Bugs'
February-24th-2005, 08:53 PM
I thought this was a good article about Ernie Grunfeld and where he has been and what he has brought to D.C.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45487-2005Feb22.html
Grunfeld Proves to Be A Wizard in His Own Right
By Michael Wilbon
Wednesday, February 23, 2005; Page D01
After a weekend of throwing kisses and candy, deservedly so, at Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison for playing well enough to be named to the NBA all-star team, it's probably the right time to also throw some credit at the man who brought both players to Washington: Ernie Grunfeld.
Eighteen months ago, he took an impossible gig, the president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards. Some might argue that he took a bad gig. He signed on with a basketball franchise that had just lost Michael Jordan, the player; needed another major talent infusion; and had to get over the ill will of the dumping of Michael Jordan, the icon.
"I wasn't too concerned with what the perception was about Washington," Ernie Grunfeld said. (Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
There was only one way to make it viable: Go get some talented players, at least two of them.
Grunfeld didn't concern himself very much with the fallout from Abe Pollin's dismissal of Jordan. Grunfeld didn't spend any time dealing with the franchise's 20 years of dysfunction, all the bad draft picks, free agent signings that backfired and crippling injuries. He liked some of the players he inherited, including Larry Hughes, and liked the fact that Jordan had created some salary cap room. Then Grunfeld did just what he'd done as the top personnel man in New York back in the 1990s when he helped build a two-time NBA finalist there, and just what he'd done in Milwaukee as general manager when some tweaking there helped the Bucks get within one good shot of the NBA Finals.
The situation here in Washington didn't seem nearly as hopeless to Grunfeld as it did to those of us who've seen all the losing and blaming and blundering for two decades. He didn't think he was tainted or doomed by joining such failure. "I've been in the basketball world since 1973," Grunfeld said the other day. "I know a lot of people. I've been around.
"I wasn't too concerned with what the perception was about Washington or what had happened before. I think for the most part people are pretty fair, and they give you a chance to show them what you can do."
What he did sounds fairly simple in retrospect. He identified two players -- Arenas and Jamison -- and did what was necessary to get them. Of course, simple doesn't mean easy. While Grunfeld was making his way from Milwaukee to Washington, just a few days after the 2003 college draft, one club executive said of Grunfeld being hired to replace Jordan: "That organization is dependent on Ernie's ability to find two players with all-star ability . . . and Eddie Jordan's ability to really develop one or two of the guys they've already got."
Grunfeld had developed a rep for figuring out who could play, and for being resourceful in getting the people he identified as real players.
When the Bucks' owner insisted on trading Ray Allen to cut salary before preparing to sell the team (which she later took off the market), Grunfeld hated letting go of Allen, but drafted Michael Redd in the 2000 draft as insurance.
In New York, on the fly, Grunfeld remade the Knicks from Pat Riley's "force basketball" units to a more athletic team he stocked by either trading for or signing Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby -- the guts of the 1999 team that went to the NBA Finals. Grunfeld has a record of identifying the right players.
Of Arenas, Grunfeld said: "I saw his great athleticism, his speed and quickness, that great first step. He shot the ball very well from the perimeter and I liked that he is a very competitive guy. He played like he had something to prove, with a chip on his shoulder. I like those kinds of players because they're not going to give up, and he doesn't. And I think that's a quality that rubs off on others.
"We told Gilbert [who was a free agent at Golden State], 'This is a challenge, yes.' You can be part of something here. We met with him a lot of times. I think he liked that helping build this could be his identity. . . . We made a hard, hard push," Grunfeld said. "We told Gilbert, 'We're going to give you every penny we have. . . . This is how highly we think of you and how important we think you can be to this franchise.' "
Jamison was the exact opposite in temperament to Arenas, but he fit what Grunfeld was looking for last summer to the same degree Arenas fit. "We needed someone in the front court who was a scorer and a worker, a veteran player who could provide some leadership," Grunfeld said. "I'd had conversations about Antawn in the past. I liked Antawn because he's efficient. He doesn't need the ball in his hands. He's a finisher. He's a catch-and-shoot guy. I thought that would fit very well with Larry and Gilbert, who like to have the ball in their hands. I liked the fact that he was the sixth man of the year last year, after averaging 25. He sacrificed part of his game for the benefit of the team, which I liked.
"I didn't know he'd be this good a leader, but we did know he was a professional, a guy who didn't miss games. He doesn't take practices off."
As good as getting Jamison appeared, he looked like Eva Mendez and Halle Berry when he came to Washington in exchange for Jerry Stackhouse and Christian Laettner, two of the last guys you'd want in a clubhouse of young and impressionable players.
So while Grunfeld was staying true to his rep as a talent doctor, Eddie Jordan was, to borrow a phrase, coaching up the likes of Hughes and Brendan Haywood, Jarvis Hayes and Juan Dixon, Etan Thomas and Steve Blake, Jared Jeffries and Michael Ruffin. Some personnel guys look at a journeyman such as Ruffin and sneer, but Grunfeld sees the possibilities. "I think an important thing," he said, "is being appreciative of the players who are doing what people call little things. You have to let them know what they're doing is important."
The Wizards are going to need all manner of contributions to have similar results in the second half of the season. Though 30-22, they've lost three straight, and the book on them is they simply cannot play interior defense, which is why anything the team can get out of Kwame Brown is critical.
"Look, we haven't accomplished what we want to accomplish," Grunfeld said, "which is make the playoffs. That was our goal at the beginning of the season and we're headed in that direction but we've got a long way to go. We should feel pretty good about where we are, but certainly not satisfied. We have to experience the end of a season, which is a little bit different. The games are more meaningful and the intensity level is higher."
Grunfeld is wisely cautious because most of his players haven't experienced those games. Beginning the second half of the season in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference is foreign to basketball watchers around here -- but not to Grunfeld, who is proving again how undaunted he is even when faced with what, to most of us, appeared to be the most hopeless of building projects.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45487-2005Feb22.html
Grunfeld Proves to Be A Wizard in His Own Right
By Michael Wilbon
Wednesday, February 23, 2005; Page D01
After a weekend of throwing kisses and candy, deservedly so, at Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison for playing well enough to be named to the NBA all-star team, it's probably the right time to also throw some credit at the man who brought both players to Washington: Ernie Grunfeld.
Eighteen months ago, he took an impossible gig, the president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards. Some might argue that he took a bad gig. He signed on with a basketball franchise that had just lost Michael Jordan, the player; needed another major talent infusion; and had to get over the ill will of the dumping of Michael Jordan, the icon.
"I wasn't too concerned with what the perception was about Washington," Ernie Grunfeld said. (Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
There was only one way to make it viable: Go get some talented players, at least two of them.
Grunfeld didn't concern himself very much with the fallout from Abe Pollin's dismissal of Jordan. Grunfeld didn't spend any time dealing with the franchise's 20 years of dysfunction, all the bad draft picks, free agent signings that backfired and crippling injuries. He liked some of the players he inherited, including Larry Hughes, and liked the fact that Jordan had created some salary cap room. Then Grunfeld did just what he'd done as the top personnel man in New York back in the 1990s when he helped build a two-time NBA finalist there, and just what he'd done in Milwaukee as general manager when some tweaking there helped the Bucks get within one good shot of the NBA Finals.
The situation here in Washington didn't seem nearly as hopeless to Grunfeld as it did to those of us who've seen all the losing and blaming and blundering for two decades. He didn't think he was tainted or doomed by joining such failure. "I've been in the basketball world since 1973," Grunfeld said the other day. "I know a lot of people. I've been around.
"I wasn't too concerned with what the perception was about Washington or what had happened before. I think for the most part people are pretty fair, and they give you a chance to show them what you can do."
What he did sounds fairly simple in retrospect. He identified two players -- Arenas and Jamison -- and did what was necessary to get them. Of course, simple doesn't mean easy. While Grunfeld was making his way from Milwaukee to Washington, just a few days after the 2003 college draft, one club executive said of Grunfeld being hired to replace Jordan: "That organization is dependent on Ernie's ability to find two players with all-star ability . . . and Eddie Jordan's ability to really develop one or two of the guys they've already got."
Grunfeld had developed a rep for figuring out who could play, and for being resourceful in getting the people he identified as real players.
When the Bucks' owner insisted on trading Ray Allen to cut salary before preparing to sell the team (which she later took off the market), Grunfeld hated letting go of Allen, but drafted Michael Redd in the 2000 draft as insurance.
In New York, on the fly, Grunfeld remade the Knicks from Pat Riley's "force basketball" units to a more athletic team he stocked by either trading for or signing Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby -- the guts of the 1999 team that went to the NBA Finals. Grunfeld has a record of identifying the right players.
Of Arenas, Grunfeld said: "I saw his great athleticism, his speed and quickness, that great first step. He shot the ball very well from the perimeter and I liked that he is a very competitive guy. He played like he had something to prove, with a chip on his shoulder. I like those kinds of players because they're not going to give up, and he doesn't. And I think that's a quality that rubs off on others.
"We told Gilbert [who was a free agent at Golden State], 'This is a challenge, yes.' You can be part of something here. We met with him a lot of times. I think he liked that helping build this could be his identity. . . . We made a hard, hard push," Grunfeld said. "We told Gilbert, 'We're going to give you every penny we have. . . . This is how highly we think of you and how important we think you can be to this franchise.' "
Jamison was the exact opposite in temperament to Arenas, but he fit what Grunfeld was looking for last summer to the same degree Arenas fit. "We needed someone in the front court who was a scorer and a worker, a veteran player who could provide some leadership," Grunfeld said. "I'd had conversations about Antawn in the past. I liked Antawn because he's efficient. He doesn't need the ball in his hands. He's a finisher. He's a catch-and-shoot guy. I thought that would fit very well with Larry and Gilbert, who like to have the ball in their hands. I liked the fact that he was the sixth man of the year last year, after averaging 25. He sacrificed part of his game for the benefit of the team, which I liked.
"I didn't know he'd be this good a leader, but we did know he was a professional, a guy who didn't miss games. He doesn't take practices off."
As good as getting Jamison appeared, he looked like Eva Mendez and Halle Berry when he came to Washington in exchange for Jerry Stackhouse and Christian Laettner, two of the last guys you'd want in a clubhouse of young and impressionable players.
So while Grunfeld was staying true to his rep as a talent doctor, Eddie Jordan was, to borrow a phrase, coaching up the likes of Hughes and Brendan Haywood, Jarvis Hayes and Juan Dixon, Etan Thomas and Steve Blake, Jared Jeffries and Michael Ruffin. Some personnel guys look at a journeyman such as Ruffin and sneer, but Grunfeld sees the possibilities. "I think an important thing," he said, "is being appreciative of the players who are doing what people call little things. You have to let them know what they're doing is important."
The Wizards are going to need all manner of contributions to have similar results in the second half of the season. Though 30-22, they've lost three straight, and the book on them is they simply cannot play interior defense, which is why anything the team can get out of Kwame Brown is critical.
"Look, we haven't accomplished what we want to accomplish," Grunfeld said, "which is make the playoffs. That was our goal at the beginning of the season and we're headed in that direction but we've got a long way to go. We should feel pretty good about where we are, but certainly not satisfied. We have to experience the end of a season, which is a little bit different. The games are more meaningful and the intensity level is higher."
Grunfeld is wisely cautious because most of his players haven't experienced those games. Beginning the second half of the season in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference is foreign to basketball watchers around here -- but not to Grunfeld, who is proving again how undaunted he is even when faced with what, to most of us, appeared to be the most hopeless of building projects.