How do you fix this team?

[pineappleheadindc]

It goes beyond the players - the entire organization is in dire need of leadership. Leadership that Uncle Ted needs to step in and deliver. Seemingly every single department of the Wizards organization is substandard.

-- Medical staff. We've gone over this a million times. But think about the great organizations. Do they have alumni who are on the record about things like procedures done incorrectly, so had to be done again? Or think about Rips nose.

-- Equipment managers. Would San Antonio ever put a player out there with a mis-spelled name on the back of his jersey? Or think about Shakur's debut with his #22 askew.

If everyone in your organization isn't completely dedicated to excellence, you have an organization like the Wizards.

Everybody - from Ted, to the guys who sweep up the practice court, to the trainers, to the ushers, to the players. Everyone needs to be excellent in their personal habits, in their personal affect, in how we accomplish things. Every meeting needs to start EXACTLY on time, no straggling. Everyone needs to move with purpose, do their jobs at 110%, look smart, be smart.

The issue with the Wizards is one of organizational culture. It's exceptionally difficult to change.

[Rafael122]

For a re-building effort, I'd say that EG has done pretty well. Let's ignore all the boobery of trading the 5th pick for Mike Miller and the Gilbert extension. As soon as we officially got into "blow up and re-build mode", you can't say he's done a crappy job. He drafted guys like Seraphin and Booker, who fit the mold as bangers and hard workers. He actually unloaded Arenas' contract. The trade this week made us younger, more flexible with $$, and brought us another 1st rounder. I say stay the course. Firing EG right now makes no sense, as he has done everything that Ted has asked him to do. I can't see how anyone could have blown this team up/rebuilt much better, while following Ted's formula.

Ernie has been able to oversee the rise and fall of this team. It's like he's been given a second chance to fix his mistakes.

[Rafael122]

It goes beyond the players - the entire organization is in dire need of leadership. Leadership that Uncle Ted needs to step in and deliver. Seemingly every single department of the Wizards organization is substandard.

-- Medical staff. We've gone over this a million times. But think about the great organizations. Do they have alumni who are on the record about things like procedures done incorrectly, so had to be done again? Or think about Rips nose.

-- Equipment managers. Would San Antonio ever put a player out there with a mis-spelled name on the back of his jersey? Or think about Shakur's debut with his #22 askew.

If everyone in your organization isn't completely dedicated to excellence, you have an organization like the Wizards.

Everybody - from Ted, to the guys who sweep up the practice court, to the trainers, to the ushers, to the players. Everyone needs to be excellent in their personal habits, in their personal affect, in how we accomplish things. Every meeting needs to start EXACTLY on time, no straggling. Everyone needs to move with purpose, do their jobs at 110%, look smart, be smart.

The issue with the Wizards is one of organizational culture. It's exceptionally difficult to change.

But, but he got beer holders in urinals now! And he painted the steps red!

Truthfully, Ted seems to be much more emotionally invested in the Caps moreso than the Wizards.

[nate33]

It goes beyond the players - the entire organization is in dire need of leadership. Leadership that Uncle Ted needs to step in and deliver. Seemingly every single department of the Wizards organization is substandard.

-- Medical staff. We've gone over this a million times. But think about the great organizations. Do they have alumni who are on the record about things like procedures done incorrectly, so had to be done again? Or think about Rips nose.

-- Equipment managers. Would San Antonio ever put a player out there with a mis-spelled name on the back of his jersey? Or think about Shakur's debut with his #22 askew.

If everyone in your organization isn't completely dedicated to excellence, you have an organization like the Wizards.

Everybody - from Ted, to the guys who sweep up the practice court, to the trainers, to the ushers, to the players. Everyone needs to be excellent in their personal habits, in their personal affect, in how we accomplish things. Every meeting needs to start EXACTLY on time, no straggling. Everyone needs to move with purpose, do their jobs at 110%, look smart, be smart.

The issue with the Wizards is one of organizational culture. It's exceptionally difficult to change.

How much of this is a GM's role? Is EG involved with these kinds of decisions or does he deal strictly with trades, free agency and the draft?

[Ruzious]

Truthfully, Ted seems to be much more emotionally invested in the Caps moreso than the Wizards.

I think that's a misconception here. The reason Ted bought the Caps was primarily because it was the only way he could get to buy the Wizlets. The Caps were not a good looking investment at the time he bought them, and Pollin - knowing Ted's goal was to buy the Wiz - pretty much let him know that - the only way you'll get em is to buy the Caps first. Now, it's true that in the meantime, Ted has become devoted to the Caps, but I would still assume that if he had to choose which team he'd rather be successful - he'd choose the Wiz over the Caps. Sorry for the tangent on a great thread topic.

[BanndNDC]

I think our main and first priority should be developing a vision of how we want to play. We need an organizational style. This has two components 1) upper management and background personnel (video, sound, medical etc) and 2) players, coach and gm. I am confident that Leonsis has started the process on the first part and will continue it. The second part im much more troubled about.

Right now we have an utter mishmash of talent, Multiple styles of players that do not mesh and do not complement each other. A team needs to be better as a whole than its individual parts would suggest. We need to identify a style we want to play and then go after players that fit that style. Style is more than just a coach, style is a type of player and way of playing (tempo, rhythm etc). And this I fear is Ernie's biggest failing. He has no vision, he's day trader/lottery player that is useful for a team at the cusp or in the middle but not for a team at the bottom. He's good at rebuilding on the fly by shuffling pieces but not at rebuilding from scratch. He is what he is and we need to see that and make a change.

Flip i'm agnostic about. I would go for another coach because I dont think he (or EG) have the fire of their youth. He's become set in his ways and we need the flexibility of a coach who is more flexible, adapting and tinkering with the system to get the most out of the players. I'd keep him for another year for financial reason and because i dont think he hurts us but he is not a long term solution.

Players: Unfortunately we need one more major piece before we can determine a future playing style. On the plus side, Wall is good enough that we have a few style options. Our pick (assuming we keep it, and honestly id probably be willing to trade it for Bogut) this year will determine what style we play going forward. P. Jones = athletic running team while Sullinger = half court bruising team for example. Once we have a second piece we need to start mixing in role playing, hard working system vets. No more EG style gambles on reclamation projects (crittenton and yi).

I think we need to acknowledge that nobody on the team besides Wall is a major building block. Some like Young are indeed useful players to have but their presence should not prevent us from going after true building blocks at their positions. No more muddling about with lateral moves and hoping they exceed expectations. Aggressively pursue a legitimate second option (Bogut, Cousins or even a Baltche for Oden swap). With second round picks take good college players that dont have major potential (the sam youngs of the world). In the new NBA the ideal team is athletic freaks (able to play at a certain physical speed) in the first squad and good basketball players (not athletes, but able to play at a certain mental speed) on the second squad. Stop with the allure of the windfall profit second rounders and focus on the stable long term small profit players.

Practical steps:
Play Baltche at center. While he might be better at PF he has more value at C. As others have said he doesnt have the motor for the 4 and his ability to hit the 15 footer and make a pass to a cutter could be very useful at the 5 (especially considering the dearth of quality bigs). If someone want to trade for him than go for it. I think he will have more trade value as a 5. Accept that he isn't Garnett two and hope he can become Kristic.

Do not play Baltche and McGee together for more than brief stretches. They do no complement each other style wise. Try McGee at the 4 with Seraphim. Finding out how his style would fit at the 4 and whether it could provide playing style flexibility is something useful that could come out of another lost season.

Fire EG or give him a face saving "promotion". As others have said, he has put us in a reasonable position in this holding pattern of a season. With the new CBA we will need somebody motivated enough to learn the ins and outs of the new system and wanting to make a mark. EG has gotten complacent and relies on his old ways too much.

Trade Bibby in the offseason or buy him out for a minimum of 2/3 savings. No need for a veteran malcontent who doesn't realize he isn't as good as he thinks. Fill the roster with Singleton/Ruffin types who are limited, know their limitations, and work hard. They instill the right sort of culture and are happy to be there.

Spend the offseason and the rest of this season improving all the background stuff. Trainers, assistants (shooting and big man coaches), gophers, presentation, scouts, analysts etc. There's not much we can do about the players for another year (need that second piece). spend this time fixing the background so that when we can improve the foreground the organizational framework is in place.

Drastically lower ticket prices to get people in the building and try and develop a fan culture. Developing a strong and desirable fan culture helps make a market more attractive. Hard working role players help in this regard. We as fans can accept losing, but we can't accept lack of effort (especially when theyre paid millions).

[nate33]

Regarding the dump Blatche or McGee debate, my thinking is that we can't keep both of them. It's simply not going to work. They're both soft with questionable work ethic. Maybe we can keep one and put the right system around him, but the other has to go. I think Blatche is the guy to go.

The way I see it, Blatche has a terrible motor, mediocre work ethic and has pretty much plateaued as a player. His motor will never get better and I doubt his work ethic will get better since he signed his new contract. It's always going to be a struggle to get him to play anywhere near his potential. And even at his best, he's just good enough to lose with given his high usage rate and low efficiency. Also, I think his work ethic and demeanor may rub off on other players in the locker room, though I'm not certain of this.

McGee has a great motor in games, but a bad work ethic in practice and a terrible basketball IQ. The thing about having a bad basketball IQ is that once you improve upon it, it is permanently improved. So if we give him one more year and motivate him by giving him competition for minutes with free agency looming, he'll have no choice but to improve his work ethic and basketball IQ. If he does not get better by the end of next year, we'll know he's a lost cause. If he does get better, that improvement should be more or less permanent because once you learn things about the game, it's hard to unlearn them. If, from that point forward, he simply continues to be tall, long, fast and energetic, plus incorporate his newfound understanding of defensive principles, he should be a good player for us permanently. He may never have the work ethic to develop a reliable offensive game, but even without that, he'll be a good player.

[nate33]

A real nice fix would be for Booker to shoot 1500 17-footers a day all summer long. If he can become a reliable catch-and-shoot shooter, he'll be Udonis Haslem on a pogo stick.

[Rafael122]

Regarding the dump Blatche or McGee debate, my thinking is that we can't keep both of them. It's simply not going to work. They're both soft with questionable work ethic. Maybe we can keep one and put the right system around him, but the other has to go. I think Blatche is the guy to go.

The way I see it, Blatche has a terrible motor, mediocre work ethic and has pretty much plateaued as a player. His motor will never get better and I doubt his work ethic will get better since he signed his new contract. It's always going to be a struggle to get him to play anywhere near his potential. And even at his best, he's just good enough to lose with given his high usage rate and low efficiency. Also, I think his work ethic and demeanor may rub off on other players in the locker room, though I'm not certain of this.

McGee has a great motor in games, but a bad work ethic in practice and a terrible basketball IQ. The thing about having a bad basketball IQ is that once you improve upon it, it is permanently improved. So if we give him one more year and motivate him by giving him competition for minutes with free agency looming, he'll have no choice but to improve his work ethic and basketball IQ. If he does not get better by the end of next year, we'll know he's a lost cause. If he does get better, that improvement should be more or less permanent because once you learn things about the game, it's hard to unlearn them. If, from that point forward, he simply continues to be tall, long, fast and energetic, plus incorporate his newfound understanding of defensive principles, he should be a good player for us permanently. He may never have the work ethic to develop a reliable offensive game, but even without that, he'll be a good player.

I'd rather trade McGee than to give him a $30 million contract hoping he's going to break out. He would have tremendous value.

[Spence]

Okay, Nate is one of my favorite members here at RealGM and he's asked a serious question so I should stop joking around and respond appropriately.

As usual, I agree with much of what Nate has written. Fire Ernie Grunfeld now and don't fire Flip Saunders, at least not yet. I'm totally on board with that.

Bench McGee. I'm totally on board with that. I'd probably move Blatche to center and promote Booker, as Nate suggests, but I'd even be open to starting Seraphin at center and leaving Blatche at forward. I know Seraphin is nowhere close to being ready to be an NBA starter, but the team has proven it can lose two games by a combined 50 points to average opponents with Javale McGee starting in the pivot. Is it really possible to do much worse than that with Seraphin in his place? I don't see how. But I'd promote Booker or Seraphin, whomever deserves it more by hustling in practice.

I don't want to give up on McGee just yet, but I'd definitely be willing to listen to offers this summer. Despite his immense potential, McGee should not be untouchable. A player who has made absolutely no effort to learn the pro game by his 3rd season has to be suspect.

Would definitely like to see Blatche moved during the offseason, preferably for a good wing player and a first round draft pick. [Yes, I still want draft picks. I never lose interest in them.] Blatche just seems like one of those guys who likes making a lot of money, but has no real fire to be great or win a championship. Because of his tenure with the team I don't want the younger players considering him a leader or regarding his example as acceptable for them, as well.

I'm not as impressed with Nick Young's work ethic as Nate is, though I don't consider his attitude toxic in the manner of Andray Blatche. I'd definitely be willing to listen to offers for Young, but I don't think moving him is critical. I'm suspicious of Nick, though. Basically, I'm suspicious of all the guys who put in time under the old regime. I guess I'm a Stalinist in terms of the Wizards -- anyone associated with the ancien regime should be sent to the camps. [Shoot all counter-revolutionaries!]

I think the team probably needs to get rid of two of the three starters I just mentioned via trades and get back better attitudes and first round picks.

By the way, I'm glad to see James Singleton get a mention. I was in favor of keeping him because of his wide body and great hustle. Cap issues be damned, hard workers have a value beyond their contribution in games. [Though, to be clear, Singleton was no Michael Ruffin. Singleton played well for us. He was more than just a hustle guy.]

[Spence]

A real nice fix would be for Booker to shoot 1500 17-footers a day all summer long. If he can become a reliable catch-and-shoot shooter, he'll be Udonis Haslem on a pogo stick.

Hopefully John Wall will be at the other end of the gym doing the same thing all summer long.

[pineappleheadindc]

It goes beyond the players - the entire organization is in dire need of leadership. Leadership that Uncle Ted needs to step in and deliver. Seemingly every single department of the Wizards organization is substandard.

-- Medical staff. We've gone over this a million times. But think about the great organizations. Do they have alumni who are on the record about things like procedures done incorrectly, so had to be done again? Or think about Rips nose.

-- Equipment managers. Would San Antonio ever put a player out there with a mis-spelled name on the back of his jersey? Or think about Shakur's debut with his #22 askew.

If everyone in your organization isn't completely dedicated to excellence, you have an organization like the Wizards.

Everybody - from Ted, to the guys who sweep up the practice court, to the trainers, to the ushers, to the players. Everyone needs to be excellent in their personal habits, in their personal affect, in how we accomplish things. Every meeting needs to start EXACTLY on time, no straggling. Everyone needs to move with purpose, do their jobs at 110%, look smart, be smart.

The issue with the Wizards is one of organizational culture. It's exceptionally difficult to change.

How much of this is a GM's role? Is EG involved with these kinds of decisions or does he deal strictly with trades, free agency and the draft?

Nate, I'm not sure. But I think EG's role is primarily players.

My point is that the Wizards need to turn around the entire organization. I think about successful organizations out there -- NE Patriots, San Antonio Spurs, etc -- they're not buying their success a la Yankees. They earn them thru a relentless pursuit of excellence from the top down.

For the Wizards, it means no more staying at the Portland hotel of Abe's buddy when on the road. Firing anyone who can't get simple things right like how to spell "Blatche" on the back of a jersey. In fact, everyone - from the janitor to secretaries to the security guards should have been able to catch that because everybody who gets a Wizards paycheck had better know our team and be focused on one moment - irrespective of their job. That moment: When players wearing our uniform step onto the court.

Nobody at Disney would let you misspell any one of their characters. Even the street sweepers are focused on stuff like that. Disney University and a culture of excellence makes it so.

We're an amateur group, who can't spell the names of our players, whose past player medical history when compared to other organizations - who coincidentally also excel on the basketball court - is bad.

If everyone, including EG, is focused on that - I'm not sure we would have extended Blatche ("Baltche", if you're the Wizards). If we have a culture which includes standards of excellent effort in everything, and if EG is part of the effort, we don't keep knuckleheads around. Because it's not just athleticism that matters, it's character. Would you want, at this moment in time, JaVale McGee or - slow and unathletic - Tim Duncan on your squad? I'd take Duncan in a heartbeat.

My only point is that the problem is bigger than just player evaluation when it comes to the failure of this franchise. It's a cultural problem that needs to be fixed - be with with existing personnel or new people who will embrace an environment that doesn't allow for anything less than total effort.

[LyricalRico]

Definitely agree with Pine that the organization as a whole needs an infusion of accountability. Maybe Ted needs to stop preaching happiness and start kicking some arse. I would keep EG, but I would understand if a change-for-the-sake-of-change move in the front office went down. The benefits of somebody's (anybody's) head rolling could out-weigh Ernie's streak of great moves. Hopefully it doesn't.



As far as on the court, this team needs an entire year of playing nothing but hardworking players. It'll be hard for Flip to reverse his stance (perhaps forced stance by management) on certain players, so that means a new head coach. And the front office has to be willing to support the new coach by promptly getting rid of anybody who doesn't buy-in to the new philosophy. Then run an extremely tight ship for an entire season and see who's still around at the end. Then you can start adding talent.

Here's to 2012!

[miller31time]

I'd be more inclined to take a "wait-and-see" approach with McGee if I saw an ounce of improvement from him. He is fundamentally the same player he was when he came into the league. He hasn't improved his post defense, he hasn't fixed his nasty habit of trying to block every shot, no matter if it's his man or another's. He hasn't developed one single post move. He believes every offensive rebound he gets is an automatic invitation to take a ridiculous, low-percentage shot. He is quite possibly the worst screen-setter in league history. I could go on and on.

If he looked like he cared about any of this, then I may be willing to give him a shot but I truly don't think he does.

[Spence]

That's my problem with McGee, as well, Miller. In his 3rd year in the NBA McGee has made absolutely no effort to learn anything about the pro game. He's content to get by with athleticism. I don't know if this is due to arrogance or laziness [most likely, a combination of both], but whatever the reason, McGee's progress is so slow it could be timed on a sun dial.

[nate33]

I'd rather trade McGee than to give him a $30 million contract hoping he's going to break out. He would have tremendous value.

In my plan, we don't give him that contract until after he has proven that he's worth it. He's not a free agent until 2012.

My main point about McGee is that I don't think his strengths and weaknesses lend himself to being a "contract year wonder" after which we resign him only to be disappointed in the new contract. A typical contract year wonder is a guy who is generally a little out-of-shape and/or a bit lethargic on the court, but then get into great shape and put forth great effort in an effort to get a new contract. McGee is already an exceptional athlete who can outcompete most pros on a physical basis, and he already demonstrates good energy when on the court. The things that McGee needs to improve upon (primarily basketball IQ and defensive fundamentals) are mental. They're the kinds of things that you retain once you learn them once. If McGee shows that he can do these things, I'm pretty confident that he'll be able to continue to do these things throughout the remainder of his contract.

[Spence]

The things that McGee needs to improve upon (primarily basketball IQ and defensive fundamentals) are mental. They're the kinds of things that you retain once you learn them once.

My concern about McGee is that he doesn't think he needs to learn those things. The fact that's he's learned so little indicates he's either exceptionally stupid or has just decided he's not going to study the pro game. Tossing out the first possibility as unlikely, we turn to the second possibility -- he does not learn because he does not want to or think he needs to.

That scares the hell out of me. I'm not sure how one reaches a person like that. I'm not willing to give up on McGee either, but his attitude concerns me enough that I'd listen to any reasonable offers from teams that think they can make him want to learn.

[leswizards]

I hate EG's apparent philosophy of getting a talent pool that is a mile wide, but only an inch deep. For example, the Wizards apparently have in Jordan Crawford, Melvin Booker, and Kevin Seraphin their back up SG, PF, and C of the future, when most people can't even agree if the Wizards have in Nick Young, Andray Baltche and Javale McGee their starting SG, PF, and C of the future.

I say their are 2 ways to look at it. If the Wizards are sold on Young, Baltche, and McGee, then the Wizards are pretty set, and after the next draft, the roster will look something like:

PGs - Wall, Atlanta's first
SGs - Young, Crawford
SFs - Washington's first, Lewis
PFs - Baltche, Booker
Cs - McGee, Seraphin

Or, if the Wizards are not sold on Young, Baltche, and McGee, I wish they would start worrying about getting reliable starters before they worry about getting backups. In this scenario, I wish they would roll the dice on Young, get the best player available at their spot in the draft, and then package Baltche, McGee, Booker, Seraphin, Crawford, and Atlanta's first to fill the 2 holes in their starting line up. Some people might complain about how these trade will eviscerate the bench, but my response would be that is what 2nd round picks, MLEs, league minimum vets, and future first round picks are for.

[nate33]

The things that McGee needs to improve upon (primarily basketball IQ and defensive fundamentals) are mental. They're the kinds of things that you retain once you learn them once.

My concern about McGee is that he doesn't think he needs to learn those things. The fact that's he's learned so little indicates he's either exceptionally stupid or has just decided he's not going to study the pro game. Tossing out the first possibility as unlikely, we turn to the second possibility -- he does not learn because he does not want to or think he needs to.

That scares the hell out of me. I'm not sure how one reaches a person like that. I'm not willing to give up on McGee either, but his attitude concerns me enough that I'd listen to any reasonable offers from teams that think they can make him want to learn.

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly. Those are indeed very big concerns. If McGee doesn't make a big leap next year in a contract year, then I'd try and trade him at the Trade Deadline for whatever I could get. All I'm saying is that I'm not to worried about overpaying him after being fooled by increased production in his contract year.

I'd also listen to offers now, but my guess is that we wouldn't get anything much. Nobody is going to offer much more than a pick in the mid-teens. If that's all that's on the table, I'd rather just gamble on him panning out.

[nate33]

Or, if the Wizards are not sold on Young, Baltche, and McGee, I wish they would start worrying about getting reliable starters before they worry about getting backups. In this scenario, I wish they would roll the dice on Young, get the best player available at their spot in the draft, and then package Baltche, McGee, Booker, Seraphin, Crawford, and Atlanta's first to fill the 2 holes in their starting line up. Some people might complain about how these trade will eviscerate the bench, but my response would be that is what 2nd round picks, MLEs, league minimum vets, and future first round picks are for.

Easier said than done leswiz. Nobody wants to be on the other end of a quantity for quality trade.