WizFans, what are your expectations?

[Severn Hoos]

This is actually probably the surest way to a championship. To a contender, anyway. You don't get the ring unless you have a true #1 #1 overall. With three exceptions: Detroit when the opposing Finals team had poor chemistry and feuding stars. Celtics, for a one and done, after trading for a disgruntled superstar and desperate veterans. And the Lakers after one of the most lopsided trades ever, and after a few years of struggling with mediocrity, with Kobe as one of those lotto gambles on an unproven talented youngster who had to season and develop a bit.



Key thing is to keep it fun regardless. Keep the fanbase interested. As fans, to keep the expectations on simmer and watch the thing develop. Can't expect to dominate, but to improve in surges and waves, and watch for those key highwater marks. One way or the other it should be interesting, we just have to keep our balance as a fanbase, ride the swells, and expect when the big wave comes it's gonna be one hellofa ride. Not this one, not the next one, I see a bigger one out there...

doc, to the first point: Outside of the Detroit example, you can go back nearly half a century and it still validates the #1#1 premise. I would contend that the guys who won titles but weren't #1 overall - KG and Kobe, but don't forget Bird, MJ, and Dr. J - were all anomalies that won't happen again:

Bird - "Junior eligible" draftee, #6 overall
Dr. J - went to ABA, #12 overall in NBA draft due to legal questions over his rights
KG & Kobe - reluctance by NBA GMs to draft high schoolers #1 overall. Clearly the best in their respective classes, would have been #1 if it were more accepted as it later became.
MJ - Well, the guy drafted #1 did win a few titles himself, and then there's the whole Bowie thing... yeah, that could happen again.

Point is, for the most part, those are guys who would be drafted #1 overall now if you redid their drafts (even not having the benefit of hindsight on their pro careers, simply by changing the circumstances in which they were drafted). The rest of the titles were won by Shaq, Magic, Kareem, Walton, Duncan/Robinson, Isiah...

And, needless to say to this crowd, just because a guy is taken #1 overall doesn't mean that he's truly a #1#1 - and even if he is of that caliber (Ewing? Howard? LeBron? - we can hope) there's no guarantee that he'll actually win a title.

Which leads me to the second point - incremental steps are better than no steps at all. As a GM, you've got to make the best team you can at a given time. No sense pining for a player who doesn't exist - or if there is a guy, go get him. And if you can't, then move along.

And in the long run, if the best you can do is be the StocktontoMalone Jazz or Reggie's Pacers or Dirk's Mavs or Nash's Suns, well, that's a far sight better than being the Bullards of the past 30 years. So why complain and whine about it, enjoy the ride and hope that you get that lucky year where the other team(s) implode right before you. At least we'd be watching actual games now instead of shaky cell phone videos and reading Euro scouting reports...

[fishercob]

[BTW fish. What's an "exepctation" ? Thanx...]

Doc, it's taken a lot of self-control for me not to point that out, so thanks for doing it for me .

Mea cupla. As a fellow grammar and punctuation Nazi, I hang my head in shame. Fixed.

[BigA]

I expect perfectly-spelled thread titles.

[BigA]

But, seriously, I don't know what to expect.

What I hope to see:

--Just a little luck with the ping-pong balls for a change; a top 3 pick.

--Leonsis gets full control in advance of the draft to make a front office change if he wants to make one, OR Leonsis-Grunfeld-Flip on the same page on a several-year rebuild.

--Promising young talent brought in through the draft. Maybe some BOYD or other trades that bring in an additional lottery pick this year.

--Work toward some variation of the "Carmelo plan." Livingston signed reasonably, Arenas comes back effective enough to have trade value or stay, don't blow the cap space on middling vets.

--An exciting, improving team next year. Reasonably healthy. Maybe in the hunt for a playoff spot. Positioned to make additional moves next summer.

What I'm afraid I will see:

--Max contract for Joe Johnson or Boozer, or overpaying even lower-tier vets.

--8th pick.

--Arenas and Livingston get into a dispute over a Goodman league game, decide to settle it with an old school duel, shoot each other in the kneecaps.

--Blatche decides to spend the summer hanging out with Lawrence Taylor, Big Ben, and Tiger.

--McGee's videos outpace his defense.

--25 wins as far as the eye can see.

[Dat2U]

My expectations:

1. The Wizards will land the sixth pick in the draft
2. Ernie Grunfeld will remain GM for the forseeable future
3. Wizards will draft Al-Farouq Aminu or Wesley Johnson with the sixth pick
4. The Wizards will try to re-sign Mike Miller & Shaun Livingston but will lose out to teams that made more aggressive offers.
5. The Wizards will meekly try and lose out on all other major free agents. Will settle for 2nd & 3rd tier guys. Josh Howard, Al Harrington & James Singleton are likely options on 2 or 3 year deals.
6. Arenas will be traded sooner or later in the offseason for expirings & junk, in the hopes of creating more cap space for 2011 & 12.

Because Leonsis is in charge, EG will be forced to take more of a patient approach in terms of rebuilding a team. While EG will still probably lean towards taking the high upside developmental type prospect in the draft, I suspect he'll try to complement the youth with a core of moderately priced veterans next offseason without breaking the bank. Leaving some flexibility 2 & 3 years down the road when the team should be truly ready to compete.

[nate33]

My expectations:

1. The Wizards will land the sixth pick in the draft
2. Ernie Grunfeld will remain GM for the forseeable future
3. Wizards will draft Al-Farouq Aminu or Wesley Johnson with the sixth pick
4. The Wizards will try to re-sign Mike Miller & Shaun Livingston but will lose out to teams that made more aggressive offers.
5. The Wizards will meekly try and lose out on all other major free agents. Will settle for 2nd & 3rd tier guys. Josh Howard, Al Harrington & James Singleton are likely options on 2 or 3 year deals.
6. Arenas will be traded sooner or later in the offseason for expirings & junk, in the hopes of creating more cap space for 2011 & 12.

Because Leonsis is in charge, EG will be forced to take more of a patient approach in terms of rebuilding a team. While EG will still probably lean towards taking the high upside developmental type prospect in the draft, I suspect he'll try to complement the youth with a core of moderately priced veterans next offseason without breaking the bank. Leaving some flexibility 2 & 3 years down the road when the team should be truly ready to compete.

That scenario isn't terrible provided you are wrong about Livingston, Harrington and Aminu.

I could live with the drafting of Johnson, the resigning of Livingston, Howard and Singleton, and maybe even the dumping of Arenas (provided we didn't sacrifice talent to make it happen).

Drafting Aminu, signing Harrington, or letting Livingston walk would be a disaster though.

[Ruzious]

But, seriously, I don't know what to expect.

What I hope to see:

--Just a little luck with the ping-pong balls for a change; a top 3 pick.

I saw that and my mind went off on a tangent. Say, we get the 3rd pick, and see Indy salivating for a big - Cuz or Favors - to go with da Hib, and they need to cut payroll while realizing - what they've been doing the past several years just hasn't been working. We offer #3, 30, and Thornton for Granger and 10. They save a lot of money and see if Dunleavy (who was shakey last year coming back from a bad injury - but is 100%) can be a solid poor-man's Granger. For us, Granger's a perfect swingman for the next 4 years while not breaking the bank (11 mil this season, 12 the next, then 13, then 14), and maybe we get lucky at 10 with Aldrich. Does Indy say "No way - Granger's the face of our franchise"?

[Hoopalotta]

I expect perfectly-spelled thread titles.

I would expect as much, but accept less, except after looses.

[closg00]

My expectations:

1. The Wizards will land the sixth pick in the draft
2. Ernie Grunfeld will remain GM for the forseeable future
3. Wizards will draft Al-Farouq Aminu or Wesley Johnson with the sixth pick
4. The Wizards will try to re-sign Mike Miller & Shaun Livingston but will lose out to teams that made more aggressive offers.
5. The Wizards will meekly try and lose out on all other major free agents. Will settle for 2nd & 3rd tier guys. Josh Howard, Al Harrington & James Singleton are likely options on 2 or 3 year deals.
6. Arenas will be traded sooner or later in the offseason for expirings & junk, in the hopes of creating more cap space for 2011 & 12.

Because Leonsis is in charge, EG will be forced to take more of a patient approach in terms of rebuilding a team. While EG will still probably lean towards taking the high upside developmental type prospect in the draft, I suspect he'll try to complement the youth with a core of moderately priced veterans next offseason without breaking the bank. Leaving some flexibility 2 & 3 years down the road when the team should be truly ready to compete.

Did you read my mind?

Where I differ:
We might be able to land Livingston. Last year was probably the deepest ever for NBA quality PG's so plenty got drafted. The remaining teams looking for back-up PG's will probably take Collins, Vasquez, Bledsoe etc. rather than throw money at the surgically repaired Livingston. Livingston was playing well in his limited run, but can you imagine him taking the kind of pounding that Rondo or other guys are taking in the playoffs?

RE: Miller
His numbers have be in-decline since he was with Minny. There are too-many other guys that can be brought-in to do what he provides w/o having to over-pay. Maybe we get him on the cheap.

[Benjammin]

[BTW fish. What's an "exepctation" ? Thanx...]

Doc, it's taken a lot of self-control for me not to point that out, so thanks for doing it for me .

Mea cupla. As a fellow grammar and punctuation Nazi, I hang my head in shame. Fixed.

Mea culpa, but close enough. We kid because we love.

[fishercob]

OK someone must have re-wired my brain recently. That's freaky.

[dobrojim]

As a self confessed spelling nazi who should probably shut up about
it more often, and as someone who thinks Doc writes about the best
of anyone on here let me say this -

it's = it is (contraction)

its = (possessive of it)

As for my expectations - 'bout the same as most of the regulars-
if we get lucky on 5/19, things could get very interesting. If we
re-sign SL and possibly Howard to reasonable deals and draft W-Johnson,
we could be decent pretty quickly. Or if a light goes on for JM, we could
get good in a hurry. That's the optimist talking. The curse dies with
Ted taking over.

The pessimist thinks the Gil-SL shootout is the most likely future.
The curse lives.

[pancakes3]

francis ford culpula.

i have no expectations.

just spin the wheel of destiny and take what you get.

[doclinkin]

Yeah my apostrophe's get's away from me. [sic sic, by the way]

I'll often land a green-grocer's apostrophe. I tend to know the rules, but don't care enough to self edit. But I long ago decided not to give a crap about any of that. Hopefully the quality of my ideas filter through. If not. Fuggit. All a matter of lowering your expectations. (Just to keep it on topic here).


I just like to tweak fish cuz I knows he's a grammar granny as well...

[verbal8]

Drafting Aminu, signing Harrington, or letting Livingston walk would be a disaster though.

I agree about Aminu and the scenario does scare me a little. There are two scenarios that could justify taking Aminu. If the Wizards trade down from 5 to 8 to 10, he is likely by far the best athlete available and maybe even the best defender with the pick. I could see reaching a little at the 7th or 8th pick if the other picks and possibly a player have been packaged to move into the middle of the 1st round.

With Harrington hopefully some team convinces themselves their missing piece is a scoring forward and they use the MLE on him. I think he even could be a problem for the Wizards on a cheap deal. He basically seems to me to be Antwan Jamison without the good character.

[fishercob]

Well, this thread just got a little more interesting, no?

First off, I still can't believe this really happened. Mrs. Fish's comment (with just a tinge of disdain for her husband) was, "you're reacted as if WE won the ACTUAL lottery." It's not just John Wall that has me excited -- it's just he WINNING, the food mojo, etc. Man, Teddy must be livin right.

My expectations are that this rebuild is deliberate and that Ted and Co. weigh ALL of their options.

Watching the teams left in the playoffs has crystallized the point that you don't just need a superstar or two to be a great team. Rather, you need a lot of good and really good player. The Suns aren't just Nash, Amare and Richardson. Guys like Barbosa, Lopez, Dudley, and Dragic are crucial to their success.

What I'm saying is that ANY way you slice this thing, the Wiz are a long way away. We have two guys under contract right now (Gil and Dray) who could be considered very good players. Two. So any strategy that is predicated on rounding a nasty starting five is short sighted and foolish in my mind.

So while I guess you have to think about going after TheBron (the thought still makes me a little ill) I wouldn't pursue any of the other big FA's at their expected price tag. We need at add a ton of assets and talent and preserve cap flexibility and as barely said, keep on the lookout for opportunities that may not be apparent now.

I also think it's absolutely crucial that the Wiz do tons of due diligence on Wall, Turner, Cousins, etc. Yes, Wall's a great talent. But what if Philly offers you #2, Speights and Igoudala for him? What if Jersey offering Blook Ropez and their pick? We need to be ready.

So my expectation is that this is going to be a fun and fascinating summer -- that next year's Wizards aren't going to be very good overall, but will bring an excitement and hope that we haven't seen for some time.

[Hoopalotta]

What I'm saying is that ANY way you slice this thing, the Wiz are a long way away. We have two guys under contract right now (Gil and Dray) who could be considered very good players. Two. So any strategy that is predicated on rounding a nasty starting five is short sighted and foolish in my mind.

So while I guess you have to think about going after TheBron (the thought still makes me a little ill) I wouldn't pursue any of the other big FA's at their expected price tag.

A-flippin'-men. In particular, the last thing I want is to sink max money into a redundant 28 year old scoring big.

My concern here is that the idea of going after Bron will kill our BOYD's around this years draft as we'll need to keep the cap space open.

What if Jersey offering Blook Ropez and their pick?

If we got he and Yi, I can only imagine what that would do to the revenue stream coming in from China.

He and Yi would be a lot better than you and me.

[closg00]

What I'm saying is that ANY way you slice this thing, the Wiz are a long way away. We have two guys under contract right now (Gil and Dray) who could be considered very good players. Two. So any strategy that is predicated on rounding a nasty starting five is short sighted and foolish in my mind.

So while I guess you have to think about going after TheBron (the thought still makes me a little ill) I wouldn't pursue any of the other big FA's at their expected price tag.

A-flippin'-men. In particular, the last thing I want is to sink max money into a redundant 28 year old scoring big.

My concern here is that the idea of going after Bron will kill our BOYD's around this years draft as we'll need to keep the cap space open.

What if Jersey offering Blook Ropez and their pick?

If we got he and Yi, I can only imagine what that would do to the revenue stream coming in from China.

He and Yi would be a lot better than you and me.

^^^^
Hoopalota is a prescient sage.

[Benjammin]

I expect we'll play 82 regular season games, and lose at least fifty of them. I hope that the young guys get to play a lot and show improvement. I hope Wall and Gil work well together. I expect that Blatche will take time getting going after his injury.

[sfam]

I expect we'll play 82 regular season games, and lose at least fifty of them. I hope that the young guys get to play a lot and show improvement. I hope Wall and Gil work well together. I expect that Blatche will take time getting going after his injury.

That's kinda going out on a limb, expecting us to play 82 regular season games and all...