Wizards in the Media Thread

[ZonkertheBrainless]

The one who had more than 2,000 friends and has posted a bunch of pictures of himself in his profile...

[lupin]

Good piece from Boswell this morning. Hands should have this drummed into his brain.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03530.html

[Donkey McDonkerton]

Ill post this here too
LET THE MENDING BEGIN

http://www.mikejonessports.com/2010/01/ ... ction.html

If Arenas is able to avoid jail time, and is re-instate to the league by Stern, the Wizards are hopeful that they can mend what Arenas' perceives as broken fences, and move forward with him as their franchise point guard.

“The Wizards did give him that $111 million contract when everyone thought they shouldn't, and this still is a player who was averaging 22 points and almost seven assists in his first season back from a two-year layoff,” the source said. “They know that, and would like this thing to work, but just have to see.”

[lupin]

Grunfeld, according to insiders, also remains hopeful that with Foye playing well and Miller back, for now, the Wizards possibly could turn things around and give him an excuse to keep the current roster together. With distractions starting to die off the hope is that results on the court also can improve. Foye, who is averaging 17.4 points and 7.2 assists in his last five games, is gaining more comfort as starting point guard, and Miller, who on Monday recorded 13 points, four assists and four rebounds off the bench, gives Washington another facilitator. But is it enough? We'll see . . .

OMFG! They just don't get it. Read that Boswell piece. It really sums up the misery that is he Washington NBA franchise situation since 1979.

[verbal8]

Grunfeld, according to insiders, also remains hopeful that with Foye playing well and Miller back, for now, the Wizards possibly could turn things around and give him an excuse to keep the current roster together. With distractions starting to die off the hope is that results on the court also can improve. Foye, who is averaging 17.4 points and 7.2 assists in his last five games, is gaining more comfort as starting point guard, and Miller, who on Monday recorded 13 points, four assists and four rebounds off the bench, gives Washington another facilitator. But is it enough? We'll see . . .

OMFG! They just don't get it. Read that Boswell piece. It really sums up the misery that is he Washington NBA franchise situation since 1979.

The roster should change significantly or EG should be fired.

The Wizards have guys like Haywood and Miller who could be ONE piece of a contending team. However they do not have a guy who is THE piece to build it around.

[WizStorm]

Grunfeld, according to insiders, also remains hopeful that with Foye playing well and Miller back, for now, the Wizards possibly could turn things around and give him an excuse to keep the current roster together. With distractions starting to die off the hope is that results on the court also can improve. Foye, who is averaging 17.4 points and 7.2 assists in his last five games, is gaining more comfort as starting point guard, and Miller, who on Monday recorded 13 points, four assists and four rebounds off the bench, gives Washington another facilitator. But is it enough? We'll see . . .

OMFG! They just don't get it. Read that Boswell piece. It really sums up the misery that is he Washington NBA franchise situation since 1979.

Let's play "Pick a Quote" that most aptly describes EG:
1) “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" -Albert Einstein
2) "Common sense is not so common." -Voltaire
3) "There's a sucker born every minute" - P.T. Barnum

[verbal8]

Good piece from Boswell this morning. Hands should have this drummed into his brain.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03530.html

While most of the article does not make the Wizards ownership look good. The Kwame Brown situation makes it look like it was lack of preparation that caused Jordan's issues as a GM.

From the article:

And it's brutally true. At his introductory news conference, Kwame Brown brought his family minister. I asked him about the teenager's background and was told an immediate relative was in prison for murder and other relatives were in jail, too. It wasn't a secret. Brown had big hurdles ahead of him and little support behind him. So I asked various members of Michael Jordan's front office how they planned to help Brown. None knew anything about his family.

They'd drafted Brown No. 1 overall while barely knowing him.

Putting that little homework into one of the biggest investments the team makes is inexcusable.

[gesa2]

Let's hope one of two things are true:
1. Ernie is playing the media, talking up the current team and players to increase their value on the market and suppress the concept that this is a desperate, fire sale situation.
or
2. Leonsis will hand Ernie his walking papers as soon as he assumes control of the team.

'Cause even if Arenas comes back next year, and reconciles with the team, we ain't winning a championship with this crew. This team is soft as Charmin.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

Paul Pierces take on the Arenas situation
http://www.paulpierce.net/blog/truth-ha ... 2010/01/19

I know everybody talks about the Gilbert Arenas incident, and don't get me wrong I talk about it too. I think it's a shame. The ownership, the management, they're not behind him. They're trying to void his contract. They're not supporting him after all he's done for the organization. They know what type of guy he is. They know he's never had a bad rap or a bad reputation. He just made a mistake. I don't really see like a support system around there for him. It's a messed up situation.

But it's bigger than that.

Guns aren't things that you're supposed to play around with. You look around and you see how many kids and how many adults die from gun violence every day. That's not something to play around with. He's going to learn from it. He's seeing the repercussions from it. He's suspended. He could go to jail. His whole life could change.

It's not a joke. People don't joke like that. You hear stories about guns just going off on people. Look at what happened to Plaxico Burress. Nothing good comes from showing off guns.
Tragedies happen to even the most innocent. You don't have to be a thug, you don't have to be a criminal, you don't have to be a bad guy. Stray bullets hit kids all the time. You see kids playing with guns, and by accident, they shoot their father or the mother or their sister or their brother. Or themselves. And you never think it could happen.

[AceDegenerate]

Paul Pierces take on the Arenas situation
http://www.paulpierce.net/blog/truth-ha ... 2010/01/19

I know everybody talks about the Gilbert Arenas incident, and don't get me wrong I talk about it too. I think it's a shame. The ownership, the management, they're not behind him. They're trying to void his contract. They're not supporting him after all he's done for the organization. They know what type of guy he is. They know he's never had a bad rap or a bad reputation. He just made a mistake. I don't really see like a support system around there for him. It's a messed up situation.

And there you have the rest of the league's perception of this franchise going forward. This whole situation should have been handled better from the Top down.

[montestewart]

Paul Pierces take on the Arenas situation
http://www.paulpierce.net/blog/truth-ha ... 2010/01/19

I know everybody talks about the Gilbert Arenas incident, and don't get me wrong I talk about it too. I think it's a shame. The ownership, the management, they're not behind him. They're trying to void his contract. They're not supporting him after all he's done for the organization. They know what type of guy he is. They know he's never had a bad rap or a bad reputation. He just made a mistake. I don't really see like a support system around there for him. It's a messed up situation.

And there you have the rest of the league's perception of this franchise going forward. This whole situation should have been handled better from the Top down.

If the average player view around the league is that Arenas' prior gun charge doesn't in any way color this and that a player (that gets paid 18.5 million per year needs a support system at age 28 to prevent such "mistakes," yet speaks about the voiding of the contract as if it's a thoroughly documented action, rather than a consideration, there is indeed a perception issue. It looks like a severe labor-management divide, and both sides should worry about the perceptions of the public. I do note that Pierce spent most of the post talking about guns and gun violence, essentially pointing back to Arenas' original mistake. Maybe that was just a CYA.

[AlohaWiz]

<snip>

Let's play "Pick a Quote" that most aptly describes EG:
1) “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" -Albert Einstein
2) "Common sense is not so common." -Voltaire
3) "There's a sucker born every minute" - P.T. Barnum

Another game we can play is "3 NBA Wishes." Imagine if you found a magic genie bottle that contained a genie inside who would grant you 3 NBA wishes, meaning the wishes had to be NBA related.

My first wish would be to see a full season without injuries or felonies or alien abductions or whatever with the following rotation: Arenas, Miller, Butler, Jamison, Haywood, Foye, Blatche, etc. I think they would have an above average chance at the ECF and NBA Championship. They have their obvious weaknesses so I'm not saying they'd be a top tier contender (not many teams can be the Lakers and Celtics though), but I think they'd be in the mix.

It seems like just yesterday that the Wiz and Cavs were playing one of the most exciting Wizard's playoff series in decades--three games out of six decided by 1 point with the last 2 in OT. I know, it sounds like I'm living in the past and maybe I am to a certain extent. It's just frustrating when you think of how close the Wiz played Cleveland in that series without Foye and Miller and a mature Blatche. I'd just like to know the answer to "what if the team could keep it together for a full season...?"

So I guess my point is that I don't think EG has been doing the same thing over and over. He's been attempting to do that, but the team has been derailed due to injuries, etc. so it's not quite the same as actually doing it.

My second wish would be for a Wizard's championship regardless of the players.

My third wish would involve multiple members of various NBA dance teams none of whom are members of the Chicago Luv-a-bulls. Oh, and Jello. Lots of Jello.

[hands11]

Good piece from Boswell this morning. Hands should have this drummed into his brain.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03530.html

LOL. I read it. We will see. I've read lot of articles. They say all kind of things and lots of times they are wrong.

I'll say it again, I get that plan. I understand that it is defensible. I just think there are other defensible plans and I'm not giving up on what we have right now. The bench is still not what I would want but I like the core. This is the first time we have had this group and they are gelling. Hell, we just got MM back.

But what I do know is that Dallas is us next and I'll be pulling for a win.

[hands11]

Let's hope one of two things are true:
1. Ernie is playing the media, talking up the current team and players to increase their value on the market and suppress the concept that this is a desperate, fire sale situation.
or
2. Leonsis will hand Ernie his walking papers as soon as he assumes control of the team.

'Cause even if Arenas comes back next year, and reconciles with the team, we ain't winning a championship with this crew. This team is soft as Charmin.

Why does this so remind me of Abe dumping Nash over J Howard.

Talk about repeating mistakes and insanity.

[montestewart]

Let's hope one of two things are true:
1. Ernie is playing the media, talking up the current team and players to increase their value on the market and suppress the concept that this is a desperate, fire sale situation.
or
2. Leonsis will hand Ernie his walking papers as soon as he assumes control of the team.

'Cause even if Arenas comes back next year, and reconciles with the team, we ain't winning a championship with this crew. This team is soft as Charmin.

Why does this so remind me of Abe dumping Nash over J Howard.

Talk about repeating mistakes and insanity.

Of all the Bullets/Wizards GMs I've seen going back to Ferry, Nash was the only one that seemed both determined to use the draft to create success and capable of making it work. Replacing him with Unseld pretty much says it all as far as the direction the franchise was going.

I'd take Nash over Grunfeld right now.

[lupin]

They have a .423 winning percentage over 31 seasons. Worse than the Nationals. And they get off so easy, too.

[DCZards]

OMFG! They just don't get it. Read that Boswell piece. It really sums up the misery that is he Washington NBA franchise situation since 1979.

I read Boswell's column and there's no arguing with the facts that he brings out about the years and years of Bullets/Wizards mediocrity. However, what he fails to mention is that just EVERY smart NBA-type, including several top GMs, thought EG had gotten it right when he hired Flip and traded the fifth pick for Miller and Foye. In fact, prior to the start of the season, the Zards were picked by some mags and websites as one of the top ten teams in all of the NBA.

Everyone, including most of us on this board, were raving about the Wizards mix of vets and youth, the team's depth and the potential for an outstanding (maybe 50 plus win) season.

So what happened? Jamison goes down with an injury near the end of preseason, then Foye followed by Miller gets injured. Then the team's best player pulls a stupid prank and gets suspended.

You combine all of this with the fact that the team was learning a new system, under a new coach and you have to wonder that maybe, just maybe, the problem--at least with this year's team--isn't the lack of talent...but just plain old dumb luck. At least that's the way I see it.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

I don't see it. When Jamison came back it was the same team that made it to the playoffs year before last, and they SUCKED. Not struggling with a new system. Struggling with a new system is going 4-6, not 2-8. Caron sucked. Gil sucked. N1 sucked. Blatche sucked. McGee sucked. They all sucked, Sucked, SUCKED!

Now. I've noticed that when MM is in the lineup they play like a completely different team. So I'm giving them one more month to win me over.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

OMFG! They just don't get it. Read that Boswell piece. It really sums up the misery that is he Washington NBA franchise situation since 1979.

I read Boswell's column and there's no arguing with the facts that he brings out about the years and years of Bullets/Wizards mediocrity. However, what he fails to mention is that just EVERY smart NBA-type, including several top GMs, thought EG had gotten it right when he hired Flip and traded the fifth pick for Miller and Foye. In fact, prior to the start of the season, the Zards were picked by some mags and websites as one of the top ten teams in all of the NBA.

Everyone, including most of us on this board, were raving about the Wizards mix of vets and youth, the team's depth and the potential for an outstanding (maybe 50 plus win) season.

So what happened? Jamison goes down with an injury near the end of preseason, then Foye followed by Miller gets injured. Then the team's best player pulls a stupid prank and gets suspended.

You combine all of this with the fact that the team was learning a new system, under a new coach and you have to wonder that maybe, just maybe, the problem--at least with this year's team--isn't the lack of talent...but just plain old dumb luck. At least that's the way I see it.

It's all that and the fact that Gil was really off his game the first 15 games back for him, and Butler was very, very slow to adapt to Flip's system.

Flip doesn't have the same approach with the same players that EJ probably would have done better with thus far. In the long run I'm sure Flip will field a better defensive team and one that follows his system.I've been most critical of Flip for forcing his system at the expense of wins. I will not ignore or forget the series of games this team lost by 10 or more points while failing to score 90 to 95 points, while Flip played a short bench with lots of Oberto, Stevenson, and without Jamison as Gil and Caron both struggled mightily. It certainly didn't help that Miller was injured right as Jamison returned and that Foye got hurt. Flip's had bad luck to deal with but he also hasn't been a good coach IMO most of the time.

I DO LIKE when he plays 9 or 10 guys, and I think with Foye/Miller this team's going to play its best basketball. So don't think I'm just killing Flip. They can do what he asks of them. I fully expect, if this roster is not gutted, to see darned good basketball the last half of the season.

[Hoopalotta]

A very interesting article from Truth about it here. Not good news exactly; maybe looks something like when they cut to the bridge of the Klingon battle cruiser right when it gets slammed with a volley of photon torpedos.

There's lots more if you follow the link too.....

http://www.truthaboutit.net/2010/01/a-l ... #more-4980

As you can imagine, it’s not fun to be in the locker room after a losing effort, especially after the poor showing the Wizards gave to their home crowd on Friday night. But if you like watching people and their mannerisms as I do, being in a room full of divided millionaires is great fodder for the brain, but not so much for Wizards fans.

Enough of the train-wreck analogies and how their imagery seems too painful on the eyes, yet unavoidable to watch. No, these 2009-10 Washington Wizards are like a ship going down in deep waters. The vessel is sinking fast and everyone wants to bail.

I’m not going to claim the post-game emotion was more distraught after the 112-88 loss to Miami than it has been for any of the other 28 losses this season, but it certainly was one of the most interesting, at least in terms of home games since I’m not a traveling blogger.

The post-game scene made it clear that Caron Butler going rogue on Flip Saunders was just a microcosm of an entire team trying to read the same old, tattered book, but with everyone turned to different pages.

I don’t want to portray that players are at odds with each other or that others have stopped listening to Coach Saunders. That is not what I witnessed, although I can’t speak for what goes on behind closed doors and in the minds of individuals.