If you took over as GM today, what would you do?

[nate33]

The team is in shambles.

* Vesely is now a confirmed bust with a capital B. He has no value in this league and will never be a guy that can't be easily replaced.
* Wall has been moderately disappointing for a #1 pick and may be damaged goods.
* Nene won't get healthy unless he gets rest.
* Okafor is an albatross contract.
* Ariza is only slightly better than Okafor on a production/cost basis and probably has negative value.
* Booker looks like he regressed in the offseason (though that may be injury-related). He can't stay healthy.
* Seraphin has regressed and plays soft.
* Singleton is improved from last year but still is not a rotation-caliber player.
* It's too early to tell about Beal, but let's just say he's not setting the world on fire as a rookie.
* Crawford looks like the only guy who has more value now than he did a year ago, and he still isn't that good.

Ted just hired you and has given you unlimited control, with the one caveat that he will not pay a luxury tax unless the team is contending. What is your plan?

[closg00]

Good thread Nate, I'll be back when I can get to a desktop. I would do a controlled blow-up.

[tontoz]

*decline Vesely's option if i can't find a trade.
*let Wall play out his contract and then decide whether or not to make an offer.
*trade Nene if the right deal comes along but i won't dump him for peanuts. Limit his minutes (for his health and for tank purposes).
*actively shop Okafor who is probably tradeable.
*bench Ariza and tell him he will never play a minute here again. Hopefully he will opt out this summer. He has no trade value.
*deal Booker. Even when he was playing he wasn't hitting the boards.
*make Seraphin run laps in practice each time he take a hook or jumper in a scrimmage. Force him to drive to the basket.
*I dont see how Singleton has improved. He is garbage. Trade if possible.
*Crawford is cheap, talented and seems to be improving. Keep him until his deal is up but don't sign him to an extension this summer. No point bidding against ourselves.

[Dat2U]

1. (Most important of all) Thoroughly research and investigate all the issues regarding the Wizards medical staff. Present findings to Ted. Recommend a complete overhaul and take a page from both the Pistons and Suns medical staff.

2. Dump Nene ASAP. I know it may not be popular because Nene is our best player. But his long term contract and health situation make him a huge long term risk. There may not be an opportunity to trade him later. I'd love to get Eric Bledsoe back in a deal with the Clips but even if all I got was an expiring contract I'd take it.

3. Bench Okafor/Ariza. If they weren't miserable before, wait till they get a load of me. The goal would be either to trade both for expirings or make their lives so miserable at the Verizon Center that they'll pull a Byron Russell. I think there's a better chance Ariza does it than Okafor.

4. Shop recent draft picks. Maybe even use them to entice teams to take on Okafor or Ariza. That means Booker, Singleton & Crawford are all on the chopping block. Vesely may have no value, but I wouldn't hesitate to include him in a deal if it made the salaries work.

5. Figure out what to do with Wall & Seraphin. I'd play it slow with Wall. Get another outside opinion if possible. If the long term outlook is bleak, then the worst thing we could do is give him a 5 yr extension. With Seraphin, I see key weaknesses in his game (especially rebounding and being too finesse around the rim) but he may be in reality our best trade asset. If I could trade Seraphin for an upcoming lottery pick I may do it.

6. The overall goal: Start over from scratch. I'd be aggressive in the draft and aggressive on the trade and free agent market, that's why I'd want the cap room to allow for some flexibility.

To me rebuilding is not about throwing a bunch of random draft picks together & sticking with them until they fully develop. It's about finding at least 2 or 3 legit all-stars and finding the complimentary pieces to fit alongside those stars to make it an elite team. Rebuilding should take as long as it gets to get those 2 or 3 difference makers. Whether it's one, two or even three years. A five year plan is basically a joke. It doesn't take that long for stars to develop and if you can't find a way to add significant talent in five years then someone else should be doing the job.

[miller31time]

I'd try to get two guys - Demarcus Cousins and Derrick Williams.

Okafor and a top-3 protected 1st (2013) for Cousins
Seraphin and Vesely for Williams

Plant Ariza's ass on the bench and pray to god he opts out of his final year.

Wall/(FA)
Beal/Crawford
Williams/Webster
Nene/Booker
Cousins/(FA)

If none of those trades are plausible, I'd do everything in my power to unload Okariza for expirings (even if it means including Booker or Seraphin), trade Jan for whatever value he can fetch, and start fresh next season with a core that includes Wall, Beal, Nene, a top-3 pick (Muhammed, Zeller, Noel) and some cap space.

[Wes_Tiny_Abe_]

I would change the team's name back to the Bullets.

I would find me a look-alike of a very young Shoshanna to sit with me (courtside) during all home games.

[nate33]

Phase 1: Tank and get healthy.

If I took over today, the first thing I'd do is check in on Wall. If it's true that Wall is actually going to return sometime in early January, then I'd sit Nene until then. The goal would be to lose more games right now and add some cushion to the tank while also getting Nene healthy. In the meantime, I'd continue to forcefeed Crawford, Beal and Seraphin in the hopes that the latter two develop more confidence in their game and improve their decision-making. I consider it likely that we would lose every game during this stretch.

Phase 2: Win some games with a healthy Wall and Nene. Boost the trade value of Okafor and Ariza.

Once Wall has had one or two games to get his feet wet, I'd bring back Nene (and hopefully Booker and Ariza by then, as well). I still think this team can play respectable basketball with a healthy Nene and Wall. During this stretch, I would make every effort to put Okafor and Ariza in a position to succeed. The goal would be to win some games, have them play respectably well, and get them on the trade block by the Trade Deadline in mid February. Ideally, the team goes something like 8-7 over this stretch with Okafor and Ariza playing roughly as good as last year. With so many losses pre-Wall, the tank should still be intact.

Phase 3: Trade Okafor and Ariza for cap relief. Shop Nene but only for young talent/picks.

I'd take any expiring contracts for either Okafor or Ariza. It's hard to predict whether that will happen or not. It'll depend on whether or not a contender has an injury at a key position. The nice thing about Okafor and Ariza is that they're the types of players that can blend in on a good team. I'd shop Nene to see what's available, but I wouldn't trade him unless we got back a legit young talent like Eric Bledsoe. My rationale here is that I think Nene can get better with a full offseason to heal, and there are diminishing returns with any additional cap space we'd acquire in a Nene dump anyhow. Our cap number next year is $64M. Dump Ariza and it's $56.5M. Dump Okafor and it's $49.5M. Dump them both and it's $42M. We don't need to dump Nene too. Obviously, during this phase, Crawford, Vesely, Booker and Singleton can be included in any trade package.

Phase 4: Tank

After the Trade Deadline, it would be time to tank. Sit anyone who is even remotely unhealthy, paying particular attention to Wall's knee and Nene's foot. Focus on developing Seraphin and Beal. Just for laughs, I might let Vesely off the bench but I'm under no delusion that he'll amount to anything. At best, he'll have a flurry of effort games like last season and maybe make himself tradeable for a high 2nd rounder or something.

Phase 5: Offseason

I'd focus on revamping the entire organization. Study what Phoenix is doing with their injury prevention and develop our own. Hire a nutritionist and institute a program to ensure that the players eat right when they're in town. Provide enough comfort and entertainment on site so that the locker room becomes the normal place where our young players rest and relax. The idea is for it to be more of a structured, dorm-like atmosphere for the young players that we will draft and develop. Fire Wittman and either hire a quality established guy like Stan Van Gundy, or an up-and-comer. (I like Wittman to handle the tank part, but he's not good enough with the X's and O's to be our long term coach.) Hire as many extra coaches as can possibly be useful since coaches are much cheaper than the value lost when players don't develop. Hire an in-house statistician and make sure he works closely with the GM and the coaching staff. Take over an entire NBDL franchise, run the same system as the Wizards, and use it as a farm system.

[Higga]

Fire everyone. All the coaches, all the scouts, all the trainers, doctors, janitors, everyone. There is a stench of losing here that needs to be permanently cleansed.

Try to trade as many of the crappy old guys(Okafor, Ariza, etc.)for expirings as possible. I'd lump Nene in there too, he is a good player but too old and injury prone for us to keep.

Shut Wall down for the season. This is another lost year, we won't do anything with him back anyway. When he's healthy enough, hire a shooting coach to work with him 24/7.

Hire private coaches for all our young players(big men coach for Seraphin, etc.).

In the off season I'd bring in a bright young hungry up and coming coach, preferably a guy who's spent time as an assistant in San Antonio or some other winning organization. Let the young talent grow with the coach(like a Bulls/Thibodeau situation).

[Zonkerbl]

I wouldn't do any trades right now. What's the point? We're screwed -- we have no tradeable assets and no cap space.

Sit Nene until he is 100%.

Start researching the draft. Use statistical analysis to find potential diamonds in the rough to nab in the second round. The exodus of NBA talent from college means statistics are much more meaningful now. Before you had to ignore someone scoring 29 ppg at podunk University, now you can't. Stop throwing away second round draft picks on useless Euros. If we get another #6 pick, if there are no obvious high value players available, stun the NBA world by picking the player with an amazing YODA score, rather than wasting it on a player with "potential." Let someone else roll the dice on Drummond.

I would properly value cap space. EG assumed that cap space used up in trade is more valuable than cap space spent on a FA. That is sometimes true, but there were amnesty victims available this year who were pretty valuable.

Really not much you can do this season other than tank. I certainly would take a look at the medical staff. Hard to tell from the outside what's going on there.

[Dat2U]

I wouldn't do any trades right now. What's the point? We're screwed -- we have no tradeable assets and no cap space.

Sit Nene until he is 100%.

Start researching the draft. Use statistical analysis to find potential diamonds in the rough to nab in the second round. The exodus of NBA talent from college means statistics are much more meaningful now. Before you had to ignore someone scoring 29 ppg at podunk University, now you can't. Stop throwing away second round draft picks on useless Euros. If we get another #6 pick, if there are no obvious high value players available, stun the NBA world by picking the player with an amazing YODA score, rather than wasting it on a player with "potential." Let someone else roll the dice on Drummond.

I would properly value cap space. EG assumed that cap space used up in trade is more valuable than cap space spent on a FA. That is sometimes true, but there were amnesty victims available this year who were pretty valuable.

Really not much you can do this season other than tank. I certainly would take a look at the medical staff. Hard to tell from the outside what's going on there.

Detroit is absolutely thrilled they rolled the dice on Drummond.

There's nothing wrong with taking an upside pick on a legit 7-0 footer with rare physical skills. To be honest, there was nothing wrong with the Javale McGee pick. This is just has been the wrong environment to develop talent.

The last thing we'd want to do is overreact for previous mistakes. You don't want to pass up a Drummond to draft Crowder. Nothing wrong with a guy like Crowder, but that's what late 1st round and early 2nd round picks are for.

[TheKingOfVa360]

Get some damn shooters, this team is the worst shooting team in the NBA.

[nate33]

The last thing we'd want to do is overreact for previous mistakes.

I agree with this. And that's why I'm not that thrilled with the notion of dumping Nene. Previously, we dumped every last good vet and tried to build exclusively through youth. The youngsters had no role models and nobody to take the pressure off during games. I thought EG made a decent move with the Nene trade to correct that mistake. But then he overreacted and made the stupid Okariza deal.

It's interesting. If only EG had avoided the Okariza deal, then the situation wouldn't look so bleak. We would suck right now for sure, but at least it would look like intentional sucking. Ted could say that we were still in the rebuilding phase and we were merely being forced to push the timetable back for one year due to the injuries to Wall and Nene. Indeed, we'd all be fairly excited about another high draft pick plus max cap room to use this summer. Upcoming free agents wouldn't immediately laugh at the prospect of joining the Wizards because we wouldn't be viewed as a failure, but rather as a rebuilding team following a plan. Imagine adding Shabazz and Josh Smith to the core of Wall, Beal, Seraphin and Nene.

Unfortunately, by making the Okariza acquisition, EG signaled to the world that he honestly thought the team was ready to compete for the playoffs, which only highlights management's incompetence. He also destroyed any cap room we would have had.

[LyricalRico]

Ted just hired you and has given you unlimited control, with the one caveat that he will not pay a luxury tax unless the team is contending. What is your plan?

Hire Ernie as assistant GM and then immediately go on vacation, leaving him in charge?

[DaRealHibachi]

Staff - Clean sweep, top to bottom", starting between now and ASW: Coaches, trainers, development team, scouts, medical staff. They all have proven to be very substandard in each of their respective areas. I would show Ted the proof of all this, not even have to go back more than 5 years. I would give Randy a honorable mention, I wouldn't necessarily want him to leave (he's not to blame for much), but a clean house is a clean house.

Players - Let Wall get his season-ending surgery, re-evaluate him after next year. Explain to him that he is very much part of the future, but he has to prove what he is worth; a QO will have to do, take it or leave it.

Trade/let go EVERYONE (except Beal, Singleton, maybe Webster).
Beal will end up a very solid starter for cheap (rookie money). Singleton is cheap backup PF and we can keep him for cheap also; Webster can get another 1 year deal as a stopgap SF; Crawford is a no concious having chucker; K-Sera doesn't rebound or draw fouls enough, Booker is a limited, oft-injured player; Nene is old, Okariza are worthless and the rest is not worth mentioning. Dump them.

Okariza needs to expire, no-one wants those contracts atm, but the wouldn't play anymore; glue them to the bench. Trade Nene for an expiring, use any one of our "assets" to get this done.

Offseason:
Get a up and coming NCAA coach, a stat team with guys like Kevin; a team with Dat2U with a little CCJ like scouting/drafting consults. Draft a top 3 player, find that special late round kid like we do pretty much every year. Get some young cast-offs from other teams; unnoticed, wrong system, non drafted, no chance to play. Find the diamonds in the rough. (Omar Asik, Luke Babbit, Greg Stiemsma, Josh McRoberts or similar players)

Watch us become respectable by next year, atleast 35 wins.

[nate33]

Not sure how we're going to win 35 games if you dump Nene, Seraphin and Booker. Wall, Beal, a rookie draft pick and cast-offs won't get it done.

[tontoz]

Ted just hired you and has given you unlimited control, with the one caveat that he will not pay a luxury tax unless the team is contending. What is your plan?

Hire Ernie as assistant GM and then immediately go on vacation, leaving him in charge?

You really need to get outside and get some fresh air. I think the methane from EG's nether region is starting to cause brain damage.

[verbal8]

I would try to trade any assets for guys with potential who have fallen out of the rotation. Derrick Williams would be my primary target.

I would see if teams like the bulls or lakers are interested in deals to lower their lux tax payment.

I would not deal wall or Seraphin because I think their value is too low currently.

I also agree on the replacing the medical staff.

[montestewart]

I'd hire nate33, Nivek, CCJ, Dat2U, Ed Wood, doclinkin, and a few others as consultants, and say, "Boys, help me figger this out. Here's some liquor." (That would be a noisy conference room.) I'd hire Gesa2 to help me figure out how to upgrade from Dr. Butcher, and Fishercob to see if I can get out of some of these contracts. Ruzious, I might just suit him up. (Where's Ruzious been anyway?) I'd hire Ace Degenerate to sit behind the opposing team's bench with a bullhorn. And since hands11 is always so positive, I'd have him in charge of community relations (but I'd get him a secretary to do proofreading). Of course, EG would be long gone, but I'd hire LyricalRico so there would be some sense of continuity.

Screw overpaid veterans that don't want to be here. They're not making the team or its younger players any better. Just hire a few recently retired players as coaches to keep order. They need to be some WizD fantasy combination of bad@$$, humble, good work ethic, and solid fundamentals, so they won't be miserable being here, but can show the young Wizards how to play basketball the right way OR ELSE! (And there they'll make a throat slitting gesture.) If the team's going to be lousy anyway, why not make it a laboratory, a work-in-progress, get as many late 1st and 2nd round picks as possible, try castoffs on 10-days, routinely fill out the roster with young D-League call ups. Find some talent on our own rather than waiting for them to be snapped up by another team or pay too much to get them to come to DC.

And dammit, if we draft/sign young and immature players, hoping they'll "develop," no way are we going to just let them supervise their development and let them eat chips and drink Mountain Dew at every meal. Prospects will be asked: "Describe your diet in a typical week?", "How have you managed your time so that you can play ball, stay in shape, and still do your schoolwork?", "How do you spend your free time?", etc. No player will be allowed to drift without some Bill Laimbeer-type assistant coach in their space getting an account.

I'd treat this franchise like an expansion team with no pretensions of contending any time soon, ditch Okariza at the first chance, try to deal Nene for a less expensive long term and/or more reliable piece (preferably younger), trade Vesely, Crawford, Booker, Singleton, and even Seraphin for value, and just look at it like, "If Wall ever returns healthy and develops a jump shot, and if Beal develops as he might, we may have a backcourt. If not, we're back to square one, and regardless, we're gonna suck." Might have to clean that up a little for marketing purposes. Since the veterans will be gone, they can call themselves "The Angry Young Men." They'll be angry about all those losses, for sure, but at least they might develop an "us against the world" camaraderie. Better for the team collectively to express that than the owner from his Ted's Take Tower.

[pancakes3]

And dammit, if we draft/sign young and immature players, hoping they'll "develop," no way are we going to just let them supervise their development and let them eat chips and drink Mountain Dew at every meal. Prospects will be asked: "Describe your diet in a typical week?", "How have you managed your time so that you can play ball, stay in shape, and still do your schoolwork?", "How do you spend your free time?", etc. No player will be allowed to drift without some Bill Laimbeer-type assistant coach in their space getting an account.

I was reading the article on Sam Bowie

http://espn.go.com/espn/espnfilms/story ... wie-legacy

and it sounds like the Blazers GM had a similar approach which both you and I can appreciate. Similarly, I was reading the wiretap article of 57 NBA scouts attending the North-Texas/Lehigh game to scout CJ Mccollum and Tony Mitchell and thought "I wonder which guy the Wizards sent, and how qualified he is compared to the rest of the scouts?"

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/22 ... J_McCollum

[Cramer]

Quit before my career was in shambles.