Poll: Grade Ernie Grunfeld

[Illuminaire]

He probably could, in certain systems. Flip has a more cerebral methodology than some coaches; it took several current Wizards the entirety of last season to get it down. Throw in the occasional language barrier trouble, adjustment to life outside his own country, and general inexperience with basketball and it's really no surprise that he's not getting PT.

It may be as simple as he doesn't get the plays right often enough in practice for Flip to feel comfortable putting him in. If that's the case, I'd expect to see him get some minutes by the second half of the year.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Lyrical will love this: Ernest has an eye for talent. I know Seraphin has it. Other teams with great scouting departments wanted Seraphin. I like the video's doclinkin posted. I loved Seraphin's wanting to play for Wall and especially him pounding his gigantic fist and smiling about what his role will be. I felt good about him draft day. Now, even though he looks short and Flip not playing him gives the perception that K Sera (I think doc would call him that) can't play; I HAVE FAITH IN GRUNFELD'S EYE FOR TALENT.

I think Seraphin's probably just adjusting to language issues, culture shock, Flip's hard ass ways, and Seraphin's also adjusting to the NBA talent. Who's he been up against in practice? McGee, who he has no chance to defend or rebound over right now. Blatche, who's a seasoned veteran who can draw fouls, dribble drive past him, or hit midrange shots. All the moves and handles Blatche has can't be giving Seraphin confidence. Neck Armstrong is a mauler who I think would probably have license to hack Seraphin all practice. Hamady N'Diaye was a defensive player of the year who can block Seraphin's shot. Yi Jianlian can shoot over Seraphin, can block his shot, and can take him far from the basket and convert or drive past him. Last, Booker's faster than Seraphin most likely, and every bit as tough if not tougher.

So, I think Seraphin might take a while, but it could be well worth the wait. I am guilty of wanting to see the Wizards have a big, athletic, bruiser with legit size backing up McGee and Blatche; but Seraphin's not ready yet. I think it might just be a matter of time.

[verbal8]

I upgraded from a C to a B.

Here is how I would judge his recent moves.

Draft John Wall A+
Booker B
Serahin/Hinrich trade B+
Yi trade B+
Signed Josh Howard A
Re-negotiating Blatche A-
Gee/Hilton Armstrong/Hudson A-

I think by the end of the season with some improvement of players(Booker/Seraphin and Yi) and a savy move or two he could be at an A level IMO.

[JonathanJoseph]

I upgraded from a C to a B.

Here is how I would judge his recent moves.

Draft John Wall A+
Booker B
Serahin/Hinrich trade B+
Yi trade B+
Signed Josh Howard A
Re-negotiating Blatche A-
Gee/Hilton Armstrong/Hudson A-

I think by the end of the season with some improvement of players(Booker/Seraphin and Yi) and a savy move or two he could be at an A level IMO.

LOL. You gave 7 grades, 6 of them were higher than a "B", so it looks like you think he's already an "A" GM.

[JonathanJoseph]

Just to recap, 8 months after starting from scratch, Grunfeld has Wall, Arenas, Blatche, McGee, Seraphin and Booker under contract for 3 or more years and LOTS of cap space to build around that core over the next 2 years.

Seems like the floor is a "B".

[hands11]

Perhaps I'm already in the holiday spirit, but today I'm upping Ernie's grade from me from C to A.

Grunfeld drafted McGee and Young. Talent I seriously doubted. Gave him an F on draft night when McGee was drafted. Well, I learned something. Ernie sees talent. Blatche at 47? Nick's playing very well now.

Ernie's pick, Booker, has shown a certain gravitas. Every since the game a while back where he started rebounding like crazy, Booker's shown he can get after it.

Ernie's coach, Flip Saunders, much as I love to hate on the guy has reached Blatche, McGee, and Young. (Dayum! How he do that?) Previous coaches haven't been sticklers who drew a line and said you walk this line or you sit. You don't do this my way and I won't play you. Here's what you're not doing my way. Flip's got to get the credit with McGee. Most importantly today I read that Flip said, "Every since they put McGee's name on the all star ballot he's played like an all star."

Wow. Guess on some levels this IS the right coach for this team. Heck if he wins what the hell bad can I say about Flip in the future? He's not that much of a hater at all it seems. Just a hard ass. That's okay, I guess. Credit EG for the coach.

EG REALLY impressed me bringing back Alonzo Gee and waiving Hudson. I like that Hudson made the team but he wasn't going to play with this backcourt. Impressive about bringing Gee is the guy only left to get the cash, which 99% of pros do. It's a business. Instead of taking it personally and emotionally, the Wizard GM that acquired the guy from the D League in the first place didn't have any hard feelings and acquired him again! Wow, that never would have happened under Abe's watch.

Right now, EG under Ted Leonsis is making all the right moves IMO. Give Rico's daddy Ernest an A.

This kind of thing is exactly the reason I started the thread (EG post Abe era started Nov 24, 2009 - Eval from then) back in July.

Interesting to read the comments of the last few pages as they have started to turn more toward that.

You did chime in back then and you gave him a grade of a B on July 31, not a C
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"
I gave EG a "B" for one reason. Big Picture. He seems to get it now.

I like that EG has acquired athletic, tough, primarily defensive-minder grinders. Seraphin looks like he will be a tough mother shut your mouth. Booker is a great athlete. N'Diaye wants to block every shot. Hinrich is a good defender and a scrappy player. Yi, while he's been a soft, IMO bad player so far, who makes too much money; is seven feet tall and very athletic. So, EG has gone and made this team taller, more competitive, and much more athletic. That alone deserves a B."

[LyricalRico]

I'm loving these posts!

[Illuminaire]

Don't worry. The first draft pick that turns out to be a bust, or the first non-optimal trade, and we'll break the pitchforks and torches right back at. *nodnod*

[closg00]

I'm loving these posts!

Must be a dream come-true for you Rico.I wrote previously that if the org gets Hamady and Seraphin off-of towel-waving status and into the NBDL with Alabi, Pittman, Aldrich & Davis, I promise to come here and grovel before you Still not a fan of the Howard & Armstrong signing.

[Dat2U]

I upgraded from a C to a B.

Here is how I would judge his recent moves.

Draft John Wall A+

I'm not going to get into it again with JonathanJoseph because its a complete waste of time on his and my part. But I do have one question. How much credit does Ernie Grunfeld get for drafting John Wall? Especially considering Teddy Leonsis was doing the John Wall dance right after he found out we landed the #1 pick. Did EG really have a choice there? It seems like the only ones who thought about other options at #1 where the stat geeks at WoW & on message boards and Reggie Miller (Reggie, please don't become a bad GM, stick with being a bad color analyst).

[nate33]

Agreed. EG gets 0 credit for John Wall.

[Zonkerbl]

Agree EG gets 0 credit for John Wall, but just came to this thread to give him credit for drafting McGee and hiring Flip Saunders, who it turns out figured out how to get to McGee and turn him into the mini-Stilt. Lovin it.

[JonathanJoseph]

I upgraded from a C to a B.

Here is how I would judge his recent moves.

Draft John Wall A+

I'm not going to get into it again with JonathanJoseph because its a complete waste of time on his and my part. But I do have one question. How much credit does Ernie Grunfeld get for drafting John Wall? Especially considering Teddy Leonsis was doing the John Wall dance right after he found out we landed the #1 pick. Did EG really have a choice there? It seems like the only ones who thought about other options at #1 where the stat geeks at WoW & on message boards and Reggie Miller (Reggie, please don't become a bad GM, stick with being a bad color analyst).

Hilarious, because Sam Presti would look like a comically bad GM if the Blazers had taken Durant. Oden, Jeff Green, Harden and Westbrook as a core group wouldn't win 25 games. I realize that's not a perfect analogy. RC Buford probably wouldn't look as smart without Duncan.

Every GM makes mistakes and luck always plays a role even if its small. So you can't discount the good luck (Wall) unless you want to give EG a pass for the bad luck (3 knee surgeries for Arenas who was becoming a franchise player, plenty of other injuries and Caron's mental implosion).

[Dat2U]

Every GM makes mistakes and luck always plays a role even if its small. So you can't discount the good luck (Wall) unless you want to give EG a pass for the bad luck (3 knee surgeries for Arenas who was becoming a franchise player, plenty of other injuries and Caron's mental implosion).

Is it bad luck that he gave Arenas $100 million+ after he already had two surgeries and still wasn't fully recovered. Is it bad luck that he stuck with a core for years that never won anything of merit before in his words things got "stale"??? The same GM that had preached "continuity" for years?

Don't bother answering, I guess in your world it is. Anyone can be lucky or dumb enough to be handed a superstar. Nobody ever called Danny Ferry a genius for drafting LeBron. Nor does anyone remember the name of the GM that drafted Dwight Howard and eventually got canned. Sure, EG was gift-wrapped John Wall but the key question is what he's going to do with it.

[verbal8]

I upgraded from a C to a B.

Here is how I would judge his recent moves.

Draft John Wall A+
Booker B
Serahin/Hinrich trade B+
Yi trade B+
Signed Josh Howard A
Re-negotiating Blatche A-
Gee/Hilton Armstrong/Hudson A-

I think by the end of the season with some improvement of players(Booker/Seraphin and Yi) and a savy move or two he could be at an A level IMO.

LOL. You gave 7 grades, 6 of them were higher than a "B", so it looks like you think he's already an "A" GM.

I still feel that his previous moves deserved the C, if you average an A and C, you get a B. I probably should have mentioned that, but didn't want to get sidetracked with evaluating his previous moves. Pre-Wizards, I think Grunfeld was a B level GM.

One thing about EG is that he has drafted pretty well, but his trades have been pretty mediocre. I think with Leonsis' emphasis on the draft he is a pretty good fit as GM. However he may not be the guy to make the final moves to create a championship team.

[hands11]

And while few give him much credit for wall, he did blow up the team once Abe passed so we would have cap space n as many losses as possible while looking at our young assets Not high draft pick. No John wall.

While there was some luck there. EG contributed to putting up in a situation that allowed that to happen.

[JonathanJoseph]

Every GM makes mistakes and luck always plays a role even if its small. So you can't discount the good luck (Wall) unless you want to give EG a pass for the bad luck (3 knee surgeries for Arenas who was becoming a franchise player, plenty of other injuries and Caron's mental implosion).

Is it bad luck that he gave Arenas $100 million+ after he already had two surgeries and still wasn't fully recovered. Is it bad luck that he stuck with a core for years that never won anything of merit before in his words things got "stale"??? The same GM that had preached "continuity" for years?

Don't bother answering, I guess in your world it is. Anyone can be lucky or dumb enough to be handed a superstar. Nobody ever called Danny Ferry a genius for drafting LeBron. Nor does anyone remember the name of the GM that drafted Dwight Howard and eventually got canned. Sure, EG was gift-wrapped John Wall but the key question is what he's going to do with it.

Uh, yes. It's the same knee surgery that Jason Kidd and Amare Stoudamire recovered from just fine which is why multiple teams were willing to offer Arenas the max. It is bad luck that Arenas wasn't completely healthy from then on (as he appears to be now) and Amare wasn't the one with the ruined career.

And Danny Ferry didn't get credit because he put together a terrible roster, his only good move was landing Lebron. Same with Otis Smith's predecessor. No one was is suggesting that Grunfeld should be judged ON landing Wall, rather that you can't discount that either.

[JonathanJoseph]

And while few give him much credit for wall, he did blow up the team once Abe passed so we would have cap space n as many losses as possible while looking at our young assets Not high draft pick. No John wall.

While there was some luck there. EG contributed to putting up in a situation that allowed that to happen.

right. And while Grunfeld was skewered for the Butler/Haywood trade, it looks more and more like a steal every day.

PS: with Deshawn shooting over 50% from 3 with a PER of 18.7, it looks like more BAD LUCK that DS's back prevented him from contributing the last 2 seasons. Deshawn has been better for them than either Butler or Haywood this year.

[verbal8]

Agreed. EG gets 0 credit for John Wall.

I don't think EG should get a ton of credit, but zero credit is not fair either. Drafting Wall may have been a no-brainer, but I imagine there were some trade proposals for the pick that may have been moderately interesting.

[closg00]

GM Ernie Grunfeld wants Washington Wizards to overcome injuries, gain more consistency

"I wish we would've had all of our players from Day One," Grunfeld said. "We're always going to look for ways to improve this team, but first we also want to see how this group comes together when we have our pieces. It seems like one guy goes down, and when somebody comes back, somebody else comes down. So we didn't have the kind of consistency and continuity that we really wanted.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 05667.html

You just jinxed us Ernie