Other Notable Wizards' Front Office Hires (John Thompson III & Sashi Brown)

[queridiculo]

Don't be mad, Wizards are hiring

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[JWizmentality]

The Leader Of Men Returneth!!!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The grandmaster of Basketball analytics. The OG DO. Alright.


And Corey Gaines' mother is Japanese, like Hachimura's. He played a year in a Japanese pro league amid his 14 year pro career. He has guest coached the Japanese Women's Olympic team

Back in the day Corey Gaines played in the CBA. He and Tim Legler were teammates with the Omaha Racers. Gaines was a really good player in that league.

Welcome back!

What's your take on the Wizards draft, Hachimura in particular?

I have thought about this for a while and my answer is I don't know. My gut feeling is at the very least he will be a solid contributor.

Former Wizards Calbert Cheaney, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison were all scorers and solid pros. Hachimura has aspects of his game that reminds me of all three. He's never going to be unprofessional. His defense won't lack effort. He is highly coachable. This is not a Chris Singleton bad pick.

When Hachimura was drafted I was not pleased because he does not have explosive athleticism. On the other hand he is fundamentally sound and he knows how to shoot. For that reason I think he's a basketball player more than an athlete. I like his game way better than Chris Singleton's. I think Rui Hachimura will turn out to be what I had hoped Andrew Nicholson would be. I had high hopes on the Nicholson I saw play in the NCAAs. Hachimura seems stronger and more determined.

He'll be solid.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Speaking of Antawn Jamison, he's back with the Wizards!

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2849606-antawn-jamison-named-wizards-director-of-pro-personnel

[JAR69]

I'm not sure where this fits, but since this thread is somewhat about out-of-the-ordinary front office moves, I have an unconventional player development idea. And it should warm the cockles of PIF's heart, as it specifically involves Jemerrio Jones.

It is clear that JJ is already some kind of freak rebounding prodigy. And to hear Lou Williams tell it, he is a top level defender. If he had a half-decent shot, particularly from 3, he could be a starting level or better wing.

Here's the idea. Rather than do the normal developmental efforts for Jones - training, practice, scrimmages, G-league games, garbage time, etc., - essentially focus his entire effort for the next season on just becoming an NBA-quality 3 point shooter.

So, I would first guarantee Jones' contract for 2019-20 and tell him that his roster spot is guaranteed for the entire year - there is no way we are cutting or trading him. In fact, I would extend him now for another season at the minimum, if there is a way to do that under the CBA. Just to give him maximum comfort. Then, hire the best damn shooting coaching we can find, and have him work exclusively with Jones. Tell Jemerrio that his one and only basketball job for the next nine months is to become an above average NBA three-point shooter. He won't practice with the team, play in scrimmages or games, or do any drills related to anything other than shooting. If necessary (and it probably will be), tear his shot down to nothing, start from scratch. Yes, it will be hard not to be playing competitive basketball, but tell him he is an Alpha-phase/Six Million Dollar man type experiment. And maybe we could allow him to play some games behind closed doors. But keep his 99% focus on shooting.

Basically, do some Jimmy Chitwood Deadpool Jedi something something training on JJ.

At the end of the year, evaluate. If it seems like he can be a 38% shooter from 3, then let him start practicing and playing like a normal player. At that point, he will still be a high level rebounder and defender, and a hopefully good enough shooter for him to at least be a rotation player. If not, I'm not sure. Maybe give it another year?

The risk seems minimal to me - the 15th slot on the team and two years of a minimum contract. But the upside is incredible - a rotation player or possibly a starter, filling our biggest needs, perimeter defense and rebounding. And one that can't be left alone because now he can hurt you with his shot.

Who's with me on experimenting on Jemerrio Jones?

[doclinkin]

I'm not sure where this fits, but since this thread is somewhat about out-of-the-ordinary front office moves, I have an unconventional player development idea. And it should warm the cockles of PIF's heart, as it specifically involves Jemerrio Jones.

It is clear that JJ is already some kind of freak rebounding prodigy. And to hear Lou Williams tell it, he is a top level defender. If he had a half-decent shot, particularly from 3, he could be a starting level or better wing.

Here's the idea. Rather than do the normal developmental efforts for Jones - training, practice, scrimmages, G-league games, garbage time, etc., - essentially focus his entire effort for the next season on just becoming an NBA-quality 3 point shooter.

So, I would first guarantee Jones' contract for 2019-20 and tell him that his roster spot is guaranteed for the entire year - there is no way we are cutting or trading him. In fact, I would extend him now for another season at the minimum, if there is a way to do that under the CBA. Just to give him maximum comfort. Then, hire the best damn shooting coaching we can find, and have him work exclusively with Jones.

...

Who's with me on experimenting on Jemerrio Jones?

We do have one. David Adkins oversees an entire department of guys who are pretty damn good at working on basketball skills. Consider Otto Porters awkward looking shot at Georgetown. Slow, wide elbows, reliable in the midrange but fluky when extended to the NCAA three point line.

Here for a streak there he became the most efficient shooter in the game.

Now they’ve added even more staff under Adkins direction. So players can get individual work from whichever coach they need most. This is one of the hopeful signs of the direction of this squad.

It’s up to the players to put it into effect. Wall always wanted to spend his summer traveling around hooping with guys from other teams and his Kentucky teammates. But when his jumper was improving he cited the training staff and the key points they ID’ed in what he in particular was doing wrong.

If Jemerrio Jones wants to be a good three point shooter (and have a career in this league) he has the facilities and coaching here to do all of that.

[nate33]

We do have one. David Adkins oversees an entire department of guys who are pretty damn good at working on basketball skills. Consider Otto Porters awkward looking shot at Georgetown. Slow, wide elbows, reliable in the midrange but fluky when extended to the NCAA three point line.

Here for a streak there he became the most efficient shooter in the game.

Now they’ve added even more staff under Adkins direction. So players can get individual work from whichever coach they need most. This is one of the hopeful signs of the direction of this squad.

The team's track record of improving shooters is pretty darn good:


Tomas Satoransky:




Otto Porter:




Trevor Ariza:




Kelly Oubre: (until his weird final season with the anxiety issues)




Markieff Morris:

[doclinkin]

Combination of Adkins and the John Wall effect.

[JAR69]

We do have one. David Adkins oversees an entire department of guys who are pretty damn good at working on basketball skills. Consider Otto Porters awkward looking shot at Georgetown. Slow, wide elbows, reliable in the midrange but fluky when extended to the NCAA three point line.

Here for a streak there he became the most efficient shooter in the game.

Now they’ve added even more staff under Adkins direction. So players can get individual work from whichever coach they need most. This is one of the hopeful signs of the direction of this squad.

The team's track record of improving shooters is pretty darn good:


Tomas Satoransky:




Otto Porter:




Trevor Ariza:




Kelly Oubre: (until his weird final season with the anxiety issues)




Markieff Morris:

That is all true - the track record is pretty good. What I'm proposing is experimenting with a method to accelerate the process. Jones' defensive and rebounding games are already highly developed. If he could become a 38-40% 3 pt. shooter, he is a starter and maybe more. But the process of developing a shooter is often slow (several seasons), and I expect slowed down by the player's need to practice other areas and efforts to get into games (which can lead to more opportunities to play and getting resigned/a better contract). I want to take that aspect out of it. Make the player fully secure in his contract and position with the team, and tell him to learn how to do one thing really well without distraction. I don't know if it would work. Some players seem more able to improve their shot than others. But the risk/reward seems worth giving it a try for someone like Jones.

[doclinkin]

That is all true - the track record is pretty good. What I'm proposing is experimenting with a method to accelerate the process. Jones' defensive and rebounding games are already highly developed. If he could become a 38-40% 3 pt. shooter, he is a starter and maybe more. But the process of developing a shooter is often slow (several seasons), and I expect slowed down by the player's need to practice other areas and efforts to get into games (which can lead to more opportunities to play and getting resigned/a better contract). I want to take that aspect out of it. Make the player fully secure in his contract and position with the team, and tell him to learn how to do one thing really well without distraction. I don't know if it would work. Some players seem more able to improve their shot than others. But the risk/reward seems worth giving it a try for someone like Jones.

Well players need to know where to pass to a guy. And defense is never a solo operation, especially for a starter as opposed to a situational stopper, but is a team based and personnel based skill set. But the point is if you hear Lakers fans tell it they have not had a shooting coach in forever. And little in the way of player development personnel. The Wizards have had a foundation in skill building for a while. One reason why it was maddening that Wittman/Grunfeld relied heavily on late-contract veteran mercenaries looking for their next payday.

Point being Jones has a great opportunity here to develop into a key player, and there's enough surrounding him that he may do it.

Basically I'm agreeing with you, saying I think we are more than halfway there. Even Bradley Beal credits some part of his stellar development on work with the team. Remember David Adkins is the guy who helped Kevin Durant build his game in high school. If Jones wants to shoot like KD the facilities are here to teach him,

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

We do have one. David Adkins oversees an entire department of guys who are pretty damn good at working on basketball skills. Consider Otto Porters awkward looking shot at Georgetown. Slow, wide elbows, reliable in the midrange but fluky when extended to the NCAA three point line.

Here for a streak there he became the most efficient shooter in the game.

Now they’ve added even more staff under Adkins direction. So players can get individual work from whichever coach they need most. This is one of the hopeful signs of the direction of this squad.

The team's track record of improving shooters is pretty darn good:


Tomas Satoransky:




Otto Porter:

It burns me that my two favorite players on this team to root for are gone to the Bulls.

Brooks never appreciated Satoransky enough. With Porter, if his hip heals up and he becomes a durable player the Wizards are going to soon see they messed up letting Otto go.

[youngWizzy]

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Sounds good.

But... who is bringing him on? Leonsis? If so, does this indicate dissatisfaction with Tommy Sheppard?

What was RT doing with the Bucks as a "special consultant?" What's he going to be doing here? Other than making TS nervous?

[DCZards]

I doubt that Thorn is a threat to TS. Rod is probably just looking for a paycheck...not a full-time job or a lot of responsibility.

[payitforward]

Zards -- I wasn't imagining him as a threat to replace Tommy. Rather, I meant to suggest that he might be coming on to help Ted continue his search for Mr. Perfect. In fact, though of course I could be entirely wrong, I'll be surprised if it doesn't turn out that way.

Obviously, Tommy Sheppard was not Ted's first choice to run the Wizards -- he offered the job to at least one other guy! But there came a point in late Spring when there was no more time to dick around; someone had to be put in place. The team had to turn its attention to the coming season.

In a situation like that, you don't say, "we failed to find a guy we really want, so we'll just let Tommy run things for now, while we keep looking." No one in his right mind would do that. Instead you say that after due consideration, you've determined that Tommy Sheppard is the right choice, & you give him the job.

Then you let the dust settle & start looking again. Since the previous talent consultant didn't get the job done, this time you bring on an extremely experienced NBA guy to help you. As goes without saying, you make no statement about what you're doing -- that would be to admit your failure the first time & set you up to have to admit it a second time if you don't find someone. Plus, it would hamper Tommy in his work, which is counter-productive. Hell, you'd be delighted if he were a huge success, & you could abort this second effort! Why not?

I've seen about a zillion scenarios in business go down exactly as I've just described. OTOH, as I say, I could be altogether wrong in this instance. I hope I am: I'd like to see Tommy get a real shot.

[Endless Loop]

PIF, I agree with you.

Leonsis seems to have done a complete 180 on Wizards management. He's gone from hands-off with one guy to having a big group of good resumes. I wonder if he's got too many big egos now.

I think a bigger staff will work wonderfully for player development, but when it comes to talent evaluation, you need one really talented person who clearly has the final say on drafting, etc. Like the Skins had with Beathard and sort of had with McCloughan. You can give him a staff to identify good candidates, especially overseas. You can have people getting more info for him to help with decisions. What you don't want to have is a room full of opinions around draft time with no clear person with the final say. That sort of structure will usually yield low-risk selections, not necessarily the most talented picks.

The last two drafts seem to have been handled really well. I wouldn't change anything about final player selection. Would a committee have picked Hachimura or especially Brown? I have my doubts.

[doclinkin]

Zards -- I wasn't imagining him as a threat to replace Tommy. Rather, I meant to suggest that he might be coming on to help Ted continue his search for Mr. Perfect. In fact, though of course I could be entirely wrong, I'll be surprised if it doesn't turn out that way.

Obviously, Tommy Sheppard was not Ted's first choice to run the Wizards -- he offered the job to at least one other guy! But there came a point in late Spring when there was no more time to dick around; someone had to be put in place. The team had to turn its attention to the coming season.

In a situation like that, you don't say, "we failed to find a guy we really want, so we'll just let Tommy run things for now, while we keep looking." No one in his right mind would do that. Instead you say that after due consideration, you've determined that Tommy Sheppard is the right choice, & you give him the job.

Then you let the dust settle & start looking again. Since the previous talent consultant didn't get the job done, this time you bring on an extremely experienced NBA guy to help you. As goes without saying, you make no statement about what you're doing -- that would be to admit your failure the first time & set you up to have to admit it a second time if you don't find someone. Plus, it would hamper Tommy in his work, which is counter-productive. Hell, you'd be delighted if he were a huge success, & you could abort this second effort! Why not?

I've seen about a zillion scenarios in business go down exactly as I've just described. OTOH, as I say, I could be altogether wrong in this instance. I hope I am: I'd like to see Tommy get a real shot.

Doubt it. Ted kept Grunfeld 14 years. Tommy is well liked by the staff around him. I think Ted has made clear he wants input from many voices in improving the team. He may go overboard in doing so, and water down the information or develop opinions that he will bring to this hands on basketball 'board' that he and the other co owners are supposed to chair, but I think he will stick with Tommy a while.

[DCZards]

Zards -- I wasn't imagining him as a threat to replace Tommy. Rather, I meant to suggest that he might be coming on to help Ted continue his search for Mr. Perfect. In fact, though of course I could be entirely wrong, I'll be surprised if it doesn't turn out that way.

Obviously, Tommy Sheppard was not Ted's first choice to run the Wizards -- he offered the job to at least one other guy! But there came a point in late Spring when there was no more time to dick around; someone had to be put in place. The team had to turn its attention to the coming season.

In a situation like that, you don't say, "we failed to find a guy we really want, so we'll just let Tommy run things for now, while we keep looking." No one in his right mind would do that. Instead you say that after due consideration, you've determined that Tommy Sheppard is the right choice, & you give him the job.

Then you let the dust settle & start looking again. Since the previous talent consultant didn't get the job done, this time you bring on an extremely experienced NBA guy to help you. As goes without saying, you make no statement about what you're doing -- that would be to admit your failure the first time & set you up to have to admit it a second time if you don't find someone. Plus, it would hamper Tommy in his work, which is counter-productive. Hell, you'd be delighted if he were a huge success, & you could abort this second effort! Why not?

I've seen about a zillion scenarios in business go down exactly as I've just described. OTOH, as I say, I could be altogether wrong in this instance. I hope I am: I'd like to see Tommy get a real shot.

Don’t disagree, PIF. But I’ve also seen plenty of scenarios where the guy who wasn’t the first—or even the second—choice for a position gets the job, busts his a**, impresses everybody (including the boss) with his skills and smarts, and ends up being the long-term answer at the position.

[payitforward]

Doc/Zards -- good points, thanks. It's more likely to be the way you 2 are seeing it than my thoughts, which were just a reaction not much more.

Obviously, Rod Thorn will bring some useful stuff, big time, to the discussions.