The Official Washington Wizards Thread

[chipwhich]

If you can bring in Kevin Pritchard, then fire Ernie. Pritchard's previous job was Portland, not exactly basketball heaven. He's built a team that is surviving and is in the WC playoff hunt despite losing Oden and Brandon Roy.

Wow you think the trailblazers franchise is any comparison to the Wizards/Bullets? You really don't follow the NBA. Compared to what Ernie took over, Portland is basketball heaven. Please.

[skinfan2k]

whocares what team he has taken over. teams come out of no where to become successful. what a lame excuse.... what were the mavs before dirk? nothing? thunder were a joke for years after the sonics were taken out of their state. the bulls were a joke before jordan...

[Burgold]

Right now, the Wiz have a superstar in the making in Wall. That could be enticing to a GM. More, they have a fair amount of cap space and flexibility. Basically, you aren't saddled with anyone except maybe Rashard Lewis. That means that you can create the team in your image without any real restrictions. That ought to be very attractive to a personell guy. On the other hand, looking at the Wiz roster you have almost nothing and you really are starting from zero. I mean besides Wall who's of worth? McGee maybe? Young? Could Booker and Cartier become something. This is really a scrapheap of a roster.

[No Excuses]

Wow you think the trailblazers franchise is any comparison to the Wizards/Bullets? You really don't follow the NBA. Compared to what Ernie took over, Portland is basketball heaven. Please.

Right, because Portland was some awesome team before Pritchard took over. Portland was as big of a mess as Washington when Pritchard took over general manager duties.

Instead of reminding everyone in every post that you've been watching this team for 30 years, you should spend that time brushing up your own NBA history. Your self inflated ego really makes you sound like a prick sometimes.

[skinfan2k]

did you see how fast the thunder have transformed their team?

[No Excuses]

did you see how fast the thunder have transformed their team?

They acquire Durant and then Presti made the perfect moves to surround him with the right talent.

Considering that the best Ernie Grunfeld team made it out of the first round only once, I think I'll take my chances with someone else. This whole revisionist nonsense that Ernie transformed this franchise is complete bullcrap. If we are using our past as a measuring stick for success, then we'll be stuck in this gutter forever.

With a new owner who has a much different philosophy than Abe, I'd rather have an aggressive draft oriented GM like Pritchard than Ernie who's draft record has completely sucked.

[chipwhich]

whocares what team he has taken over. teams come out of no where to become successful. what a lame excuse.... what were the mavs before dirk? nothing? thunder were a joke for years after the sonics were taken out of their state. the bulls were a joke before jordan...

Exactly. And what does that all mean?

You need to luck into a superstar.

The Bulls GM was fortunate to get Jordan.

Cleveland GM - WOW

Ernie should be so lucky.

We have to walk before we run. The problem with this franchise was ownership. Now lets see if Leonsis knows how to change the Wizards stripes.

---------- Post added February-13th-2011 at 11:36 AM ----------

This whole revisionist nonsense that Ernie transformed this franchise is complete bullcrap.

Revisionist? You are the only one revisioning Take your chances on someone else. It wasn't better before he got here.

Ernie did a better job as GM, than any other GM for this franchise in the last THIRTY years.

You don't become a winner overnight.

[Burgold]

Ernie did a better job as GM, than any other GM for this franchise in the last THIRTY years.

You don't become a winner overnight.

Yes, but the question is can he take that next step or should we be grateful for moving the bar and let him go. He's made some pretty bad trades in recent years.

[chipwhich]

Yes, but the question is can he take that next step or should we be grateful for moving the bar and let him go. He's made some pretty bad trades in recent years.

That I don't know.

I am not proposing lowering the bar.

All I am saying is lets keep things in perspective. He made some pretty good trades that got us to 4 straight playoff appearances. He took an irrelevant franchise and made them relevant for a brief stint. Is it Ernie's fault they lost in the first round each year? A franchise that made 1 playoff appearance in the previous 15 years?

The NBA requires luck and talent. Talent wins championships. Teams don't win championships. I'll take my odds betting on a team with Lebron, Kobe -vs- an Arenas team 10 times over even prior to his injuries. Cleveland was a wasteland before they acquired LeBron....and they are a wasteland post Lebron.

Posters in here talk about the Wizards issues like it's coaching and GM. That is partially the problem. It's bigger problem is years and years of mismanagement, shipping out youth for elders, keeping friends in high places in the management structure, and never wanting to win. It took the biggest embarrassment of Abe Pollins sports ownership, the handling of Jordan, and the sellouts Jordan brought to the franchise, to make Pollin finally try and field a contender.

It starts at the top. We have to walk before we run. You have to let Leonsis start to build a foundation and a sense of worth amongst players. It begins with making Washington a place a coach or GM WANTS to come to. Firing people now, in a season even the blind knew would be a bust, isn't fixing anything in Wizards basketball.

[No Excuses]

Revisionist? You are the only one revisioning Take your chances on someone else. It wasn't better before he got here.

Ernie did a better job as GM, than any other GM for this franchise in the last THIRTY years.

You don't become a winner overnight.

So are we using Ernie Grunfeld as the new measuring stick?

Ernie transformed this team into a one and done playoff team, with piss poor defense, a coach he couldn't stand up to and a superstar he didn't have the balls to control. Everything eventually blew up in his face last year. In most franchises besides Washington, Ernie's track record would be pedestrian at best.

I'm as thankful as anyone to actually know that at some point in the last few years, this team had seasons where they won more than they lost. But do we celebrate that mediocrity or actually try to take the next step into becoming legitimate?

Ernie lucked into Gilbert due to a coin flip. Then he surrounded him with a guy who at best was a sixth man on a contender (Jamison) and Butler who was a really good player with health issues that eventually broke him down.

The rest? Antonio Daniels: below average. Brendan Haywood: decent center. Etan Thomas: total crap. Darius Songaila: total crap. DeShawn Stevenson: good for 1/2 of a season, then mostly crap. Andray Blatche: inconsistent back up forced into a primary role. Draft picks? Picked Pecherov, traded away a top 5 pick for one year rentals. McGee continues to be the most inconsistent player in the league. Passed on DeJuan Blair for supposed "money issues" only to later turn around and give double the money to a washed up Oberto.

Every GM has his blunders but most of the good GM's with successful teams make considerably less blunders than Ernie has. As much as you like to think that lucking into superstars is everything, surrounding that super star with the right talent is also as important. Otherwise, we'll be going through the same thing with Wall that Cleveland fans went through with LeBron this year. Superstar player leaves for a better team/better franchise.

[chipwhich]

Every GM has his blunders but most of the good GM's with successful teams make considerably less blunders than Ernie has. As much as you like to think that lucking into superstars is everything, surrounding that super star with the right talent is also as important. Otherwise, we'll be going through the same thing with Wall that Cleveland fans went through with LeBron this year. Superstar player leaves for a better team/better franchise.

Two words.

Abe Pollin.

Understand the history of the franchise, and you will understand some of Ernie's moves. Ernie was handcuffed by Abe.

The franchises last playoff win prior to Ernie was in 1987 You weren't even born yet. You have been fortunate to see some pretty good basketball compared to what they have been. Consider yourself lucky. You know what happened to that Bullets team that went 0-3 in the playoffs to Jordan? Abe blew it up.

I can't give an honest evaluation of Ernie because Abe was at the top. I can say Ernie has been the best GM I can remember for this franchise. Yes I know, that isn't saying much. So keep that in mind. Ernie Grunfeld was one of the best GM's ever in the history of this franchise. What does that tell you :-)

[No Excuses]

Josh Howard starting tonight... lol

Two words.

Abe Pollin.

Understand the history of the franchise, and you will understand some of Ernie's moves. Ernie was handcuffed by Abe.

The franchises last playoff win prior to Ernie was in 1987 You weren't even born yet. You have been fortunate to see some pretty good basketball compared to what they have been. Consider yourself lucky. You know what happened to that Bullets team that went 0-3 in the playoffs to Jordan? Abe blew it up.

I can't give an honest evaluation of Ernie because Abe was at the top. I can say Ernie has been the best GM I can remember for this franchise. Yes I know, that isn't saying much. So keep that in mind. Ernie Grunfeld was one of the best GM's ever in the history of this franchise. What does that tell you :-)

Ernie had an impressive run with the Knicks but his second stint with the Bucks wasn't so nice. Bucks fans have nothing but bad things to say about him.

He hasn't been terrible for the Wizards by any means. But let's not get to blaming Abe for all of his mistakes. Abe interfered with Etan Thomas who Abe was a fan of. Abe might have had an influence on the trade for the #5 pick but lets get real, Abe was on his death bed at that point. He wasn't pulling Grunfeld's strings to make one of the worst trades in franchise history. Just a season ago the #5 pick had been traded for Ray Allen. Ernie got us Mike Miller.

Abe also didn't pressure Ernie to sign guys like Antonio Daniels, Darius Songaila and DeShawn Stevenson. While none of their contracts individually were cripplers, added together they kept this team from actually signing decent players. Ernie even before the Wizards has had a history of making bad trades and overpaying for veterans.

[StillUnknown]

the cavs are a special brand of terrible

[chipwhich]

J
Abe also didn't pressure Ernie to sign guys like Antonio Daniels, Darius Songaila and DeShawn Stevenson. While none of their contracts individually were cripplers, added together they kept this team from actually signing decent players. Ernie even before the Wizards has had a history of making bad trades and overpaying for veterans.

2 things. Ernie had to work with the salary numbers Abe put upon him. Also, you make a very bad assumption in thinking the Wizards could sign decent players. Here is a newsflash. No decent player in his right mind would come play for this franchise, unless it by trade or by draft. Decent players don't sign in places they have no chance to win.

You underestimate how hard it is to be the GM of a team that has won nothing since the late 70's and has a reputation of shipping youth out. Ernie worked a minor miracle to get this team to four straight playoffs. That is an incredible feat if you think about it.

[ACW]

http://www.nba.com/games/20110213/WASCLE/gameinfo.html
Young with 18 points.
Wall 8:0 A:T ratio.