Countdown to Ernie Grunfeld Firing (Part 2)

[doclinkin]

As a Raptors fan, if it's true regarding EG's incompetence, he makes Colangelo look like Pat Riley! which is hard to say.

I watch a bit of hockey too and I can't believe Leonsis hasn't grown a pair and kicked McPhee to the curb. If he won't do that, I'm afraid he won't do it to Grunfeld unless he retires.

Do your research...

http://nhl.si.com/2014/04/26/washington ... t-renewed/

I can't believe the short sightedness of how badly Ernie has screwed in terms of drafting and making short sighted moves. To me, he should have kept Kendall Marshall as a good backup to Wall since he was young and was on an entry level deal. I like Miller personally since he can be a good veteran influence for the young backcourt although I'd rather have waited on the Nuggets to buy him out and then snap him up for the vet minimum. The other shocking factor was taking Vesely. What did he see in him? He should have went in hindsight to Kawhi Leonard.

What else in your or any Wizard fans opinions have you guys or gals felt has been lacking or extremely disappointing? What would you guys be looking to do in the off-season that needs to be addressed?

I personally feel that a lot of this could be a mirage due to the east being awful.

[montestewart]

It pains me to say this because I want EG and the rest of management gone, but I gotta point out that the player development with Beal has been fantastic. They probably could have had Beal stick to his comfort zone of being a catch-and-shoot player for his first 2 years and he would have put up very solid, efficient numbers roughly like Klay Thompson. But instead, they forced Beal into being a ball handler. The results were comically bad in his rookie year, and depressingly mediocre during most of his 2nd season. But it all really seems to be coming together now. The kid is calmly averaging 21, 5 and 5 in the playoffs (in low-scoring games) while being guarded by two of the best perimeter defenders in the league.

The Wizards have never seemed to have a boot camp-type atmosphere, with assertive, in-your-face veterans, multiple nagging coaches, various carrot-on-a-stick incentives or spike-on-a-stick disincentives, all working together to bring players into the fold. This aspect of player development presumably varies greatly from team to team, and is hardly needed on a team filled with professional veterans like Ariza and Gortat or self motivated younger players like Beal, Wall, and Booker.

Unfortunately, players like Blatche, McGee, Young, and Crawford might have really needed such a disciplined setting. Some players need much more guidance and intervention than others, and I can't understand why the Wizards don't either throw everything they possibly can at making a young player work out, or else just stop drafting that type of player.

[JonathanJoseph]

It pains me to say this because I want EG and the rest of management gone, but I gotta point out that the player development with Beal has been fantastic. They probably could have had Beal stick to his comfort zone of being a catch-and-shoot player for his first 2 years and he would have put up very solid, efficient numbers roughly like Klay Thompson. But instead, they forced Beal into being a ball handler. The results were comically bad in his rookie year, and depressingly mediocre during most of his 2nd season. But it all really seems to be coming together now. The kid is calmly averaging 21, 5 and 5 in the playoffs (in low-scoring games) while being guarded by two of the best perimeter defenders in the league.

Very true. But you've gotta go back to the common denominator, because there have been lots of young players with talent in the EG era and most have been comically poorly developed. It's super (SUPER) that both Wall and Beal are making "the leap" at the exact same time and on the biggest stage, but the overall track record of player development remains rock bottom poor. Beal is on his way towards becoming a special player, and most of that was god-given, not the result of the Wizards player development.

The Sam Cassell/John Wall relationship, however, might be starting to pay some real dividends.

[TGW]

Not if Cassell is the one who's telling John to take more midrange jumpshots.

[closg00]

Wall and Beal are top-3 picks with the commensurate talent to succeed.Vesely, Seraphin, and others, are not the type of players that are going to improve through osmosis.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

It's a great time to promote Ernie for this great season. Hire Troy Weaver to be a GM chosen by the great GMEG.

[montestewart]

It's a great time to promote Ernie for this great season. Hire Troy Weaver to be a GM chosen by the great GMEG.

Rewards him for the playoff run, still looks to the future. I'd be good with that.

How's it going CCJ?

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

You knew it was coming... Mike Wise singing Grunfeld's praises and calling out the haters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wizards/ernie-grunfelds-plan-for-wizards-is-working-though-many-around-nba-didnt-see-it/2014/05/06/10940d96-d570-11e3-95d3-3bcd77cd4e11_story.html

[closg00]

You knew it was coming... Mike Wise singing Grunfeld's praises and calling out the haters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wizards/ernie-grunfelds-plan-for-wizards-is-working-though-many-around-nba-didnt-see-it/2014/05/06/10940d96-d570-11e3-95d3-3bcd77cd4e11_story.html

Yup, Wise is embarrassing and appears to be participating on this board under the name Millie

Does this tripe sound familiar?

If Grunfeld is going to continue to be eviscerated for Jan Vesely at No. 6, which I regrettably congratulated the Wizards for via a draft-night tweet, he should also get credit for knowing what he was doing to build this roster in other ways.

However much the loyalists suffered, Leonsis understood the logic behind being really bad before being really good better than most of us. And he was patient enough to see it through before jumping at a potential offer for Harden, even though it might have been a no-brainer at that time.

The plan is working, people. It’s not been completed, nor is it foolproof from a bout of plantar fasciitis down the road. But to hold onto the animosity over bad deals of yore serves no purpose now that the Wizards are winning and advancing.

[Brenice]

The Wizards could have had a backcourt of Evan Turner and James Harden. You get it wrong sometimes and right sometimes. I'm just saying...

[closg00]

The Wizards could have had a backcourt of Evan Turner and James Harden. You get it wrong sometimes and right sometimes. I'm just saying...

How-often did Ernie get it right vs how-many times he got it wrong? Oh Brenice, you surely don't want to go down the list of players we could have had during Ernie last 10 years do you?

[closg00]

Loving the Wizards run, we look unstoppable. Hoping I'm not jinxing by stating we are the only ECF team capable of preventing a Heat cakewalk to the finals. It is our destiny and karma that we get another crack at Bron & the heat. I still think we can keep this discussion going, no-harm in that.

[Brenice]

The Wizards could have had a backcourt of Evan Turner and James Harden. You get it wrong sometimes and right sometimes. I'm just saying...

How-often did Ernie get it right vs how-many times he got it wrong? Oh Brenice, you surely don't want to go down the list of players we could have had during Ernie last 10 years do you?

Oh closg00, the list of Ernie misses has already been point out repeatedly. I should have realized it may hurt some people when it is pointed out the ones Ernie got right. I apologize.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

Forget the Ernie misses, Dan Steinberg already fired back with an article (or more specifically a list of tweets) on all of Mike Wise's misses.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2014/05/07/mike-wise-is-wrong-a-lot/

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

The weakest part of Wise's piece to me was that Ernie shouldn't be blamed for never building a bench or a backup plan (namely a backup PG) behind Wall. He sarcastically builds the argument "every architect should build a team that should withstand its star player going down," and tears it down pointing to this season the Grizz had with Marc Gasol's injury... apparently as some kind of support to his point that EG has done swell.

Last I checked the Grizz stood strong enough- in the West, no less- to still make the playoffs as a 7 seed.
Without Wall we were debacle of epic proportions and didn't stand a chance at the playoffs at 29-53, even in a historically weak East.

[GhostsOfGil]

Nivek, Did Mike ever tweet you back about the "saving EG 100 million dollars"?

[Nivek]

Nivek, Did Mike ever tweet you back about the "saving EG 100 million dollars"?

Not yet. He said he'd need a few days to do the math. If I had the time, I'd do it for him. Or, maybe he could just farm it out to Twitter like he attempted to do for his latest love letter to Grunfeld.

[GhostsOfGil]

Forget the Ernie misses, Dan Steinberg already fired back with an article (or more specifically a list of tweets) on all of Mike Wise's misses.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2014/05/07/mike-wise-is-wrong-a-lot/

I usually try not to get angry about sportswriters, because it probably isn’t worth it, but Mike Wise’s column in Wednesday’s paper made me mildly angry. Especially this part:

Now that a certain Washington franchise is three wins from its first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 35 years, it’s easy to gloat, to say, “I told you so,” and go after the vermin who never thought the Wizards’ ownership, management and players would never amount to anything….

Look, if you want to go after media members, that’s fine. If you want to punish David Falk, have at it.

But if you want to say that skeptical fans — who have watched mediocre to bad basketball for 30 years, who have sat through 82-game seasons of execrable mush for most of their adult lives, who have seen their home arena overrun with visiting fans and their favorite team drift toward irrelevance — are “vermin” for not being convinced that a 44-win team would become legitimately great in the playoffs, that just strikes me as being obnoxious for the sake of being obnoxious.

[closg00]

Nivek, Did Mike ever tweet you back about the "saving EG 100 million dollars"?

Not yet. He said he'd need a few days to do the math. If I had the time, I'd do it for him. Or, maybe he could just farm it out to Twitter like he attempted to do for his latest love letter to Grunfeld.

Yeah-right, "I'll get back to you". The checks in the mail...

[closg00]

Re: Un-Wise, one need only read this article to realize that he is in Ernie's back pocket.

There is talk of San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard running the floor with John Wall and making beautiful music in the open court together, that this 6-foot-7 sophomore from Compton, Calif., has all the transition tools to blend in seamlessly with this stop-and-pop roster.

But Ernie Grunfeld has to resist that temptation and go foreign.

The team president needs to do the right thing, long term, and take Jan Vesely of the Czech Republic, no matter how much of a mystery a 6-foot-11, 230-pound perimeter player from overseas is to the casual fans among us.

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