Post#484 » by payitforward » Wed Jun 7, 2023 4:49 pm
From the Athletic article:
League sources, who were granted anonymity because they spoke before Winger’s hire was made official, said Leonsis will give Winger autonomy to recraft the Wizards’ roster and their front office if that’s what Winger decides to do.
“We spent hours and hours and hours together on the phone, on Zoom, in person,” Winger says of Leonsis. “I was really moved by Ted’s vision for the team. And I thought to myself, ‘He is all about the right things and he’s proven he’s all about the right things because he’s done it with the Caps.’ There’s a real potential here to be great. There’s a real potential here to help these players grow. There’s a real potential here to give the fans an enjoyable team.”
How, exactly, will he, his front office and the coaches turn the Wizards into title contenders? Kyle Kuzma intends to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Kristaps Porziņģis can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. And Bradley Beal, the team centerpiece who just completed the first season of a five-year, $251 million contract, has a no-trade clause.
Many rival executives The Athletic has polled informally over the last two weeks expect Winger to undertake a full rebuild — if not this offseason, then within the next year.
Asked about his plans for the team, Winger says he’s leaving his options open.
“The raw, unfiltered truth is, I haven’t yet crafted the immediate vision for the franchise,” he says. “There are a lot of talented and high-character players on the team. I want to get to know them a little bit. The construct of a team isn’t just a matter of what is demonstrated on the court. It’s not just a matter of the box score. Team dynamics are personal, and I think that I need to understand those things before hatching an actionable plan. And I know that that’s not necessarily measurable in this moment. But it is the truth.
“Then the question is, well, are you going to trade Brad? Are you going to keep Brad? I don’t know. I would like to meet with Brad. I haven’t yet met with Brad. What are you going to do with K.P.? What are you going to do with Kuz? I don’t know. They have choices. They have the power of choice, as does Brad. So, what I really want to do is I want to get to know these guys. If the visions align for being competitive and doing things the right way with a little bit of patience, absolutely there’s a path forward with them.
“I don’t think we’re going to be an overnight title contender; that I’m pretty confident about. And so, if they would rather pursue immediate winning, then they probably do have to pursue that somewhere else. But I think that there’s a very open dialog, a very open invitation to talk about the future of the team — the near-term future and the long-term future — and see where goals align and see where they don’t align.”
As Winger indicated, the Wizards aren’t a quick fix. The people within the NBA who know him best — Ferry, Presti and Frank — say he’ll approach his new role with discipline, with a well thought-out plan.
And so does Shapiro, the person who gave Winger his first big break and opened the door to so many other opportunities. Shapiro has conducted so many negotiations over the years that he’s seen a variety of approaches from different executives. But he expects Winger’s tone to resemble that of former Baltimore Orioles general manager and former Indians president and chief operating officer Hank Peters.
“It was not an easy negotiation because (Hank) was smart and he knew the discipline it took to be an effective negotiator,” Shapiro says. “But I’d know this: that once we finished a negotiation, it would be the kind of deal that benefited the team and benefited my player. In popular parlance, we call that a ‘win-win.’
“Mike is not a search-and-destroy negotiator. He’s a do-a-deal-and-build negotiator because the relationship that exists after the negotiation is as important as the deal you put together.”
