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Ted Leonsis Presser - 10/4/13 30 minutes. Lots of good stuff.

I appreciate how Ted communicates his plan and find him to be pretty honest and forth coming in communicating to the fans. Time we start giving this guy some props.

10/4/13 Press Conference with reporters ( 30 minutes )
http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos ... er-10-4-13

- Wall - The kind of PG I personally always wanted for this team. Pass first and all about team
- Nene - Running up and down the floor without pain. 3 times back to back
- Ves - Playing more confident and having fun. Rebounding. Taking shots. Wants the ball. Even a hook

I dig up some other pressers like after he signed Wall. He communicated a lot of stuff in that one as well.

If Youtube Ted and you find lots of his speeches.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... KQRDK994Io

Here are two other good interview where he goes over lots of big picture and smaller details.

Leonsis post Wall signing with Glenn Consor ( 31 minutes )
http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos ... /index.jsp

9/4/13 Press Conference with reporters ( 13 minutes )
http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos ... /index.jsp

I think Ted has been a good owner. Should be interesting to see how he stacks up against the other owners in the league in both money, strategy, communication to the fans, etc.

Mostly sounds like typical team promotion, although he tacitly fessed up to the failure of two-thirds of his new Big-3 (no names mentioned), in response to a question about disappointments. I guess the question about international players playing in the Olympics put him on the spot a little, but no specific questions about Vesely, Seraphin, Singleton, etc. and the last question was phrased in such a way that he didn't have to address EG's future at all. He did say injuries would not be used as an excuse. Maybe that was a message to EG.

Called Harrington "a coach on the floor." Is that Harrington?

I think Ted's been a pretty lousy owner for this franchise. His first four years of ownership has been the second worst 4 year stretch record-wise in franchise history. His original plan was well thought out and the correct course at the time, which was build through the draft and player development.

Trouble is, the team has been terrible at drafting and even worse at player development under his direction. Instead of identifying this as an issue and firing the person responsible for this mess, Ted holds firmer to his ill-fated allegiances with EG and revises the plan to acquire meddling expensive veteran's. This shows he has no strategy, or at least no courage to execute his initial strategy. His only courage comes from attempting to prove to the world he's smarter than we are.

Can you imagine the state of this franchise if they had not defied odd's and won the Wall lotto? They'd be in a worse state than the Charlotte Bobcats--as in the worst franchise in sports. Ted get's no credit for this.

Now he's puffing out his chest about how "playoff starts here". HAHA, I love it when franchises set such a high bar when more than 50% of the league makes the playoffs every year.

Let's not confuse public accessibility with being a good owner. It would be interesting to see how he stacks up against other owners in the league. How many of them directed a seemingly rudderless ship over the first four years of their ownership? If we observed all owners in league history, I bet less than 5% failed to win at least 30 games once in their first four years of ownership. Ted is part of that elusive club.

I just love it when hands gives out the dixie cups of Kool-Aid (oh yeah!) and asks everyone what their shoe size is to give them their requisite Nikes and the black sweat pants and t-shirts.

Benjammin wrote:I just love it when hands gives out the dixie cups of Kool-Aid (oh yeah!) and asks everyone what their shoe size is to give them their requisite Nikes and the black sweat pants and t-shirts.

+1
I understand he's an eternal optimist, but sometimes he's almost delusional.

What did I post that was delusional and where did I set hard guideline about what other could post ? Because I said it time we start giving him some props ?

I posted his presser and a few others.

I said I thought he was a good communicator.

I didn't posted anything over the top.

Now on the other side of people that are able to see the positive about things, there are several here that find any and every opportunity to ignore progress and say how things aren't going to work out. Wall will return and have surgery. Okafor sucks. Trevor A sucks. Kevin will never get better. The sky is always falling.

I don't see the sky falling. I do post my objections to moves I think are mistakes. I'm not all koolaid drinking all the time. There has been lots of progress. What motivates people to stay so negative in light of it is what kind of strange.

hands11 wrote:What did I post that was delusional and where did I set hard guideline about what other could post ? Because I said it time we start giving him some props ?

I posted his presser and a few others.

I said I thought he was a good communicator.

I didn't posted anything over the top.

Now on the other side of people that are able to see the positive about things, there are several here that find any and every opportunity to ignore progress and say how things aren't going to work out. Wall will return and have surgery. Okafor sucks. Trevor A sucks. Kevin will never get better. The sky is always falling.

I don't see the sky falling. I do post my objections to move I think are mistakes. I'm not all koolaid drinking all the time. There has been lots of progress. What motivates people to stay so negative in light of it is what kind of strange.

Lots of progress.... In 2009 we won 26 games. Last year we won 29 games. That's the progress. Progress is becoming a better team. The measure of how good a team you are is how many games you win. That's it, Hands.

That's another thing Ted said, btw. "Your record is how good you are." He said it a couple of Summers ago.

The question isn't why people are negative -- the answer to that is obvious: people are so negative because the Wizards have been a terrible team for a long time, and the people responsible for it being terrible aren't held accountable -- the opposite: "Ernie is respected around the league."

The question is why you are so positive. And the answer is -- because that's how you want to be. No problem with that; it's your choice. But it's not reality.

WaPo has a few quotes here. One quote jumped out:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wiz ... ighlights/

Ted Leonsis wrote:I think the players respect him because he has been unabashed in his truthiness and I admire that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk[/youtube]

payitforward wrote:

hands11 wrote:What did I post that was delusional and where did I set hard guideline about what other could post ? Because I said it time we start giving him some props ?

I posted his presser and a few others.

I said I thought he was a good communicator.

I didn't posted anything over the top.

Now on the other side of people that are able to see the positive about things, there are several here that find any and every opportunity to ignore progress and say how things aren't going to work out. Wall will return and have surgery. Okafor sucks. Trevor A sucks. Kevin will never get better. The sky is always falling.

I don't see the sky falling. I do post my objections to move I think are mistakes. I'm not all koolaid drinking all the time. There has been lots of progress. What motivates people to stay so negative in light of it is what kind of strange.

Lots of progress.... In 2009 we won 26 games. Last year we won 29 games. That's the progress. Progress is becoming a better team. The measure of how good a team you are is how many games you win. That's it, Hands.

That's another thing Ted said, btw. "Your record is how good you are." He said it a couple of Summers ago.

The question isn't why people are negative -- the answer to that is obvious: people are so negative because the Wizards have been a terrible team for a long time, and the people responsible for it being terrible aren't held accountable -- the opposite: "Ernie is respected around the league."

The question is why you are so positive. And the answer is -- because that's how you want to be. No problem with that; it's your choice. But it's not reality.

You have to have your head so far in the sand and ignore so much to make what you say true PIF, its not even worth starting.

Fine PIF, I get it. The only thing you see are the Ws. Well your Ws are coming brother. And when they show up, it will because some magic fairy brought them. Not because of any of the hard work that was done that lead to them. i.e. The progress.

And for the record, 2010 was Teds first year as owner and the first year he committed to a total rebuild which involved moving the most toxic contract in the league. If you lose track again, just count Walls years. They are going into their 4th.

2010 - 23
2011 - 20
2012 - 29
2013 - 42 is the vegas over/under and their two young stars are 23 and 20

You can now return to sticking your head in the sand.

holy ****, did Ted leonsis lose half his body weight or something? He seems much skinnier than last i saw him.

B-easy wrote:holy ****, did Ted leonsis lose half his body weight or something? He seems much skinnier than last i saw him.

Let's just say that Ernie gets to keep his job as long as long as he performs an extra function every day involving a straw.

He's been pretty open that he's been on a big diet. I'm very impressed with the weight lose.
I agree with Hands, I find Leonsis to be honest. I think he will do the right thing. I do think he's about business and making money...that said, I believe they are starting to take the org to another level, marketing-wize.

I just got my season ticket package, and it was 1000x's better than what we got before.
I love his vision for Monumental. I love the KD thread. Even though it is a long shot...we STILL HAVE A CHANCE (Dumber and Dumber). I think things will be better not worst in the near future.

Yes. Honest. Oh, how quickly we forget.

http://www.bulletsforever.com/2013/4/11 ... on-bullets

His original plan was fine and he's always talked a good game. Trouble is that he hasn't actually done what he said he would. He said that we would build through the draft and not go for quick fix veterans but build for a championship . . . but yet we have done that again and again. And, he continues to stick with Ernie who has a poor track record in that regard as well. That's the problem.

Pen, he has followed the plan.

Adding vets was always a part of it. If there is any one thing in all that he details in "the plan", that they might have deviated from, it was adding Nene. They wanted vets, but on shorter cheaper contracts. But he never said he would never do that, he only said he would try to avoid it.

But they needed a Nene and they needed to move on from McGee so it was a decent risk at the time, given what they needed and given how good Nene is. He should be a lot healthier this year. I think it should look like a good move once the season get started. Wall and now Beal needed some vets around them and they needed a stud up front. The combo of Nene and Okafor has helped there.

How you build a hockey team is slightly different then a basketball team. Reading the plan, it look like it was outlined to build a hockey team since it reference winning the Stanly Cup. A BB implementation might require some tweaks while the basic approach stays the same.

On a BB team, while you need depth, it more important to land really good starters. I think we have two young ones to grow around in Wall and Beal. Ves should look better this year but pretty much everyone here agrees #6 was to high for him. So its really going to come down to Otto regarding did they use their top picks wisely.

Kevin and Booker look like good picks for where they were taken. Singleton doesn't. But those were lower picks. But if Kevin can take a step up this year, that's going to make that group look a lot better.

Drafting is a an important part of the plan and from what we can see right now, its a pretty mixed bag regarding what they got out of it. Wall and Beal seems like great assets ( home runs ) but unless Ves and Otto yield positive output, they are going to pull the grade way down in how well they did. Specially if Len become the center they needed. But you can still be a good owner and rebuild a team to a top team, even if you blow some picks. It sucks, but its not the end of the world. Landing the right FA next can make up for some of that.

Ted is a good communicator. I appreciate that. Some here think he is full of it. I don't. I think he always said they would sink and it would be tough times while rebuilding. That was honest and its what needed to be done. He also always said they were building around Wall. They have. They stuck with Wall though the tough times and even extended him early, against what some here wanted. We will see who was right before long. I was on board with wanting him cheaper but I get what they did and why and its looking like a smart move so far. Time will tell.

The vast majority of what he outlines, he has followed through with.

Like I said initially, should be interesting to see how he stacks up against other owners over time and how the franchise is viewed from the outside. So far, the feedback they are getting seems to show they are headed in the right direction. When you get top players like KD saying they would play for you, you are doing something right. I no longer hear people commenting the franchise is a mess, a circus or full on boneheads. Actually, I hear positive comments from players inside and out. The Ws will follow. I fully expect the Ws to come this year as do many others. Will even more come after that ? That will depend on future moves they haven't made yet.

The aren't done. More work to do. But things have already gotten a lot better. They are on the right path and they haven't tied their hands to do even better.

If you feel like either Ted or EG has done a "good" job in the last 4 years then you are either delusional or have very low standards. Our win totals have been laughable, the draft picks have been terrible, the player acquisition (by trade or free agency) has been marginal, and the game experience speaks for itself in terms of ticket resale value (sorry Dobro, BigA, and other season ticket holders).

Leonsis is a pretty horrible communicator. Based on team moves that repeatedly seem to contradict his statements, I really have no idea what the team building plan is, other than building around Wall and Beal.

montestewart wrote:Leonsis is a pretty horrible communicator. Based on team moves that repeatedly seem to contradict his statements, I really have no idea what the team building plan is, other than building around Wall and Beal.

Build around Wall and Beal is the core of it.

Make playoffs to get them experience.

Fill out team with support vets on short contracts.

Attract big name FA

You don't listen or read very well if you haven't learned this. He really doesn't hide much if you listen to what he is saying. It baffles me how people are confused. He is an excellent communicator. How can you not hear him saying this when he is actually saying it ?

Hands, as far as I can see, the majority of posters on this board share my view on this to some degree. I'm not sure why you think someone is a good communicator who has failed to clearly communicate to so many. Are you really sticking with, "He communicates well, but you just have poor comprehension skills"? Yeah, I don't know what to make of that. You're just parroting a version of the same vague mish mash. Not much there to filter through my limited comprehension skills.