If you took over as GM today, what would you do?

[pancakes3]

Mike Prada came up with a cute little nickname for Wall/Beal backcourt: BW Parkway.

It won't sound so cute when opposing players cut unimpeded to the basket. At least Okafor provided a Mixing Bowl.

Our 7 serviceable players are less 7 samurai and more 7 corners?

[verbal8]

An offseason move, but I would see about getting Thibs from the Bulls. It is really unfortunate that this year's 1st is already gone, since I am sure they would be willing to let him go to the Wizards for that(a protected 1st).

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Going back to the original question of this thread...

I would fire myself for being happy with both the Singleton and Porter picks.

Then I would replace myself someone who can actually evaluate talent.

[dckingsfan]

I would fire EG a second and third time... and retweet the firings each time.

Then I would go into a deep funk seeing where the team is. And then I would pray that Beal and Wall grow up very quickly.

[jivelikenice]

What has me especially irritated about this year is we can easily be a 3 seed and a 2nd round team. Is that great in and of itself? No, but it would set us up well for FA in the offseason. Instead we're really just the same team we were last year, but with Wall healthy versus missing the first 3 months of the season. I'm not asking for miracles here, but a better backup pg or combo guard/ a a half decent 4 / and a coach with a system that had some more movement would have us right there as the third best team in the conference. But instead we have no guard depth, we keep rotating between Ernie's kids at the 4, and Randy's system has us playing stagnant offense and terrible D right now. It wouldn't have taken a max FA to fix this. Simple things like prioritizing Nate Robinson, moving one of our 3s (if we were going to draft Otto), and finally bringing in a competent coach to protect our investment (you really trust the development of three top 3 picks to Wittman?) would have set us up just fine and wouldn't have cut into our financial flexibility next offseason. Look, I am an Otto fan and think he'll get it but why draft him if you're also going to re-sign Martell, and if you're going to keep Trevor? After you include Glen Rice and Singleton, thats 5 small forwards on a ridiculously imbalanced roster.

If the goal was to get us good as possible to position ourselves to make a significant move next offseason than commit to it! Don't half a$$ it by letting Randy derail the season and not getting a viable backup pg. Kirk and Miller should be available....Go get them with one of our expirings! Consolidate the bottleneck at 4 and just let 1-2 guys sink or swing and move the others.....There has been NO improvement since last year and thats UNNACCEPTABLE!

[Zonkerbl]

What has me especially irritated about this year is we can easily be a 3 seed and a 2nd round team. Is that great in and of itself? No, but it would set us up well for FA in the offseason. Instead we're really just the same team we were last year, but with Wall healthy versus missing the first 3 months of the season. I'm not asking for miracles here, but a better backup pg or combo guard/ a a half decent 4 / and a coach with a system that had some more movement would have us right there as the third best team in the conference. But instead we have no guard depth, we keep rotating between Ernie's kids at the 4, and Randy's system has us playing stagnant offense and terrible D right now. It wouldn't have taken a max FA to fix this. Simple things like prioritizing Nate Robinson, moving one of our 3s (if we were going to draft Otto), and finally bringing in a competent coach to protect our investment (you really trust the development of three top 3 picks to Wittman?) would have set us up just fine and wouldn't have cut into our financial flexibility next offseason. Look, I am an Otto fan and think he'll get it but why draft him if you're also going to re-sign Martell, and if you're going to keep Trevor? After you include Glen Rice and Singleton, thats 5 small forwards on a ridiculously imbalanced roster.

If the goal was to get us good as possible to position ourselves to make a significant move next offseason than commit to it! Don't half a$$ it by letting Randy derail the season and not getting a viable backup pg. Kirk and Miller should be available....Go get them with one of our expirings! Consolidate the bottleneck at 4 and just let 1-2 guys sink or swing and move the others.....There has been NO improvement since last year and thats UNNACCEPTABLE!

No, we're worse. Nene has not been healthy all season. Beal is worse. Singleton is worse. Vesely is worse. Seraphin is worse. And we traded a million dollars worth of Price for $2 million worth of Maynor. And we traded Okafor for Gortat. Gortat's ok but Okafor was better.

[jivelikenice]

Two players are playing well; Wall & Ariza. Everyone else who is a consistent part of the rotation has taken a step back. Booker and Vesely haven't regressed, they just haven't improved enough and their flaws show the more court time they get. Seraphin is a lost cause. Martell is playing ok, but I think this team would be at their best with him as a starter.

[stevemcqueen1]

I'd start drinking on the job. Show up a couple hours late everyday. It wouldn't matter. Wizards GM is apparently the safest job in sports.

[Dat2U]

If I was hired today....

I'd have a fire sale. Half price on an adequate and slightly aged big man rental. 60% off a well established and experienced wing man rental with playoff pedigree, 95% off on recent draft busts. I also have a slightly worn down but high quality big that's available for pennies on the dollar (negotiable).

No returns, no exchanges, all sales are final!

[jivelikenice]

If I was hired today....

I'd have a fire sale. Half price on an adequate and slightly aged big man rental. 60% off a well established and experienced wing man rental with playoff pedigree, 95% off on recent draft busts. I also have a slightly worn down but high quality big that's available for pennies on the dollar (negotiable).

No returns, no exchanges, all sales are final!

I'd agree with a fire sale to some extent because I don't think it would affect us in terms of tanking. Who's playing well that we would deal? If we trade Ariza, Martell steps in. Gortat is playing avg and Nene is playnig limited minutes. What would we lose by making everyone outside of Wall/Beal/Webster available that would hurt our odds of making the playoffs?

[TGW]

Everyone would be up for grabs if I were GM.

Wall would be the one I'd build around, because he's the only one I believe has the ability to be a game-changing talent.

Beal would not be untouchable by any means, and I thought it was utterly ridiculous that people were putting him on the untouchable shelf this past summer. He's definitely tradeable, and if the right offer came along for a legitimate bigman, I would make that move.

Everyone would be up for grabs for any combination of picks and young talent. Screw the "professionals" and veterans—bring in legitimate TALENT that WINS GAMES. No more lip service about getting good, and then winning. That's a loser's mentality.

[queridiculo]

I'd have to agree with that sentiment, Wall is the only player I'd consider untouchable right now, but an offer for Beal would have to involve a player with similar upside and recent production.

[fishercob]

This is where internet fandom divorces from reality.

The fire sale to the extent Dat describes is completely untenable. You couldn't sell the owner on it. You couldn't sell the precious few long suffering suckers who buy tickets on it.

More to the point, it's not necessary. Just put systems in place to do a better job selecting players -- in the draft, free agency, and trades, and there will be plenty of opportunity to take this team up multiple levels in the coming years.

IMO, a full on fire sale is a sh*tty plan.

[The Consiglieri]

If I was hired today....

I'd have a fire sale. Half price on an adequate and slightly aged big man rental. 60% off a well established and experienced wing man rental with playoff pedigree, 95% off on recent draft busts. I also have a slightly worn down but high quality big that's available for pennies on the dollar (negotiable).

No returns, no exchanges, all sales are final!

I like that.

Offer Singleton, Vesely and Booker 2nd rounders in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Try and trade Ariza for a protected 2016 first rounder.

Try and trade Gortat for a protected 2015 first rounder.

I would come in, Tell Leonsis he broke the rebuild, and it would take four years to fix it, but in four years we'd be a contender.

I would trade every single piece on the roster other than Beal, Wall, and Rice Jr, and just fill the team out with scrubs.

We'd lose probably 95% of the rest of our games and lock in a top 5 pick landing a franchise building stud this year.

We'd also have multiple picks in 2015 if I swung the Gortat deal right.

I think we'd have a contender by 2017 or 2018, and with Wall already signed, tough ---- if he doesn't like it, he took the max, he's gotta deal, and by the time Beal's deal expired, we'd be winning anyway.

Plus get loads of playing time for Rice Jr to see what we really have in him.

Instead we're going to suck out loud, late eighties style and not ccontend for anything until at least 2020. Awesome.

A lot of owners wouldn't listen, but we already know of one GM who got the thumbs up from his owner to go full on tank. If the fans don't get it, tough. The fans are happy with winning, but much happier with champions. I could deal with a few years of empty stands. The team has sucked for nearly 40 years. Whats another 4 at this point, especially if there's a pay off at the end?

I think a guy like Cuban would listen considering the quality of this draft. A smart owner would listen. All sports except football have fire sales every year midseason when its clear a title is impossible/playoffs are impossible and some years teams even waive the white flag when its still playoff possible, but a championship isn't.

Id love an owner and F.O. willing to do anything, anything at all, to build a true champion. I don't think it's a stupid idea at all, I just think a lot of fan bases are too foolish and owners too greedy to realize that unless you have a top 5 franchise player in this league, you're essentially irrelevant. The only way to win is to land a piece like that, and if your team has been garbage for decades, it's highly unlikely your gonna land a free agent, considering the tax friendly, and more marketing friendly realities of other teams.

[barelyawake]

Two players are playing well; Wall & Ariza. Everyone else who is a consistent part of the rotation has taken a step back. Booker and Vesely haven't regressed, they just haven't improved enough and their flaws show the more court time they get. Seraphin is a lost cause. Martell is playing ok, but I think this team would be at their best with him as a starter.

And yet, this board seems to give no credit for getting Ariza or Okafor for the periods where he was very productive.

EG needs to go. But, we tend to focus on everything he has done poorly and not those things he did that turned out well.

[TGW]

Two players are playing well; Wall & Ariza. Everyone else who is a consistent part of the rotation has taken a step back. Booker and Vesely haven't regressed, they just haven't improved enough and their flaws show the more court time they get. Seraphin is a lost cause. Martell is playing ok, but I think this team would be at their best with him as a starter.

And yet, this board seems to give no credit for getting Ariza or Okafor for the periods where he was very productive.

EG needs to go. But, we tend to focus on everything he has done poorly and not those things he did that turned out well.

LOL what turned out well exactly? Okafor get injured and was packaged with a first for a plyer that's a free agent at the end of the season. And while Ariza has been decent this season, he's an impending free agent playing for his next contract.

So the Okariza trade hasn't been good. It hasn't been horrible, but to claim that move as a successful one is reaching.

[The Consiglieri]

Especially considering the lost money to pursue free agents. What player(s), might we have been able to get if EG and the owner weren't such colossal idiots, and actually understood what the Bulls so clearly do. That winning in basketball today requires draft day/scouting acumen, great team building, great coaching, and expert salary cap management.

The Bulls just pulled the trigger on their own season, wisely understanding that they can't win with Rose hobbled by serious injuries, and the roster they have, but they can win down the road with smart management of their cap room, and potential cap room.

While we're using the amnesty on the wrong player because of philosophical discomfort with paying a player to do nothing, other teams are philosophically uncomfortable with long term failure and base their decisions on the best long term interest of their franchise.

I hate and loathe and despise this front office because not only is it incompetent, it also is filled with delusional hubris over the wisdom of its inane, and moronic decision making process.

I hate having idiots run our teams. It's very depressing to see brilliant, incisive minds managing the process of team building, and contending elsewhere, while your front office is making decisions based on the nickel diming philosophy of some AOL hack who understands nothing about sports, and Salacious B. Crumb on his shoulder, giggling hysterically while he pays obeisance and thus, insures his continued employment.

Beyond frustrating.

Okay, I'll relax.

[nate33]

Especially considering the lost money to pursue free agents. What player(s), might we have been able to get if EG and the owner weren't such colossal idiots, and actually understood what the Bulls so clearly do. That winning in basketball today requires draft day/scouting acumen, great team building, great coaching, and expert salary cap management.

The Bulls just pulled the trigger on their own season, wisely understanding that they can't win with Rose hobbled by serious injuries, and the roster they have, but they can win down the road with smart management of their cap room, and potential cap room.

While we're using the amnesty on the wrong player because of philosophical discomfort with paying a player to do nothing, other teams are philosophically uncomfortable with long term failure and base their decisions on the best long term interest of their franchise.

I hate and loathe and despise this front office because not only is it incompetent, it also is filled with delusional hubris over the wisdom of its inane, and moronic decision making process.

I hate having idiots run our teams. It's very depressing to see brilliant, incisive minds managing the process of team building, and contending elsewhere, while your front office is making decisions based on the nickel diming philosophy of some AOL hack who understands nothing about sports, and Salacious B. Crumb on his shoulder, giggling hysterically while he pays obeisance and thus, insures his continued employment.

Beyond frustrating.

Okay, I'll relax.

Epic rant!

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Especially considering the lost money to pursue free agents. What player(s), might we have been able to get if EG and the owner weren't such colossal idiots, and actually understood what the Bulls so clearly do. That winning in basketball today requires draft day/scouting acumen, great team building, great coaching, and expert salary cap management.

The Bulls just pulled the trigger on their own season, wisely understanding that they can't win with Rose hobbled by serious injuries, and the roster they have, but they can win down the road with smart management of their cap room, and potential cap room.

While we're using the amnesty on the wrong player because of philosophical discomfort with paying a player to do nothing, other teams are philosophically uncomfortable with long term failure and base their decisions on the best long term interest of their franchise.

I hate and loathe and despise this front office because not only is it incompetent, it also is filled with delusional hubris over the wisdom of its inane, and moronic decision making process.

I hate having idiots run our teams. It's very depressing to see brilliant, incisive minds managing the process of team building, and contending elsewhere, while your front office is making decisions based on the nickel diming philosophy of some AOL hack who understands nothing about sports, and Salacious B. Crumb on his shoulder, giggling hysterically while he pays obeisance and thus, insures his continued employment.

Beyond frustrating.

Okay, I'll relax.

You are my hero!

[barelyawake]

The fact that Oak got injured before that season started should have been anticipated? Why? Because of age? Of course, all the other players who dominate despite age should have been anticipated as well? It's pretty easy to be a detractor. Most basketball teams fail. If you are only a detractor, you will live a long life. It's harder actually playing for real money.

Yes, the Okafor/Ariza trade would have been good minus the injury.