Official Countdown to Firing"NoLowPostOffense"Grunfeld

[WizStorm]

http://www.bulletsforever.com/2010/5/18/1476909/although-he-has-made-few-public#comments

Well, now that it looks like Grunfeld will be retained, it may be time to close a 90-page thread. Obviously Leonsis was wise enough to look beyond wins and losses and saw an executive that had made a number of good moves that, for various reasons, didn't work out.

How many folks here were backing Grunfeld besides me? Not very many.

<<<fingers crossed for ping pong balls>>>

Is this supposed to be some sort of vindication for EG? Just because he's getting a 2nd bite of the apple to rebuild this sorry franchise and not have his contract terminated early isn't much to crow about. Come back in a few months after some solid moves before crowing about being such a fan of his.

I'm sincerely hoping he's learned from his past mistakes (and he's made them at every stop) and can make some very shrewd basketball decisions during the latest rebuild of his own mess. Maybe the previous ownership was the problem and EG was simply a limp puppet doing the Pollin's biddings. At least now we can take that excuse out of the equation and EG can show us exactly what he's got. One can only hope ... lord knows this franchise is desperate for something positive.

[Silvie Lysandra]

I'm sincerely hoping he's learned from his past mistakes (and he's made them at every stop)

this is what the EG defenders refuse to come to terms with - EG builds teams the same way every year, no matter where he's at. He made the same mistakes in NY as he did in Milwaukee as he did in Washington. So why do people simply assume he'll somehow get better? Because he found himself on the right side of a few trades?

[JonathanJoseph]

http://www.bulletsforever.com/2010/5/18/1476909/although-he-has-made-few-public#comments

Well, now that it looks like Grunfeld will be retained, it may be time to close a 90-page thread. Obviously Leonsis was wise enough to look beyond wins and losses and saw an executive that had made a number of good moves that, for various reasons, didn't work out.

How many folks here were backing Grunfeld besides me? Not very many.

<<<fingers crossed for ping pong balls>>>

The fact that we will not be selling or trading our lottery pick this year is headline-worthy on the Wiretap. There are plenty of good reasons why a large majority of board-members were for firing Ernie. There are good reasons why Ernie was roasted in the media. But you know what? Ernie's not getting fired. Ernie & Flip both signed contracts around the same time so Ted would start-out having to eat millions if he fired Ernie. Good or bad, it is what it is. Ernie starts with a clean-slate on draft night.

This has nothing to do with Grunfeld's contract. Leonsis just shelled out hundreds of millions and wouldn't try to save a few million if he thought he had the wrong guy running the franchise.

[JonathanJoseph]

How many folks here were backing Grunfeld besides me? Not very many.

I'm right here with you, buddy. Keep fighting the good fight!

Yup, don't think it goes much farther than you and me though.

[JonathanJoseph]

I'm sincerely hoping he's learned from his past mistakes (and he's made them at every stop)

this is what the EG defenders refuse to come to terms with - EG builds teams the same way every year, no matter where he's at. He made the same mistakes in NY as he did in Milwaukee as he did in Washington. So why do people simply assume he'll somehow get better? Because he found himself on the right side of a few trades?

While Grunfeld was the Knicks top executive, New York advanced to at least the Conference Semifinals of the NBA Playoffs each season. He had five 50-plus win seasons, three Atlantic Division Championships, and two trips to the NBA Finals (in 1994 and 1999). In eight seasons as general manager or vice-president of player personnel, his Knicks teams had a record of 397–227 (.636), and a 61–44 record in the playoffs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Grunfeld

[mohammed10]

Just had a thought...

Ernie is making calls to see who he can trade the pick for...

[KevinFCheng]

Just had a thought...

Ernie is making calls to see who he can trade the pick for...

[willbcocks]

"The day worked out well for Grunfeld in a number of ways, as Leonsis said earlier that he plans on retaining him and Coach Flip Saunders, granting them the opportunity to rework the franchise going forward. "I, right now, would say that they're my guys," said Leonsis, who kept George McPhee as general manager when he took over the Capitals in 1999. "I've looked at what their collective records have been in the league and it's a strong record of success. I've spent some time with them now over the last two weeks and they are very, very bright and good people."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 05225.html

[Hoopalotta]

I guess that pretty well settles it.

Well unless Closg00 pulls a page out of the New Jack City playbook and guns him down on the steps of the Verizon center like Neno Brown after his court hearing.

[closg00]

I guess that pretty well settles it.

Well unless Closg00 pulls a page out of the New Jack City playbook and guns him down on the steps of the Verizon center like Neno Brown after his court hearing.

Hmmm, I do work in Chinatown

What can I say, I wasn't the only one who wanted Ernie gone. Oh-well, let's see what he does, we will all be watching on draft-night to see if he can't help himself but to trade or sell one of our picks.

[willbcocks]

No way he'll be selling our picks. Not with Ted's quote.

EG will be fine on draft night. The 1st pick is a can't miss and Leonsis will have the final say there. Given his success with the consensus #1 Ovie, there's no way he passes over Wall. Grunfeld is good late in the draft, so I'm not worried about the 30/36.

Free agency is where he could hurt us by signing a soft/poor defensive player to a near max contract. That is the worst case scenario. We need a long term strategy. It has to commit to defense. We need a plan of how to use Arenas, what FA's we're going to target and when and how they will fit with our personnel. Getting that plan right will be the difference between us becoming a decent team or a championship-caliber team in the long run.

[Hoopalotta]

Free agency is where he could hurt us by signing a soft/poor defensive player to a near max contract. That is the worst case scenario.

We'll, even there we've got Ted as the final arbiter on all the check signing so I don't think there's much of a chance of that happening.
















Right?

[closg00]

Free agency is where he could hurt us by signing a soft/poor defensive player to a near max contract. That is the worst case scenario.

We'll, even there we've got Ted as the final arbiter on all the check signing so I don't think there's much of a chance of that happening.



















Right?

Potential FA signings are a very legit area of concern, look at what happened just last year. Is Ted going to micro-manage FA signings? Ted is relying upon Ernie's judgement?

Time to take this type of discussion to the FA thread I suppose.

[JonathanJoseph]

I'll take it a step further than I did with my last post. Isn't it time to start talking about what a GREAT job Ernie Grunfeld has done?

Everyone was quick to blame the results on Grunfeld despite the franchise being the victim of terrible luck (injuries, Caron's mental implosion, guns in the locker room) so now isn't the opposite true?

The results are now in and the midseason trades have turned out to be another HUGE win for Grunfeld. Grunfeld saved Pollin/Leonsis about $8-$10M in cash in salaries/luxury tax payments in the short term, opened up $15M in cap space for this season, got rid of Butler and Jamison who have now both been exposed as overrated and who both hurt their teams, got McGee/Blatche a ton of playing time and got the Wizards in position to draft John Wall and another late 1st round draft pick.

So is anyone still complaining that the Wizards didn't have Brendan Haywood for the last meaningless 30 games?

The Wizards are looking at Wall/Arenas/Blatche/McGee and plenty of cap space, 2 trade exceptions and some draft picks. Who's eating crow?

[willbcocks]

I think the problem was expectations were too high here about what we could get for Butler and Haywood. We got nothing, we all got pissed, and the Jamison trade wasn't enough to change the mood back. If the order had been reversed on the trades, I think it may have been different.

It really has been a stunning turnaround though. In Jan-Feb we were completely hopeless. There was no future to speak of. Then we ditched all the baggage, get Gil back without jail time (though IMO he's still baggage, it's better than having salary occupied by a jailbird), Dre blows up, and even Mcgee and Young stop looking like total trash.

Anticipation is the best part of being a fan. We need to squirrel away these nuts of anticipation over the next couple years in case we hit another famine...

[WizStorm]

I'm done bringing up the past right now. All i'm going to say is that event Wes Unseld would've made those moves to dump veterans last season and could've gotten the same in return (aka - nothing). If someone wants to act like getting the #1 pick is somehow die to EG great management skills, to each their own. All I have to say, if we would've gotten the 8th pick, the tune would be a LOT different right now.

I can only imagine what a good GM could've gotten last summer for AJ and Caron when their values were high. We maybe could've had a couple more lottery picks or good young players and had a full rebuilding year with the youngsters on the team. Add the #1 pick to that mix and you could be talking future dynasty right now.

But like I said, I'm done talking about the past and look forward to a brighter future.

[LyricalRico]

I'll take it a step further than I did with my last post. Isn't it time to start talking about what a GREAT job Ernie Grunfeld has done?

Everyone was quick to blame the results on Grunfeld despite the franchise being the victim of terrible luck (injuries, Caron's mental implosion, guns in the locker room) so now isn't the opposite true?

The results are now in and the midseason trades have turned out to be another HUGE win for Grunfeld. Grunfeld saved Pollin/Leonsis about $8-$10M in cash in salaries/luxury tax payments in the short term, opened up $15M in cap space for this season, got rid of Butler and Jamison who have now both been exposed as overrated and who both hurt their teams, got McGee/Blatche a ton of playing time and got the Wizards in position to draft John Wall and another late 1st round draft pick.

So is anyone still complaining that the Wizards didn't have Brendan Haywood for the last meaningless 30 games?

The Wizards are looking at Wall/Arenas/Blatche/McGee and plenty of cap space, 2 trade exceptions and some draft picks. Who's eating crow?

I think the problem was expectations were too high here about what we could get for Butler and Haywood. We got nothing, we all got pissed, and the Jamison trade wasn't enough to change the mood back. If the order had been reversed on the trades, I think it may have been different.

It really has been a stunning turnaround though. In Jan-Feb we were completely hopeless. There was no future to speak of. Then we ditched all the baggage, get Gil back without jail time (though IMO he's still baggage, it's better than having salary occupied by a jailbird), Dre blows up, and even Mcgee and Young stop looking like total trash.

Two of the best posts in this entire thread!

[closg00]

I'm done bringing up the past right now. All i'm going to say is that event Wes Unseld would've made those moves to dump veterans last season and could've gotten the same in return (aka - nothing). If someone wants to act like getting the #1 pick is somehow die to EG great management skills, to each their own. All I have to say, if we would've gotten the 8th pick, the tune would be a LOT different right now.

I can only imagine what a good GM could've gotten last summer for AJ and Caron when their values were high. We maybe could've had a couple more lottery picks or good young players and had a full rebuilding year with the youngsters on the team. Add the #1 pick to that mix and you could be talking future dynasty right now.

But like I said, I'm done talking about the past and look forward to a brighter future.

Hold-up Storm, we still have the draft coming-up and FA"s to sign. Let's wait until after the off-season before putting this thread to rest. Let's not let our happiness with getting the top pick erase years of horrific decision-making and mis-management from our memories.

[WizStorm]

I'm done bringing up the past right now. All i'm going to say is that event Wes Unseld would've made those moves to dump veterans last season and could've gotten the same in return (aka - nothing). If someone wants to act like getting the #1 pick is somehow die to EG great management skills, to each their own. All I have to say, if we would've gotten the 8th pick, the tune would be a LOT different right now.

I can only imagine what a good GM could've gotten last summer for AJ and Caron when their values were high. We maybe could've had a couple more lottery picks or good young players and had a full rebuilding year with the youngsters on the team. Add the #1 pick to that mix and you could be talking future dynasty right now.

But like I said, I'm done talking about the past and look forward to a brighter future.

Hold-up Storm, we still have the draft coming-up and FA"s to sign. Let's wait until after the off-season before putting this thread to rest. Let's not let our happiness with getting the top pick erase years of horrific decision-making and mis-management from our memories.

No worries, 1st bad FA signing and i'm making this thread a sticky!

[no D in Hibachi]

I know in 2005 and 2008 EG wasn't planning on conducting a full blown rebuild program. Nor could have have imagined that he'd land the No. 1 pick in the draft with the best PG prospect of the decade available, so I'm not really giving props to EG. As they say, sometime better to be lucky than good, BUT drafting young, raw, talented bigs first and then acquiring the phenominally talented guards is the proper way to rebuild. Andray Blatche was a total gamble who paid off and has really come into his own at 23, but it took 5 years. JaVale is as talented of a big man that you'll find; is still raw, but he's had two years of NBA seasoning to develop. If he can show some sort of pulse defensively the Wiz front line will be prime for a huge breakout this year. It's nearly impossible to rebuild the other way around. Just ask the Hornets. They have Chris Paul, but don't have time to develop bigs. EG's draft strategy of swinging for the fences on bigs seems to be working, even if there was a lot of luck involved.