Grunfeld a Great GM. Proves Doubters Wrong

[Brenice]

Ernie didn't do a damn thing this offseason. Ernie reaped from having Wall and Beal, making the playoffs and winning a round, and the change in culture.

In other, they re-signed Gortat because Gortat was willing to re-sign; similar for Pierce signing with a playoff team; Butler was a training camp invitee journeyman who plays the Ariza role and like Ariza, benefits from playing with Wall; and Humprhies who Boston was giving away. Oh yeah, the signing of the overrated by the Ernie haters, Blair.

The point is the Wizards reputation around the league has changed to Ernie's benefit but it is more a result of a change in ownership. That's why Hands11, Millie, and I bring up the difference between Abe/Ernie compared to Ted/Ernie, and the luck of the Wall lottery.

[Brenice]

I think what he is saying is that if you take his body of work over all the teams where he is has been the GM, all his dry picks, if you look at his overall record - it is a surprise. And given time - reverting to the mean, he will figure out a way to screw it up... unless Ted keeps him on a very tight leash.

I wonder why Milwaukee and all of their lottery picks and the Knicks have not improved since Ernie left those teams. He's been gone from those teams how many years now?

[Nivek]

And, one BIG rejoinder to the "Grunfeld better under Leonsis" theory is Maynor. Grunfeld got to watch him for four NBA seasons. Valued him sufficiently that he signed him the first day of free agency to the BAE with a PLAYER option on the second season. Then got to watch him in pickup games and workouts leading up to training camp, and told Michael Lee, "He [Maynor} knows how to play."

That was the same offseason where he drafted a SF and SG/SF to go with a SF already on the roster, while using the full MLE to re-sign yet another SF (this one with a bad back and with exactly one good season in his career). All the while, NOT addressing the team's need for frontcourt depth, except for a late move to sign the corpse of Al Harrington (who was, predictably, not good).

No question that Grunfeld/Leonsis made some good moves after the poor offseason. After failing to address frontcourt depth (despite planning to rely on two 30+ year old big men), AND one of those 30+ year old bigs got hurt, he traded a future asset for Gortat. And he transmogrified Maynor, a former lottery pick, and a future 2nd round pick into Andre Miller, who's been a rock solid backup PG. And he signed Drew Gooden, who played well last season.

This offseason was good -- Pierce has been very good, and he got Humphries and Blair at bargain deals. And preserved cap space for 2016. And got Gortat signed to a fair-market contract. All good work.

But, again, when I look at the FULL record -- even if I start time from when Leonsis took over -- Grunfeld's record still ain't that great.The team a lot of fun to watch, but there are a lot of moving parts to the future. Wall, Beal and maybe Porter look to be key elements. Gortat too...if he can stave off Father Time for 4-5 more years (so far, so good on that front). I like the team, and I like its potential. But, I'm still not confident in Grunfeld being the guy to make the necessary moves to make them into legit contenders.

[Nivek]

I think what he is saying is that if you take his body of work over all the teams where he is has been the GM, all his dry picks, if you look at his overall record - it is a surprise. And given time - reverting to the mean, he will figure out a way to screw it up... unless Ted keeps him on a very tight leash.

I wonder why Milwaukee and all of their lottery picks and the Knicks have not improved since Ernie left those teams. He's been gone from those teams how many years now?

In the case of the Knicks, they hired a GM who was even worse -- Isiah Thomas.

This is a good reminder that "Anyone But Ernie" isn't necessarily a good idea.

[hands11]

I think what he is saying is that if you take his body of work over all the teams where he is has been the GM, all his dry picks, if you look at his overall record - it is a surprise. And given time - reverting to the mean, he will figure out a way to screw it up... unless Ted keeps him on a very tight leash.

I wonder why Milwaukee and all of their lottery picks and the Knicks have not improved since Ernie left those teams. He's been gone from those teams how many years now?

In the case of the Knicks, they hired a GM who was even worse -- Isiah Thomas.

This is a good reminder that "Anyone But Ernie" isn't necessarily a good idea.

Did they stay with the same crappy owner or did they actually downgrade there as well ?

At least they finally brought in a HOF icon to shut down the owner for a moment. Lets see if that lasts.

How the Redskins doing since Snyder took over ? Lots of changes, but nothing really changed because Synder never got his front office straight. Oh he had it straight for a second, but he fired Marty after what, one year ?

[Kanyewest]

I think what he is saying is that if you take his body of work over all the teams where he is has been the GM, all his dry picks, if you look at his overall record - it is a surprise. And given time - reverting to the mean, he will figure out a way to screw it up... unless Ted keeps him on a very tight leash.

I wonder why Milwaukee and all of their lottery picks and the Knicks have not improved since Ernie left those teams. He's been gone from those teams how many years now?

In the case of the Knicks, they hired a GM who was even worse -- Isiah Thomas.

This is a good reminder that "Anyone But Ernie" isn't necessarily a good idea.

Scott Layden followed Grunfeld. And now he's assistant GM of the Spurs

[Nivek]

I wonder why Milwaukee and all of their lottery picks and the Knicks have not improved since Ernie left those teams. He's been gone from those teams how many years now?

In the case of the Knicks, they hired a GM who was even worse -- Isiah Thomas.

This is a good reminder that "Anyone But Ernie" isn't necessarily a good idea.

Scott Layden followed Grunfeld. And now he's assistant GM of the Spurs

Layden wasn't so good running the Knicks. Maybe he's learned. That's definitely the hope with Grunfeld. I KNOW they have some good people doing stat work for them. Don't know how much influence they have, but they're employed.

Man, Knicks fans must feel like they've been beaten with a bag of dead cats. Grunfeld did basically the best work of his career there. Then Layden followed by Isiah. Ugh. Donnie Walsh was good, but he got chased so they could have Grunwald and then Steve Mills.

[Brenice]

I think what he is saying is that if you take his body of work over all the teams where he is has been the GM, all his dry picks, if you look at his overall record - it is a surprise. And given time - reverting to the mean, he will figure out a way to screw it up... unless Ted keeps him on a very tight leash.

I wonder why Milwaukee and all of their lottery picks and the Knicks have not improved since Ernie left those teams. He's been gone from those teams how many years now?

In the case of the Knicks, they hired a GM who was even worse -- Isiah Thomas.

This is a good reminder that "Anyone But Ernie" isn't necessarily a good idea.

Zeke didn't replace Ernie and Zeke has been gone for years now. They still suck.

[dckingsfan]

I think what he is saying is that if you take his body of work over all the teams where he is has been the GM, all his dry picks, if you look at his overall record - it is a surprise. And given time - reverting to the mean, he will figure out a way to screw it up... unless Ted keeps him on a very tight leash.

I wonder why Milwaukee and all of their lottery picks and the Knicks have not improved since Ernie left those teams. He's been gone from those teams how many years now?

Yep, he left them in pretty bad shape

[hands11]

In the case of the Knicks, they hired a GM who was even worse -- Isiah Thomas.

This is a good reminder that "Anyone But Ernie" isn't necessarily a good idea.

Scott Layden followed Grunfeld. And now he's assistant GM of the Spurs

Layden wasn't so good running the Knicks. Maybe he's learned. That's definitely the hope with Grunfeld. I KNOW they have some good people doing stat work for them. Don't know how much influence they have, but they're employed.

Man, Knicks fans must feel like they've been beaten with a bag of dead cats. Grunfeld did basically the best work of his career there. Then Layden followed by Isiah. Ugh. Donnie Walsh was good, but he got chased so they could have Grunwald and then Steve Mills.

And who did all that wonderful front office musical chairs ?

[closg00]

And, one BIG rejoinder to the "Grunfeld better under Leonsis" theory is Maynor. Grunfeld got to watch him for four NBA seasons. Valued him sufficiently that he signed him the first day of free agency to the BAE with a PLAYER option on the second season. Then got to watch him in pickup games and workouts leading up to training camp, and told Michael Lee, "He [Maynor} knows how to play."

That was the same offseason where he drafted a SF and SG/SF to go with a SF already on the roster, while using the full MLE to re-sign yet another SF (this one with a bad back and with exactly one good season in his career). All the while, NOT addressing the team's need for frontcourt depth, except for a late move to sign the corpse of Al Harrington (who was, predictably, not good).

No question that Grunfeld/Leonsis made some good moves after the poor offseason. After failing to address frontcourt depth (despite planning to rely on two 30+ year old big men), AND one of those 30+ year old bigs got hurt, he traded a future asset for Gortat. And he transmogrified Maynor, a former lottery pick, and a future 2nd round pick into Andre Miller, who's been a rock solid backup PG. And he signed Drew Gooden, who played well last season.

This offseason was good -- Pierce has been very good, and he got Humphries and Blair at bargain deals. And preserved cap space for 2016. And got Gortat signed to a fair-market contract. All good work.

But, again, when I look at the FULL record -- even if I start time from when Leonsis took over -- Grunfeld's record still ain't that great.The team a lot of fun to watch, but there are a lot of moving parts to the future. Wall, Beal and maybe Porter look to be key elements. Gortat too...if he can stave off Father Time for 4-5 more years (so far, so good on that front). I like the team, and I like its potential. But, I'm still not confident in Grunfeld being the guy to make the necessary moves to make them into legit contenders.

Tears of joy and justice served, please HOF this post. As Public Enemy would say "Can't truss it "^

[Brenice]

But, again, when I look at the FULL record -- even if I start time from when Leonsis took over -- Grunfeld's record still ain't that great.The team a lot of fun to watch, but there are a lot of moving parts to the future. Wall, Beal and maybe Porter look to be key elements. Gortat too...if he can stave off Father Time for 4-5 more years (so far, so good on that front). I like the team, and I like its potential. But, I'm still not confident in Grunfeld being the guy to make the necessary moves to make them into legit contenders.

You will always be disappointed if you are looking for perfection. Who do you have in mind for the position? The thing about it, just like Phil Jackson left the JordanlessBulls, retired, and came out of retirement to coach a stacked team(KOBE/SHAQ), top quality front office talent wouldn't come to Washington. They might now though...because of the team Ernie put together.

[milellie111]

And, one BIG rejoinder to the "Grunfeld better under Leonsis" theory is Maynor. Grunfeld got to watch him for four NBA seasons. Valued him sufficiently that he signed him the first day of free agency to the BAE with a PLAYER option on the second season. Then got to watch him in pickup games and workouts leading up to training camp, and told Michael Lee, "He [Maynor} knows how to play."

That was the same offseason where he drafted a SF and SG/SF to go with a SF already on the roster, while using the full MLE to re-sign yet another SF (this one with a bad back and with exactly one good season in his career). All the while, NOT addressing the team's need for frontcourt depth, except for a late move to sign the corpse of Al Harrington (who was, predictably, not good).

Sure, focus on Maynor/Harrington and ignore Gooden, Miller, Pierce, Humphries, Butler.

2 guys who didn't pan out to 5 guys who are major contributors. Pretty Impressive free agency work if you ask me.

[hands11]

And, one BIG rejoinder to the "Grunfeld better under Leonsis" theory is Maynor. Grunfeld got to watch him for four NBA seasons. Valued him sufficiently that he signed him the first day of free agency to the BAE with a PLAYER option on the second season. Then got to watch him in pickup games and workouts leading up to training camp, and told Michael Lee, "He [Maynor} knows how to play."

That was the same offseason where he drafted a SF and SG/SF to go with a SF already on the roster, while using the full MLE to re-sign yet another SF (this one with a bad back and with exactly one good season in his career). All the while, NOT addressing the team's need for frontcourt depth, except for a late move to sign the corpse of Al Harrington (who was, predictably, not good).

Sure, focus on Maynor/Harrington and ignore Gooden, Miller, Pierce, Humphries, Butler.

2 guys who didn't pan out to 5 guys who are major contributors. Pretty Impressive free agency work if you ask me.

They have been steadily upgrading the list of names they added as FAs. Thats what happens when you get better. Remember the names we used to add 3-4 years ago ? We only got the bottom of the list and DL call ups. Remember how FAs would be looking at teams and we were never mentioned. From that 4 years ago to Paul signing here and legit talk of KD coming here.

But this isn't new news. It part of what you knew would happen when you got better. Its the windfall. This has been talked about for over 4 years. Of course this would happen if they got better and had a respectable front office and roster.

A team is always in a building mode. Just at different levels. Right now, we need to know what we have in Wall, Beal, Otto and even Kevin. Next step it to start adding back in younger pieces once they narrow down what they want to keep from that list.

[Nivek]

But, again, when I look at the FULL record -- even if I start time from when Leonsis took over -- Grunfeld's record still ain't that great.The team a lot of fun to watch, but there are a lot of moving parts to the future. Wall, Beal and maybe Porter look to be key elements. Gortat too...if he can stave off Father Time for 4-5 more years (so far, so good on that front). I like the team, and I like its potential. But, I'm still not confident in Grunfeld being the guy to make the necessary moves to make them into legit contenders.

You will always be disappointed if you are looking for perfection. Who do you have in mind for the position? The thing about it, just like Phil Jackson left the JordanlessBulls, retired, and came out of retirement to coach a stacked team(KOBE/SHAQ), top quality front office talent wouldn't come to Washington. They might now though...because of the team Ernie put together.

I'm not looking for perfection. I'm merely pointing out that even if we start time when you guys want to start time, there's STILL ample evidence to question whether Grunfeld is a good GM or if he's having a Rasual-like hot streak. I'll take the hot streak. I'll enjoy the hot streak.

And, I'll wonder how long it can last.

[milellie111]

Testing out new format. Site moves faster too!

[hands11]

Testing out new format. Site moves faster too!

Wow.

That's different looking.

[milellie111]

Almost at the half of the season and this team is overachieving many expectations. Wizards are now headlining primetime schedules and Wall is regarded as the best guard in the East. Well done Wizards management, well done. The formula is working.

[MikeTheKid]

Why cant this thread just die

[milellie111]

Why cant this thread just die

Why? So the Countdown to Ernie Grunfeld Firing thread can live? That's laughable. The success this team is having and you still can't give Ernie credit. Sad