem to be aware of where the small forward and Center are suppose to be on ten different plays at each second on a ten second play.
Could our players immediately point to the position on the floor where the powerforward is suppose to be from Seventh second of the plays to the fifth second of a play...on Play 12 of Flips playbook.
This is what i mean people.
On defense, we are playing the Rockets tonight. Do you think that Al Thornton knows Houston Rockets five top plays and his role in stopping their top five plays tonight.
Does he know Houston rockets second favorite play and what the shooting guard normally does from the 5th second to the 4th second on a ten second play.
This is the level of detail that a professional elite team should be on but Flip and EG don't have this expectation nor do they issue stiff penalties for when a starter doesn't master this before a game. This is why Flip and EG need to go. If management doesn't enforce penalties when this is mastered, a bottom dweller team always stays on the bottom.

[WizarDynasty]

Look you have to really its the managers fault. EG had the power to easily have imposed minor fines or starters and bench players for not knowing all five positions in depth--for flips top ten plays. Only a person of power can institute this type of mental dedication. Flip can only do so much its not like Flip has the standing of Popovich..everyone knows he is new but EG...now he is an established figure in the Wizards organization and is like Papa Bear. Had EG used his influence appropriate, the wizards would easily be an extremely high bball iq team because 90 percent of this roster has above average iq potential that hasn't been realized. had EG instructed Flip to fine players for not mastering a certain percentage of the playbook each week including the other positions, we would see blatche and mcgee out in the club and instead at home studying so they can avoid the fine. There is no excuse for players being here a year like mcGee and not knowing knowing the exact position of all his team mates through an entire player by memory unless management didn't instruct the coach to require it. it really does fall on EG because Ted hasn't been here long enough to establish that type of mental commitment from the player and Flip doesn't have the power to fine players internally but EG does.

Since EG doesnt' really care about holding his players accountable for their bbasketball IQ are only hope is that TED will put pressure on EG since TED genuinely wants a winner and does what it takes based on his past actions.

[WizarDynasty]

i think you guys gotta it all wrong in terms of how you are evaluating EG. EG has brought the physical talent but he hasn't used his power to boost the mental iq of the players he brought in.
EG brought in the physical talent but didn't install a plan in place to quickly accelerate his undervalued assets.
he brought in assets who were physically dominant basketball specimen with the potential to have a high basketball IQ. his assets were devalued because it was well known that his assets need time to develop their basketball IQ. EG completely disregarded this aspect thinking that his only job was to provide the physical talented bodies to a coach who would mend those their minds into above average basketball iq.
What EG didn't realize was that he needed a strict system that would could easily be enforced to push his assets to reach their true basketball iq.
blatche, mcgee, young, seraphin, booker--the common thread among all of them is that they not only have the physical tool to dominate on both sides of the court but that if kept in positive reinforcement environment that held them accountable for continously improving their basketball IQ, that they would become above average for mental basketball iq as well because all five have the right attitude about basketball.
EG believe that Flip would naturally understand and build a culture that ensure his players were held accountable for continously improving the basketball IQ both offensively and defensively each week but their was no system installed to hold players accountable for not knowing the movements ofl all five players in a 10 second play.
This is where EG's basketball IQ failed him because he didnt' hold force Flip to show him results of this continous improvment from his assets.
This would only make sense for flip sense Flip job is directly tied to how his draft picks perform. EG didn't think far enough to force his hand picked coach to provide him evidence he week that Flip was in fact showing progress mentally both offensively and defensively in terms of basketball IQ.
EG failed because he didnt' demand from FLIP concrete evidence that EG's hand picked Players were improving mentall on both sides of the ball each week. The key word is Concrete. Since FLip doesn't have to be held accountable for ensuring that players EG's players continously show improve weekly, Flip can slack off on the job.
We need to shoot this Ernie having a problem with blatche out the water. Ernie had a problem with Arenas because Arenas thought he was a god and was treated like one. Arenas represented the era where Grunfeld had no concept of defensive talent.
[b]
Blatche may not be strong enough to post up on the block but he is probably a top 3 most skilled p/f in the league. No right handed powerforward can attack the left side of the floor like blatche can. Teams already design their defense to stop blatche from going to his right so he has evolved his game to go the left. Loosing blatche also would mean that we lost all the years of jamison training blatche offensively.

Blatche is basically an upgraded 7 foot version of Jamison. Blatche is the only reason that we were able to release jamison in the first place. There is no player on this team that has a better overall game that Blatche.

McGee is also developing and is showing improvement on both sides of the ball. We are not trading any of our athletic seven footers that other teams have to game plan against.
What this team could use is to bring in assistants that have had success getting results at improving young players reaction speeds on the coach (court). Maybe someone from Popovich's staff.

but he key word that EG failed to install his the Wizards culture is Accountability for both offensive and defensive basketball IQ with concrete results. [/b]

[Illuminaire]

Why do you spend so much time writing out your thoughts to share with the community, only to stubbornly continue doing so in a medium that only two or three people have the patience to bother reading?

I'm interested in what you have to say, and I'm sure many others are too, but until you extend us the common courtesy of paragraph breaks we can't treat anything you write as worth our time.

[Dat2U]

Whoa there buddy, I ain't reading all that sh*t!

[WizarDynasty]

delete

[DCZards]

Seeing Dejuan Blair start for the Spurs makes me sick. I would love to know who is ultimately responsibility for making the trade that gave up the second round pick that could have been used for Blair. IMO, EG should have been fighting with all his might to convice Abe to keep the pick, and draft Blair. Anything short of that, and EG should be fired.

DeJuan Blair is averaging 7 pts, 6 rebs and less than a half a block a game and you want to fire the GM for not drafting him. Pleeeezzzze!

[DCZards]

i'll tell ya another move that EG messed up on. He didn't sign Shaun Livingston. Shaun really helped us as far as basketball IQ. Kirk does not have a better basketball iq than livingston especially if you look at the quick passes that Shaun made.

I loved what Livingston did in his short time with the Zards last season, but I'll take Kirk over Shaun. Kirk is a veteran presence, which the Wizards sorely need, and he's a better, more physical defender than Shaun. And, yes, Shaun's a great passer but there's more to b'ball IQ than just making quick passes.

[DCZards]

Why do you spend so much time writing out your thoughts to share with the community, only to stubbornly continue doing so in a medium that only two or three people have the patience to bother reading?

I seriously doubt that even 2-3 people have the patience to read those "blocks" of copy that WD produces. You'd think that he would have learned by now (especially with the constant complaints from other posters) that if he wants people to read his lengthy posts he needs to hit the "enter" button a few times along the way.

[tontoz]

Whoa there buddy, I ain't reading all that sh*t!

I think I'll wait for the Cliff Notes version. There may be a coherent thought somewhere in those posts but i dont think i am qualified enough to extract it.

[WizarDynasty]

Blatche's number goal in life is to an allstar. That's his motivation. He has high standards for himself so if we are seeing a drop in his productivity you can bet injury has something to do with it. We all saw how quick and nimble blatche was when he was healthy. GAsol took an entire year to get back from a broken foot but it was worth it.

Part of the problem is that Leonsis really needs to hire world class sport doctors from reputable teams because misdiagnosis had ruined and certainly delayed Wizard Asset growth.

But a guy like Dre wants to be an allstar. McGee and Blatche push each other to greatness. Those two are the only reason the wizards can even dream of dominating the nba one day. Wall, to be honest, has only one thing going for him right now, and that is sprinting down for a fast break. i don't honestly see anything yet that tell me that he can intellectually break down a defense on the level of Nash or Kidd. he's is alot closing to an out of control shooting guard than he is at setting up a team mate and diagnosing a defense split second like a young "peyton manning or Tom Brady". he reminds alot like a young michael vick...uses his feet more than his skill--of throwing a football and diagnosing a defense. Wall uses his speed just as michael vick used his speed but michael vick also got hurt easily using that style. it has taken how many years for Michael Vick to finally use his throwing skills and his mind to diagnose defenses. It took the right coach and system and set of circumanstance in his life.
i see wall the same way. He uses his speed but uses it recklessly, not in control and with intelligence. he has the mechanics to one day be able to shoot or be able to control the ball on a string ala nash and kidd but doesn't use it because he isn't forced to use it so it stays undeveloped.
i don't see Wall taking the same about of time it took michael vick to transform from being a running q/b to a passing and running q/b. Wall is a running point guard-- he doesn't know how to use his intelligence to dissect a defense.
Now blatche has progressed tremendously as far as basketball iq under jamison and he is also skilled. he doesn't have the same physical gifts as wall but he has above average athleticism and his skill level is pretty off the charts for a p/f. Do you give up michael vick because he is injured?
We have to our front court of the future in McGee and Blatche--we need role players to fill the voids. We don't have skilled power big coming off the bench and our back up point guard--wall has very little skill other than fast break sprints with the ball. he also doesn't have alot of knowledge running advanced basketball plays nor does he know where his team mates are suppose to be on defense or offense yet we have designated him captain.

Its going to take time but we have a championship level squad that has alot of growing pains but the foundation of this team is one of hte strongest in the league built for the future. We have the hardest positions to fill, filled, and now they have to all mastered the wizards playbook..and then actually master the playbook of the top 4 teams of the eastern conference so that they can learn to stop it. The top 4 teams in teh eastern conference know the wizards playbook better than even the young wizards players but--just because you have knowledge doesn't mean you have the physical skills to execute. this roster has the physical skills to execute..and its just a matter of time and stiff penalties before they graduate to mastering the playbook of the top 4 teams in the eastern conference. The problem is that Grunfeld and Saunders have low expectations of these guys---or Grunfeld and Saunders don't have the correct goal set for these players. The final goal of basketball iq is being able to know the top 4 teams in the eastern conference (top 10 plays 10 second countdown) and the exact (defense strategy on a 10 second countdown of each separate play) to stop each of those plays on a second to second basis.
I highly doubt the Saunders, Grunfeld, or Leonsis has made this mastery of basketball iQ a prime directive of the organization.

I think blatche inate IQ is allowing him to see the lack of organization focus that will eventually make him an allstar if followed and is lashing out. The organization needs for TEd to put his footdown and force Grunfeld and leonsis to make this basketball IQ mastery for even the bench players a longterm goal with steps on how to achieve it.

just keeping track of my awesome high quality posts.

[DCZards]

I think blatche inate IQ is allowing him to see the lack of organization focus that will eventually make him an allstar if followed and is lashing out. The organization needs for TEd to put his footdown and force Grunfeld and leonsis to make this basketball IQ mastery for even the bench players a longterm goal with steps on how to achieve it.

just keeping track of my awesome high quality posts.

WD, your post is one long excuse for the underachieving Blatche. And you saved the best (and most laughable) part for last. Dray's b'ball IQ is decent but it's not all that. And, if there's a "lack of focus" it's on AB's part and not the Wizard organization's.

Injuries may indeed be the main reason for Blatche's inconsistent play of late, but his game has some obvious problems that have nothing to do with being injured, including overdribbling when he should be moving the ball, too many fadeaway jumpers and a lack of consistent focus and intensity on the court. Sadly, his biggest problem may be off-the court where his immaturity and partying ways will probably continue to cause him problems.

I'd love to see Dray succeed here in DC, but I'd be cool with trading him if the Zards got some decent talent or a good draft pick in return. I'd certainly trade Blatche before I'd trade McGee.

[WizarDynasty]

I think blatche inate IQ is allowing him to see the lack of organization focus that will eventually make him an allstar if followed and is lashing out. The organization needs for TEd to put his footdown and force Grunfeld and leonsis to make this basketball IQ mastery for even the bench players a longterm goal with steps on how to achieve it.

just keeping track of my awesome high quality posts.

WD, your post is one long excuse for the underachieving Blatche. And you saved the best (and most laughable) part for last. Dray's b'ball IQ is decent but it's not all that. And, if there's a "lack of focus" it's on AB's part and not the Wizard organization's.

Injuries may indeed be the main reason for Blatche's inconsistent play of late, but his game has some obvious problems that have nothing to do with being injured, including overdribbling when he should be moving the ball, too many fadeaway jumpers and a lack of consistent focus and intensity on the court. Sadly, his biggest problem may be off-the court where his immaturity and partying ways will probably continue to cause him problems.

I'd love to see Dray succeed here in DC, but I'd be cool with trading him if the Zards got some decent talent or a good draft pick in return. I'd certainly trade Blatche before I'd trade McGee.

Blatche needs to upgrade his dribbling skills and bring the ball lower to ground i agree, but Flip is doing alot experimentation with his playbook. He has players that barely know the playbook and if they dont' execute their end of hte play, it completely throws off how the play is designed. Blatche probably has a much stronger understanding of the playbook that any of the knew guys including, hinrich, wall, thornton, lewis, when Blatche was playing with a high basketball IQ p/f in oberto--blatche looked outstanding---i very much am sure that blatche is suffering from the serious down grade in baketball iq that he was used to playing with last year--hence over dribbling when other players don't make the right cuts or don't force the defense to respect their shot..aka thornton, wall, booker, armstrong.

[JonathanJoseph]

There is plenty of evidence that I supported EG in this thread, so here goes.

There is plenty of recent developments that support a change of direction:

1) The Arenas trade. There is no plausible explanation for the trade, other than that the situation was so toxic that trading Arenas at any cost was the only possible resolution. This falls squarely on Grunfeld for not managing the PR better and losing all trade value.

2) The Blatche/McGee fight. Yet again, the Wizards players are unable to operate within team boundaries. Somehow, guys like Dennis Rodman and Ron Artest are able to contribute to championship teams, but the mere presence of immaturity seems to rip the Wizards franchise apart, whether it comes from Arenas, Blatche, McGee or Chris Webber before them. Why isn't this franchise able to reign in young talent the way every other franchise can?

3) The Blatche extension: The fact that EG is looking into trading Blatche is another strike against him. That Blatche is immature shouldn't be a surprise to anyone paying attention at this point. Why can't the Wizards seem to reign him in the way that many franchises have reigned in many immature players? That Blatche is immature isn't a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention, so why look to move him <30 games after giving him a contract extension? If you are not commmitted to his growth, that's something you should figure out in the first 5 years and before you give him a big contract extension.

I was very much in support of the strategy that saw Wall, Arenas, Blatche, McGee, Booker and Seraphin under contract for 4 years with plenty of cap space around them.

I'm an angry fan.

[nate33]

There is plenty of evidence that I supported EG in this thread, so here goes.

There is plenty of recent developments that support a change of direction:

1) The Arenas trade. There is no plausible explanation for the trade, other than that the situation was so toxic that trading Arenas at any cost was the only possible resolution. This falls squarely on Grunfeld for not managing the PR better and losing all trade value.

2) The Blatche/McGee fight. Yet again, the Wizards players are unable to operate within team boundaries. Somehow, guys like Dennis Rodman and Ron Artest are able to contribute to championship teams, but the mere presence of immaturity seems to rip the Wizards franchise apart, whether it comes from Arenas, Blatche, McGee or Chris Webber before them. Why isn't this franchise able to reign in young talent the way every other franchise can?

1. The Arenas trade is looking better and better every day. It's becoming apparent that unloading him was addition by subtraction. The team has played with very good chemistry ever since. And we now have three pro's pros in Hinrich, Howard and Lewis to set the tone for the youngsters. It's working. The team has played five consecutive good games. If those games didn't happen to be against good teams on the road, or elite teams at home, we'd have had a few more wins.

2. I think a consistent zero-tolerance policy is finally the right solution to what ails this team. I think EG's reaction to the fight is positive. It certainly looks to be working on the court. McGee and Blatche have played two consecutive good games.

3. My guess is that no trade will take place because the offers aren't good enough. Indeed, the media reports about shopping Blatche may only be to light a fire under him. I'll wait until Blatche is traded for crap before I complain about it. For now, there's nothing to complain about because no trade has taken place.

[sfam]

1. The Arenas trade is looking better and better every day. It's becoming apparent that unloading him was addition by subtraction. The team has played with very good chemistry ever since. And we now have three pro's pros in Hinrich, Howard and Lewis to set the tone for the youngsters. It's working.

Absolutely agree. Its clear by the recent effort exhibited that Gil was toxic. Hinrich, Howard and Lewis all do the lunch pail thing. They come in serious, work their butts off in a professional manner and keep their heads down. This is exactly what the knucklehead posse needs surrounding them. That and the threat f a trade is probably a good thing.

[JonathanJoseph]

There is plenty of evidence that I supported EG in this thread, so here goes.

There is plenty of recent developments that support a change of direction:

1) The Arenas trade. There is no plausible explanation for the trade, other than that the situation was so toxic that trading Arenas at any cost was the only possible resolution. This falls squarely on Grunfeld for not managing the PR better and losing all trade value.

2) The Blatche/McGee fight. Yet again, the Wizards players are unable to operate within team boundaries. Somehow, guys like Dennis Rodman and Ron Artest are able to contribute to championship teams, but the mere presence of immaturity seems to rip the Wizards franchise apart, whether it comes from Arenas, Blatche, McGee or Chris Webber before them. Why isn't this franchise able to reign in young talent the way every other franchise can?

1. The Arenas trade is looking better and better every day. It's becoming apparent that unloading him was addition by subtraction. The team has played with very good chemistry ever since. And we now have three pro's pros in Hinrich, Howard and Lewis to set the tone for the youngsters. It's working. The team has played five consecutive good games. If those games didn't happen to be against good teams on the road, or elite teams at home, we'd have had a few more wins.

2. I think a consistent zero-tolerance policy is finally the right solution to what ails this team. I think EG's reaction to the fight is positive. It certainly looks to be working on the court. McGee and Blatche have played two consecutive good games.

3. My guess is that no trade will take place because the offers aren't good enough. Indeed, the media reports about shopping Blatche may only be to light a fire under him. I'll wait until Blatche is traded for crap before I complain about it. For now, there's nothing to complain about because no trade has taken place.

1) Sure. No one would challenge this, but it's Grunfeld (and the Pollins) who created this toxic chemistry. Chemistry may be better, but the roster and cap situation are not better. Adding Lewis (and thus taking minutes from Booker/Seraphin) is a terrible development for the big picture.

2) This seems like a bunch of BS. Zero tolerance means if you punch your teammate you miss 1/82nd of the season? That's 1.21% of a season/salary. Not sure if that equates to a policy of "no tolerance" as much as it seems like a slap on the wrist. They tried to void an $80M contract over a practical joke gone wrong so I'm not sure this equates.

3) Of course no trade will occur, because even a lazy Blatche is a double-double candidate at $7M per season, which is chump change for a big man. As awful as Blatche has been so far this season, I find it hard to believe that anyone could replace that production AT THAT SALARY. I hope that a fire has been lit under his a$$ because a trade would mean another horrible mark on the Grunfeld era in DC. EG has spent many years and a recent contract extension betting on 7-Day Dray. Giving up on him would be a major concession.

[LyricalRico]

^
1. *Yawn* Same old story of Gil not being responsible for anything. I would actually be interested to see where you stood on the organization's reaction when the incident originally occurred. Many here who hold to your current position were against the organization from the beginning. OTOH anyone who supported them then, but now blames them for everything, is pretty much just mad that their favorite player is now on another team and they are looking for somebody to direct that towards.

And to say that the cap situation is not better is like saying that the sun rises in the West. We've already proven the cap benefits by the numbers, which you can't accuse us of "hiding behind" because by definition the salary cap is about numbers and only numbers. Finally, nobody (and that includes those of us that support EG) saw Seraphin and Booker being major contributors this year. It's clear that Seraphin is going to take multiple years to develop. Booker has been decent in stretches, but IMO he doesn't project to be a starter in the NBA so "taking minutes" from bench players doesn't bother me. If we can get some depth in the middle, maybe we can send Seraphin to the D-League, which would solve the minutes issue.

2. Comparing 4 felony counts to some shoving at a nightclub? Even the other Gil supporters would have to agree that it's ridiculous to compare the two.

3. I somewhat agree with this and somewhat don't. I agree that if Blatche is traded it will make the extension he received a clear mistake, and I've said so in other threads. But I don't agree with compounding a mistake just to save face. Maybe a lazy Blatche puts up decent numbers, but what is the team losing in the process? It could be that the points allowed by being slow to react defensively because of poor conditioning, plus the points left on the court by missed fade-away jumpers and turnovers, will turn out to offset that positive production. A Blatche trade could also mean that McGee (who has more physical gifts) would no longer have anybody to get in trouble with and would be forced to grow up if he wants to fit in with the rest of the team. It could be another addition-by-subtraction situation. All that has to be considered, not just the guy's annual salary.

Don't worry, JoJo. When you regain your senses, I'll be here to welcome you back.

Go Wiz!

[verbal8]

2) The Blatche/McGee fight. Yet again, the Wizards players are unable to operate within team boundaries. Somehow, guys like Dennis Rodman and Ron Artest are able to contribute to championship teams, but the mere presence of immaturity seems to rip the Wizards franchise apart, whether it comes from Arenas, Blatche, McGee or Chris Webber before them. Why isn't this franchise able to reign in young talent the way every other franchise can?

Other teams in the past have had issues with immature young talent. The "Jailblazers" and the Pacers team that had the brawl with the Pistons/fans are the first that come to mind.