Ernie was right about JaVale McGee

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

At this point, I've realized it's SO much more than just the talent being drafted. I always knew that but it's never been more clear to me than now. It's the culture set in place by the guys in the offices upstairs. It's the coaching. The medical/training staff. There's a vibe that's contagious when a front office properly puts all of this together. Why is it, in this never ending era of Grunfeld, do we always have these "issues" with players that come seemingly out of nowhere? We all knew Gil was a strong personality, sure. But did we think things would end like they actually did? Then we have the Blatche issues. Fast forward to now, and the constant "John and Brad don't like each other" stories. It tells me there's something extra for players to overcome when playing for the Washington Wizards.

Say Grunfeld drafts Draymond Green instead of Sato. Who's to say he'd be the same player? This is a culture of losing. Of poor coaching. Of a suspect training staff. Sure, maybe Javale is somewhat put together on a team like the Warriors. He was what he was here because of the franchise.

It's not being drafted as much as THE LUCK OF THE DRAFT. Who drafts...you????

DeJuan Blair

I THOUGHT he was a BETTER PROSPECT HIS DRAFT THAN BLAKE GRIFFIN...(and so did Wizard of Awes or 538)

There were college stats from Blair at Pitt... PLUS A CRAPLOAD OF OTHER THINGS where Blair was a WINNAH (local for winner). In my mind I was CERTAIN THAT BLAIR WOULD HELP A TEAM WIN GAMES....

HIS ROOKIE YEAR...THE SPURS...losers they are... and POPOVICH...dumb coach that he is (Those were facetious digs and just the opposite of the reality); the Spurs NOT ONLY DRAFTED BLAIR BUT he started.

I don't want to argue with shallow minded people and I'm in a rush...but I recall Blair played a lot until fouls and a falling out of the rotation occurred. (I THINK POP TRULY LOST A FINALS FOR NOT PLAYING BLAIR MORE but now i'm too busy...)

Who drafts you and the number of guaranteed roster spots and who your coach is matters a WHOLE LOT.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Losing organizations like the Wizards **** young guys and then get older guys to make up for their mistakes of drafting too many young guys...

And the media blames the players almost all the time.

Washington did great getting Nene for McGee...and, for a time Hilario was a GREAT mentor for Kevin Seraphin...

Once they got rid of Flip (great dude, may he R.I.P, but TOTALLY FAILED as Wizards coach on MANY MANY MANY LEVELS) they got Wittman. Wittman's relief-interim coach year he ALLOWED SERAPHIN AND JAN VESELY TO START 15 consecutive games.

The BEST BASKETBALL OF THEIR YOUNG CAREERS FOR A FLEETING MOMENT....UNTIL the ****.

I said this THEN

Ariza and Okafor IN should have been concurrent with Seraphin and Vesely OUT....they were SCREWED OVER ROYALLY and if you don't get it I'll argue this point later (God Willing).

Losing organizations expect their players to just freaking deal with it.

Vesely went from SF to ONLY C right away. Seraphin stayed around a while and even landed on the Knicks and IIRC the Pacers; But HE GOT screwed imo BECAUSE HE COULD HAVE BEEN A SPUR...

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Javale is a successful NBA player.

Period.

[queridiculo]

Javale is a successful NBA player.

Period.

Sure, you move the bar low enough, you'll find there's a whole bunch of successful NBA players.

[I_Like_Dirt]

Javale is a successful NBA player.

Period.

So were Kris Humphries and any other number of guys you listed.

See, my issue with EG isn't that he's horrible with everything he does. In fact, if he were that, he wouldn't have a job. And the same goes for Javale or honestly any other player in the NBA, or even the G league or high level basketball anywhere. These aren't schlubs that suddenly just dominate once you get to a certain point - they are legitimately good players. The discussion here is more with comparison to other legitimately good players, where they often times fall off. McGee is a fringe NBA player who could have been much more if he could have figured out how to get out of his own way. He's hardly some guy to mock or anything like that, but I can also understand the frustration of fans who were wanting to see the team win more.

To be honest, I feel EG compares pretty well overall to other NBA GMs like Bryan Colangelo, etc. I also feel the Wizards are a team that could be poised to really turn things around if they suddenly found a GM who understood team relations, player development and role definition. Heck, to further that Bryan Colangelo example and bring it in line with some playoff relevance, Colangelo was replaced by Masai Ujiri who does understand those things. Masai often gets criticized for keeping Colangelo's core, but he overhauled big chunks of the roster repeatedly, and the fact that he kept 3 guys from that original group is hardly representative of minor tweaks. They also kept their coach, who was taking heat for not succeeding, and suddenly he's an adaptable coach who's one of the better ones out there. I actually think the Wizards have a slightly better core of stars than the Raptors right now and with just the right managerial team in place that was a bit more understanding of who interorganizational supports the team would thrive and everyone involved would be better off.

That said, to further that particular analogy, because I love beating a dead horse, I do think there is something to commitment to learning and development that falls on the players. Masai Ujiri had a late 1st rounder with Skal Labissiere on the board. Instead he surprised everyone - particularly Raptors fans - and went with Pascal Siakam. Skal has a lot of skills overall - he isn't quite McGee, but he's talented, but he also has quite a few issues with fundamentals and there are questions on if he can pick that up fast enough, which isn't a slight on him so much as it is him not grading as highly against the best of the best. Siakam, meanwhile, has been a revelation with his hustle, work ethic and overall adaptability. Trying to find that precise line between who has responsibility for what is basically impossible, though.

[Ruzious]

Guys like Javale and Whiteside... you're usually smart to get on their 2nd or 3rd contract - rather than draft them.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Javale is a successful NBA player.

Period.

So were Kris Humphries and any other number of guys you listed.

See, my issue with EG isn't that he's horrible with everything he does. In fact, if he were that, he wouldn't have a job. And the same goes for Javale or honestly any other player in the NBA, or even the G league or high level basketball anywhere. These aren't schlubs that suddenly just dominate once you get to a certain point - they are legitimately good players. The discussion here is more with comparison to other legitimately good players, where they often times fall off. McGee is a fringe NBA player who could have been much more if he could have figured out how to get out of his own way. He's hardly some guy to mock or anything like that, but I can also understand the frustration of fans who were wanting to see the team win more.

To be honest, I feel EG compares pretty well overall to other NBA GMs like Bryan Colangelo, etc. I also feel the Wizards are a team that could be poised to really turn things around if they suddenly found a GM who understood team relations, player development and role definition. Heck, to further that Bryan Colangelo example and bring it in line with some playoff relevance, Colangelo was replaced by Masai Ujiri who does understand those things. Masai often gets criticized for keeping Colangelo's core, but he overhauled big chunks of the roster repeatedly, and the fact that he kept 3 guys from that original group is hardly representative of minor tweaks. They also kept their coach, who was taking heat for not succeeding, and suddenly he's an adaptable coach who's one of the better ones out there. I actually think the Wizards have a slightly better core of stars than the Raptors right now and with just the right managerial team in place that was a bit more understanding of who interorganizational supports the team would thrive and everyone involved would be better off.

That said, to further that particular analogy, because I love beating a dead horse, I do think there is something to commitment to learning and development that falls on the players. Masai Ujiri had a late 1st rounder with Skal Labissiere on the board. Instead he surprised everyone - particularly Raptors fans - and went with Pascal Siakam. Skal has a lot of skills overall - he isn't quite McGee, but he's talented, but he also has quite a few issues with fundamentals and there are questions on if he can pick that up fast enough, which isn't a slight on him so much as it is him not grading as highly against the best of the best. Siakam, meanwhile, has been a revelation with his hustle, work ethic and overall adaptability. Trying to find that precise line between who has responsibility for what is basically impossible, though.

The Wizards DO have the better core of stars than the Raptors.