Grunfeld a Great GM. Proves Doubters Wrong

[closg00]

.
>snip<

Pine

(P.S. I wonder if Ted's pre-season ultamatium to make the playoffs should also get some credit. Perhaps it forced EG to look to replace an injured Oka4 for Gortat. If so, Ted needs to get credit here too.)

Ernie's failure to shore-up his aging front-court in-advance (as was called-for by many), is further evidence that he should be fired, not rewarded that his clean-up worked-out for this season.

...and Ted set the bar very low, and some want to break-out the champagne and signing pen now. Stockholm Syndrome.

[hands11]

Ernie Grunfeld sees rewards for patience during Washington Wizards’ long rebuild
By Michael Lee, Published: May 8

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

The move that signaled the Washington Wizards’ pivot from a bumbling, blooper-filled rebuild toward a team that could actually win came in March 2012, was when team president Ernie Grunfeld acquired veteran Brazilian big man Nene from the Denver Nuggets in a three-team deal.


---

Funny thinking back to that time. I remember the first Nene interviews. He didn't seem overly happy he got sent here. He just got bannished from a perenial playoff team to a team in hard reboot.

But I do remember him saying something like this once he got in tune with it.

Its Gods will. He has something good in store for me here. I don't know the path but I trust there is something I am supposed to do here.

What say you CCJ ?

[TGW]

Ever since that asinine Mike Wise article, the Wizards are 0-2.

[tontoz]

The Wizards sure showed all those vermin fans the error of their ways.

[MikeTheKid]

Man Ernie proving those doubters wrong, funny how you dont hear a peep now

[hands11]

For fan who may be over reacting, it was one terrible game.

It was an important one to win, but its just one game. Its not over. If they win next game its 2-2

This is the first time this playoff run they have been down in a series.

They still have yet to be down after a first quarter over 8 games which is impressive.

Its was a defensive slug feast and the Wizards were off in all the areas that would have helped them to deal with it.

1) They missed early FTs even players you expect to make more like TA and Wall.
2) Beal missed wide open jumpers he usually makes
3) Nene's mid range disappeared.

Funny thing is, early in the game they were both making runs and I said to myself, this is the type of game I think one team can catch one of these runs and make it a blow out and that's what happened. I just hoped it wasn't the Wizards on the short end of the stick.

Wizard just can't afford to lose Nene and Beals shooting and miss so many FTs against a tough defensive team like IND. With that happening, they could never get into any offensive grove.

On the other side, IND build a solid floor behind Paul George getting to the line and hitting his FTs 9-10. That was killer every time he would get there and hit two. It was even more killer that every time the Wizards got there they would miss at least 1. This had a huge impact on how the game ultimately unfolded.

Even though IND was not shooting well, the FT keep them chugging along until they could push through.

Trevor A has another great game. But he can't do it without Beal and Nene. Good news is, I wouldn't expect both of them to suck like they did last night. So I expect that to get better. After that, Wall and Beal have to attack the sagging defense on the PnR if thats the play they are going to run. They have to get their post players in foul trouble.

They need to go right a Hibbert early and often. Get him in foul trouble and get him off the floor.

[payitforward]

Why are we discussing the last game or the next game in this thread I wonder?

But, since we are...

Go Wizards!

Oh... and Fire Ernie! too.

[TGW]

Ever since that asinine Mike Wise article, the Wizards are now 0-3.

[BarnabyJones]

Ever since that asinine Mike Wise article, the Wizards are now 0-3.

[tontoz]

Ernie Grunfeld’s plan for Wizards is working, though many around NBA didn’t see it

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

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.

Damn... Its a take down

Pretty feeble takedown. Made feebler by him trying to get Twitter users to do his research for him yesterday.

Growing more feeble by the day.

[Brenice]

Growing more feeble by the day.

So I take it that you are blaming Ernie for drafting John Wall.

[tontoz]

Growing more feeble by the day.

So I take it that you are blaming Ernie for drafting John Wall.

No. That is one of the few things he didn't screw up.

I blame him for wasting future assets in a desperate attempt to win now and hold onto his job. I blame him for wasting so many draft picks. The 2011 draft springs to mind. I blame him for being in such a rush to sign a scrub like Maynor when far better options were available, and giving him a second year on top of that. I blame him for being a sissy in contract negotiations "take our money please, pretty please with sugar on top" instead of trying to get the best deals for the team.

NBA purgatory is being mediocre and capped out. That is exactly where the Wizards are due to a decade of incompetence from EG. The weakness of the east masks what a crap job EG has done. He had 3 top 3 picks that he lucked into as well as the 6th pick and two other first rounders just within the past 4 years. He had plenty of capspace to work with.

And what does he have to show for all of this? After all these years just an average team.

[montestewart]

Growing more feeble by the day.

So I take it that you are blaming Ernie for drafting John Wall.

That would be pointless. You could fault the organization for handing Wall the keys to the team, for handing him a max contract without showing any hesitation, maybe for not doing enough to improve his shot selection, etc., but EG shouldn't really get much blame or credit for drafting the consensus #1 pick.

If Wall/Beal/Porter turn out to be significantly less than we all hoped, you could make case that the all-in for the playoffs approach, with its commitment to build around these young players, with its commitment to large salaried veterans as "support" players, was misguided.

[Brenice]

Growing more feeble by the day.

So I take it that you are blaming Ernie for drafting John Wall.

He had 3 top 3 picks that he lucked into as well as the 6th pick and two other first rounders just within the past 4 years. He had plenty of capspace to work with.

And what does he have to show for all of this? After all these years just an average team.

But one of those picks(Otto) contributed nothing this year because of his pre-season injury. That means they had no first round pick LAST YEAR. They have a first round pick THIS year, OTTO PORTER. Will he contribute next year, we'll see. But at least we should have a lottery pick joining the team next year. (That does not mean I would have drafted him over a big man). Are you predicting "bust" for Otto?

Cap space? Cap space is overrated. Cleveland had cap space. Everybody went to Miami. Big time talents go to a select few teams. They go to New York, the Lakers, the Celtics. OKC didn't get good because of cap space. The Spurs didn't get good because of cap space. The got good because they were lucky enough to have the a high enough draft pick in the right draft. If you want to penalize Ernie, penalize him for missing out on JOSH SMITH.

People complain about Ernie's "misses". Like Vesely, Seraphin, etc. The players Ernie passed on in those drafts, were they Tim Duncan, LeBron, Durant, Dirk, etc? He didn't pick Kawhi, Faried, either splash brother, and other players that are not MVP level talents who instantly change you to contender status.

You need to be lucky in the right draft or your team is the Lakers, Celtics, New York, or maybe Chicago. The Wizards aren't those teams and were not lucky in the right draft.

[Brenice]

Growing more feeble by the day.

So I take it that you are blaming Ernie for drafting John Wall.

No. That is one of the few things he didn't screw up.

I blame him for wasting future assets in a desperate attempt to win now and hold onto his job.

You blame him for saving his job?

[tontoz]

So I take it that you are blaming Ernie for drafting John Wall.

No. That is one of the few things he didn't screw up.

I blame him for wasting future assets in a desperate attempt to win now and hold onto his job.

You blame him for saving his job?

I blame him for wasting so many future assets to try and save his job. RIF

[tontoz]

But one of those picks(Otto) contributed nothing this year because of his pre-season injury. That means they had no first round pick LAST YEAR. They have a first round pick THIS year, OTTO PORTER. Will he contribute next year, we'll see. But at least we should have a lottery pick joining the team next year. (That does not mean I would have drafted him over a big man). Are you predicting "bust" for Otto?

Cap space? Cap space is overrated. Cleveland had cap space. Everybody went to Miami. Big time talents go to a select few teams. They go to New York, the Lakers, the Celtics. OKC didn't get good because of cap space. The Spurs didn't get good because of cap space. The got good because they were lucky enough to have the a high enough draft pick in the right draft. If you want to penalize Ernie, penalize him for missing out on JOSH SMITH.

People complain about Ernie's "misses". Like Vesely, Seraphin, etc. The players Ernie passed on in those drafts, were they Tim Duncan, LeBron, Durant, Dirk, etc? He didn't pick Kawhi, Faried, either splash brother, and other players that are not MVP level talents who instantly change you to contender status.

You need to be lucky in the right draft or your team is the Lakers, Celtics, New York, or maybe Chicago. The Wizards aren't those teams and were not lucky in the right draft.

Again with the logic fail.

I didn't predict anything about Otto. But i did question resigning Webster with Ariza and Otto already on board given the team needs in other areas.

Cap space is overrated? If Miami didn't clear capspace they wouldn't have Lebron and Bosh. If Houston didn't clear capspace they wouldn't have Howard. This is not a small market team like Indy. We play in the nations capital. it is not seen as a big free agent destination due to decades of mismanagement, not because of the city.

They were lucky enough in the draft to get Wall/Beal. They weren't skilled enough in the draft to land productive players outside the top 3 which other teams do all the time.

[DCZards]

So I take it that you are blaming Ernie for drafting John Wall.

No. That is one of the few things he didn't screw up.

I blame him for wasting future assets in a desperate attempt to win now and hold onto his job.

You blame him for saving his job?

Not to mention that EG was simply doing what the team's owner asked him to do. That's called "doing your job"...not saving your job.

[tontoz]

Not to mention that EG was simply doing what the team's owner asked him to do. That's called "doing your job"...not saving your job.

He could have done his job without sacrificing future assets if he was actually competent. How much better would this team have been with Nate Robinson over Maynor? How about Leonard over Ves? Faried over Singleton? And so on

[Dat2U]

Ever since that asinine Mike Wise article, the Wizards are now 0-3.

Outside of Ernie Grunfeld, I don't think there's a DC personality I dislike more than Mike Wise. He's really worked hard over the years to earn my complete disrespect and venom. I can't wait for the day he ends up at the Bleacher Report where his work can blend in with the glut of low quality content that already purveys their site.