EG post Abe era started Nov 24, 2009 - Eval EG from then

[closg00]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but FYI:

[quote="Marc Spears']
SpearsNBAYahoo Marc J. Spears
Longtime Wizards assistant Wes Unseld, Jr., spurns @lakers to take a similar position with the @warriors, source tells Yahoo! Sports.
[/quote]

http://twitter.com/#!/SpearsNBAYahoo/st ... 2191814657

Any sense on whether Wes Jr was indeed good at his job? The fact that he was recruited by two teams says something, I guess. But I never had a handle one way or the other on if he was truly a value add, or if he was merely a nepotistic hold-over from the Pollin era.

Thoughts? Will the EGgheads trumpet this departure as further evidence of EG finding his own identity in a post-Abe world? Or, will the EGgbeaters lambaste him for letting a young genius leave the fold?[/quote][/quote]

I am hoping this is the first signs of a purge ahead of us. Ernie hasn't been offered a new contract and a Wes Jr. probably sent feelers out, perhaps his contract wasn't renewed.

[keynote]

Mike Lee has a longer story about Wes Jr on Insider:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wiz ... l#comments

After his contract with the Wizards expired on June 30, Unseld Jr. also interviewed with the Los Angeles Lakers but is expected to join new Golden State Coach Mark Jackson. The Wizards have offered Unseld Jr. an opportunity to return to the team, but were unable to promote him to the bench, according to a league source. He is expected to receive a promotion with the Warriors — the team that swept his father’s Bullets in the 1975 NBA Finals.

Coaches are allowed to have three coaches seated on the front row, and those positions are currently occupied by Randy Wittman, Sam Cassell and Don Zierden in Washington. When Saunders signed his four-year, $18 million deal two years ago, his assistants were only given two-year deals. Mike Wells, a former assistant in Houston and San Antonio before coming to Washington, left the NBA altogether in May to join Paul Hewitt’s staff at George Mason.

According to a league source, the Wizards have offered or intend to offer contracts to the remaining members of Saunders’s staff --Wittman, Cassell, Zierden, Ryan Saunders and Gene Banks.

So, it looks like Jr. was ready to move up the ladder, but EG wasn't willing to make room for him. Well, good for him: he'll get a chance to make a dent on a brand new coaching staff under Mark Jackson. And, good (I guess) for EG: he didn't overvalue Wes (or his familial connection to the franchise's glory days) to the point that he was willing to make coaching promotions beyond his comfort level.

That is, unless Jr is really some sort of coaching savant.

Which brings me back to my earlier question: does anyone have a sense of how good a coach Jr is? Any inside skinny?

[fishercob]

A friend who coaches at a local university told me that in the scheme of things Wes Jr didn't have very much responsibility.

[Nivek]

From what I've heard, Wes Jr. was liked and respected within the organization and around the game. He's not a savant, but he works hard, prepares well and generally makes himself helpful. He started at the NBA equivalent of the mailroom -- video coordinator, advance scout, scouting report prep and the like. He did that for like 6-7 years before getting promoted to assistant coach where he started working directly with players, helping prep game plans, and getting involved with strategies. Probably a good move for him to get out of Washington where his dad casts a BIG shadow.

[hands11]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but FYI:

SpearsNBAYahoo Marc J. Spears
Longtime Wizards assistant Wes Unseld, Jr., spurns @lakers to take a similar position with the @warriors, source tells Yahoo! Sports.

http://twitter.com/#!/SpearsNBAYahoo/st ... 2191814657

Any sense on whether Wes Jr was indeed good at his job? The fact that he was recruited by two teams says something, I guess. But I never had a handle one way or the other on if he was truly a value add, or if he was merely a nepotistic hold-over from the Pollin era.

Thoughts? Will the EGgheads trumpet this departure as further evidence of EG finding his own identity in a post-Abe world? Or, will the EGgbeaters lambaste him for letting a young genius leave the fold?

I can't say I know what value he had here as a coach but I for one am happy they cleaned up one more piece of the past. Always made me cringe to her the words Unseld and coaching in the same sentence. It just brought back bad memories.

But I wish him well in his new place. I doubt he was going to be head coach here one day. Maybe he has a more clear path some place else.

[closg00]

Time for people to take a clean look at EG. You can question all you want the moves made while Abe was the owner of the team, Lord knows I found myself there more than once. Some of us give a lot of weight to the concept that EG was operating under a less that idea situation and that the owner has a lot to do with the game plan so it is hard to see a clear picture. The GM influences the game plan along with the head coach ( that hopefully is selected by that GM - see EFJ ), but the owner makes the final call on the direction of the franchise/team, sets the strategy of the organization ( win, make money, etc ). The owner signs the checks and is the final word on who gets signed specially if they are long term and for lots of money and what you do with your draft picks. So I'm trying to look at EG with fresh eyes in a environment that isn't as muddy. To me, that is a lot easier post Nov 24th, 2009.

Since then, EG ran on his own for a little while with no clear long term owner after Abe passed. He was doing the Polin's bidding while probably also thinking about Ted since he was the likely future owner. That was a tough space to operate but it looks like he did well. Then Ted bought the team and they partnered up.

While Abe was here, I often couched a lot of what looked like EG decisions saying he was doing Abes bidding. Ted even recently spoke about this when talking about giving up the 5th pick in last years draft by saying, if he was owner, that would have never happened. Plus EG had to GM all those years with EFG as the head coach who was hand picked by Abe before EG was signed as GM leading to a totally dysfunctions front office - IMO

Now that we have an organized front office with Ted, EG, and an EG picked coach Flip and Sam-I-Am, things look awesome to me and EG seems to be making sound moves. Ted is doing the stuff you want an owner to do. He is interfacing with the fans, he is upgrading the phone booth and setting our exceptions. He has also told us how he plans to run this franchise much like Abe told us the plan, win again before he dies. Now that we have a great owner, EG can focus on being a great GM for the long run.

So just evaluate what EG has done since Nov 24, 2009 and grade him. I think it's time to see what we can see. A line in the sand fresh look.

I give him an A.

From the yesterday's Washington Post article about Ted:

Leonsis has said he’s evaluating Grunfeld for what he’s done since Leonsis bought the Wizards in 2010, not all 13 of Grunfeld’s seasons in Washington. When the Wizards introduced Scott Brooks as their new coach in April, Leonsis said he didn’t really consider making changes to the front office.

This ^ has been Ted's talking point, is Hands11 the autistic bastard son of Ted, or does Ted channel Hands11 material?

[AFM]

Maybe Ted is hands11. It's his black out drunk alter ego. He wakes up most mornings with an empty bottle of Svedka and his laptop open on his chest

[montestewart]

Maybe Ted is hands11. It's his black out drunk alter ego. He wakes up most mornings with an empty bottle of Svedka and his laptop open on his chest

This is hands or Terd?

[closg00]

Maybe Ted is hands11. It's his black out drunk alter ego. He wakes up most mornings with an empty bottle of Svedka and his laptop open on his chest

This is hands or Terd?

A very suspicious triangle indeed: Hands - Ted- Millie, Ted and Hands mirror each other while Millie seems like more of professional FO troll. This investigation needs to be re-opened with a Watergate-style inquiry

[payitforward]

I imagine the poll for this thread is closed. I do notice that there's no selection for "F" -- what he clearly deserves.

[TGW]

My boy, the legendary hands11 is still at it on BF...what a prize that guy is:

About time ?
Please.

People have been on him every year. Kind of the opposite of " its about time"

I read nothing new in here from what I thought he was doing except the idea they chould move the team has finally been confirmed. And I can’t say that upsets me since I had suggested the idea myself. The team wasn’t always in DC. It was in Landover for year. In Baltimore before that.

Sorry, but no way Ted has been the worst of Dan and Peter Angelos. Both those owners came into storied franchises and screwed them up for 15 year. Dan took over as owner of the Skins in 1999 and basically Abe’d that franchise every since by trying to patch this then patch that with no long term plan.

I stopped watching the Os years ago because of Peter.

Ted has owned the Wizards since 2010. That is just 6 years. And in that time he has done a lot of rebuilding and did it with a longer term plan in place.

As someone who always excepted it would take 7-9 years to build this team up to being a consistent conference title contender, I’m just not down on him as other because I understood that from the start.

Ted is right to stick to this plan and ignore the overreacting trolling he gets. He has done better the Dan or Peter and I trust his plan vs those other two not having one.

As for Dan, it was just last year he was backing Robert to stay here and squeezed his GM and HC who out leveraged him to get Cousins in and trade Robert. Kind of us getting ride of Gil. Snyder has been much more like Abe with bigger pockets. Now if Scootie and Jay can finally get the team established ( which it looks like they are doing over the last two years) then Dan might just learn how to be a good owner.

Sorry, but no way Ted is the worst of those three.

[montestewart]

My boy, the legendary hands11 is still at it on BF...what a prize that guy is:

About time ?
Please.

People have been on him every year. Kind of the opposite of " its about time"

I read nothing new in here from what I thought he was doing except the idea they chould move the team has finally been confirmed. And I can’t say that upsets me since I had suggested the idea myself. The team wasn’t always in DC. It was in Landover for year. In Baltimore before that.

Sorry, but no way Ted has been the worst of Dan and Peter Angelos. Both those owners came into storied franchises and screwed them up for 15 year. Dan took over as owner of the Skins in 1999 and basically Abe’d that franchise every since by trying to patch this then patch that with no long term plan.

I stopped watching the Os years ago because of Peter.

Ted has owned the Wizards since 2010. That is just 6 years. And in that time he has done a lot of rebuilding and did it with a longer term plan in place.

As someone who always excepted it would take 7-9 years to build this team up to being a consistent conference title contender, I’m just not down on him as other because I understood that from the start.

Ted is right to stick to this plan and ignore the overreacting trolling he gets. He has done better the Dan or Peter and I trust his plan vs those other two not having one.

As for Dan, it was just last year he was backing Robert to stay here and squeezed his GM and HC who out leveraged him to get Cousins in and trade Robert. Kind of us getting ride of Gil. Snyder has been much more like Abe with bigger pockets. Now if Scootie and Jay can finally get the team established ( which it looks like they are doing over the last two years) then Dan might just learn how to be a good owner.

Sorry, but no way Ted is the worst of those three.

As someone who read practically all of every one of hands posts (seriously, I'm a fast reader) I can say that I don't recall him ever mentioning a 7-9 year rebuild. Ever. We fools would have laughed at such a ridiculous sounding notion (they laughed at Dr. Frank N. Stein too) so perhaps he wisely kept his prescience to himself. But history has been kind to his "prediction," because it looks like the rebuild is going to take at least that long.

But as Terd himself has said (The Plan, Sec. 10), "Never listen to bloggers, media, so called experts--to thine own self be true." In other words, "Never listen to anyone whose job doesn't depend on agreeing with you or who doesn't otherwise agree with you. The Plan and success are one and the same, if you stick to The Plan. And ignore anyone who says you're not sticking to The Plan, because The Plan did not plan for that."

[TGW]

The funny part about his 7-9 year prediction is that we're about to be into year 7, and the team has regressed. Even His hindsight predictions still manage to be wrong.

[payitforward]

Actually, if I remember correctly, according to Hands this was to be the year when our 3+ year window of contending for the NBA championship would open.

[FAH1223]

LOL

Hands must be a front office worker

[BigA]

Maybe Ted is hands11. It's his black out drunk alter ego. He wakes up most mornings with an empty bottle of Svedka and his laptop open on his chest

This is hands or Terd?

A very suspicious triangle indeed: Hands - Ted- Millie, Ted and Hands mirror each other while Millie seems like more of professional FO troll. This investigation needs to be re-opened with a Watergate-style inquiry

milellie111 will visit when the Wizards get 2 or 3 in a row, when he/she will start a thread titled "Ernie Grunfeld's Genius Cannot be Denied."

Tonight may be the best opportunity to get 2 in a row that they'll have for a bit.

[FAH1223]

He’s been GM longer under Ted

And it’s been terrible

[BigA]

At this point, Ernie's tenure feels like reign of one of those Eastern European dictators from the Cold War, like Nicolae Ceaușescu or Erich Honecker, who stayed in power for decades.