ZaElle is Ted. That part is clear. That's the part I love about having Leonsis as an owner and what I was most looking forward to when he took over the team. The idea that we could engage with a forward thinking owner who night recognize the value of crowd sourced intelligence.
The way our Intelligence agencies do. I do think we always have to realize that in part Ted is protecting the brand. So his voiced opinion may sometimes have spin. If the team loses money, if the fanbase loses faith, then the front office loses flexibility to make moves when they have to. Okay some of those moves are things like paying a coach you have to fire, or paying to get rid of Andray Blatche. Those moves are kicking kitty litter over a lump, but still, things like advanced camera systems cost real world dollars. Exceeding the cap by a large amount or paying lux tax would cost real money of the rewards were worth it, if we were close.
But this is a business, a team, a City with a dangerously fickle fanbase. We are the diehards, we tend not to go away, he can count on our votes, but consider how much of his building is filled by casual fans, transient fans, folks whose core loyalties were forged far from DC. Lobbyist boxes, those dollars can be spent somewhere else if the narrative of the team is 'perennial hopeless case' and 'laughingstock'. So dollars get spent, moves get made, to keep us at least mediocre. And Ted smoothly assures the general public there's a plan and and things are going well, and strike up the band on the Titanic. We know better because we're not even in steerage class, we're mooks in the boiler room hired to shovel coal into engines that are filling with water. Nothing he says will change our opinion all that much. The building is filled with pleasure cruise types more than internet trolls. Hell half the dudes on this board are posting from Australia or Poland or China or Estonia or roll call, check in, where you from?
So recall always that sometimes Ted has to gild a turd and tell you it's a pure ingot.
But the fact that he listens is not bad. We end up landing Morris Almond and a few other minor moves that were made, where it was a position intelligently advocated by a respected poster here and there, and it made me wonder if in fact the team did listen some. Sadly you can't crowdsource the entire GM job. Just make suggestions here and there.
But occasionally its got to be nice to hear a voice speak on behalf of the team, maybe turn the tide of public opinion or at least give room for a sunnier outlook. Nice to have a millie on board every now and again.