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Let Ernie and Witt go without a contract first, Ted... then we'll be talking

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc- ... or-a-ring/

The Wizards made the playoffs. Now what?

Ted Leonsis has written about the franchise’s continued goals on his blog, but he talked about them more expansively in a recent interview with his own Monumental Network.

“I don’t think we’ll rest until we can be honest competitors for a ring,” Leonsis told Casey Phillips. “I think winning a championship is why we’re doing this. But you can’t win a championship unless you qualify for the playoffs, and that’s how I’ve always looked at it: That that’s the first step. And for a rebuilding team, you really saw that [Monday]. We took our team photo. And as I was walking up, I looked at the team, and I compared it in my mind to the first year we owned the team and the team photo. And the only people who were here when we took the first team photo were John Wall, Trevor Booker and Kevin Seraphin. They’re our longest-tenured players.

“And to have three players on their rookie contracts starting — which we’ve been with Booker and Wall and Beal — we promised we would build around the draft and around young players. We said we would retain our young players, and obviously last offseason we were able to do that with John Wall signing a five-year extension. And then we said we would make good trades and bring in savvy vets. And I think you’re seeing that now. You look at the team photo, and there’s this great mix of young players and players who have been through the wars.

“And so I’m pleased with the culture change we’ve made, I’m pleased that the team still has upside, and I’ve very pleased that we set out as a collective goal to quality for the playoffs and we’ve met that first goal. As I wrote about on my blog, I thought it was a modest but positive step forward, and I feel good about it, but I certainly don’t want the organization to say we’ve made it. It’s a first step on a long, positive journey together.”

Later, Leonsis was asked about his larger goals, and the way he measures success as a pro sports owner.

“Being able to build perennial contenders is really what I’d like to be able to do, and then to be able to win a championship,” the owner said. “As I’ve noted just time and time again, we’re going to spend to the max. We’ve made those investments in all of our teams. We honestly can’t spend more money.

“And then you hope that you’ve developed the players the right way, and that you’ve made infrastructure and the right decisions that position you to be a good team for a long, long time. And you want to see teams that have some upside, that can continue their improvement and be able to do well in the playoffs, get through the next round, and keep building until you can win a championship.

“So I think the Wizards, this is the first step. It seems like forever. It’s the fourth year since we’ve owned the team. And when John Wall is your most tenured player, and he’s still playing on his rookie contract, I think it says a lot for the risk we took and why I’m so grateful to our fans. I told our fans that this is going to be a really really long, tough road to travel, that rebuilding teams, usually the way you get better is you’re bad so that you can draft high. And several of the players that we picked — John Wall and Bradley Beal — are playing big, big minutes. And I think the industry word is that we’re going to have one of the best backcourts if not the best backcourt in the league for years to come, because we have this great, complementary set of skills.

“And so we want to continue to add to the team. I think we’re managing the salary cap situation the right way. Hopefully we can still grow the team by bringing in players. We can retain the players that we want. Signing John to his contract and him wanting to be here, I think, is a great statement to our fans. I think that our fans are turning out in record numbers. The renewal rates at this point in the year are very very strong, above the league average. We’re certainly one of the 10 fastest-growing teams in the NBA right now, and I think that’s all coming together.

“But we can’t fool ourselves,” Leonsis concluded. “Our fans want to see us continue to improve and to be a team that’s talked about as being a championship contender. And I believe we have the resources and the wherewithal to build that for our great fanbase.”

So that mean's were letting Ernie go?

Blah, blah, blah, blah, please consider a Wizards season ticket.

truwizfan4evr wrote:So that mean's were letting Ernie go?

I think it comes down to who is in the "We" he refers to in his quote. If he includes EG in that it looks like we are stuck.

queridiculo wrote:Blah, blah, blah, blah, please consider a Wizards season ticket.

Exactly - don't listen to the words, watch the actions.

truwizfan4evr wrote:So that mean's were letting Ernie go?

Honestly, I can deal with EG remaining but Wittman? Not so much.

dckingsfan wrote:

queridiculo wrote:Blah, blah, blah, blah, please consider a Wizards season ticket.

Exactly - don't listen to the words, watch the actions.

Bingo!!! Pay absolutely no attention to what Ted says, watch the actions.

I truly wonder if things like the 2011 bust-draft, Maynor, and not-planning ahead for front court injuries, even phases Ted.

closg00 wrote:
Bingo!!! Pay absolutely no attention to what Ted says, watch the actions.

I truly wonder if things like the 2011 bust-draft, Maynor, and not-planning ahead for front court injuries, even phases Ted.

I'm assuming Ted weighs those moves when deciding EG's fate. He probably sees them as failures. Ted will likely also factor in the Okafor/Ariza trade, the trades for Gortat and Miller, and the signing of Gooden and Harrington... and how those moves have either helped or hurt the team.

Teddy Ted wrote:]And to have three players on their rookie contracts starting — which we’ve been with Booker and Wall and Beal — we promised we would build around the draft and around young players.

Yeah, like Booker is a legit starter.

keynote wrote:

Teddy Ted wrote:]And to have three players on their rookie contracts starting — which we’ve been with Booker and Wall and Beal — we promised we would build around the draft and around young players.

Yeah, like Booker is a legit starter.

Hell, Beal is barely a legitimate starter.

TGW wrote:

keynote wrote:

Teddy Ted wrote:]And to have three players on their rookie contracts starting — which we’ve been with Booker and Wall and Beal — we promised we would build around the draft and around young players.

Yeah, like Booker is a legit starter.

Hell, Beal is barely a legitimate starter.

Reaching..

Wizardspride wrote:

truwizfan4evr wrote:So that mean's were letting Ernie go?

Honestly, I can deal with EG remaining but Wittman? Not so much.

Well, you've got that exactly backwards. A coach can make a small marginal difference, but overall a team is as good as its players. Given the resources Ernie has had to assemble players, he's done an awful job, just miserable.

Wittman is meh at best, no question. But Ernie absolutely must go. Only way that happens, alas, is if/when he retires.

for as much as i rip on randy, EG has to go first. John Wall is the only above average starter EG has drafted under Ted's era. Everyone else is either average or below average. That is a fairly vulgar indictment on EG. The sooner he fires EG, the sooner I'll start believing him that he actually wants to bring championships to DC.

To be perfectly honest though, if we do win one with Wall...I probably wouldn't be able to handle the shock. I'm so conditioned to mediocrity.... :I

What a hard-hitting interview "with his own Monumental Network." Doesn't every team spend to the max?

Someone at his own Monumental Network should ask him whether he would be pleased going into this off-season having (hypothetically) lost in the first round of the play-offs and having barely enough cap space to re-sign your own players (let alone bring in a difference-making FA) nor a first-round pick (in the deepest draft classes ever)?

payitforward wrote:

Wizardspride wrote:

truwizfan4evr wrote:So that mean's were letting Ernie go?

Honestly, I can deal with EG remaining but Wittman? Not so much.

Well, you've got that exactly backwards. A coach can make a small marginal difference, but overall a team is as good as its players. Given the resources Ernie has had to assemble players, he's done an awful job, just miserable.

Wittman is meh at best, no question. But Ernie absolutely must go. Only way that happens, alas, is if/when he retires.

Yep, but it is visceral. You see stupid coaching moves every game - but it is more difficult to immediately quantify that a GM matters more than a coach.

Illmatic21 wrote:

TGW wrote:

keynote wrote:
Yeah, like Booker is a legit starter.

Hell, Beal is barely a legitimate starter.

Reaching..

Am I? Right now, Bradley Beal is pretty awful as a basketball player. Maybe in the next couple of years, he becomes average-to-above average but right now he's mediocre at best.

TGW wrote:

Illmatic21 wrote:

TGW wrote:
Hell, Beal is barely a legitimate starter.

Reaching..

Am I? Right now, Bradley Beal is pretty awful as a basketball player. Maybe in the next couple of years, he becomes average-to-above average but right now he's mediocre at best.

I've been harsh on Beal myself, but come on. You aren't considering that he is in a pretty unfavorable situation for a young player just coming into the league. He's been thrust into duty as a #1/2 option on an offensively challenged team with no weapons, and a clueless head coach.

Put him on say, Portland in place of Wesley Matthews and he would clearly be a quality starter who everyone would be raving about as a perfect complementary piece. That's not to say present day Beal is definitely better than Wesley Matthews, but if he was in that role playing off of Lillard, Aldridge, Batum in that offense he would look a lot more valuable than he does now.

Just look at how defenses blitz him and deny him the ball, because they know he's the only perimeter threat other than Wall. Your Wesley Matthews, Sefoloshas, JJ Redicks, Courtney Lees etc don't see that kind of defensive attention on a regular basis.

If all we're expecting out of Beal is "Wesley Matthews, Sefoloshas, JJ Redicks, Courtney Lees " then we need to lower the ceiling for this team. I think many have higher expectations for Beal. He might be much better in a different situation, he may become much better at some point in the future. Right now, he has quite a way to go.

What I see on court doesn't look good most of the time. Looking at the numbers, they do a nice job of confirming what I think I am seeing. "Mediocre at best," and "barely a legitimate starter" are certainly debatable, but they aren't insupportable characterizations. His PER is below average. Not below average for a starter, just below average, period. And that number leans more on his scoring, the area that ostensibly would be his strength, the reason he was projected as a cornerstone for the franchise. His WS/48 and W/40 look much, much worse, well below average.

I'm not giving up. He's young, he will (hopefully) learn and get better. But right now, he looks below average.

Illmatic21 wrote:

TGW wrote:

Illmatic21 wrote:Reaching..

Am I? Right now, Bradley Beal is pretty awful as a basketball player. Maybe in the next couple of years, he becomes average-to-above average but right now he's mediocre at best.

I've been harsh on Beal myself, but come on. You aren't considering that he is in a pretty unfavorable situation for a young player just coming into the league. He's been thrust into duty as a #1/2 option on an offensively challenged team with no weapons, and a clueless head coach.

Put him on say, Portland in place of Wesley Matthews and he would clearly be a quality starter who everyone would be raving about as a perfect complementary piece. That's not to say present day Beal is definitely better than Wesley Matthews, but if he was in that role playing off of Lillard, Aldridge, Batum in that offense he would look a lot more valuable than he does now.

Just look at how defenses blitz him and deny him the ball, because they know he's the only perimeter threat other than Wall. Your Wesley Matthews, Sefoloshas, JJ Redicks, Courtney Lees etc don't see that kind of defensive attention on a regular basis.

He might not be in a good situation -- Wittman is clearly a horrible coach and our roster is mediocre at absolute best, but the fact remains that he's a below average basketball player right now. The big thing he has going for him is that he's 20 years old and has a ton of potential. If he were 10 years older and playing like this, he would be on his 5th NBA team logging 15mpg. Disassociate his potential from his current output, and it's pretty clear that he isn't very good right now.

Also, Wes Matthews is a great player. I really don't think Beal would be as good as him playing for Portland this year.

gtn130 wrote:

Illmatic21 wrote:

TGW wrote:
Am I? Right now, Bradley Beal is pretty awful as a basketball player. Maybe in the next couple of years, he becomes average-to-above average but right now he's mediocre at best.

I've been harsh on Beal myself, but come on. You aren't considering that he is in a pretty unfavorable situation for a young player just coming into the league. He's been thrust into duty as a #1/2 option on an offensively challenged team with no weapons, and a clueless head coach.

Put him on say, Portland in place of Wesley Matthews and he would clearly be a quality starter who everyone would be raving about as a perfect complementary piece. That's not to say present day Beal is definitely better than Wesley Matthews, but if he was in that role playing off of Lillard, Aldridge, Batum in that offense he would look a lot more valuable than he does now.

Just look at how defenses blitz him and deny him the ball, because they know he's the only perimeter threat other than Wall. Your Wesley Matthews, Sefoloshas, JJ Redicks, Courtney Lees etc don't see that kind of defensive attention on a regular basis.

He might not be in a good situation -- Wittman is clearly a horrible coach and our roster is mediocre at absolute best, but the fact remains that he's a below average basketball player right now. The big thing he has going for him is that he's 20 years old and has a ton of potential. If he were 10 years older and playing like this, he would be on his 5th NBA team logging 15mpg. Disassociate his potential from his current output, and it's pretty clear that he isn't very good right now.

Also, Wes Matthews is a great player. I really don't think Beal would be as good as him playing for Portland this year.

So yeah, if we ignore everything import, he is a train wreck.