The Amazingly Suck Theodore Leonsis Thread

[Wizardspride]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

Washington Wizards plan for new practice facility away from Verizon Center

The Washington Wizards are in the preliminary stages of planning a practice facility separate from the Verizon Center, owner Ted Leonsis said in a recent conversation.

Leonsis has appointed a team to set the groundwork for a state-of-the-art basketball complex that would be the hardwood equivalent to the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington that he has already built for the NHL’s Washington Capitals. Leonsis would like to complete the project by 2017, at the latest, and said the next step — which has yet to begin — is to find a location in the District, Virginia or Maryland.

“We’ve envisioned . . . our own major facility close by," Leonsis said from his office at Verizon Center. “We’re excited and committed and we think it’s the right thing for the franchise. We think it’s the right thing for the fan base. We certainly think it’s the right thing for the players.”

[Ruzious]

How awesome is this from the Bucks board:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BcNyNXnCAAAGpOJ.jpg

They've had the same issue with their owner as we've had.

(The short guy is pro rassler Ausin Aries.)

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

That Ted piece in the WaPo sports section this morning had me throwing up in my mouth.

He is such a brazen huckster and, all but admitted that he doesn't really give a s**t about his teams outside of their ability to provide inexpensive and useful content for his digital media.

Something fundamental changed in the 19th century when sports became something people paid to watch. Until then, sports were about playing.

For a century or so, they became, largely, about consuming.

Now, we fans are part of the content. We go to games to generate excitement and make the digital production seem meaningful, desirable, marketable.

Long time Caps fans love to hate on the newby Rock the Redders. They see them as dupes in Leonsis's marketing game who don't recognize an inferior product.

I've always (probably without reason) held on to the hope that Ted actually cared about basketball and that he actually cared about winning a championship... that there was some fandom buried underneath the Brooks Brothers suit.

Alas, the article this morning lifted the veil.

[Upper Decker]

Snyder >>>>>>>>> Ted

[jivelikenice]

I always though Snyder would be a better bball owner and Ted a better fball owner. But Snyder might go too far with it and end up being a Dolan.

[closg00]

That Ted piece in the WaPo sports section this morning had me throwing up in my mouth.

He is such a brazen huckster and, all but admitted that he doesn't really give a s**t about his teams outside of their ability to provide inexpensive and useful content for his digital media.

Something fundamental changed in the 19th century when sports became something people paid to watch. Until then, sports were about playing.

For a century or so, they became, largely, about consuming.

Now, we fans are part of the content. We go to games to generate excitement and make the digital production seem meaningful, desirable, marketable.

Long time Caps fans love to hate on the newby Rock the Redders. They see them as dupes in Leonsis's marketing game who don't recognize an inferior product.

I've always (probably without reason) held on to the hope that Ted actually cared about basketball and that he actually cared about winning a championship... that there was some fandom buried underneath the Brooks Brothers suit.

Alas, the article this morning lifted the veil.

Link to article please

[fishercob]

Snyder >>>>>>>>> Ted

Nah.

[Upper Decker]

Snyder >>>>>>>>> Ted

Nah.

Just curious, why has it taken 6 years for this to come to light? Don't you think Vinny would have dropped this nugget eventually on his radio show? I have a difficult time believing anything Schefter says about the Redskins because I know Shanny feeds him, and that front running do-gooder Sally Jenkins. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Shanny "leaked" this to Schefter to make Snyder look like the villian. In Shanny's mind if he floats this than maybe people will believe that ole' Danny boy was meddling the entire time Shanny was the coach, too.

[pineappleheadindc]

That Ted piece in the WaPo sports section this morning had me throwing up in my mouth.

He is such a brazen huckster and, all but admitted that he doesn't really give a s**t about his teams outside of their ability to provide inexpensive and useful content for his digital media.

Something fundamental changed in the 19th century when sports became something people paid to watch. Until then, sports were about playing.

For a century or so, they became, largely, about consuming.

Now, we fans are part of the content. We go to games to generate excitement and make the digital production seem meaningful, desirable, marketable.

Long time Caps fans love to hate on the newby Rock the Redders. They see them as dupes in Leonsis's marketing game who don't recognize an inferior product.

I've always (probably without reason) held on to the hope that Ted actually cared about basketball and that he actually cared about winning a championship... that there was some fandom buried underneath the Brooks Brothers suit.

Alas, the article this morning lifted the veil.

Link to article please

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/ca ... story.html

[Ruzious]

Yeah, I was convinced Ted was one of us - he took ownership of the Caps, but his real goal was to own the Wizards because he was a big fan who wanted to win a championship - and he had all the right intentions and the smarts and charisma to pull it off. Boy, did he fool me on all counts.

[Nivek]

OF COURSE Vinny wanted to pick Charles. Who in their right mind wouldn't have.

In other DC sports news, Grunfeld really wanted to pick Faried over Singleton, but got overruled by Snyder.

[jivelikenice]

Unfortunately Ted has only himself to blame. Ernie's inability to find a reserve combo guard and a stretch 4 capable of playing even 20 minutes per game and Randy's porous coaching are holding this team hostage. I'm not asking Ted to pay the luxury tax. If they had just made simple inexpensive tweaks such as signing Nate Robinson, trading for a bench stretch 4 like a Patterson or a Marcus Morris, and hired a competent coach we'd potentially be a 47-50 win team in this conference. But instead we have 17 million and our most recent lotto pick tied into the SF position, all of whom are incapable of creating their own shot, no backup 1 or 2 which especially hurts with the minutes limit for beal, and no stretch four which makes it more difficult to drive in end of game half court situations. Also if we don't trade for salary pre-deadline, we're stuck either replacing Gortat or resigning him and only having the MLE to acquire talent.

[Silvie Lysandra]

Snyder >>>>>>>>> Ted

Nah.

Snyder is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better of an owner than Ted.

Snyder actually cares about his team winning, he's just bad at picking competent personnel and has a tendency towards nepotism. Eventually, he'll figure it out because he really does want the Redskins to win and is willing to spend to make it happen.

Ted literally only cares about the $$$, sure Snyder cares about marketing and all that but he does want the team to win, Ted's basically a smoother-talking Don Sterling without the racism.

[Ruzious]

OF COURSE Vinny wanted to pick Charles. Who in their right mind wouldn't have.

In other DC sports news, Grunfeld really wanted to pick Faried over Singleton, but got overruled by Snyder.

Btw, who's Vinny blaming for picking Devin Thomas earlier in that second round?

As the saying goes, Vinny vidi dumbarse.

[jivelikenice]

The funniest Vinny story is him calling up Denver in a panic when Orakpo slipped. He was offering picks to move up one spot and supposedly they told him to relax and that he'll get his guy. 1. this shows how supid Vinny is; 2. i never understood why Denver wouldn't just fleece us of an extra pick to move down one spot and still take Moreno?...I'm not sure you can believe anything the dude days.

[payitforward]

...Ted literally only cares about the $$$....

I detest the way Ted manages this franchise, but I don't think that's quite it.

I think he cares mostly about some goal he has to create a twenty-first century sports business -- i.e. to innovate and transform the industry; be a leader.

Of course, growth and profitability would be the metric of success for this business initiative, as it would be for most business initiatives. But I don't think the money itself is the overriding goal.

I don't mind this idea he has; it's kind of cool. Unfortunately, it has not the first thing to do with creating a really good team and contending for a title. If anything, it seems like he's given up on that.

[queridiculo]

Leonsis may be afflicted by the same delusion that many business leaders are.

The idea that management structures, vision and leadership have more to do with an organizations success than the talent and desire of the people that actually carry out the work.

Winning basketball games starts with talent and when the decision makers continually demonstrate that they fail to evaluate, attract and develop capable players you get the Washington Wizards.

Leonsis idea of success isn't to win a championship, it's to create the air of competitiveness so that the casual fans/suckers continue to line his pockets.

Leonsis would rather be mediocre, than taking the risk that a shot of greatness may net him yet another Jagr/Bondra sized disaster.

It's the lesson he's learned as a Capitals owner, and he'll continue to carry on that tradition of almost winning for as long as he control his monumentally average sports conglomerate.

**** me, I'd rather have the owner that dares to be great while falling flat on his face than see this farce carried on for yet another decade.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Excellent analysis QR.

[TGW]

Look at this drivel Ted wrote in his blog. I can't believe he took the time to write this bs:

We have played 50 games to date and we have won 25. Only 12 teams in the NBA have chalked up 25 wins or more at this point in the season. That is a positive sign of progress.

We are back at 500. We started off this season at 2 and 7 and have rallied to play much better basketball. We finish this short home stand with a 3 and 2 record, and now hit the road for two games before the All Star break.

We have some positive news with Al Harrington getting ready for his return after 2 months on the sideline due to surgery. See article here.

We won a game we should have won last night against the Kings. Mostly we can credit a strong defense effort in that the Kings average more than 100 points per game and we held them to 84.

Many pixels and videos follow, all packaged here for your easy consumption. Click away- here, here, here, here, and here. Enjoy this Monday .

I mean, is he really proud of the season this team has had so far? To boast about having a .500 record in a weak conference tells me this guy isn't about winning. At least Abe wanted to win championships—Turd is just concerned with PR and marketing his brand.

I guess he's not concerned at all with fans of opposing teams just overrunning the stadium and drowning out the Wizards fans. As long as he makes his money he has no problem with the product. Pathetic.

[JonathanJoseph]

But all of these assumptions ignore the fact that Leonsis would make more money if the franchise were winning. I think Ted understands that more wins equals more fans in the seats.

There is something definitely missing, however. It's hard to look at Grunfeld's tenure as anything other than terrible, from either a macro or micro perspective.