The Amazingly Suck Theodore Leonsis Thread

[Illuminaire]

Zachary is an employee in Monumental Sports... so he's fair game.

[montestewart]

Zachary is an employee in Monumental Sports... so he's fair game.

I imagined a wide-eyed child of nine

[AFM]

Here's my deal.
If you're gonna rebuild through the draft, you better nail every draft pick. You've got to draft the Durants and the Westbrooks and the Hardens. You can't draft a tall czech surfer boy at #6 when Kenneth Faried is still available. JAN VESELY IS NOT A BASKETBALL PLAYER!!!!! Basketball was named quite literally as it involves putting the ball into the basket, which he couldn't do to save his family.
And don't even get me started on Santorasky whoever he is. My immediate thought on that pick was that Vesely begged Ernie to draft his friend so he could finally visit America.

[GhostsOfGil]

Zachary is an employee in Monumental Sports... so he's fair game.

I imagined a wide-eyed child of nine

I've done work for Monumental sports and talked Zach a few times. He's a bright young man. Hard worker, someone who deserves his position, definitely not earned through nepotism.

[Illuminaire]

Good to know. So tweeting him is not just fair game... it's potentially effective!

[FAH1223]

[closg00]

I say this as a Democrat. If Ted was a Republican Ernie would have been fired this past Summer.

[Nivek]

I've done work for Monumental sports and talked Zach a few times. He's a bright young man. Hard worker, someone who deserves his position, definitely not earned through nepotism.

This is one of those puzzling things about the Wizards. You've found Zach Leonsis to be smart. In my interactions with the front office, I've found Tommy Sheppard and Milt Newton to be smart. Ernie not "smart" per se, but at least not a dolt. Ted certainly isn't a dummy.

And yet, their decision-making as a group is "standard" at best and craptacular at worst. And the "craptacular" decisions are all too frequent.

[Illuminaire]

We've seen repeatedly in Ernie's career that he lacks vision. He does not see the forest through the trees, and he does not assemble complete rosters or factor in what happens three years down the line with any regularity.

To me, this places a hard cap on how good any decision that comes out of that group can be. EG is just not thinking beyond what will keep his job next season. Moreover, imagine working under that kind of manager... it would be really, really hard to keep presenting good ideas, knowing they will always be shot down.

[dandridge 10]

I nominate this as the dumbest thread ever.

lol

I posted that comment 2 years ago. I thought it was a stupid thread at the time because Leonsis just became our owner and did not have anytime to implement his plan. I still think it was stupid to start that thread then (and most other posters felt the same way).

It is different now. We have had 2 years now under Leonsis, and while is initial plan to rebuild the team was sound IMHO, he has since veered off that plan. Moreover, while I did not have a problem with Leonsis riding out the contract of EG, there is NO WAY Leonsis should have extended his contract given EG's track record with this team.

While I have lost confidence in Ted, I still think he can be a good owner. However, he has to realize he made a mistake with EG and let him go sooner rather than later. If he doesn't, he will at least lose one long-time season ticket holder, because I am not renewing next year if EG is still the GM.

[miller31time]

We really have to hope that the Wizards are SO bad this season that even fans of opposing teams won't want to watch their team blowout the Wizards.

Ted said the only thing that speaks to him is numbers (sales, merchandise, tickets, etc). I'm not going to any games this season (it would have only been about 5 or 6 since I life in Baltimore) but if more people thought like that and the Verizon Center becomes a ghost town, changes will HAVE to happen.

[keynote]

Compare the fake quote to the real one:
http://www.tedstake.com/2012/11/14/no-e ... ast-night/

We don’t have enough developed talent right now to play one-on-one basketball.

We must always play hard on defense, rebound well, and keep games close. We must get the 50 -50 balls. We must out-hustle and out-work the other team to compensate for our being shorthanded.

Last night we took 31 3-point shots. We hit only five of them. Five of 31. Phew.

We shot less than 30 percent from the field.

We shot less than 70 percent from the charity stripe and both teams had the same amount of free throws. We were outscored there because of our misses by six points.

We went 12 minutes without scoring a basket at game’s end.

As noted within, we have a game tonight. So the team has to put that one behind us and give great effort and focus on fundamentals this evening against the Mavs in Dallas.

Anytime an owner says "we don't haven enough talent," a GM *should* sleep with one eye open. However, Ted hedged his assessment by saying "we don't have enough *developed* talent," which means he may still envision a future where this collection of talent can form the core of a legitimate team.

I, on the other hand, have a difficult time coming up with 5 teams with bleaker prospects (read: talent, upside, + cap position) than the Wizards.

[bulletproof_32]

I did not renew my season tickets this year. I had them for 8 years prior to this season. My attendance had really waned in the last couple of seasons and I just didn't look forward to attending games like I used to. Back when my ticket rep kept contacting me about renewing for this season I basically told her not to call me anymore about renewing until the Wizards have a new GM.

[dandridge 10]

I did not renew my season tickets this year. I had them for 8 years prior to this season. My attendance had really waned in the last couple of seasons and I just didn't look forward to attending games like I used to. Back when my ticket rep kept contacting me about renewing for this season I basically told her not to call me anymore about renewing until the Wizards have a new GM.

That is where I am going to be next season if EG is still the GM. Although I have thought about not renewing before, I always end up renewing in part because I have great seats (lower bowl, middle section) and in part because I always think they might be close to turning the corner. However, I don't think they will ever turn the corner with EG at the helm. Moreover, I figure if I want good seats, I can just get them at a reduced rate on stubhub. I've just had enough of the incompetence of this organization.

[sashae]

I, on the other hand, have a difficult time coming up with 5 teams with bleaker prospects (read: talent, upside, + cap position) than the Wizards.

You can think of one with a worse situation? Who??

[keynote]

I, on the other hand, have a difficult time coming up with 5 teams with bleaker prospects (read: talent, upside, + cap position) than the Wizards.

You can think of one with a worse situation? Who??

I dunno. I suppose our team has the bleakest outlook, but I figured arguments could be made for other rosters here and there. Golden State's roster might be more injury-prone than even our own - and no one on their team has the upside we hope Wall has. The Kings are building around a guy who got suspended for yelling at Sean Elliott for being a homer. I'm still not a huge fan of Charlotte's roster, other than MKG, and teams relying on Kemba Walker/Dana Barros/Monta Ellis types to lead them rarely win in the NBA. The Pistons' best player, Monroe, has a low ceiling (will he be any better than Al Jefferson?), and their most talented prospect (Drummond) is still an unknown. Granted, they'll obtain cap flexibility more quickly than the Wizards do, but DET *really* has a problem attracting FAs. Ted thinks we have it bad, but most FAs would rather live in the DMV than on the outskirts of that husk of a city.

The Wizards definitely lack talent, and have some fundamental problems that player development can't fix (e.g., lack of offensive firepower, a collection of short-armed, short guys in the front court, a glut of relatively unskilled 3/4 tweeners, etc.). But 80% of the best-case scenario for Wall, Beal, and Seraphin's upside could be the core of a decent team.

[queridiculo]

FAs don't want to play in DC because of the documented lack of commitment to winning by this franchise.

Leonsis had a chance to make a relative clean cut with the previous regime but chose the status quo instead.

Realistically what this franchise could be looking like right now if not for the collective incompetency of the Wizards organization.

Wall/Mack
Harden/Webster
Leonard/Singleton/Crowder
Farried/Booker
Asik/Seraphin

Coach: Jerry Sloan / Adelman

[payitforward]

Wall/Mack
Harden/Webster
Leonard/Singleton/Crowder
Farried/Booker
Asik/Seraphin...

??? How were we going to have Leonard, Faried and Singleton?

If we had Leonard and Faried, we wouldn't have had the #3 pick to trade for Harden.

We also wouldn't have had the #32 to pick Crowder.

Where's McGee if he wasn't traded for Nene (which, if we'd picked Faried, he probably couldn't have been)?

How'd we get Asik?

[llcc25]

Wall/Mack
Harden/Webster
Leonard/Singleton/Crowder
Farried/Booker
Asik/Seraphin...

??? How were we going to have Leonard, Faried and Singleton?

If we had Leonard and Faried, we wouldn't have had the #3 pick to trade for Harden.

We also wouldn't have had the #32 to pick Crowder.

Where's McGee if he wasn't traded for Nene (which, if we'd picked Faried, he probably couldn't have been)?

How'd we get Asik?

Ok. Realistically, if we had drafted Leonard, Faried, and Isaiah thomas(instead of mack) last year, we would not have drafted 3rd. Maybe 6 or 7th where we could've picket up Lillard or Barnes...We probably would've let McGee as I don't think we would of matched his FA offer and could've gone for cheaper alternative in Asik. And then with those savings sign a FA SG this past summer like D Green.

Wall/Lillard/Thomas
Green/Crawford
Leonard/Webster
Faried/Booker/Vesely
Asik/Seraphin

Now thats more realistic..

[Higga]

He should have cleaned house and started from scratch in 2010. Instead he decided to keep the culture of suck for another three years. Ted is just as guilty as Grunfeld if not more so of this disastrous state the franchise is in.