Official Countdown Grunfeld Era-2nd SuperStar?

[Nivek]

Good point, nate. There were two primary drivers for the team's public response: conflict between the Pollin family and Leonsis, and instructions from the lawyers. By now, EVERY organization -- especially one as predicated on public perceptions as a professional sports team -- should know better than to let the lawyers determine PR strategy. In every crisis communications I've dealt with in my PR career, the lawyers have given the same instructions: say and do nothing until it's absolutely necessary. The lawyers should have a voice, but the strategy should be driven by people with a sense for what the public will think.

Nothing I suggested in that article would have hurt any legal proceeding. Honestly, I think that if it was handled right, it's entirely possible there would have been no criminal proceedings at all. The reaction to the story was driven by the sensationalized version Peter Vecsey published. Vecsey got there first, so his became the official version. If the team gets there first, the event can be downplayed and characterized differently to the public. But, they have to get there first.

My view is that the real problem was the lack of decisive leadership at the top. Had Ted been in charge, I think the whole thing would have been handled different (and better).

Meh, whatever. It's long over now.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Unless Wizards security photographed the weapons or copied serial numbers before the weapons were taken back to NOVA, I believe prosecution might have been unlikely if Gilbert never produced them. With no positive ID and proof they were his Gil could have walked.

Gil is the one who needed to follow a lawyer's advice and say as little as possible. Had he not cooperated I don't think the Pollin family and EG or the media could have taken his story and run with it. Gil and teammates were joking about what IMO had they known how serious it was they would have kept quiet about.

Old story now, thank goodness.

[JonathanJoseph]

I didn't watch tonight's game and may be done with the Wiz for a while (I can't justify the time), but I'm still trying to figure out how this is not the Curse of Lez Boulez.

I had the Wizards winning 47 games last season and 42 games this season. I believed in many of the moves Ernie Grunfeld made both seasons and still do not understand how the Wizards were so bad last season (pre gungate). And while I am now in favor of getting rid of EG, I still do not think this is entirely his fault. How is it that every single move seems to end in the worse case scenario?

Just this season: Arenas was healthy, but suddenly one of the best pure shooters in the NBA couldn't shoot. Wall has been hurt and is on pace to have the least impact of any #1 overall pick in recent memory. McGee hasn't progressed much. Blatche has regressed BADLY. Yi made great progress over the summer and at the World Championships and then it turned out to be a mirage.

How do we get rid of this curse?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Fire EG and Flip. Hire Danny Ferry and Dave Joerger. Change the name back to Bullets.

Thirty-some years ago Bob Ferry was a decent GM. Maybe his son can be.

If not Joerger, hire Mike Brown, who has local coaching ties, too.

That's how the curse would end.

[closg00]

I'm convinced that Ernie & Abe's karma are tied to the team, the curse ends when Ernie is gone.

[DCZards]

I didn't watch tonight's game and may be done with the Wiz for a while (I can't justify the time), but I'm still trying to figure out how this is not the Curse of Lez Boulez.
How do we get rid of this curse?

The first thing you need to do is stop believing in the "curse."

[AceDegenerate]

It's really not a curse, this franchise has been plagued with ineptitude for a very long time now. If there was not so many just dirt-dumb moves in our history, then maybe there would be some credence to this "curse" idea. I no longer buy it.

No one ever gives the Clippers the benefit of the doubt of saying the team is "cursed". They are just a poorly run organization, so is this one.

[closg00]

It's really not a curse, this franchise has been plagued with ineptitude for a very long time now. If there was not so many just dirt-dumb moves in our history, then maybe there would be some credence to this "curse" idea. I no longer buy it.

No one ever gives the Clippers the benefit of the doubt of saying the team is "cursed". They are just a poorly run organization, so is this one.

Indeed, we are cursed in the figurative sense, Unseld and now Grunfeld.

[JonathanJoseph]

I didn't watch tonight's game and may be done with the Wiz for a while (I can't justify the time), but I'm still trying to figure out how this is not the Curse of Lez Boulez.
How do we get rid of this curse?

The first thing you need to do is stop believing in the "curse."

I don't exactly believe in spooky things, but this has been ridiculous. The Clippers suck because Donald Sterling is a bad guy who bleeds the team dry. The Warriors have had more success recently than the Wiz. The Wiz are trending pretty close to Clipper-land right now.

EVERYTHING the Wiz does turns into a disaster.

[list=]Arenas, Franchise player suffers knee injury that sidelines him for 3 years and ruins his athleticism
Gun Gate
Butler, 2nd Best player breaks his hand right before playoffs and then can't handle success and starts killing team chemistry, started to play much better after leaving the Wiz for a 1/2 season
Haywood missed a whole season
Blatche after developing slowly has regressed badly going from perhaps becoming an all-start to perhaps being the worst PF in the NBA
Wall has been injured and at times ineffective
Stevenson had a back injury so debilitating that he became one of the worst players in the NBA now he's starting for a contender
Nick Young was terrible until his contract year
Jamison, Foye, Miller, Butler, Howard and Yi have all missed significant time due to injuries in the past 3 seasons. [/list]

I might have missed something too.

This is not all Ernie Grunfeld's fault. This team has had "the worst case scenario" more often than not. This is either an unparalleled run of bad luck...

or a curse.

It's almost stupifying. I'm optimistic that this is still the residual Pollin-effect, but everything that's happened post-Pollin has turned into a disaster too.

[Dat2U]

It's really not a curse, this franchise has been plagued with ineptitude for a very long time now. If there was not so many just dirt-dumb moves in our history, then maybe there would be some credence to this "curse" idea. I no longer buy it.

No one ever gives the Clippers the benefit of the doubt of saying the team is "cursed". They are just a poorly run organization, so is this one.

QFT

We've had two of the worst GMs of all time in Wes Unseld & Michael Jordan. Sandwiched in between two of the most uninspiring and least accomplished GMs of all time in John Nash & Ernie Grunfeld. And we had one of the worst owners in the NBA (although he was great philanthropist) in terms of running a team.

This is not even mentioning the coaches.

There's nothing cursed about it. We've made bad decision after bad decision repeatedly.

Even the injury "curse" IMO is self inflicted. Arenas's injury grew into something much worse than it should of been. We've ruined careers (Jarvis Hayes says hello) and brought an early end to many seasons. We've apparently evaluated the medical staff every stinking year and felt they've provided the franchise with the best possible care in the DC area. Yep, this flaming bag of sh*t of franchise deserves every single thing it gets.

Until Uncle Teddy realizes that cleaning house involves more than using a different cleaning agent in the Verizon Center bathrooms or dumping Gilbert Arenas at the first given chance, this franchise will be stuck in what amounts to basketball hell.

[Wizards2Lottery]

Don't you guys get the feeling that things have gotten stale?

At this point, it's not even about Ernie or his moves for me. He's done some good and a lot of bad, but everything about this team is just boring now. Why should we trust this management to do something now when they failed to do it over a 6 year span?

All I want to see is change in direction. Trading away the only superstar and top 10 NBA talent this team has had in decades won't do that. Quite honestly, this is what pisses me off the most.

This franchise thinks the "Fans" are stupid enough to believe that we are completely headed in a new direction because of a few trades. NO, I want to see the loser of a GM fired, I want to see changes to the medical and training staff, I want to see minutes for the rookies instead of useless veterans who have no future with this team.

One of the first things Mike Shanahan did when he came to the Redskins was bring in a new strength and conditioning coach and ask for better medical assistance from Snyder. The Redskins saw a significant drop in injuries and the recovery time for injuries this season.

So far, this franchise is the same ol' bullsh*t, just with different faces.

[closg00]

I let my ticket rep know that I was not purchasing any blocks of tix until Grunfeld is gone. I agree with the sentiment that nothing has actually changed except for increased marketing activity, but Ted took-over late. I am really looking to the next off-season for signs of changes to operations...ANY.

[JonathanJoseph]

It's really not a curse, this franchise has been plagued with ineptitude for a very long time now. If there was not so many just dirt-dumb moves in our history, then maybe there would be some credence to this "curse" idea. I no longer buy it.

No one ever gives the Clippers the benefit of the doubt of saying the team is "cursed". They are just a poorly run organization, so is this one.

That's not the case though. There is a difference between ineptitude and something simply not working out.

In life and business on occasion good ideas don't work out. Under Grunfeld, almost every good idea hasn't worked out.

[WizarDynasty]

EG not signing livingston long term even though he greatly improved our team basketball iq is why he should be fired.
Hinrich's and wall's handles are poor and neither throw pin point passes that give their team mates wide open shots. Livingston made this the norm last year.
EG devalued Livingston bball iq and this team was devoid of basketball iq. he thought hinrich was a better at increasing his team mates basketball IQ or that he was better than Livingston at team on court team chemistry.
he lost oberto and didn't find a high bball big to replacement. he replaced him with low bball iq YI and Armstrong.
Hinrich has a much lower bball iq than livingston and we saw alot chemistry between blatche and livingston last year. EG didn't value this which is why he didn't sign him longterm and let him hit the open market.
His flaky knee who still have allowed him to increase our bball iq and off the court culture with our bigs. hinrich does nothing of the sort. Very bad move by EG.

[LyricalRico]

That's not the case though. There is a difference between ineptitude and something simply not working out.

In life and business on occasion good ideas don't work out. Under Grunfeld, almost every good idea hasn't worked out.

First, this is something I've been saying for years in support of Ernie. Just because some of Ernie's moves have worked out differently than expected, doesn't mean that they weren't good ideas at the time. It certainly doesn't mean that he's inept.

Second, if you're going to use that same logic to prove that supernatural forces are at work, then why waste your energy on the "fire Ernie" soapbox? Any GM would be doomed to failure because of "the curse". So firings/hirings, trades, draft picks, etc will all have absolutely zero impact until "the curse" is lifted.

But just in case there really is a curse, let's sacrifice Blatche on "the altar of the Trade Deadline" just to be on the safe side.

[nate33]

EG not signing livingston long term even though he greatly improved our team basketball iq is why he should be fired.
Hinrich's and wall's handles are poor and neither throw pin point passes that give their team mates wide open shots. Livingston made this the norm last year.
EG devalued Livingston bball iq and this team was devoid of basketball iq. he thought hinrich was a better at increasing his team mates basketball IQ or that he was better than Livingston at team on court team chemistry.
he lost oberto and didn't find a high bball big to replacement. he replaced him with low bball iq YI and Armstrong.
Hinrich has a much lower bball iq than livingston and we saw alot chemistry between blatche and livingston last year. EG didn't value this which is why he didn't sign him longterm and let him hit the open market.
His flaky knee who still have allowed him to increase our bball iq and off the court culture with our bigs. hinrich does nothing of the sort. Very bad move by EG.

All chances of resigning Livingston vanished the day we drafted John Wall. Not EG's fault.

[Nivek]

EG not signing livingston long term even though he greatly improved our team basketball iq is why he should be fired.
Hinrich's and wall's handles are poor and neither throw pin point passes that give their team mates wide open shots. Livingston made this the norm last year.
EG devalued Livingston bball iq and this team was devoid of basketball iq. he thought hinrich was a better at increasing his team mates basketball IQ or that he was better than Livingston at team on court team chemistry.
he lost oberto and didn't find a high bball big to replacement. he replaced him with low bball iq YI and Armstrong.
Hinrich has a much lower bball iq than livingston and we saw alot chemistry between blatche and livingston last year. EG didn't value this which is why he didn't sign him longterm and let him hit the open market.
His flaky knee who still have allowed him to increase our bball iq and off the court culture with our bigs. hinrich does nothing of the sort. Very bad move by EG.

Yes, the team would be soooooo much better this season if they'd just managed to keep Livingston and Oberto.

C'mon, man. Seriously?

[JonathanJoseph]

That's not the case though. There is a difference between ineptitude and something simply not working out.

In life and business on occasion good ideas don't work out. Under Grunfeld, almost every good idea hasn't worked out.

First, this is something I've been saying for years in support of Ernie. Just because some of Ernie's moves have worked out differently than expected, doesn't mean that they weren't good ideas at the time. It certainly doesn't mean that he's inept.

Second, if you're going to use that same logic to prove that supernatural forces are at work, then why waste your energy on the "fire Ernie" soapbox? Any GM would be doomed to failure because of "the curse". So firings/hirings, trades, draft picks, etc will all have absolutely zero impact until "the curse" is lifted.

But just in case there really is a curse, let's sacrifice Blatche on "the altar of the Trade Deadline" just to be on the safe side.

Because at this point, it's bad karma/chemistry/curse...whatever, but new blood is needed. Sometimes when things aren't working to this degree, it's just time to make a change for the sake of change. It can't get worse than this.

But it was his handling of the Arenas issue that did it for me. That was a major, major mishandling that will cost this franchise dearly. Make NO mistake, that move was far, far more damaging than the Miller/Foye trade.

[JonathanJoseph]

EG not signing livingston long term even though he greatly improved our team basketball iq is why he should be fired.
Hinrich's and wall's handles are poor and neither throw pin point passes that give their team mates wide open shots. Livingston made this the norm last year.
EG devalued Livingston bball iq and this team was devoid of basketball iq. he thought hinrich was a better at increasing his team mates basketball IQ or that he was better than Livingston at team on court team chemistry.
he lost oberto and didn't find a high bball big to replacement. he replaced him with low bball iq YI and Armstrong.
Hinrich has a much lower bball iq than livingston and we saw alot chemistry between blatche and livingston last year. EG didn't value this which is why he didn't sign him longterm and let him hit the open market.
His flaky knee who still have allowed him to increase our bball iq and off the court culture with our bigs. hinrich does nothing of the sort. Very bad move by EG.

All chances of resigning Livingston vanished the day we drafted John Wall. Not EG's fault.

You can check, I was all in favor of giving SL a mid-level deal before the draft lottery. He was playing ALL-STAR caliber basketball (please re-read that if you aren't sure that I said it).

Now, regardless of how it turned out, Livingston seems to be both hurt and ineffective.

The Wizards find a diamond in the rough and it disappears into thin air...That's more of what I am talking about. NOTHING seems to work out for this franchise.

[nate33]

EG not signing livingston long term even though he greatly improved our team basketball iq is why he should be fired.
Hinrich's and wall's handles are poor and neither throw pin point passes that give their team mates wide open shots. Livingston made this the norm last year.
EG devalued Livingston bball iq and this team was devoid of basketball iq. he thought hinrich was a better at increasing his team mates basketball IQ or that he was better than Livingston at team on court team chemistry.
he lost oberto and didn't find a high bball big to replacement. he replaced him with low bball iq YI and Armstrong.
Hinrich has a much lower bball iq than livingston and we saw alot chemistry between blatche and livingston last year. EG didn't value this which is why he didn't sign him longterm and let him hit the open market.
His flaky knee who still have allowed him to increase our bball iq and off the court culture with our bigs. hinrich does nothing of the sort. Very bad move by EG.

All chances of resigning Livingston vanished the day we drafted John Wall. Not EG's fault.

You can check, I was all in favor of giving SL a mid-level deal before the draft lottery. He was playing ALL-STAR caliber basketball (please re-read that if you aren't sure that I said it).

Now, regardless of how it turned out, Livingston seems to be both hurt and ineffective.

The Wizards find a diamond in the rough and it disappears into thin air...That's more of what I am talking about. NOTHING seems to work out for this franchise.

The lottery took place before the Summer Moratorium ended. It wasn't possible to sign Livingston to a long term deal before the lottery.