It's Past Time for Ernie Grunfeld To Go

The Washington Wizards have a huge problem with their team. It is not a new problem, this is a problem that has existed for generations, this team is horrible. There is clearly more than one problem actually, but one that can clearly be fixed. This problem has been around since 2003 and it must finally be dealt with. The Wizards must fire Ernie Grunfeld who is unfortunately the 5th longest tenured General Managers in the league. Grunfeld has led to or contributed to a multitude of other problems.

Let's start with the most obvious reason for dismissing Grunfeld...His record as GM is 444-606! The team has only won 42% of games during Grunfeld's tenure despite the Eastern Conference being incredibly watered down throughout virtually the entire tenure. A failure to win half of your games in a bad league could be plenty of reason to be let go. Never making the Eastern Conference Finals when you have been around since 2003 is also not acceptable. Those reasons alone are sufficient, but it gets worse.....

Ernie Grunfeld has had an incredible 22 draft picks in his time in Washington, many of which were top 5 selections. With those selections he has managed to pick one all-star. That all-star he should not even get credit for. John Wall was the no-brainer #1 pick that everyone would have made. The fact that he received the #1 pick should show you about his underwhelming teams at the same time. He did get one easy selection correct though. Look at all the misses below though and you will see how awful he was...

Complete draft history for Grunfeld in Washington

2003 Draft
Jarvis Hayes (10) and Steve Blake (38)
While Hayes was not what he was supposed to be, I did not mind this pick at the time so hard to fault it now. Hayes seemed to be the shooter Washington needed, but just didn't pan out. Steve Blake is still a productive player in the league, so that is probably Grunfeld's best pick there at 38. David West went 18, Josh Howard 29, Mo Williams 47, and Kyle Korver 51.

2004 Draft
#5 Pick traded for Antawn Jamison, #32 Peter John Ramos
It is hard to fault the Wizards for trading for Jamison, as he was incredibly productive and an all-star. However, picking Iguodala who went #9 would have been the ideal move. Iguodala would go on to be Finals MVP in the 2015 NBA Finals. He will again start for Golden State's dream team next season. Ramos was one of the biggest busts Grunfeld had and that is saying a lot. He played only during one season and only 6 games. He contributed nothing! Trevor Ariza meanwhile was drafted by the Knicks 12 picks later.

2005 Draft
#20 Pick Traded for Brandon Haywood, #49 Andray Blatche
As deep in the draft as he was picked, Andray Blatche was a pretty solid pick by Grunfeld. However, Marcin Gortat was still available at that point. Additionally, any good will with the selection was erased by the fact that Grunfeld extended him two years before he would have had to for way too much money. That contract and Blatche's attitude following the extension set the Wizards back for years. Overall it was a weak draft and while I wanted the team to pick Nate Robinson (a personal favorite) at 20, Brandon Haywood was a good trade.

2006 Draft
Olekisy Pecherov (18) and Vladimir Veremeenko (48)
Pecherov was the WORST SELECTION that I can remember in Wizards history besides Kwame Brown. He was terrible. It gets worse everytime you see Kyle Lowry be so successful in Toronto. Lowry was selected 24 overall by Memphis. Veremeenko never even played in the NBA. Meanwhile Ryan Hollins a 10 year vet was selected #50 that year.

2007 Draft
Nick Young (16) and Dominic McGuire (47)
Nick Young is probably my least favorite Wizards player of all-time. Dude was a black hole on offense who never passed. He won a few for the Wizards, but lost infinitely more games than he won. The top player selected after young was Marc Gasol, who was selected all the way back at 48. They could have had him in the 2nd round, but selected the underwhelming Dominic McGuire instead. Washington could have come out of this draft with Carl Landry (31) and Marc Gasol and really shored up that interior that struggled for years.

2008 Draft
Javele McGee (18) and Pick #47 Traded
McGee had some promise and the Wizards faithful were always hopeful that he panned out. Unfortunately, he never became the player we were told we were getting. DeAndre Jordan however was one of the best players in the draft all the way down at 35. What makes this pick really bad though is that every player picked 19-37 in that draft with the exception of 3 players (Donte Greene, JR Giddens, and Walter Sharpe) ended up as better players than McGee. 16 of 19 selections immediately following McGee were decidely better picks.

2009 Draft
The Wizards trade both selections in this draft. This will be described further below as it is the biggest miss that the Wizards had under Grunfeld. All of that to obtain Mike Miller!?!?!?!?

2010 Draft
John Wall (1), Kevin Seraphin (17), Trevor Booker (23), Hamady N'Diaye (56)
It was no surprise that the Wizards would get the top pick after trading a top 5 pick for Mike Miller. John Wall is the lone all-star that Grunfeld has selected, but you could argue that he is just the 5th most productive player in this class. Paul George, DeMarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe, and Gordon Hayward have all been slightly more productive to date in their NBA careers. Still, we can give Grunfeld credit for doing the smart thing in taking Wall, who still has a lot of upside.
Now after Walll...Kevin Seraphin always had the talent, but just did not produce to an adaquate level. The Wizards could have had Grevis Vasquez (28), Avery Bradley (19), or the most productive player at that point who was selected a pick later, Eric Bledsoe (18). Each of those would have been effective in pairing with Wall and building a nice young backcourt. Trevor Booker is no longer a Wizard, but he has had a solid career and was a very decent pick at that spot.

2011 Draft
Jan Veseley (6), Chris Singleton (18), Shelvin Mack (34)
Veseley and Singleton were each out of the league after 3 years, while Mack is still in the league and was a solid selection. The 1st two were busts. Singleton was the pick I liked at the time as a Nole. He had a great first year and then just stunk it up. To think this team could have come out of this draft with Kawhi Leonard (15) and Jimmy Butler (30) is enough to make you sick. This team could have competed for titles if they selected Leonard and Butler. Those two paired with Wall, almost certainly would have won a championship. They could have had the top 2 players in the draft. However, so could have a lot of other teams, Butler did fall all the way to 30. Still, Leonard should have been a player on the radar at 6. The Spurs certainly knew what they were doing....
It is hard to fault the Mack pick, but Isaiah Thomas and Chandler Parsons were still on the board. This draft should have set up the Wizards for a championship run with Kawhi, Butler, and Isaiah! Ahhhhhhhh!

2012 Draft
Bradley Beal (3), Tomas Satoransky  (32)
The Wizards were given a unique chance to rectify their God awful 2011 draft with a few high picks in 2012. Unfortunately, they blew it again. Bradley Beal has been an injured mess, but they could have selected big man Andre Drummond (9). Drummond is flourishing and would have been ideal to pair with Wall. However, if they wanted to get a backcourt mate, they could have gotten Damian Lillard (6). Are you sick to your stomach yet? No, Well Draymond Green went (35) while Satoransky never played professional basketball! We could have had Andre Drummond and Draymond Green! Again, this should have been the building blocks of a championship!

2013 Draft
Otto Porter (3), Glen Rice Jr. (35)
It is hard to fault this one. Porter is developing into a nice player and needs time, but that being said, Giannis Antetokuonmpo is clearly the top player to this point and will likely remain top.

2014 Draft
Trade their picks again! Bunch of Morons!
They had the 18th pick and could have drafted Rodney Hood who ended up being a solid player

2015 Draft
Kelly Oubre (16) and Aaron White (49)
This actually looks solid

2016 Draft
Again traded the picks
I guess Grunfeld at least knows he sucks at picking by this point because he keeps trading picks.

Let's go over one of these in detail. Heading into the 2009 NBA Draft, the Wizards have the 5th pick in a loaded class. This draft had Blake Griffin, James Harden, Tyreke Evans, Ricky Rubio, DeMar DeRozan, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague, Taj Gibson, Danny Green, Darren Collison, and some guy named Stephen Curry. Curry would go 7th during that draft. He was from Virginia and went to school in North Carolina. Picking Curry would have been perfect. But no.......Ernie Grunfeld trades the pick and 3 players for Mike Miller and Randy Foye. The Wizards thought they were close to competing for a championship and traded for the duo instead of picking in a loaded draft class. Any of the above players would have helped more than the short and unproductive stints of Miller and Foye, but this move especially stings knowing that the 2 time MVP and local boy could have been picked. This bonehead move and missing on Curry alone could be enough to fire Grunfeld, but we will continue....

I could talk about more bonehead free agent moves and terrible contracts, but this article just makes me angry. I am writing it and I am still mad. Ernie Grunfeld is a complete joke of a general manager.

All of this is irrelevant though in the grand scheme as Grunfeld still has a job. Even if Ted was able to let all of the other bonehead moves slide though, the question still remains?
Why wasn't Grunfeld fired for this failed plan this offseason?
The Wizards cleared cap space for this offseason and inadverntenly signaled to fans that they were going all in on #KD2DC. That plan failed. KD signed with the Warriors. We paid a rediculous contract for a guy that has averaged 5 points a game for his career instead.
How can we not see that Ernie has failed at this point?

Oh well, I guess I will never see a Wizards Eastern Conference Finals appearance or an MVP in my lifetime. Every other team has done one of those in the East except my Wizards (even the Raptors who haven't been around long), but hey at least we have those memories of Mike Miller and we get to see Ian Mahinmi this year right?

Why win anyways?

This is a DC Sports team after all!

- Noland

2015-2016 NBA Season Review

This NBA season was filled with a lot of ups and downs for me. There were some spectacular moments, some cool moments, and some not so cool moments. It is all up for review here.

Let's start with the main team that this blog has focused on, the San Antonio Spurs...
The Spurs had a monumentally successful regular season. San Antonio won 67 games this year, which is a franchise record. However, the team was shocking ousted in the 2nd round by a younger and seemingly hungrier Thunder team. It was great to see the regular season and Duncan still being a contributor at his age, while hoping for him to get another ring and go out on top. It was cool to see the transformation to it being Kawhi's team and to see Leonard emerge as a true MVP candidate. Seeing Popovich's unselfish system continue to thrive is never a bad thing either...

So what happened in the playoffs?
The Spurs like I said, were outworked by a younger and hungrier team. It seems that everything was clicking all the way through Game 1 of the second round. This team dismantled the Thunder in Game 1. Then Father Time caught up with San Antonio in a big way for the rest of the series. Tim Duncan looked terrible all series until the deciding Game 6 when he tried to give it one last hurrah. It was painful to see at times. The knees and back were affecting his play and he just seemed to be losing it. For someone that has seen Duncan dominate for so long it was sad. It was sadder in knowing that this is probably it for Duncan and that he likely will not get to 6 championships now. A class individual and class player like Duncan should get to go out on top for the classiest organization in sports. Not meant to be though. The Thunder wanted it more and deserved the Western Conference Final appearance more. While it is sad that Duncan is likely done, the future is bright for Kawhi Leonard and possibly for the San Antonio Spurs still because of Leonard.

Now to the team that ousted the Spurs....
I have not focused too much on the Thunder here at ran. I don't think most of the people that read my stuff care too much. However, the Wizards fans care about Durant and the team has intrigue because they knocked out the Spurs. Kevin Durant is perhaps the most likable guy in the league and him leading the Thunder to knock out the Spurs is good for him and probably for the NBA. Getting more eyeballs on him and Westbrook is great for the NBA. Speaking of Russell Westbrook, I'm happy to see the haters starting to go away. The guy is an elite NBA player. Easily top 10 in the game and probably top 5. He needs to be treated as such. Glad to see Westbrook finally get that respect. The 1,2 punch of Durant and Westbrook will likely stay. Sorry for all of the #KD2DC fans out there. This combo is too great to break up.

The combo also has one of the best coaches in the NBA. As a die-hard Nole, I cannot tell you how excited it makes me that Billy Donovan is coaching the Oklahoma City Thunder instead of coaching in Gainesville. This guy just knows basketball. He is one of the elite basketball minds on the planet. Assuming that Durant stays with the Thunder (I assume he will), this team has future NBA Champs written all over it.

Heck they almost won this year. The Thunder were up 3-1 on the team with the best record in the NBA during the Western Conference Finals. Did it all come crashing down?
Yes. It came crashing down when the Warriors made the proper adjustments and their two best players finally started playing like they had all season. Klay Thompson took over the series and the Warriors ended up winning. The team had the best regular season record in NBA history for a reason. Still, the Thunder had them down 3-1. That says a lot about the potential of Oklahoma City.

The Thunder certainly upgraded over Scott Brooks with Billy Donovan. However, Brooks was a good coach that helped the Thunder get to the next point. He helped develop two young superstars. Brooks is a great hire for the team that I do regularly talk about, the Washington Wizards. Hired just a few weeks ago, Brooks looks to improve on his career 62% winning percentage in a weak Eastern Conference. There is absolutely no excuse for the Wizards being as horrendous as they are, and Brooks has the potential to mold this team at least into a consistent playoff contender. With Brooks, they should at least make the playoffs every year. With some solid roster movement, this team can contend in the Eastern Conference.

Which leads me to my next topic, the underachieving Bradley Beal. This guy is supposed to be offered a max contract this offseason. Why?
Beal played in just 55 games this season and his injury prone status is a large reason why this team underachieved so much. Do they really want to make the playoffs only when an injury prone guy is healthy?
Beal has played in just 247/328 regular season games in his career. The career just started and its been filled with injuries. This is the guy you want to offer the max to. The guy you want to make Wall's 2nd best option. Sure he has a pretty 3 point shot, but why risk it. Can't we go with a safer and more reliable alternative here to giving Beal 22 million?
He says he is past the injury thing, but is he really?
The dude derailed the Wizards season and they missed the playoffs in a weak Eastern Conference. That he averaged 17.4 is of no consequence, he played in just 55 games. There are a lot better ways to spend 22 million. He has a nice shot, but he isn't a great defender and rarely can create his own shot. Not to mention that he has the 39th worst turnover rate among NBA guards. The guy doesn't play and when he does, he turns it over. I just don't see why this guy deserves a max deal. If you want to bring him back, fine, but structure the deal in a way that the team still has financial flexibility. A team with two injury prone max guards will stay a fringe playoff contender. That playoff status will continue to remain on the backs and legs of two injury prone guys. Not how I want to spend my time as an NBA fan. If you give Beal the max, you deserve the broken player you get. Here is a solid article on what the Wizards should offer Beal.

Speaking of the weak Eastern Conference.....

LeBron certainly continues to dominate the pathetic conference. However, as a hater of the LeBron narrative, I thought it was worth pointing out that the Miami Heat pushed the Raptors (that gave LeBron fits in the Finals) to 7 games the series before. They did it with largely the same team LeBron had, just minus LeBron. They also did it injured. Guess they are solid help and I guess Wade did have plenty in the tank, just like I said. The biggest difference between this Heat and LeBron's Heat in my opinion is that this Heat did not include Chris Bosh either. They must have some pretty solid contributing parts. Led by a pretty fantastic guard in Dwayne Wade.....

Stay tuned next week, for more from the world of sports...

-Noland