WOJ Bomb: Michael Winger becomes the Wizards President of Basketball Operations

[NatP4]

Most of this board wanted Dejounte Murray

[Rafael122]

I'm not going to absolve Schlenk just b/c he didn't like the Murray trade. I think his picks have been a little questionable, it's safe to say he screwed up the Trae and Reddish thing. He could have drafted Luka and would probably still be the Atlanta GM.

[payitforward]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10061581-report-dejounte-murray-trade-beginning-of-the-end-for-travis-schlenk-with-hawks

Looks like Schlenk opposed the Murray trade.

The Dejounte Murray trade with San Antonio was the beginning of the end, as sources say it went down despite Schlenk expressing his concerns about the price being paid (three first-rounders, a first-round pick swap and Danilo Gallinari) and with Nick Ressler known to be a driving force behind the deal. League sources say [Landry] Fields and several other team officials were in favor of the deal as well.

I'm comfortable with Schlenk over Landry Fields. I wouldn't send 3 picks and a swap for a 2nd undersized scoring guard.

Based on that tiny piece of fragmentary info?

Ressler is the owner's son. He's 28 years old & "a driving force behind the deal." I'm not a fan of Schlenk, but he was certainly correct to oppose the deal -- just wrong in thinking that he had the gravitas to prevent it.

Fields was smart enough to know he didn't have that gravitas. He was promoted after Schlenk was kicked upstairs to an "advisory" role.

W/o a doubt, Schlenk has done some smart things & is a very capable guy. OTOH, his 5 years with Atlanta didn't produce much.

[NatP4]

Luka was like the youngest euro league MVP ever. He was no surprise. Everyone knew he was going to be a superstar. Trading down out of taking him to acquire another future 1st, and then using that pick to take a player 10th overall, that shot 30% in college is…horrendous.

I mean that is an all time bad move.

[Endless Loop]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=GWeuz7j_sc5cBYZzdD92Tw

Interesting. Not a single foreign player. Plus he passed on Luka.

[Gig18]

I'm not going to absolve Schlenk just b/c he didn't like the Murray trade. I think his picks have been a little questionable, it's safe to say he screwed up the Trae and Reddish thing. He could have drafted Luka and would probably still be the Atlanta GM.

Because Dallas has won what? Luka's terrific, but they haven't been able to pair him with anyone that seems to fit
Sort of like Trae

[gambitx777]

I'm not going to absolve Schlenk just b/c he didn't like the Murray trade. I think his picks have been a little questionable, it's safe to say he screwed up the Trae and Reddish thing. He could have drafted Luka and would probably still be the Atlanta GM.

Well the young Luka thing is a wash. Luka has done nothing but be Carmelo Anthony part 2 yes the mavs have **** a lot up but Luka is similar to young it's hard to pair him with someone.

The reddish thing was gross. But maybe he learned from it and got better.

Too often we make judgements and never account for sometimes people get better.

I mean on a small scale look at my takes over the years. I've changed, I got schooled by pif and Nate and Im still me but I've learned and changed. I'm much more respectful of advanced stats, I really show more respect for watching guys move, I've also learned what to look for in a good jumper. People can learn from their mistakes.

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using RealGM mobile app

[Kanyewest]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10061581-report-dejounte-murray-trade-beginning-of-the-end-for-travis-schlenk-with-hawks

Looks like Schlenk opposed the Murray trade.

The Dejounte Murray trade with San Antonio was the beginning of the end, as sources say it went down despite Schlenk expressing his concerns about the price being paid (three first-rounders, a first-round pick swap and Danilo Gallinari) and with Nick Ressler known to be a driving force behind the deal. League sources say [Landry] Fields and several other team officials were in favor of the deal as well.

I'm comfortable with Schlenk over Landry Fields. I wouldn't send 3 picks and a swap for a 2nd undersized scoring guard.

Based on that tiny piece of fragmentary info?

Ressler is the owner's son. He's 28 years old & "a driving force behind the deal." I'm not a fan of Schlenk, but he was certainly correct to oppose the deal -- just wrong in thinking that he had the gravitas to prevent it.

Fields was smart enough to know he didn't have that gravitas. He was promoted after Schlenk was kicked upstairs to an "advisory" role.

W/o a doubt, Schlenk has done some smart things & is a very capable guy. OTOH, his 5 years with Atlanta didn't produce much.

Well he did get to the conference finals. Something that the Wizards haven't done since 1979. One of the ten teams to do so since 2019. And Trae Young was probably the worst franchise player among all those teams.

Conference finalist by team since 2019
Heat- 3
Celtics- 3
Warriors - 2
Nuggets- 2
Lakers- 2
Bucks- 2
Suns- 1
Raptors- 1
Hawks- 1
Mavericks- 1
Portland - 1

But probably the bigger thing is what he did working for the Warriors under Bob Myers.

[Kanyewest]

I'm not going to absolve Schlenk just b/c he didn't like the Murray trade. I think his picks have been a little questionable, it's safe to say he screwed up the Trae and Reddish thing. He could have drafted Luka and would probably still be the Atlanta GM.

Reddish was not an ideal pick and they missed out on some promising players. That being said, the Hawks were able to trade Reddish and a 2nd round pick for Kevin Knox and a 1st round pick. Which I believe is more value than the Wizards ended up getting for Rui.

[dcstanley]

I'm not going to absolve Schlenk just b/c he didn't like the Murray trade. I think his picks have been a little questionable, it's safe to say he screwed up the Trae and Reddish thing. He could have drafted Luka and would probably still be the Atlanta GM.

Well the young Luka thing is a wash. Luka has done nothing but be Carmelo Anthony part 2 yes the mavs have **** a lot up but Luka is similar to young it's hard to pair him with someone.

What do you expect from a player that just completed their fifth season? Luka is one of the ten best players in the league and has already experienced more playoff success in his short career than the Wizards have in decades.

Young isn't anywhere close to the player that Luka is but I do give Schlenk credit for identifying Young's talent. At least he didn't draft Bamba or Bagley.

[doclinkin]

I'm not going to absolve Schlenk just b/c he didn't like the Murray trade. I think his picks have been a little questionable, it's safe to say he screwed up the Trae and Reddish thing. He could have drafted Luka and would probably still be the Atlanta GM.

Reddish was not an ideal pick and they missed out on some promising players. That being said, the Hawks were able to trade Reddish and a 2nd round pick for Kevin Knox and a 1st round pick. Which I believe is more value than the Wizards ended up getting for Rui.

Also, while he drafted poorly with respect to Reddish, this was the sort of bold move that I'd expect this board to champion.

A slight trade down between players in a similar tier on your draft board, gambling that the gap between them might have the difference made up by the 2nd lottery pick in the following year. Is the gap closed if the trade was for Trae + (2019 #10 pick) Cam Johnson?

Or if another trade down was engineered for the Boston picks at 20 & 22. Would Trae + Thybulle + the sainted Brandon Clarke be enough production to make up the difference?

One problem we had with Tommy's draft philosophy was the frustration that the front office would zero in on one guy and consider their draft day done.

Rumors suggested Dallas was trying to overpay to jump up to select Haliburton. Tommy rejected the offers and took Deni. The package was said to be Seth Curry plus a handful of picks. Some of these picks ultimately were traded away for Porzingis. Including the currently lotto protected pick in this years draft (#10). If we had a sharp negotiator in place, would we now have both the #8 and #10 pick in this draft?

Plus Seth Curry, and one of Josh Green/Tyrese Maxey/Saddiq Bey/Precious Achiuwa/whomever and 2nd rounder Xavier Tillman/KMart Jr.

Point being he gambled and missed, but it is the sort of swing and miss that I'd prefer to see, as opposed to a front office having tunnel vision to take one guy. Luka was sure to be good, but has proven to be as difficult to build a team around as Trae Young has. This team needs a rebuild and upgrade at every position. Collecting picks and taking advantage of opportunities is what we have been banging the keyboard about every year.

I don't hate the hire of a guy who has shown the cojones to risk a bold move. Is all I'm saying.

[payitforward]

Agree totally; all the same the move was a mistake -- but everyone makes mistakes. If you look for someone who's never made a mistake, you won't find anyone at all.

[FAH1223]

...

Should we re-name this "WOJ Bomb: Michael Winger becomes the Wiz President of Basketball Operations" thread?

Or make a whole other Mike Winger thread?

[Frichuela]

...

Should we re-name this "WOJ Bomb: Michael Winger becomes the Wiz President of Basketball Operations" thread?

Or make a whole other Mike Winger thread?

Done my friend!

[80sballboy]

Read on Twitter

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[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/271840/Rival-Execs-Expect-Wizards-To-Engage-In-Full-Rebuild-Under-Michael-Winger

Please let it be.

[Pointgod]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/271840/Rival-Execs-Expect-Wizards-To-Engage-In-Full-Rebuild-Under-Michael-Winger

Please let it be.

Not a Wizards fan but about damn time.

[pcbothwel]

One thing Winger will need to navigate is our pick due to the Knicks. Its protected top 12, 10, 8, and then 2 seconds.
I assume we will pick top 12 next year due to rebuild, but the year after that (Top 10) becomes risky, and 2026 (Top 8) will almost certainly be gone if the rebuild is even roughly successful.

I think the path forward is a two year rebuild, with the assumption our 2026 1st is gone and we should just shoot to compete for playoffs.
It should be noted that the 2025 summer is a Great FA period. Jamal Murray, Markkanen, Brendan Ingram are all UFA's and 28 y/o. And the 2021 draft class will all be RFA's, with a number of them looking like questionable fits with their team (Mobley, Suggs, Cade, Green, Barnes, Giddey, Kuminga, etc.)

[doclinkin]

If the OKC model is followed, the suggestion is that we are willing to shop pretty much everybody in exchange for future picks. The protection on that NYK pick may prove less relevant. I don't see a 2 year turnaround possible if we are really rebuilding from the bottom up.

[TGW]

Send Beal to NY and get the pick back. Problem solved.