thomas1897

[thomas1897]

The Washington Wizards have had very good talent but collectively molding these individuals to understand playing as a team has been the major question to be answered by the players and the management.Drafting these players do they have the mental skills and basketball IQ to perform as a team and do they have complementary skills. The management has to be accountable for the types of players drafted and can they fit into the Wizards' system. Too many players over the previous seasons have come to Washington DC and played and not intergrated into the system(JaVal McGee, Andray Blatche, and Nick Young) or the coaching staff has not been organized to implement a system. Erie Grunfeld is an excellent GM; and I have high regards for the things he has tried to do with some failures and sucesses to his credit.The management has to get tougher and lay down the law and build this franchise around a team concept not talent.

[daSwami]

The Washington Wizards have had very good talent but collectively molding these individuals to understand playing as a team has been the major question to be answered by the players and the management.Drafting these players do they have the mental skills and basketball IQ to perform as a team and do they have complementary skills. The management has to be accountable for the types of players drafted and can they fit into the Wizards' system. Too many players over the previous seasons have come to Washington DC and played and not intergrated into the system(JaVal McGee, Andray Blatche, and Nick Young) or the coaching staff has not been organized to implement a system. Erie Grunfeld is an excellent GM; and I have high regards for the things he has tried to do with some failures and sucesses to his credit.The management has to get tougher and lay down the law and build this franchise around a team concept not talent.

Co-sign.

[DMVleGeND]

The Washington Wizards have had very good talent but collectively molding these individuals to understand playing as a team has been the major question to be answered by the players and the management.Drafting these players do they have the mental skills and basketball IQ to perform as a team and do they have complementary skills. The management has to be accountable for the types of players drafted and can they fit into the Wizards' system. Too many players over the previous seasons have come to Washington DC and played and not intergrated into the system(JaVal McGee, Andray Blatche, and Nick Young) or the coaching staff has not been organized to implement a system. Erie Grunfeld is an excellent GM; and I have high regards for the things he has tried to do with some failures and sucesses to his credit.The management has to get tougher and lay down the law and build this franchise around a team concept not talent.

[closg00]

HILARIOUS!!!! I needed a good laugh. Ernie Grunfeld an Excellent GM

[payitforward]

The Washington Wizards have had very good talent but collectively molding these individuals to understand playing as a team has been the major question to be answered by the players and the management.Drafting these players do they have the mental skills and basketball IQ to perform as a team and do they have complementary skills. The management has to be accountable for the types of players drafted and can they fit into the Wizards' system. Too many players over the previous seasons have come to Washington DC and played and not intergrated into the system(JaVal McGee, Andray Blatche, and Nick Young) or the coaching staff has not been organized to implement a system. Erie Grunfeld is an excellent GM; and I have high regards for the things he has tried to do with some failures and sucesses to his credit.The management has to get tougher and lay down the law and build this franchise around a team concept not talent.

Congratulations. This is an entirely pointless post. Not to mention that you created a thread whose subject is your userid. Good job.

[montestewart]

Thomas1897, I like the userid as thread name, kind of a personal performance art piece. I might borrow the idea, if that's OK.

I relate to your observations. The Wizards have struck on (lucked into?) some talents through the years. It often seems like they lean toward raw talents, longer on athleticism or one-dimensional skills and shorter on a refined skill set, and always with that slim hope home run upside. The best case scenarios (in our heads, anyway) for McGee, Blatche, and Young as perfect examples, and with McGee, it sometimes seemed like he was just about to turn the corner. My sense (and I don't think I am alone in this) is the Wizards have not maximized their chances of hitting home runs with some of these picks and other acquisitions. It's not like I expect every unrefined player or last chance former top pick to become something, and I do expect and like to see players taking personal responsibility for their own improvement.

Still, if the team drafts and signs players like that: clearly possessing raw talent but with a low BBIQ, low skills, bad reputation, or burned bridges or otherwise failed elsewhere, they should throw everything they can at them (tutors, camps, expectations built into contracts and informally in all interaction), rather than just expecting a player with such red flags to develop. Sure, some will, but far more will not, because they almost never do, and why waste a roster spot and a contract on such a player, if you're not ready to treat him like an irresponsible teen until he shows something? I'd much rather watch James Singleton/Cartier Martin types, humbly busting their a$$es, doing whatever they can, and happy to be contributing.

I think you, in your own words, have touched on some commonly identified problems. The thing that confuses me is that, after such an indictment of Wizards management and its failure to properly assemble and develop talent, integrate them into a system, employ a system conducive to the talent on the roster (though EJ did a good job of that on offense), and hold players accountable, you then credit EG with being an excellent GM. EG is of course the management. Every failure you have identified is EG's failure. If EG is a success, none of those things you have reported could possibly have happened. Or maybe it's in fact a performance art piece, and I came in the middle and just don't have enough understanding of the avant garde.

Thought provoking, to say the least. Please post more.

[payitforward]

Yes, please do post more -- I apologize for my snarky comment on this thread.

I hope you'll give me a pass on it and just chalk it up to frustration, the common condition of the Wizards fan. Thanks!