RealGM

OK - like many of you, it is becoming obvious that the 2011-12 version of our hometown heroes is laying down and not listening to Flip Saunders. Some on this board think that since Ernie built this mess, he should be a part of any purge. It may be only a matter of time before Teddy Ballgame does what many of have been calling for...fire Ernie!

That said, who is a viable long term solution? Spitballing a few candidates..

Kevin Pritchard - young, aggressive former GM of Portland who has earned the reputation of an astute evaluator of NBA talent. He pulled off trades for Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge (while as an assistant GM) and also drafter Nick Batum...turned down GM role in New Orleans

Jeff Bower - speaking of New Orleans...was former GM there who drafted Chris Paul and traded for Tyson Chandler. Interested in returning to executive office as GM...also coached NO after he fired Monty Williams.

Tommy Sheppard - our own VP of basketball operations...helps to run the day-to-day operations. He has been with the team for 8 years. Knows the organization and would ease any transition, post EG firing.

Ronnie Lester - former NBA player who, from 2006-11, was the Assistant General Manager of the Los Angeles Lakers....scouted Andrew Bynum, encouraging Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak to draft Bynum.

As with the coaching thread, I am open to other suggestions...

If we're talking next year, I'm going with Ernie Grunfeld. Unless all three picks are busts this year, or at least two of them, I just don't see Ted dumping him. The Coach? Yeah, that's very possible, even in the next 10 games or so is possible. But as much as many here hate EG, I just don't see a change. So I'm going with "Other" - EG.

I actually think we should keep EG. He's done a very good job of clearing cap and acquiring assets along the rebuild. And I think we should wait before we call any of his picks under Ted busts (ie Vesely).

But if we did hire another Gm, I would get Pritchard. He has an eye for talent, and I would trust him making the draft picks.

Did anyone go after Pritch when he became available? Some of the moves he made in Portland were akin to theft. Foye for Roy? Damn son...

There is no denying that he knows talent and knows how to get it. If Roy and Oden had knees, Portland would be a legit title contender for the next 5+ years. I dont think that is Pritchard's fault, its the job of the medical team to give the players a look over, isnt it?

He transformed the Jail Blazers, i'd like to see what he could do with the Bonehead Wizards...

dangermouse wrote:He transformed the Jail Blazers, i'd like to see what he could do with the Bonehead Wizards...

Maybe being 0-3 is making me pessimistic, but I think the team needs a culture change as much as a talent infusion. I think Pritchard has demonstrated an ability to do this with other the Blazers, so he would be my pick.

I'd do cartwheels if EG were let go and Pritchard brought in.

Whomever we get I'd bring in Jerry West as a consultant or director of scouting or with veto power on any particular draft pick. Wait... Crap, google says Golden State snapped him up for this role before the draft this year.

Pritchard then I suppose.

Thus far, it would appear that K Pritchard is the runaway choice of this here board.

Jerry West would have been a long shot, at best. Not sure if Ted would have been able to lure him to DC, despite being (relatively) close to his native West Virginia.

Any other options out there?

Pritchard. The Wizards are last in scoring and rebounding, we shouldn't be THIS BAD.

mohammed10 wrote:Thus far, it would appear that K Pritchard is the runaway choice of this here board.

Now all you have to do is convince Ted! Good luck with that...

sfam wrote:

mohammed10 wrote:Thus far, it would appear that K Pritchard is the runaway choice of this here board.

Now all you have to do is convince Ted! Good luck with that...

Hmm...mass e-mail? Petition?

Oh, I know - occupy Verizon Center!

Pritchard, definitely. I'd fire EG, hire Pritchard, then let him figure out what he wants to do in terms of the coach. I suspect he and Flip would mutually agree that Flip would walk once his contract ends this summer.

That the fourteen month old Flip Suanders thread far outstrips this one is an affront to the very name of this website. In the snobbiest manner possible I ask that the board collectively Do Better. If I could go ahead and wear my own biases very plainly on my sleeve I'd like to suggest for our entirely impotent candidate search the following gentlemen:

Roland Beech: Beech has for a long time been associated with the Mavericks, handling statistical analysis for the team from afar. More recently he's been let in from the cold and is an actual member of the front office at this point.

Pros
- Is at least somewhat responsible for one of the better-run franchises over the last decade.
- Loves math.

Cons
- Doesn't possess very much experience actually running a basketball franchise.
- May have allowed adjusted +/- to persuade him that Yi Jianlian is a worthwhile player.
- Named Roland.

Sam Hinkie: Assistant GM and wingman to Daryl Morey in Houston. Also very much a stats man, was hired out of an MBA candidate program and is still very young.

Pros
- Seems to be pretty well regarded as an executive.
- Morey generally knows what he's doing and apparently is quite smitten.

Cons
- Is quite young for the position.
- Some **** will be around in just a bit to say Houston hasn't won anything and what's the big deal anyway.

Tom Penn: Current ESPN analyst and former Portland assistant GM under Prichard, Penn is particularly known for his salary cap acumen, and for how much he donates to St. Jude's (I have yet to find an article that fails to reference this).

Pros
- Experience in management and particularly with the financial side of the job.
- Generally well regarded, as with Prichard his firing was generally a surprise and was not well received by Portland fans.
- A huge goddamn philanthropist if you haven't heard.

Cons
- Doesn't come from a basketball background if you like that sort of thing.
- Really seems to be a finance guy, might be better as a specialist and assistant GM (which the Wizards might well need too).
- Well he was fired wasn't he?

Mike Zarren: Assistant Executive Director of Basketball Operations with the Celtics who also serves as counsel for the team. Zarren is a Harvard Law School graduate and apparently quite fond of advanced statistical analysis and very handy with the salary cap if a particularly fluffy bio can be trusted.

Pros
- The Celtics are very well run and apparently Zarren is involved in just about every area of the operation related to on-court product.
- A good Harvard man, can't be hiring Yale types.
- His bio makes him sound like Bruce **** Wayne or something.

Cons
- Is additionally apparently a lifelong Celtics fan and may not be interested in leaving the team.
- I refuse to believe that there isn't some resume padding going on here.
- Can't help being tremendously smug I imagine.

Good stuff Ed^ I hope Ted reads this.

OH! and while we're here, it is imperative that Ed Tapscott "Director of Player Development" be shown the door as-well.

This is the final year of Ernie's contract. I am very hopeful that he will not be back next year.

Ed, it's hard to know who is a good GM candidate. It's not like coaches - where you can see how they do in college - or even assistants in the NBA - if they're the defensive coach, you can grade them on how the defense does. But GM candidates... there is no GM at colleges, and who knows what assistant GM's do in the NBA? Fetch coffee? Provide um... special services?

What I'd hope is that Ted has an inner circle that can help him make the decision. I think people like Nivek and Doc would be perfect to be in that inner circle - to guide him on building the organization and choosing who to be the new GM and how the new coach should be selected. Maybe a David Aldridge could help in that regard - though it seems to me he's lost his passion for the NBA. Even - forgive me for suggesting him considering how he's hurt the Bullets in bygone daze - David Falk could be of assistance in an inner circle capacity.

I don't bet on horses, but I hope for a Wizards trifecta in 2012:

1-Pritchard as GM
2-Joerger as Head Coach
3-Anthony Davis as 1st Round Pick

Of course when all that happens, all the 2012 gloom and doom prophetic stuff would kick in and the world would end.

To Ed's list -- Mike Zarren would be a good choice, I think. I know him slightly, and he's smart as hell.

The better choice if you're poaching ESPN analysts would be Dean Oliver. Dean is the Bill James of hoops. He's one of the smartest people I know. Consider this -- he had a $160k+ per year job (as an environmental engineer or something like that). In his spare time, he wrote "Basketball On Paper," quit his job and took a consulting gig with the Sonics for $40k. Then he went to Denver as their Director of Quantitative Analysis, where he stayed for 2-3 seasons before going to ESPN as their Director of Stats and Geekery (not his actual title).

Dean has coaching and front office experience. He also invented something he calls "Robo Scout," which is one of the coolest tools imaginable for a basketball geek. It finds interesting holes and weaknesses that can increase a team's chances of winning. Robo Scout is responsible for Jerome James getting a preposterous contract from Isiah and the Knicks. It spotted a weakness in Sacramento's defense that James was uniquely equipped to exploit. He helped Seattle win that series, and James got a phat contract -- which was a waste of money.

I wish I could remember the team names in this next story -- memory says it was Stanford and Washington. At any rate, when Dean was consulting for the Sonics, he ran Robo Scout on an upcoming college game. He spotted a couple significant weaknesses in the favored team (I think Stanford). So, he emailed the Washington coach and offered a free Robo Scout report. The coach took it, used the info to shape his game plan, and beat the favorite by double digits. After that, Dean sold him reports for $500 a pop. True story, even if I can't remember the team names right.

Bright side of promoting Tommy Sheppard -- Tommy likes Dean's work. I suspect Dean would have a role in the Wiz front office if Tommy was in charge of it.

Ruzious wrote:Ed, it's hard to know who is a good GM candidate. It's not like coaches - where you can see how they do in college - or even assistants in the NBA - if they're the defensive coach, you can grade them on how the defense does. But GM candidates... there is no GM at colleges, and who knows what assistant GM's do in the NBA? Fetch coffee? Provide um... special services?

Makes sense, the correct site for discussing potential GMs is probably RealOwner. Combine that with my own lack of intuition and common sense regarding management, and I ain't got any names to add, but to those sharing their knowledge on potential GMs, thanks for the education.

We need a bad-ass Winston Wolfe-style guy to come in, assess the carnage, bark some orders, hose off the blood, and then gtf out of dodge: Rick Mahorn.