Post#52 » by The Consiglieri » Tue Nov 13, 2012 6:48 am
All in for the tank. With the hole that will be dug sans Wall and Nene in November (probably a 2-4 win start through 18+ games), the hole will be far too big for a sub .500 team to begin with to overcome. As such I want a full on tank.
Problem is, if the team is healthy, it simply won't be bad enough to get enough ping pong balls. If Nene and Wall come back good to go, and the rest of the kids stay healthy, the team should win 20-25 of its last 62 or so games, meaning it will have a pre-lottery slot somewhere between 3rd and 8th. That should be enough to get EG canned, but who really knows? As another poster who also loves the caps mentioned, Ted doesnt seem to like firing GM's, he's had two in about 14 years of owning the caps and boulez. Unlike my family poster I actually like GMGM and think he's earned his gig via expertly sustaining the rebuild with quality draft after quality draft (only '05, '08, and '11 have been subpar since 2002, and there have been multiple blue chip big time steals outside of the blue chip zone since the scouting department was overhauled nearly a decade ago). Sure, I don't like that the team has failed to sniff a conference final let alone a stanley cup, but i do think GMGM has built a great team that was capable of making the run, at the end of the day bad breaks, a lack of mental toughness, goalkeeping, discipline and coaching cost the team. Very few of those things are on the GM in my view.
He designs the foundation and development program and the tweaks, he's consistently addressed the issues, and unfortunately breaks haven't gone the team's way, that's not remotely like the wizards, where the foundation was falling apart in '09, and instead of making wise choices, EG attempted a quick fix where he got hosed in epic fashion in '09, forced a pick in '11 that now was obviously stupid (as many others argued, though not me (in fairness I wanted a trade up)), then made a horrendous quick fix trade yet again in '12. These decisions are idiotic on their face and totally unjustifiable. Unlike with GMGM, there isn't any argument that supports EG's continued presence.And i say this as someone who made excuses for EG for years because by and large i thought he was a much, much better drafter than boulez GM's in the '85-'04 era who were largely totally horrendous despite oodles of assets on draft day to utilize for rebuilding purposes. However, if '09 seriously damaged my faith in EG as a team builder, the '11-'12 debacles clinched it. Having him around after gun gate and especially now is simply unacceptable. The team must tank for the greater good, period.
