The 2017 Off Season is Over -- Grade It!

[payitforward]

Off seasons seem to last longer than the season itself! That's even true when we get as far as we did last year & are playing well into May.

But, this one is over, hallelujah. It saw some big changes of personnel, but none to our core. 7 Guys who played for us last year at one point or another but are gone include:

Andrew Nicholson
Bojan Bogdanovic *
Brandon Jennings *
Daniel Ochefu *
Danuel House
Marcus Thornton
Trey Burke *
The 4 asterisked players ended the season w/ the Wizards.

In their place we now have:

Carrick Felix
Jodie Meeks
Mike Scott
Tim Frazier

Of course, to get from the players we had at the beginning of last season to those we have at the beginning of this one, we've also had to give up a R1 pick & a R2 pick along the way. So there are no rookies on that list, & that hole has to count in assessing the off-season.

So do our other decisions -- esp. our decision to max Otto Porter.

In sum, then, what final grade do you give Ted, Ernie & the whole FO on the off season?

[nuposse04]

Somewhere between a D+ and C-

I think the bench will be a bit better, but because of assets they had to sell to do so... can't really call it a positive offseason... not even sure it could be average given it will eventually come back to bite them in the ass. It isn't an abject failure like the previous season I guess. Small victories?

#FireErnie

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Off seasons seem to last longer than the season itself! That's even true when we get as far as we did last year & are playing well into May.

But, this one is over, hallelujah. It saw some big changes of personnel, but none to our core. 7 Guys who played for us last year at one point or another but are gone include:

Andrew Nicholson
Bojan Bogdanovic *
Brandon Jennings *
Daniel Ochefu *
Danuel House
Marcus Thornton
Trey Burke *
The 4 asterisked players ended the season w/ the Wizards.

In their place we now have:

Carrick Felix
Jodie Meeks
Mike Scott
Tim Frazier

Of course, to get from the players we had at the beginning of last season to those we have at the beginning of this one, we've also had to give up a R1 pick & a R2 pick along the way. So there are no rookies on that list, & that hole has to count in assessing the off-season.

So do our other decisions -- esp. our decision to max Otto Porter.

In sum, then, what final grade do you give Ted, Ernie & the whole FO on the off season?

Tough to grade out of the context of how we ended up with last year's roster, but here goes:

1. On the bright side, there isn't a single player on the departed list that I'd want back.

2. 3 of the four newbies are likely mediocre rotation players, but players nonetheless.

I'm not sure that our 2nd team has anything like enough shot creation/pure scoring so I think we'll be subject to long droughts just like last year.

Perhaps we are a little better on paper.

C-/D+

[J-Ves]

C

This was a pretty low impact offseason, at least in terms of bringing in new players. I like the Meeks and Scott additions as they have both proven to be decent rotational players at points in their careers. They are both injury prone, but that’s the only reason they were available for cheap.

Frazier is a question mark for me. I think he will be better than Burke and Jennings, but that’s not saying much. Guards that can’t shoot are hard to get excited about. I don’t mind that they gave up a late 2nd for him as I don’t see much value in a late 2nd over a undrafted FA, so the opportunity cost was minimal.

Felix looked good in preseason. I don’t expect to see him much during the season, but his high energy was a pleasant surprise.

The Wall extension and Porter max will have huge implications going forward, but I can’t fault EG for signing those two. We really need one or both of Wall to become a legit MVP candidate or Porter to become a perennial all star for those deals to be worth it.

Not having a 1st rounder really hurts. Going forward, all firsts will probably be used in trades to get under the tax line, so the 2017 pick was our last legit chance to add to our core. The disastrous 2016 offseason continues to haunt this franchise.

Not terrible, but certainly not inspiring. Frankly the assets weren’t there for an A or B+, but that’s on EFG. Fire his ass already, would ya?


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[queridiculo]

Solid D.

[doclinkin]

C.

Re-upped Porter. Extended John Wall. We have our core for the next few years.

Improved our bench marginally if anything, though that's damning with faint praise from a historically bad bench last year.

Future flexibility is strained since we will exceed the lux tax for the first time in ever, but only to hold firm where we are, and an empty bank account of youthful assets. We bank on internal development and continuity of coaching in order to keep pace with improved talent in young teams. Fortunately we have a coach noted for development of young players. Kelly Oubre improving is an area of upside. Could one of the other bench players also provide surprising development? Unknown.

Basically we stand pat with a slight upgrade in our area of greatest weakness: the bench. So a good team will stay pretty good. But bench will still be an issue, and this always means Health will be the greatest risk as starters are ridden heavy to produce. The weak East means we look relevant if we do stay healthy, as key teams adjust to talent reshuffling (Toronto, Celtics) others fall off the table (Hawks, Pacers) and others are still developing their deep deep reserves of talent (6ers). Miami will rise and surprise though.

But: Otto, Brad, John. Barring a trade a trio of hard working and talented players will play a bulk of their career here in DC. Good guys, easy to cheer for, good on court chemistry between the three. And a good coaching staff to support them. I like the team, even if I don't see a path to championship right now.

[montestewart]

Well, I'll be the one to say it. A+

The feeling is definitely there. It's a new morning in DC. The old cynicism is gone, and we have faith in our leaders. We're optimistic as to what becomes of it all. It really boils down to our ability to accept. There are no limits.

[CobraCommander]

D two essential no brainers vet signings in Wall and Porter. JWall is a easy call. Porter could be over paid if he doesnt play better this year than he did last year. The Wiz got a player on the max that isnt even considered a “big” anything. Porter would be a bench player on enough teams where no one sees this as a great signing. If the Wiz would have locked Porter up BEFORE last year and then he played like he did last year it would have proved Erine was a good GM—but Alas signing him when you have to match with no other options is a D caliber move. Our bench killed us last year and we didnt really improve it significantly while teams like the timberwolves got better on thier starting unit AND thier bench. Just looks like we stood pat while Boston and Cleveland retooled and the west REALLY retooled.

Think about it...if the only teams better than us in the east last year were boston and Cleveland...its a failure if THEY got better and we didnt! Forget my D grade...when you think about losing ground on Boston and Cleveland its a F!!!!!!!

[Wizardspride]

I give it a solid B.

Extended/re-signed our core Wall and Porter.

Added some punch off the bench.

Yes, I'm probably more bullish on Scott/Meeks than most.

[nate33]

I give it a B if we're talking solely about this offseason. EG did just fine considering the constraints he was dealing with, i.e. the lack of luxtax room and the lack of any picks. Obviously, those constraints were in place because of EG's ineptitude last year, but that's not the subject of this thread.

Looking at this offseason alone, EG managed to upgrade our backup PG, backup SG and backup PF position while spending just $7M to do so. That's pretty good work. I just wish he exhibited similar frugality last season after striking out on Durant/Horford.

I also support the decision to match the Brooklyn offer for Porter. I'd prefer that Porter was being paid less, but the market is the market. I can't fault EG for that. As I understand it, EG made overtures to extend Porter last year, but Porter's camp declined. I'm not sure what else we could have expected from EG on that front.

The extension of John Wall is the only questionable move from a pure on-the-court basketball perspective. Wall is good, but I don't think he's worth $42M a year. That said, he does put fans in their seats, and he's the closest thing we have to a superstar. It's easy to criticize the deal from a cost/production perspective, but there really isn't a hypothetical Plan B that replaces Wall with a player having a better cost/production ratio while keeping the team at 50 wins.

[verbal8]

Given corner the Wizards were painted into I would have to give the offseason a B. With the lack of cheap quality youth, not buying a second rounder is a big negative. The Extensions aren't super exciting, but we're better than letting them walk in the near future.

[doclinkin]

The real question is: what is the metric of success? What are we grading on?

If competitiveness is the mission, ultimately the only successful passing grade for fans of a franchise should be: "Do these moves get us closer to a championship?" Where a championship is an A (Golden State managing an A+ this past year, with their record breaking post season run, nearly without a loss at all).

This is where I give the squad a C. We are good but have no chance to win it all unless we see unprecedented improvement from the talent we have. Or outlier luck in opponents health etc.

If the question is: "Do these moves make this team fun to watch?" will I still tune in and enjoy my team? That's also measurable, in terms of how many games you tune in to watch or buy tickets for.

In that case I'd give our offseason a B. Simply based on locking in the John Wall extension. Not a foregone conclusion. It will be fun to keep John Wall a Wizard for life. He improves every year. Beal is still young and also improving, Otto ditto. With his smarts adn lowkey demeanor I suspect Otto will always be underestimated and outperform expectations. Oubre with all his talents but not quite the BBIQ of an Otto, might have the opposite formulation with hopes exceeding production, but his talent still means even realizing 70% of his potential will make him a good player.

It'd be nice to have youth and talent developing in the frontcourt (still want my guy Richaun Holmes) but watching those three grow up together is going to be fun if it pans out like I hope.

[TGW]

Solid D.

that's what she said. to me. several times.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Off seasons seem to last longer than the season itself! That's even true when we get as far as we did last year & are playing well into May.

But, this one is over, hallelujah. It saw some big changes of personnel, but none to our core. 7 Guys who played for us last year at one point or another but are gone include:

Andrew Nicholson
Bojan Bogdanovic *
Brandon Jennings *
Daniel Ochefu *
Danuel House
Marcus Thornton
Trey Burke *
The 4 asterisked players ended the season w/ the Wizards.

In their place we now have:

Carrick Felix
Jodie Meeks
Mike Scott
Tim Frazier

Of course, to get from the players we had at the beginning of last season to those we have at the beginning of this one, we've also had to give up a R1 pick & a R2 pick along the way. So there are no rookies on that list, & that hole has to count in assessing the off-season.

So do our other decisions -- esp. our decision to max Otto Porter.

In sum, then, what final grade do you give Ted, Ernie & the whole FO on the off season?

This year's additions are certainly better than what we started with last season. Meeks alone makes that true. Unfortunately, Wizards management did not acquire good two-way players who can make positive contributions defensively. All they added is perimeter help on offense.

I give them a C grade for this offseason.

This team is one big man away on the strength of its starters. If the Wizards had a healthy Joel Embiid at center they win the East and contend for a title. What the Wizards need: above-average athletes who can make defensive stops which lead to easy transition baskets; and, a high post threat who is efficient near the basket and very solid defensively.

(Imagine adding Richaun Holmes and Boogie Cousins in place of Gortat and Mahinmi. Holmes can play center.)



Sent from my Moto G (4) using RealGM mobile app

[Slartibartfast]

Really like Mike Scott for you guys - was bad last year but has been one of the best roleplayers nobody talks about for much of his career.

[NatP4]

Really like Mike Scott for you guys - was bad last year but has been one of the best roleplayers nobody talks about for much of his career.

according to PIF, He makes Andrew Nicholson look good

[barelyawake]

I think we did well this offseason, based on who was available.

Meeks is exactly the guy we needed to hit treys.
I think Scott is underrated because of his past.
Frazier was one of the best available (unfortunantly).

I want to see healthy Mahinmi, developed Sato and Oubre, and some of our athletic, young prospects. A healthy Mahinmi means a great deal to this team. And people, outside of here, underestimate how bad Burke was to our win total and bench unity. Wall is our leader. As our back-up leader we picked the very worst basketball player in the NBA last season,

Obviously, the big moves are yet to come. We need to showcase some pieces before we can trade them. A trade is coming this year or next.

Obviously, I'm with the crew who says EG blew a ridiculous amount of opportunities and with even average GMing we could have been much better. But, as is, I think we are very underrated. I'm betting a ton on the over win total first chance I get.

[Slartibartfast]

Really like Mike Scott for you guys - was bad last year but has been one of the best roleplayers nobody talks about for much of his career.

according to PIF, He makes Andrew Nicholson look good

When he's healthy and in shape he's comparable to Kelly Olynyk.

[WallToWall]

Perhaps we could have made some trades to shore up the bench a bit better.
I give this past off-season a C-. However, I will upgrade the grade, call it extra credit work, if our GM is able to make a quality mid-season trade using the asset he signed in the off-season.

[Ruzious]

Perhaps we could have made some trades to shore up the bench a bit better.
I give this past off-season a C-. However, I will upgrade the grade, call it extra credit work, if our GM is able to make a quality mid-season trade using the asset he signed in the off-season.

Comparable in that Olynyk is 4 inches taller and... a heluvalot better?

I'll give it a C, because the f up in trading the fisrt pick wasn't in the offseason, and they didn't do anything terrible. They didn't lose anyone that should have stayed, and Meeks should help. The Frazier trade fits in that C category. Scott's looked bad to me in exhibition games. The Wall extension falls at C, because that's an absurd amount of money, and it could have waited - the cap isn't likely going up significantly - if at all. That's a long way out to depend on Wall staying healthy. But he is the face of the franchise, so I don't go below C.