The article in question.

I like how Simmons conveniently leaves out that fact that the Team was without Phil Chenier for the majority of the season and the entirety of the playoffs. Injuries are a part of the game. Every team deals with them, including those Bullets. Even without one of their best guards, they still managed to win the title. I'm not trying to compare Phil Chenier to Bill Walton, but you can't play the "Woe is the Blazers" card. Nobody is entitled anything in the NBA. You have to work for it, regardless of the situation.

Other points he made that I find laughable.

Meanwhile, two ugly fights ruined another of Kareem's prime seasons (the Lakers were semi-loaded that year)

Well maybe Kareem should have just kept his cool instead of you know, punching somebody in the face? You have to keep your composure in order to win. Kareem derped that season and he had no one to blame but himself for it.

the league's most talented team (Philly) imploded in a bad-chemistry quagmire

Again, no one to blame but themselves. They still made it to the ECF so it's not like they were underachieving.

WARNING: The following post may contain homerism, and incredibly bold statements (Who likes to keep their cards close to the chest anyways?!)

This is in response to the article in question. 

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2011/7/29/2302070/nba-general-manager-rankings

 

18.  Ernie Grunfeld, Washington Wizards (last year: 18)

STYLE: Company man.

THE GOOD: He's done an excellent job carrying out owner Ted Leonsis' plan of accumulating draft picks, having now gained seven first-round picks in the last two years. Pulled off a brilliant use of asset management by taking on a draft pick, then dealing for two more for the price of renting Kirk Hinrich for four months.

THE BAD: Gave a premature contract extension to Andray Blatche, handing him a five-year deal two years before he was scheduled to be a free agent. Seems a bit too committed to the Blatche/Nick Young/JaVale McGee core in general. In the past, he had a tendency to overpay free agents, though that has faded since Leonsis took over.

BOTTOM LINE: Grunfeld is versatile, capable of executing many plans and undoing things that don't work. Now that he has a young superstar, he must prove he can build a team for the long haul, and not just one that tops out as decent.

 

I'm not dissing this, and i'm certainly not outraged at the placement, but I just thought I'd express my feelings on the subject because I know some of us don't believe in resigning grunfeld and want him out of town. 

I, however, am not in this group. I think alot of people undersell ernie and the management team. I definitely think alot of people look at big superstar moves by guys like ainge or riley, and tell themselves that that's what managing is all about. 

To me, Ernie is someone who's work isn't going to be fully appreciated until a couple of years down the line, like finely aged wine. 

Before I really get into this, I want to say that too many of our fans have blamed grunfeld for what transpired from 2007-2010. Giving a max contract to an injured player, overvaluing antawn jamison, and of course gungate. There had to be pressure there to win now due to Abe Pollin's condition, and grunfeld did not have alot of options during those years. He can't just tell pollin on his death bed that it wasn't going to work and they needed to rebuild, now can he? If you're working a six figure job and your boss tells you to do something, are you really going to risk going behind his back? I don't blame ernie, the only tragedy that happened was pollin leaving this world and not getting a chance to see a promising rebuild in action. 

I'm going to start at Andray Blatche's contract extension and last years draft. 

Andray Blatche signs a 5-year contract extension worth $35mil

Was this really a horrible idea? Blatche was our only low post scorer post jamison, and he's a pretty damn good one when he sets his mind to it. In general when he's playing well the team is playing well. That can be an Achilles heal, but when there's no other real option, it's not that bad of a predicament. Especially when his contract is only averaging around 7 million a year (For someone who just put up a 17/8 /2 year, no less). 

Hate blatche all you want, but he IS an integral part in flip saunders offense, a big part of the success of the team falls onto his shoulders, and there aren't a lot of players available who can replicate his game.

The Washington Wizards draft John Wall, Kevin Seraphin, Trevor Booker, and Hamady N'Diaye

John Wall is self-explanatory, the word is still out on kevin and Hamady (They were drafted out of need however, and there weren't many actual good bigs left in that draft), but trevor booker was an absolute steal. 

Booker may not have a lock-down position on the court, but he is a true energy guy on a team that was lacking energy guys. He played 200% above expectations, posting a 9% offensive rebound rate (Howard is 11.5), a 58% True Shooting percentage, Drew fouls on 17% of his shots, and held opponents to an 11.7 PER when he was playing the 3. 

Next year he will be a player without a position, but to me, it's better that way. I want him to be unpredictable, to throw teams off-balance. 

The Orlando Magic trade Rashard Lewis to the Washington Wizards for Gilbert Arenas

Many people wanted arenas out solely because of gungate and the fear of him corrupting wall, but did anyone realize how terrible gil was actually playing? (a trend that continued in orlando). He wasn't only a cancer in the locker room, but a cancer on the court. Gil was taking nearly 16 shots a game and converting on only 39% of them, meanwhile Rashard Lewis comes in, establishing a veteran presence and increased his rebounding and shooting percentage from the suck year he was having in orlando. 

Everybody hates a bad contract, but this was actually a good trade for the wrong reasons. 

The Atlanta Hawks trade Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford, Maurice Evans, and the 18th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft to the Washington Wizards for Kirk Hinrich.

Kirk had done his job, he showed John Wall the ways on the nba point guard, and it was time for wall to find his own way. In return we absolutely fleece the hawks for a solid veteran in mo evans and one of the better playmakers of the 2010 draft class in crawford. 

Together crawford and evans were a part of the best line-up that flip put on the court this season. A line-up that had a 62.5 percent win rate.

http://www.82games.com/1011/1011WAS2.HTM

Evans did his job as an nba nomad, and it will be sad to see him go with the influx of forwards coming in. Crawford was the gem, a new breed of playmaking combo guards that come off the bench and wreak havoc on opposing defenses. A guard that possesses the ability to play the 1 and the 2 and put points on the board (Oh, and he was also CLUTCH AS HELL) 

Yes i know his shot selection was terrible, and his man defense wasn't anything to be lauded about. He's got character though, and had it rougher than most rookies after receiving no minutes in atlanta then going to a completely different team system and then getting the green light by flip saunders. 

I want to see what crawford can do off the bench with nick young in the fold, I for one think he'll succeed expectations.

The Washington Wizards draft Jan Vesely, Chris Singleton, and Shelvin Mack

And here we sit idle at our keyboards after an agonizing nba lockout.

The first thing that most of us assumed was "OMFG ANOTHER EUROPEAN BEANPOLE, AND A LOGJAM AT SF? REALLY, WOW. TYPICAL ERNIE"

Everyone needs to have patience. We all know rashard lewis isn't a longterm solution, and a couple of years from now it just might be a rotation of vesely/singleton/booker. 

And right now i'm going to make an incredulous prediction, especially after hating on him by copious amounts before the draft. 

JAN VESELY IS GOING TO BE THE NEXT BIG EUROPEAN PLAYER, LIKE DIRK BIG. 

If he develops nba range and has a smooth stroke, this guy won't just be the european blake griffin, he'll also be the european kevin durant. Size, Athleticism, Motor, IQ. He's the perfect toy that everybody wanted for christmas

Seriously, if he pans out, what player in the league is going to be able to guard him? even if you can manage to stay in front of him he'll just run plays from flip, moving from strong to weak and back to strong, tiring out even the most experienced defenders in the league. 

His length on defense is going to be incredible too, with his wingspan he shouldn't even have to try to contest shots. 

Singleton and Mack were just icing on the cake in this draft. Taking the trait that translates well the most in the nba (Defense) and obtaining a partner for jordan crawford who knows how to play under pressure in big game situations. 

We have to perfect amount of clutch, character, and fight on our team now.

So what does it all mean? 

Ernie Grunfeld was the maestro behind all of it. I know we don't have alot of 3 point specialists. Nick young is off contract, and lewis isn't long term, but i'm sure we will see some more wizardry (pun intended) from ernie next season, and for all of that, I give Mr.Grunfeld some heavily deserved props. I'm a loyal fan who pours over blogs like these, picking up every scrap of information I can,  reading into analytics, and arguing with naysayers and trolls every day, and I don't feel that ernie is a "Bottom-Half General Manager" 

Anyways, that's just the consensus of my thoughts. That was a great article mike (even if I disagreed with it), looking forward to more during a woeful, woeful off-season.

I'm just going to throw out 4 players that I like, and how I think they'd fit in the grand scheme of things. All are obtainable with no need for big spending on individual contracts. IMO the "get another superstar" ship has sailed. The only one that fits is dwight howard, and well, who knows what will happen. I'm not going to dabble into minutes distribution, who stays or who goes, future draft picks, or any of that. I'm going to assume that john wall's eventual re-negotiation is still a ways away.

THE UNRESTRICTED'S:

Ryan Hollins, 7'0, 240, (Age: 29 by the 12' season) Cleveland Cavaliers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g624a09xKQ

Does Hollins really factor in to the cleveland rebuild? They have to be gunning for a more valuable anchor to the paint. Everybody in the world thought they were going to pick up rights to valuncianas(sp?) at the draft and it made sense to do so. Hollins shouldn't demand a high asking price, and is a legit center that can back up mcgee, and is a better option than a combo forward doing so. He's not young, but he's not so old that he's a liability. 

Mickael Pietrus, 6'6, 215, (Age: 31 by the 12' season) Phoenix Suns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb71uP-MSVU

I really like Pietrus. He's a veteran that has played big in big situations, and you can never have enough 3pt specialists, which imo we are in desperate need of. His contract was overinflated after the big run with orlando, but his price should drop after playing backup to vince carter for another season. He's not a liability on defense, and he's french. Which would be great for seraphin if we're still invested in developing him.

THE RESTRICTED'S: 

Darrell Arthur, 6'9, 235, (Age: 25 by the 12' season) Memphis Grizzlies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRKFx5ylBoc

This guy fits right into what the wizards want in the front court. Tough, Confident, and can run the floor. He rebounds, can knock down the occasional jumper, effective in limited minutes, and now has playoff experience under his belt. Memphis will definitely be in a difficult situation if they're sending big money marc gasol's way, considering they need to retain any type of athletic talent after getting TROUNCED by oklahoma city's transition game. Arthur could very easily end up walking away in free agency. 

Nicolas Batum, 6'8, 200, (Age: 25 by the 12' season) Portland Trailblazers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA9EHQ9gk0E

More french guys, amirite. I actually don't know alot about portland's situation, if they're interested in keeping him. How much they are willing to invest in gerald wallace, or anything really. Maybe someone else can shine light on the situation. I just know if lewis walks, then batum's 3pt capability will be highly desirable

So what do you guys think? What players are you keeping your eyes on in free agency for the next 2 seasons?

It's really surprising to me as a wizards fan, being used to bottom-dwelling quality defense, to see our defense perform so well over the past 7 games.

In fact, I'm enamored with it, because our bigs are doing absolutely nothing to contribute to it.

The Stats

91 ppg allowed

43% opponent field goal percentage

Rebound Differential - Negative 2 (this is actually worse than it sounds.)

Turnovers forced per game - 18

Our team is one that works outside-in. Are wing players have been playing out of their minds, contesting shots that you would normally see an elite playoff caliber team do, and providing the bulk of the offensive work. 

Andray Blatche

Not too long ago I was still a blatche supporter. I could have looked past the atrocious defense for his pure ability to break down players on the low block, except he stopped doing that, and I just don't think his psyche is where it needs to be to compete. He doesn't deserve to be starting and getting the amount of minutes he's been getting.

Blatches production per minute, for the most part, is dead even with trevor bookers.

Blatche's RPM - 0.25  Bookers RPM - 0.26

                  FG% - 38                       FG% - 37

                  PFM - .08                        PFM - .09

Javale McGee is being outrebounded by Hilton Armstrong

This should not be happening. Hilton is producing .31 rebounds per minute while Javale is only producing .29. 

What can we do to rectify the situation?

Well, the first thing to do is cut blatches minutes (which probably won't happen anyways) and more evenly disperse them to the rest of our bigs until we find something that meshes well. 

What are your thoughts?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=wallace_michael&page=arenas-101227

Some highlights.

"Q: A lot of time has passed since the fallout of the incident, since you were sentenced to serve time in a halfway house, since your release and return to the public eye. How often do you still reflect on the darkest moments of that ordeal?

A: I reflect back on it and, put it like this, I've seen worse in our locker room.

Q: Worse than guns being drawn by teammates in a locker room?

A: A lot worse than that."

"As much as [the Wizards were publicly saying] they wanted me back, well, they didn't want me back. It was one of those things where -- they were starting something new, I was that guy who was the pink elephant in the room nobody wanted to talk about."

"He was telling me about Rashard Lewis (traded to Washington in deal for Arenas). Nick was like, 'I don't know if he's going to make it two weeks here. He feels like the world just ended.' And I'm like, 'Man, I feel like the world just started for me over here. I can see why he's mad.'"

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If our locker room is truly like this behind closed doors (especially with the blatche and mcgee incident) Then leonsis needs to make more cutbacks. Grunfeld, saunders, hell even the mascots. There's only 2 people that i feel comfortable with staying in our organization. Sam Cassell, and John Wall. Everyone else is expendable.

I live in fredericksburg and I was thinking about buying tickets to go see their preseason opener against memphis at the VCU stadium in richmond. Do any of you think it's likely like arenas is going to play in this game or any of the other preseason games for that matter?

I'm just looking for opinions. I figured I would of seen something about the subject by now if it was officially announced.

We keep hearing all of these wondrous possibilities that can happen for the wizards. Possible Blockbuster trades that can turn us into a title contender. Everything seems to be going great and something great will surely happen to us...but I can't shake the feeling that somehow our franchise will manage to screw this up.

What if Ernie doesn't pull the trigger until it's too late? Somebody reassure me that this won't happen :*(