Ernie Grunfeld Extended, Confirmed!!

[payitforward]

Keep in mind that during this "rebuild", Ernie has twice benefitted from the ping pong ball lottery. He got a #1 pick & a #3 pick in place of two #8 picks.

Ask yourself where we'd be if he hadn't been able to grab John Wall in 2010 & Otto Porter in 2013.

In 2010, the 5 guys taken from 8-13 were Al Farouq Aminu, Gordon Hayward, Paul George, Cole Aldrich, & Xavier Henry. Do you think he'd have been smart enough to take Paul George or Gordon Hayward? My guess: Xavier Henry.

In 2013, the 5 guys were Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Trey Burke, C.J. McCollum, Michael Carter-Williams & Steven Adams. Do you think he'd have had the brains to take Steven Adams? Nah.... My guess: Trey Burke.

Spend a moment imagining that "core." Of course we'll never know whether I'd have been right. Maybe it would have been better? Or worse....

In any case, with the decision to extend Ernie Grunfeld, you can stick a fork in the Washington Wizards. They're done.

[closg00]

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/5/3/17315960/ernie-grunfeld-extension-contract-wizards-cap-space

[BigA]

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2018/5/3/17315960/ernie-grunfeld-extension-contract-wizards-cap-space

This is the best recap of what we've known about Ernie's tenure and contract situation over the years, with links in it. I should bookmark it somewhere to refer to.

It confirms that there has been no public announcement or on-the-record confirmation from MSE about Ernie's status since the 2012 extension. As I was wondering above, I'm not aware of a comparable situation in pro sports where a president/GM not only is retained through such poor performance, but where his contract status is not publicly commented upon.

[closg00]

There is definitely something weird going-on there, it’s such a mystery

[FAH1223]

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[AFM]

Keep in mind that during this "rebuild", Ernie has twice benefitted from the ping pong ball lottery. He got a #1 pick & a #3 pick in place of two #8 picks.

Ask yourself where we'd be if he hadn't been able to grab John Wall in 2010 & Otto Porter in 2013.

In 2010, the 5 guys taken from 8-13 were Al Farouq Aminu, Gordon Hayward, Paul George, Cole Aldrich, & Xavier Henry. Do you think he'd have been smart enough to take Paul George or Gordon Hayward? My guess: Xavier Henry.

In 2013, the 5 guys were Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Trey Burke, C.J. McCollum, Michael Carter-Williams & Steven Adams. Do you think he'd have had the brains to take Steven Adams? Nah.... My guess: Trey Burke.

Spend a moment imagining that "core." Of course we'll never know whether I'd have been right. Maybe it would have been better? Or worse....

In any case, with the decision to extend Ernie Grunfeld, you can stick a fork in the Washington Wizards. They're done.

I like the theory that EG is just Terd's fall guy. He's just acting out Terd's wishes. If this is true, it doesn't really matter who the GM is, as long as Terd thinks he's the smartest guy in the room.

We should be lobbying Jeff Bezos to buy this team.

[Illuminaire]

I'm ready to adopt a team. Any good suggestions? I'm not a bandwagon guy so anywhere LeBron might be or GSW, I'm not interested.

I've been thinking along the same lines. I've been a sub-rosa fan of Philly for a while, but that interest got tarnished when they fired Sam Hinkie. I don't like the Colangelos.

Having taken a full two years in between basketball relationships, I'm now ready to adopt a new team as well. My short list is...

Utah| Pro: Exciting young player with superstar potential, solid front office, great role players. Fun team to watch and to root for.
| Con: Gobert strikes me as a player who will always struggle with injuries, and is one bad landing away from leaving his team
with a shell of a big man.

Phoenix| Pro: Devin Booker is legit. This draft class has some really interesting prospects, of which they might grab the best.
| Con: The only thing the PHX front office is good at is fleecing Ernie in trades. Shudder.

Denver| Pro: Jokic is tremendously entertaining to watch. The team might be bad enough to get another great young player.
| Con: They're bad enough because Jokic can't defend and their front office is questionable/mediocre.

Honorable mention to the 76ers. Cosign that if Hinkie was in charge, that would be a no brainer for me. Alas.

[TheKingOfVa360]

This is like a bad dream, what does EG have to do to get fired! This killed all my excitement and optimism for next season. It seems like Ted takes pleasure seeing us fans suffer.

[ptptpt]

CCJ loves to kill John Wall whenever he gets a chance but Wall has only played for one GM his entire career. Think about that. Grunfeld will not only outlast Arenas, he'll out last Wall and he'll probably be around to ruin the era of the next potential star we have. All because Ted's ego refuses to acknowledge that there may be a better way.

And make no mistakes, this is ALL about Ted's ego. That's the reason he didn't replace him when he took over. Why a billionaire has a chip on his shoulder, I'll never know. Maybe he still has regrets from the AOL/Time Warner debacle.

True. Also, he's playing for a bad coach right now.

Grunfeld/Leonsis backed the bus up over Arenas. I said he was an idiot to resign an obviously injured player; but that was so many F ups ago that people have forgotten that EG blunder. Worse was the despicable way they publicly eviscerated Arenas' reputation before any case came to trial. I'll forever attribute them to police being involved in the first place. Who else called them after the incident. On top of that, who signed the true criminal (and convicted murderer) Javaris Crittenton? The same guy who signed another bad apple named Glen Rice, Jr. Hated that move instantly, too.


As far John Wall goes:

Jeff Teague vs John Wall, Game 6 vs Atlanta, 2015 playoffs. Wizards eliminated:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201505150WAS.html

Isaiah Thomas (playing injured) vs John Wall, Game 7 vs Boston. 2017 playoffs. Wizards eliminated:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201705150BOS.html

Kyle Lowry vs John Wall, Game 6 vs Toronto. 2018 playoffs. Wizards eliminated:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201804270WAS.html


The reasons I am so critical: HE BLAMES TEAMMATES. His shooting and poor decision making in crunch time are beyond annoying. He is a great athlete, a very good basketball player, but NOT EVEN A GOOD LEADER.

Accountable? NO. Selfless? HELL NO.

HAVING SAID ALL THAT...the real pity is EVERY FLAW could be mitigated if he had even a decent coach and big men around him.

I see no hope for him to improve because his coach is enabling him to NOT IMPROVE; and, his GM is far, far, far worse.

I felt that evaluation of John in my bones. I'm not nearly as critical of Wall but all that you wrote here is by far the truth. When John opens his mouth its hard not to pay attention to how self absorbed he sounds at times. It may not be the best plan to have John as your leader. I get it. I haven't felt that way until you pointed that out but I get it now.

As much as I want to say that Ted and Ernie threw Gil under the bus (while very true. They disassociated themselves with him quick) Gil didn't help his own case with his immaturity. And now he's not playing. I think my issue is the same as yours. They pick pretty questionable players when those players don't pan out, they quickly dismiss them, rather than doing the work of not picking them in the first place.