Frichuela wrote:FAH1223 wrote:MAN,
Can you imagine the Wizards having a front office like the Jazz?
Agreed. Instead we have Ernie's side kick at the helm...
Right. &
he's made one bad trade after another. Is that it?
Ridiculous!
Do you recall the condition this team was in at the end of the 2018-19 season, when -- finally! -- Ernie was fired?
Do you recollect who played for the Wiz that season? Here is the roster that ended the season:
Beal, Satoransky, Bryant, Trevor Ariza, Jeff Green, Jabari Parker, John Wall, Troy Brown, Sam Dekker, Devin Robinson, Dwight Howard, Jordan McRae, Chasson Randle, Ian Mahinmi, Bobby Portis, Wesley Johnson.
That's one too many. But, you get the point.
Who would you want to keep from that list?
Tommy kept only the guys he had to keep (Wall & Mahinmi), the guys he wanted to keep (Beal & Bryant), Brown coming off a perfectly respectable rookie year, & McRae a cheap journeyman. Wall never played for us again. Mahinmi we were stuck with. Beal & Bryant were terrific. Brown got us Gafford a few months later. McRae tho nothing much was more than worth what he earned.
We kept Beal, Wall (who never played for us again), Bryant (b/c we wanted to), Brown (whom we traded for Gaff the following season), Mahinmi (b/c Ernie had guaranteed him), & McRae (a journeyman at minimal cost).
So far so good. Or would you like to look back & pretend that you (or anyone to tell the truth) would have done something (anything) else?
Then Tommy made a series of imaginative no-cost moves to fill out the team: Mathews undrafted; Gary Payton II off the scrap heap; Isaac Bonga, Davis Bertans, Moritz Wagner, IT, & Moe Wagner -- all those guys together cost us nothing. Which is what we had available to acquire players and creatde a roster. We signed Ish as a FA; he was worth what we paid him & more.
Anyone see a problem with any of those moves? Sure beats my idea of retaining Sam Dekker!

&, for that matter, nate's sense that maybe we ought to hold on to Jabari Parker.
IOW, Tommy was absolutely brilliant & imaginative.
Then he messed up the draft!
Thing is, though, you liked his draft. Well, didn't you? Didn't you think Rui was a really solid pick?
So... how can you criticize Tommy for it now?
Only one person reacted by saying, "well that was a mistake!"
& it wasn't you. Because it was me; I was the only one who said that.
So don't criticize Tommy for it now.
Then, at the deadline, he turned Troy Brown into Daniel Gafford! Wow! Then he moved the unmovable contract of John Wall. Then he moved Russ for a whole bunch of assets. Then he acquired KP & a R2 pick for guys he absolutely had to get rid of!
IOW, acting like Tommy is somehow incompetent is stupid.
But... he sure is inept at the draft! But, unless you disliked his picks when he made them & said so at the time, well.... Anyone can tell that a window is broken once someone throws a rock through it! How about being right about something when it happens. That's a little harder I'd say.