Grunfeld a Great GM. Proves Doubters Wrong

[TGW]

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.

That's one helluva spin job right there. You would fit right in the Grunfail regime.

[TGW]

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.

Wilbon and Wise are neck and neck as far as the most unlikeable local personalities (I'd throw in Lavar too, but he's not quite as bad).

Unfortunately, people like Wise represent 85% of the idiotic DC sports fanbase.

[montestewart]

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

"Just doing what I was told" is usually seen as a legal argument against blame for actions. It has been used with varying degrees of success to excuse all manner of personnel moves. If the team ever wins a championship, could we then fire EG, since he merely did what he was told? Is EG just the sports equivalent of a scrivener, devoid of original thought? This is the man people are arguing in favor of retaining? Yikes!

[payitforward]

This is getting to be no fun at all.... Why do any of you even respond to the brain dead attempts to defend Ernie's obviously miserable record, stupid methodology (band aid, band aid, band aid on that band aid) and colossal self-justifying ego?

What is fun, on the other hand, is watching the Wizards in the playoffs. Even down 3-1 and seemingly near the end of what was a lucky run, it's fun to watch the Washington Wizards playing basketball in the middle of May!

Ernie is no more a good GM than a guy who buys a winning lottery ticket is a clever gambler. But it is nice all the same that his little bit of luck has allowed us to get excited at a time when otherwise we'd have nothing to look forward to but the draft -- except of course that we wouldn't (and don't) even have that to look forward to!

So, why waste time responding to these guys? Shine them on. Lets put our energy into enjoying (and winning!) the next game.

[queridiculo]

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.

That's one helluva spin job right there. You would fit right in the Grunfail regime.

Especially in light of the fact that they passed on Noel, to pick a "NBA ready" rookie that could contribute from day one.

[Brenice]

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.

That's one helluva spin job right there. You would fit right in the Grunfail regime.

I know and I'm not denying it. There is a bright side to every story.

[Brenice]

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

Not much better.

[Brenice]

This is getting to be no fun at all.... Why do any of you even respond to the brain dead attempts to defend Ernie's obviously miserable record, stupid methodology (band aid, band aid, band aid on that band aid) and colossal self-justifying ego?

What is fun, on the other hand, is watching the Wizards in the playoffs. Even down 3-1 and seemingly near the end of what was a lucky run, it's fun to watch the Washington Wizards playing basketball in the middle of May!

Ernie is no more a good GM than a guy who buys a winning lottery ticket is a clever gambler. But it is nice all the same that his little bit of luck has allowed us to get excited at a time when otherwise we'd have nothing to look forward to but the draft -- except of course that we wouldn't (and don't) even have that to look forward to!

So, why waste time responding to these guys? Shine them on. Lets put our energy into enjoying (and winning!) the next game.

I never said Ernie was a good GM. Why are some guys wasting energy whining about Ernie Grunfeld? Sadly, he ain't going nowhere. So sit back and enjoy the team Ernie put together. Cause if all these guys worried about firing Ernie, well guess what, they might as well fire the whole franchise because this current team is one of the best it has put on the floor since the 70's and has gotten further in the playoffs than any Washington team since 79. Ernie came to the Wizards in 2003. So what it is worth, Ernie put the 2 best Washington teams on the floor during his 10 year tenure that was better than anything done in the previous 25 years prior to Ernie. Maybe we should ask Wes to be GM again.

Part of that ineptitude since 78 is Abe Pollin. So you really should be looking at Ernie while Ted has been the owner. Ernie didn't trade for Webber or trade him. Ernie didn't trade Rasheed. Ernie didn't re-name the Bullets. Ernie traded a lottery pick for Foye and Miller for Abe. Did Abe want him to do that? Did Abe approve it? What were the circumstances? Could he have done better? NOBODY KNOWS so don't act like you do. Just like you don't know how good the Wizards would have been if Gilbert never got hurt.

Ernie drafted Otto after re-signing Webster and with Ariza already on the roster. Did Ted know about that? Why did Ernie draft Otto with Webster and Ariza there? Was it because both Otto and Ted went to Georgetown? I'll tell you one thing, Ted didn't tell Ernie NOT TO draft Otto. I do know people whining about Gortat, but Ted mandated playoffs. After Okafor went down, what other options were there that would have made the Wizards a playoff team? I want all the backseat GM's to answer that question. The answer to that question is not "he should have drafted Leonard and Faried", because drafting them also has a domino effect and you don't have a crystal ball.

PS. Ernie didn't draft Kwame either.

[payitforward]

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

Not much better.

Wrong -- quite a bit better. And not only better, but we'd have many more assets to work with now and in the future. If you fail to pick valuable players when they are freely available in the draft, and then you also throw away your cap flexibility, and then you sign guys (like Maynor) who have literally no chance to be good, the result is obvious: you get filled to the gills salary-wise, and your bench is made up of cast-offs.

Now, if you were also *already* bad, and you also get ping pong ball lucky, why then you get to pick #1 in the draft and take the guy everyone would take. And you also get to pick #3 another year, and take the guy everyone would take at that spot. Glad we got Wall and Beal, but those picks don't say "good GM" to me.

But if you don't understand things that are this obvious, I don't think it will be possible to explain it any further. And you'll stay in the group who thinks there's a high-priced FA savior out there. The Melo contingent, the KD contingent, etc.

You could just call it the fairy tale hero contingent, waiting for a prince to kiss their frog.

[Brenice]

I know picking Wall and Beal don't make Ernie a good GM. Why? Because Ernie is not a good GM. But don't pretend that Wall was the clear cut #1 and Beal was the obvious choice at #3. Wall was not Shaq obvious or Tim Duncan obvious #1 #1. Ernie could have chosen Evan Turner. He would have been wrong in hindsight, but at the time of the draft, it wasn't clear cut. Same for Beal. It's funny that I don't see nobody whining about Ernie not trading for Harden. He could have. Would not have been wrong if he did trade for Harden. But y'all so in y'all feelings about firing Ernie that it seems personal, that some people don't want to give Ernie absolutely no credit.

[Brenice]

You could just call it the fairy tale hero contingent, waiting for a prince to kiss their frog.

You only looking at the surface. Look at the whole picture.

[DaRealHibachi]

I know picking Wall and Beal don't make Ernie a good GM. Why? Because Ernie is not a good GM. But don't pretend that Wall was the clear cut #1 and Beal was the obvious choice at #3. Wall was not Shaq obvious or Tim Duncan obvious #1 #1. Ernie could have chosen Evan Turner. He would have been wrong in hindsight, but at the time of the draft, it wasn't clear cut. Same for Beal. It's funny that I don't see nobody whining about Ernie not trading for Harden. He could have. Would not have been wrong if he did trade for Harden. But y'all so in y'all feelings about firing Ernie that it seems personal, that some people don't want to give Ernie absolutely no credit.

You've been living under a rock if you think that's the case; EG caught allot of flak around here for not trading Beal for Harden... I even think there's a large group that would trade Beal for Harden right now..

[dckingsfan]

I know picking Wall and Beal don't make Ernie a good GM. Why? Because Ernie is not a good GM. But don't pretend that Wall was the clear cut #1 and Beal was the obvious choice at #3. Wall was not Shaq obvious or Tim Duncan obvious #1 #1. Ernie could have chosen Evan Turner. He would have been wrong in hindsight, but at the time of the draft, it wasn't clear cut. Same for Beal. It's funny that I don't see nobody whining about Ernie not trading for Harden. He could have. Would not have been wrong if he did trade for Harden. But y'all so in y'all feelings about firing Ernie that it seems personal, that some people don't want to give Ernie absolutely no credit.

Brenice - Wall was the clear #1 - and it wasn't close. Go back and check.

As for Beal, correct - Lillard and Drummond were better. But we didn't have a shooting guard.

Brenice - look at the full body of work (winning percentage, times to the playoffs, times to the second round, draft picks, trades for picks, FA signings) that EG has done and I think you will appreciate the views of the vast majority on the board. It doesn't have to be your opinion, but I think that overwhelming avalanche of facts is more objective than not - and reasonable for the long-term Wizards fan.

Regardless - I am going to enjoy this next game - because their is no guarantee of getting back to the second round.

[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

Not much better.

Ves, Maynor and Singleton are garbage cans that don't belong in the NBA.

Nate Robinson averaged 16 ppg in the playoffs last year for the Bulls. He is a big reason they had a good playoff run with Rose out. Leonard is one of the best 3s in the league, a two way player that ranks 5th in the league in PER among 3s at age 22. Faried averages 13/9.

Saying we wouldn't be much better with 3 good players instead of 3 bums is just nuts.

[payitforward]

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

Not much better.

Ves, Maynor and Singleton are garbage cans that don't belong in the NBA.

Nate Robinson averaged 16 ppg in the playoffs last year for the Bulls. He is a big reason they had a good playoff run with Rose out. Leonard is one of the best 3s in the league, a two way player that ranks 5th in the league in PER among 3s at age 22. Faried averages 13/9.

Saying we wouldn't be much better with 3 good players instead of 3 bums is just nuts.

Brenice doesn't understand the idea of an "asset". He doesn't notice that to get Andre Miller -- a guy that Denver wanted to get rid of -- we had to give away the 6th pick in the 2011 draft and a R2 pick in a future draft. He doesn't understand that if we hadn't waived our 2011 R2 pick, we wouldn't have had to sign Maynor in the first place. He doesn't understand that if we had Leonard we wouldn't be looking at up to $10m a year for Ariza....

And so forth. It's too long a list to bother with.

[montestewart]

I know picking Wall and Beal don't make Ernie a good GM. Why? Because Ernie is not a good GM. But don't pretend that Wall was the clear cut #1 and Beal was the obvious choice at #3. Wall was not Shaq obvious or Tim Duncan obvious #1 #1. Ernie could have chosen Evan Turner. He would have been wrong in hindsight, but at the time of the draft, it wasn't clear cut. Same for Beal. It's funny that I don't see nobody whining about Ernie not trading for Harden. He could have. Would not have been wrong if he did trade for Harden. But y'all so in y'all feelings about firing Ernie that it seems personal, that some people don't want to give Ernie absolutely no credit.

Passing on Harden was Terd's decision.

[Nivek]

I know picking Wall and Beal don't make Ernie a good GM. Why? Because Ernie is not a good GM. But don't pretend that Wall was the clear cut #1 and Beal was the obvious choice at #3. Wall was not Shaq obvious or Tim Duncan obvious #1 #1. Ernie could have chosen Evan Turner. He would have been wrong in hindsight, but at the time of the draft, it wasn't clear cut. Same for Beal. It's funny that I don't see nobody whining about Ernie not trading for Harden. He could have. Would not have been wrong if he did trade for Harden. But y'all so in y'all feelings about firing Ernie that it seems personal, that some people don't want to give Ernie absolutely no credit.

Passing on Harden was Terd's decision.

And, while I like Beal and plan to enjoy watching him grow into a great player in time, it really wasn't the right choice (assuming the details reported were accurate). If Beal works hard and improves a lot, he might be as good as Harden -- who's just 24 and is reasonably likely to get even better.

[Brenice]

Nate Robinson averaged 16 ppg in the playoffs last year for the Bulls. He is a big reason they had a good playoff run with Rose out. Leonard is one of the best 3s in the league, a two way player that ranks 5th in the league in PER among 3s at age 22. Faried averages 13/9.

Saying we wouldn't be much better with 3 good players instead of 3 bums is just nuts.

Why are you talking about what Nate Robinson did in the playoffs last year? He is hurt THIS YEAR. He is averaging 0 across the board in every category in the playoffs THIS year. I'm also glad to know that Nate wanted to come to Washington. I didn't know that. When did he ask Ernie. Why did Ernie tell him no thanks?

Leonard plays in San Antonio. He is a good player but you can't assume his PER would be the same on the Wizards.

Faried is a good player too. Good, not great.

Those players, all of them on the Wizards replacing backups does not a champion make.

See all this hindsight is just that, hindsight. Why is nobody complaining that Ernie missed on Paul George? People act like everything is soooooo obvious. A lot of people missed on PG. Philly sure did. They got rid of the player they selected with the 2nd pick of the draft. Y'all worry about missing out the good players. There are a lot of good players. Champions have GREAT players. Duncan, Shaq, Kobe, Magic, Bird, Olajuwon, LeBron. Start complaining when Ernie misses out on 1 of those level of players. Kawhi Leonard?! Kenneth Farried?! Please!!

[tontoz]

Why are you talking about what Nate Robinson did in the playoffs last year? He is hurt THIS YEAR. He is averaging 0 across the board in every category in the playoffs THIS year. I'm also glad to know that Nate wanted to come to Washington. I didn't know that. When did he ask Ernie. Why did Ernie tell him no thanks?

EG committed to Maynor, a total scrub, on the first day of free agency. He could have gotten a bum like Maynor months later but he had to commit to him on day 1 when a bunch of better options were available.

And the reason Nate's playoff performance with the Bulls matters is because it occured just a few weeks before he became a free agent. It isn't complex. How exactly would Robinson's injury this year affect the decision whether or not to sign him last summer?

Leonard plays in San Antonio. He is a good player but you can't assume his PER would be the same on the Wizards.

Faried is a good player too. Good, not great.

Those players, all of them on the Wizards replacing backups does not a champion make.

I didn't say anything about those guys making the Wizards a champion but i guess you feel the need to make up stuff like that so you can pretend like you make sense. News flash, it isn't working.

And those guys wouldn't just be replacing backups, they would be replacing bums that don't belong on the court. Replacing 3 bums with 3 good players will make any team much better.

[Brenice]

EG committed to Maynor, a total scrub, on the first day of free agency. He could have gotten a bum like Maynor months later but he had to commit to him on day 1 when a bunch of better options were available.

And the reason Nate's playoff performance with the Bulls matters is because it occured just a few weeks before he became a free agent. It isn't complex. How exactly would Robinson's injury this year affect the decision whether or not to sign him last summer?

Leonard plays in San Antonio. He is a good player but you can't assume his PER would be the same on the Wizards.

Faried is a good player too. Good, not great.

Those players, all of them on the Wizards replacing backups does not a champion make.

I didn't say anything about those guys making the Wizards a champion but i guess you feel the need to make up stuff like that so you can pretend like you make sense. News flash, it isn't working.

And those guys wouldn't just be replacing backups, they would be replacing bums that don't belong on the court. Replacing 3 bums with 3 good players will make any team much better.

But you bring Nate in IF NATE WANTED TO SIGN HERE, that may be a chemistry problem. Ernie is not signing anybody that may bring problems. I know Nate can be a problem they don't want as a backup. And he ain't playing so why does he matter? I understand your complaint about the Maynor signing. But still, whoever else he did not sign instead of Maynor would not matter that much in playoff advancement.

Draft Kawhi. Draft Faried. How good are Wall, Beal, Kawhi, Faried, Ariza, Gortat, and Nene? Who starts at SF? How good? I'm basically replacing Webster and Singleton because you don't need to sign Webster. Does Ariza or Kawhi start? Does Ariza play as well in less minutes ff the bench as he played starting this year? What does that team for you. I agree it would be better, but you still don't win. And thats what matter.

If you don't want a champion, what do you want?