Ernie Grunfeld Press Conference - May 8, 2008

[closg00]

Things worth noting from the presser.

* Wizards will be scouting Euro talent
* Wizards have people in-mind to draft - will be scouting Orlando work-outs

What was astonishing was that there were ZERO questions related to EJ's coaching decisions, all questions were about Gilbert and AJ etc. ZERO accountability for EJ's decisions, everything was about coming back next year with a healthy squad (same thing that was said last year)
http://www.nba.com/wizards/multimedia/g ... 80508.html

[yungal07]

The Wizards FO is still under the impression that this team can't win because of injuries, when in reality the big 3 isn't all that good and the coach sucks. There's absolutely no accountability with this regime right now, which is a shame because I think Ernie is a good GM. However, I think he's still hampered by Abe.

[Wizards2Lottery]

I don't think Ernie is hapmpered by Abe, just by clouded judgement. Abe is most likely on his way to a better place, I really doubt he has any pressure on Ernie at this point.

I personally don't think this team can go very far with the current regime or roster structure, but as far as the roster goes this is the best we can do right now. My only worry is that we are keeping EJ in favor of guys who have done heck of a lot more than him. Rick Carlisle, Mike D'Antoni, Larry Brown and Avery Johnson won't be available next year.

We could be in a deep hole if this team gets another first round exit this year. I don't think suitable replacements will be available next year if things bust this season. I do like that we have some nice expirings coming up that might be able to land us a big time player.

[Rafael122]

The media is also soft as charmin.

[doclinkin]

I don't think Ernie is hapmpered by Abe, just by clouded judgement.

I know right? Makes you wonder how they run that multi-million dollar business with all them drunks and reeetards in high positions. They prob'ly need a few more students from West Virgina for instance to tell them how it's done. We need some higher quality drunks and reeetards! !!!11!!!!!!!11!111!!!!!


EDIT--Here, I'm adding some smileys!

[Ed Wood]

Things worth noting from the presser.

* Wizards will be scouting Euro talent
* Wizards have people in-mind to draft - will be scouting Orlando work-outs

What was astonishing was that there were ZERO questions related to EJ's coaching decisions, all questions were about Gilbert and AJ etc. ZERO accountability for EJ's decisions, everything was about coming back next year with a healthy squad (same thing that was said last year)
http://www.nba.com/wizards/multimedia/g ... 80508.html

The first four posts were riffs on this tune, and it's not like any one of the four was particularly crunchy, so everything I'm about to say applies to all the remixes as well.

What in the world? Now, if you were a journalist, why would you choose, given how many roster related questions spring immediately to mind going into the off season, to go the jerk route and try to get a man who strikes me as not only professional but genuinely nice, to throw his coach under the bus?

How do you imagine that conversation would proceed exactly? Here's how my mind plays it out:

Hardball reporter: So, Ernie, is it true that Eddie Jordan is to blame for the Wizards continued defensive mediocrity?

Grunfeld: No, Eddie works hard to instill a defensive mindset in our guys, and we really improved defensively this year. Going forward I think we'll continue to improve, and helping to keep our all stars, Gil, Caron and Antawn, rested will help keep them fresh on both ends. By the way, Gil might have said that he won't...

Cojones gigantes: Aha, but is that not, in fact, a total lie? Is it not the case that there is no accountability in this organization?

Grunfeld: No, that's not at all the case, we're extremely professional in all areas of basketball operations, and Eddie is a big part of that.

Tells it like it is: We must fire Jordan now... Now... right.... NOW!

Grunfeld: You're not going to be allowed to talk to me again.

I mean, I'd love to sit Ernie down with a good bottle of red and stare deep into his eyes, ahem ask him what he thinks of Eddie as a coach but you know as well as I do that he's not going to give Eddie the business because some beat reporter asks him to. Granted, I don't want Jordan fired like ya'll do, so I won't enjoy hearing Ernie chew him out for whatever he did wrong with the Cavs series, but still, be reasonable.

I know right? Makes you wonder how they run that multi-million dollar business with all them drunks and retards in high positions. They prob'ly need a few more students from West Virgina for instance to tell them how it's done. We need some higher quality drunks and retards! !!!11!!!!!!!11!111!!!!!

Sometimes I worry that you just don't seem to be having fun anymore, only to realize you might be having a little too much fun.

[LyricalRico]

^

Good stuff, Ed.

Seriously, as much as I would like to have had somebody ask those EXACT questions, I'd be satisfied with somebody simply asking "Do you feel that this team has progressed as much under EJ as you would have thought they were capable of?" Or maybe "At what point does the consistently poor defense fall back on the coaching staff?"

If Grunfeld feels that EJ has done the best possible job that can be done with this group (unlikely IMO) then give him the chance to say it. But at least get it on the record for everyone to hear that injuries do not equal immunity. Unfortunately, in this town it seems that they do.

[doclinkin]

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Sometimes I worry that you just don't seem to be having fun anymore, only to realize you might be having a little too much fun.

Sorry.

Mostly I'm in the too much fun category. Though somehow I've let the darkside doc take the helm a little more often, and jam that throttle full speed ahead into the black black night. f@#* an iceberg, we're driving this boat home.

BUt could be that's more fun for me than others. I'll prob'ly take a break soon, like I do.

[Wizards2Lottery]

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I know right? Makes you wonder how they run that multi-million dollar business with all them drunks and reeetards in high positions. They prob'ly need a few more students from West Virgina for instance to tell them how it's done. We need some higher quality drunks and reeetards! !!!11!!!!!!!11!111!!!!!


EDIT--Here, I'm adding some smileys!

heh drunks and retards? Doc, I might've disagreed with a lot of you on here but I never stoop down to the level of calling any of you derogatory terms such as "retards".

But I will say this, if you have such a problem with what I think, put me on ignore or shut the **** up.

[Ruzious]

Without Doc throwing the more than occasional sptiball, the class isn't much fun... as long as they don't hit me in the face.

[doclinkin]

Ernie did seem a bit combative and tired, not in his responses which were as usual fairly calm and measured, but in his tone and posture. He didn't seem terribly happy now did he?

This must have been a hard year for GMEG. I bet he's looking forward to a working vacation traveling overseas and putting some of this behind him. Must have been pretty tough feeling hamstrung with a 12 man roster and zero wiggle-room to add depth while injuries stack up. Plus the Thibodeaux deal, and Gil being Gil. His tone of voice in interviews is that he'd really rather Gil had an agent. That's got to give him nightmares trying to figure that cat out.

[fishercob]

^

Good stuff, Ed.

Seriously, as much as I would like to have had somebody ask those EXACT questions, I'd be satisfied with somebody simply asking "Do you feel that this team has progressed as much under EJ as you would have thought they were capable of?" Or maybe "At what point does the consistently poor defense fall back on the coaching staff?"

If Grunfeld feels that EJ has done the best possible job that can be done with this group (unlikely IMO) then give him the chance to say it. But at least get it on the record for everyone to hear that injuries do not equal immunity. Unfortunately, in this town it seems that they do.

Why, because it makes YOU and and the rest of the fine residents of Salem feel better? The only thing that "getting it on the record" does is makes it harder for Ernie to do his job. Boring the media to death does the opposite. The last thing the Wizards need is a public power struggle between the coach and GM. They may well need -- and we've had reason in the past to believe that there existed -- a private power struggle. But airing it in public does nothing for Ernie.

[fishercob]

Ernie did seem a bit combative and tired, not in his responses which were as usual fairly calm and measured, but in his tone and posture. He didn't seem terribly happy now did he?

This must have been a hard year for GMEG. I bet he's looking forward to a working vacation traveling overseas and putting some of this behind him. Must have been pretty tough feeling hamstrung with a 12 man roster and zero wiggle-room to add depth while injuries stack up. Plus the Thibodeaux deal, and Gil being Gil. His tone of voice in interviews is that he'd really rather Gil had an agent. That's got to give him nightmares trying to figure that cat out.

I have no idea why Gil wont hire Lon Babby and his apprentice (whose name eludes me) at Williams and Connolly. They charge by the hour and don't take a percentage like most agents. They're local. They rep Duncan, Grant Hill and dozens of others. It will cost Gil nothing compared to what he stands to lose by not having professional representation.
http://www.wc.com/attorney.cfm?attorney_id=83

[doclinkin]

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heh drunks and retards? Doc, I might've disagreed with a lot of you on here but I never stoop down to the level of calling any of you derogatory terms such as "retards".

But I will say this, if you have such a problem with what I think, put me on ignore or shut the **** up.

Actually I like you. You're consistent. If I don't agree with you it's no biggie.

I just find it silly that no matter what, the other guy is always the idiot. Hey that's what message boards are for, but come on, Ernie? Poor judgment? He got us Caron for the KFB, he gets at least one free pass, you have no idea what he's dealing with behind the scenes there. Hell the owner gave him zero wiggle room on the AJ/Gil negotiations saying: we'll bring you back no matter what. And Gil has just given a ton of ammo to Jamison's highly Professional agent, saying: you pay Jamison every thing he wants, I'll even take a pay cut, woo hey, what's on TV, let's go to Chuck E Cheese!

So EG is looking at having to hire Tawn, at the downslope of his career, to a high price contract that may be harder to move down the line, just to try to keep Gil, all while keeping a little wiggle room, and retaining players and adding vets and winning a championship and trying to solve LeBron without altering the team a smidgeon. And probably keepig the coach at the owner's request no matter what. I like the coach, but I'm not even guessing at EG's opinion.

Just putting myself in the man's shoes.

Eh. So, just goofy to me to think that Ernie's hitting the sauce, and Eddie's a learning disabled kid on the short bus. That said it's not very nice to call nobody no 'reetard', even if you add an extra sardonic triple-'eee' to make a point.

[Ed Wood]

Seriously, as much as I would like to have had somebody ask those EXACT questions, I'd be satisfied with somebody simply asking "Do you feel that this team has progressed as much under EJ as you would have thought they were capable of?" Or maybe "At what point does the consistently poor defense fall back on the coaching staff?"

If Grunfeld feels that EJ has done the best possible job that can be done with this group (unlikely IMO) then give him the chance to say it. But at least get it on the record for everyone to hear that injuries do not equal immunity. Unfortunately, in this town it seems that they do.

You're right, obviously I'm not being totally fair to the points that were made earlier in the tread and there are much more professional and useful ways to go about getting at the issue of Eddie's performance at coach than I was allowing for in my little skit. But the core of what I was saying was that it didn't really matter how the question was posed to Ernie, you weren't going to get anything but an endorsement of Eddie. Maybe that smacks of a lack of accountability in the organization but to me it's much more about an organizational philosophy of support and unity, the front office isn't going to put itself at odds with Eddie unless he's going to get fired. And I realize that's what you're really hoping for, but it ain't happening just yet.

So even if some gutsy reporter asks it your way the answer's still going to be "yes, Eddie has handled the Wizards as well as we have a right to expect," and "the coaching staff is doing its job and our defense should continue to improve." If you want it on paper so you can rub it in Ernie's face like he's a dog done something turrible on the carpet if Eddie's run out of town ok, I can see why you would. But that's what's going to happen.

But I will say this, if you have such a problem with what I think, put me on ignore or shut the **** up.

Don't take it personally, sometimes Doc comes of a little rough in print (especially when there's drama going down in the organization). Just make fun of him for his poetry or something next time he posts some.

[LyricalRico]

Why, because it makes YOU and and the rest of the fine residents of Salem feel better?

Quality dig, my friend. Props.

[Wizards2Lottery]

, but come on, Ernie? Poor judgment? He got us Caron for the KFB,

I don't think Ernie is hapmpered by Abe, just by clouded judgement. Abe is most likely on his way to a better place, I really doubt he has any pressure on Ernie at this point.

Nope, not poor judgement at all. But his judgement is in fact clouded by the injury excuse this team gets by every year. This team is still having defensive brain farts after five years under this regime.

Whatever, I hate to sound like a broken record so I'll just let the season come and see if in fact after six years this team finally gets it.

[doclinkin]

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Don't take it personally, sometimes Doc comes of a little rough in print (especially when there's drama going down in the organization). Just make fun of him for his poetry or something next time he posts some.

Hey let's be realistic here. I almost never, ever post actual 'poetry'. Just pisspoor doggerel that don't even scan right. Just to clear that up. Carry on.

[doclinkin]

[fugop]

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I think Gil and Tawn may be willing to be reasonable on contracts to avoid having only 10-11 players on the squad and burning themselves out.

and you're an idiot