THE ERNIE GRUNFIELD ROLLER COASTER

[JWaLL]

After the trade that went down today, i have renewed my hatred for Ernie Grunfield.

He was on my good side in the 2000's when he assembled the "Big 3" (Arenas, Butler, Jamison) and he did a pretty damn good job at that. Arenas was an mvp candidate to go along with 2 20 ppg scorers, but the Wizards were always 1-2 key role players away from a championship. Arenas blows his knee out and the season is lost, thats fine. But what isn't fine is the fact that Ernie Grunfield decided to trade the #5 pick in the draft for Mike Miller and Randy Foye. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?????? THis is an abysmal trade and that #5 pick, yea that ended up being some guy named Ricky Rubio, i heard that he's pretty good? (Hatred for Ernie Grunfield right now 9/10)

Arenas goes all ape **** and ruins the great run that the Wizards had, we unload Jamison and Butler which was a sad ending. He made a good trade with the Magic to get Rashard Lewis---basically all this did was give the wizards 1 less year to pay off that horrible contract that Arenas had. (Hate level 5/10)

Wizards get John Wall and the future looks bright, Grunfield also makes some underrated trades to acquire Jordan Crawford and Kevin Seraphin who have blossomed into solid role players. Nick Young starts to show his potential as a pure shooter (Hate Level 4/10)

Then we come into this year, a horrible season (supposed to be Grunfields last) but he comes up with a great trade to get Javale and his 30 IQ out of town and he also gets value for Nick YOung who wasn't going to resign with us anyways. We got NeNe, giving us a solid low post player, but he's injury prone. However, i still like the deal and hen healthy, the Wizards showed that they have promise. THis false hope of promise leads to Ted Leonsis bringing back Ernie Grunfield. WTF WAS HE THINKING? THIS IS THE MAN THAT COULDNT WIN WITH THE BEST 3 MAN COMBO IN THE NBA, TRADED AWAY RICKY RUBIO, AND OH YEA, HE DRAFTED HORRIBLY IN GETTING JAVALE MCGEE AND ANDRAY BLATCHE. THE ONLY REASON HE DIDNT SCREW UP THE 2010 DRAFT IS BECAUSE JOHN WALL WAS SUCH A NO BRAINER (Hatred Level 7/10)

This all leads up to the trade that went down today. Rashard Lewis and a 2n round pick for Okafor and Ariza. Both of these players will take up $42 million over the next two seasons which gives the Wizards no room to sign free agents. The wizards desperately needed more shooting which will make it easier for John Wall's drive and kick plays. No, we get an overpaid average perimeter defender, and an overpaid bust. Not only was this tree horrible, a few weeks ago, the Hornets were talking about throwing in the #10 pick to take those two contracts off of their books, instead, they gained a second round pick. (Hatred Level 10/10)

Ernie Grunfield has been a better GM for the Timberwolves and the Hornets than he has been for the Wizards. The T'Wolves are on the rise and the Hornets can now sign Eric Gordon to a long term deal and STILL have over $20 million to spend on free agents like someone, oh i don't know, Deron Williams? Now that isn't likely to happen, but it could. THe Hornets are a lot closer to becoming real contenders than people think and they have Erinie Grunfield to thank for that.

If you read that entire rant, may god bless your soul

[Cavsfan4life]

When I heard about the trade, I couldnt believe it. The Wiz did get better IMO with this deal by adding a wing who can get out on the break in Ariza and a solid big in Okafur who can defend, rebound, and a decent scorer. Wall, Crawford, Ariza, Nene, Okafur is a decent starting 5. But it kills their flexibility, especially with adding Nene before the deadline. They could make the playoffs now, or still be stuck in the lottery.

[aholbert32]

Ill defend Ernie a little:

1) He didn't trade away Ricky Rubio. The Wiz had the 5th pick. NO ONE thought that Rubio would drop to #5 and the Wiz traded the pick the night before the draft.

2) Blatche was a second rounder so I don't know how you can call that drafting horribly. The only people drafted after Blatche who are still in the league are Ryan Gomes and Marcin Gortat. Now you can blame Ernie for signing Blatche to his last contract.

3) What good is cap room when no one wants to sign with your team. Arenas was the last major free agent to sign with the Wiz and the Wiz had to overpay to get him. What were the Wiz going to do with that cap room this year? Sign Deron Williams? Eric Gordon? None of those guys were signing with the Wiz.

They got two starter quality players for an expiring contract.

[JWaLL]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

Ill defend Ernie a little: 1) He didn't trade away Ricky Rubio. The Wiz had the 5th pick. NO ONE thought that Rubio would drop to #5 and the Wiz traded the pick the night before the draft. 2) Blatche was a second rounder so I don't know how you can call that drafting horribly. The only people drafted after Blatche who are still in the league are Ryan Gomes and Marcin Gortat. Now you can blame Ernie for signing Blatche to his last contract. 3) What good is cap room when no one wants to sign with your team. Arenas was the last major free agent to sign with the Wiz and the Wiz had to overpay to get him. What were the Wiz going to do with that cap room this year? Sign Deron Williams? Eric Gordon? None of those guys were signing with the Wiz. They got two starter quality players for an expiring contract.

obviously we wouldnt want Deron and Gordon is restricted so he would just sign back with the Hornets, but the Wiz have never had the opportunity to test Free Agency. They have always been above the cap with the aforementioned big 3, then rashard lewis and and ray blotch contracts. They havnt been under the cap in so many years, you don't know if people would come or not. People like John Wall and he is a dynamic talent, people may want to play with him. And whether Rubio was "not supposed" to fall to the #5 or not, he did. The Wizards COULD have had him theoretically.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by JWaLL

obviously we wouldnt want Deron and Gordon is restricted so he would just sign back with the Hornets, but the Wiz have never had the opportunity to test Free Agency. They have always been above the cap with the aforementioned big 3, then rashard lewis and and ray blotch contracts. They havnt been under the cap in so many years, you don't know if people would come or not. People like John Wall and he is a dynamic talent, people may want to play with him. And whether Rubio was "not supposed" to fall to the #5 or not, he did. The Wizards COULD have had him theoretically.

Its easy to say that after it happens. I remember that draft night like it was yesterday and NOBODY thought the Wiz were getting Rubio. It isn't like Ernie saw Rubio dropping to 5 and decided to trade him anyway.

Also they are technically 2 mil below the cap now. They will be 9 mill under if they amnesty Blatche. They will still have room to sign a decent free agent shooter. Also if they draft Beal, they will have a second shooter.

[ProfessaPackMan]

As much as I think Grunfield has done a horrible job and as much as I want to bash him for this move....I just can't.

Oh and the Wizards were going to draft Rubio and there was a reason why he took back Mike Miller and Randy Foye and mainly because they weren't interested in any "rebuild" at the time and Ernie still believed he could still win with that current team, which turned out to not be the case 1/4th of the way thru the following season.

[Tha_Kid]

Quote: Originally Posted by aholbert32

Its easy to say that after it happens. I remember that draft night like it was yesterday and NOBODY thought the Wiz were getting Rubio. It isn't like Ernie saw Rubio dropping to 5 and decided to trade him anyway. Also they are technically 2 mil below the cap now. They will be 9 mill under if they amnesty Blatche. They will still have room to sign a decent free agent shooter. Also if they draft Beal, they will have a second shooter.

Drafting Beal/Whoever with the 3rd pick is 4.1 mil against the cap, so the wizards will actually be working with less than the MLE, under 5 million in free agency. Grunfeld's logic is that we get them cheap for one year, (about 4 mil each) when you factor in the alternative that was 13 mil for Lewis to go away (21 mil for okafor/ariza - 13mil for Lewis buyout = 8 mil).

That ignores the 9-11 mil in cap space the wizards could have had to pursue a impact free agent but it seems safe to say that Grunfeld knew that wouldn't happen. Both Leonsis & Grunfeld pretty much stated a vote of no confidence in their ability to persuade free agents when they made this trade. Since the announcement of the deal, both have stated that a key factor was not having to get the players to sign with the wizards but being able to just get them.

Quote: Originally Posted by Ernie Grunfeld

"You have to get one to agree to be able to get someone to sign with you, and you never know what the price is going to be to get someone. If you look at the free-agent list, you notice that, if see who is available in the free-agent market this year, it's not one of the strongest years in recent memory."

Quote: Originally Posted by Ted Leonsis

I also am happy that we were able to add these two players because their coming to our team is guaranteed, while playing free agency is a bit more of an unknown outcome. In free agency, you can bid on and recruit players, but since they are unrestricted free agents, they can choose to go wherever they feel is best for their careers and their family life. And to sign them, you must make a long term commitment that could affect your team in the out years of their deals.

I don't hate the move, provided the Wizards don't just gift Ariza & Okafor starting spots. Singleton & Booker should be the incumbents and Ariza/Okafor/Vesley/Seraphin should be fighting to take the 3/4 spot. Seraphin made a significant jump in 2nd half of last season and I see Vesley/Singleton making similar improvements in their 2nd year. I'd hate to see that progress ******** bc of two vets that are essentially 2 year rentals. You can bring up their ages but Ariza & Okafor are who we thought they were.

[Suntan Superman]

Honestly I love the trade for the Wiz, sure you take on some unecessary money, but Okafor/Nene are a great compliment to each other, Nene struggles on defense, Okafor struggles on Offense. Ariza no matter how you look at it is an upgrade over Singleton/Lewis/whoeverelsetheyhad, and getting value out of Rashard Lewis when the original plan was to just buy him out is good. Now, in consecutive years you'll also have Ariza's expiring, then Okafor expiring, then Nene expiring to trade and mess around with. It isn't a perfect plan, but if I was a Wizard fan, I'd be happier trying to win, then trying to draft right. Drafting is a crapshoot, with veterans you know what you're getting.