Ernie Grunfeld Story
Author: Will Tucker
April 24, 2012
Washington Wizards’
Team President and General Manager, Ernie Grunfeld, was re-signed Monday, but
why? Now, before we go ahead and blow our loads in complete hysteria, lets give
Grunfeld a fair trial and review some of the best, and worst, moves made by the
controversial General Manager.
Wizards
Stats since June 2003
Record: 283-439 (.392)
Playoff Appearances: 4
Total Seasons: 9
Head Coaches: 4
Deepest Playoff Run: Conference Semi-Finals, once
Hey, That’s Not a Bad Idea…
1. February 23, 2011 – Traded Kirk Hinrich and Hilton
Armstrong to Atlanta for Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford, Mo Evans and a first
round pick
2. August 8, 2003 – Signed Gilbert Arenas
o The Initial signing, not the $111 million down
the drain.
3. August 2, 2005 – Re-signed Kwame Brown and traded to L.A. for Caron Butler and Chucky
Atkins
4. 2004 Draft Day – Traded Christian Laettner, Jerry Stackhouse, and Devin Harris to Dallas for Antawn Jamison
5. Draft Day 2010 – Selected John Wall 1st overall; trades the draft rights to Lazar Hayward and Nemenja Bjelica to Minnesota for draft
rights to Trevor Booker and Hamady Ndiaye
o Anyone missing Lazar or Nemenja?
6. July 8, 2010 - Traded draft rights to Vladimir Veremeenko to Chicago for Kirk Hinrich, the draft rights to Kevin Seraphin and cash.
7. December 18, 2010 – Traded Gilbert Arenas to Orlando for Rashard
Lewis
o Rashard Lewis hasn’t exactly panned out, but
finding a hopeful sucker to take Gilbert and his contract was gargantuan. Although,
Lewis’ wasn’t that much easier to handle.
8. Draft 2011 – Selected Jan Vesely 6th overall, Chris Singleton 18th overall, and Shelvin Mack 35th overall. Exercised contract option
through 2012-2013 on John Wall, Trevor
Booker, Jordan Crawford and Kevin
Seraphin
o Well, Wizards’ fans, it’s #8 … for now. Just
keep your fingers crossed…
9. March 15, 2012 - Traded Javale McGee and Ronny
Turiaf to Denver for Nene
o Turiaf … worthless. Javale … what are you, 4
years old? At least Nene is a veteran and a somewhat proven inside presence.
Those game-winners are helping his stock, too.
10. 2005 Draft Day – Selected Andray Blatche 49th overall
o Yes, this could just as easily be on the ‘What
in the $%#! Were You Thinking’ list, but there was a point in time when a
young, in shape Andray played a big role in a couple of the electric Wizards
seasons; and with the 49th pick, not an awful decision, not even a
bad one. Worth noting, that was also a point in time that will never be seen
again.
11. October 31, 2005 – Signed Caron Butler to a contract extension
o More Tough Juice, please!
12.Draft Day 2007 – Selected Nick Young 16th overall
o Nick was easily the Wizards most prolific
scorer with huge upside for three years.
13. January 23, 2012 – Fired Flip Saunders, hires Randy
Whittman as head coach
o Sorry, Flip, this marriage just wasn’t meant to
be. Randy has done decently well with the team Flip left him. (Can you say 6
straight wins to close the season?)
14. August 3, 2004 – Signed Michael Ruffin
o I don’t care what the haters have to say about what happened, or how
many heads he has, Michael Ruffin was one of the best role players and
defenders on the Wizards for two and a half seasons.
15. July 3, 2007 – Signs Tom Thibodeau Assistant Coach
o That’s Right, the same Tom Thibodeau that is
reigning coach of the year.
D is for
Dumbass!
1. June 24, 2009 – Traded the #5 overall pick, Etan Thomas,
Darius Songaila, and Oleksiy Pecherov to Minnesota for Randy Foye and Mike Miller
o
A first
round pick, no, no, no … the #5 overall
pick and three players for backup guard Randy Foye and the disgusting hair of injured Mike
Miller.
2. July 13, 2008 – Re-signed Gilbert Arenas
o
Questionable
is an understatement when it comes to this restructured contract. It is
regarded as one of the worst signings in recent NBA history. What was it, you
ask? Well, merely 6 years, $111 million.
3. December 10, 2008 – Traded first round pick to Grizzlies for Javaris Crittenton; traded Antonio
Daniels to New Orleans for Mike
James.
o
The gun
incident (which some regard as the official curse and downfall of the then
rising Wizards) and the nomad Mike James for a first rounder and one of the
harder working guards to play for the Wizards in the last decade.
4. November 1, 2004 – Signed Brendan Haywood to a contract extension.
o
His 7
points, 5 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game the previous season couldn’t have
called for anything less than 5 years, $25 million.
5. October 20, 2003 – Exercised contract option on
Kwame Brown and Brendan Haywood
o
The dumb
leading the blind.
6. Draft Day 2006 – Selected Oleksiy Pecherov 18th overall and Vladimir Veremeenko 48th overall
o
Grunfeld
milked the European superstar fad dry. At least he was lucky enough to come
away with two superstars here…
7. July 16, 2007 – Re-signed DeShawn Stevenson
o
Anytime
you see this you have to say congrats to DeShawn’s agent. He must be one
manipulative, or blackmailing, son-of-a-bitch.
7a. August 17, 2007 – Re-signed Andray Blatche
o
Why, just
… why?
8. February 13, 2010 – Traded Caron Butler, DeShawn Stevenson, Brendan Haywood and cash to Dallas
for Quinton Ross, Josh Howard, James
Singleton and Drew Gooden
o
The worst
part about this is, obviously, the loss of CB3. Josh Howard gave Wizards’ fans
a reason to believe some talent was on its way. Unfortunately for Wizards’ fans, everyone is still waiting
to see a glimpse talent out of the promising and injury prone Howard. Drew
Gooden was traded within the week for Al Thornton. At least DeShawn was no longer in D.C.!
9. February 18, 2010 - Traded Drew Gooden for Al Thornton
o
All in
all, this wasn’t awful. Al Thornton didn’t work out, and because of that and
the fact that Drew Gooden was at the time a decent player makes this deal
another Ernie bust.
10. November 24, 2008 – Fired Eddie Jordan and named Ed
Tapscott head coach
o
Eddie
Jordan was one of the few bright spots on a devastatingly ugly team, but that’s
what a 1-10 start the season leaves you with. Ed Tapscott helped muddy that
bright spot to make the already ugly duckling now covered in oil.
11. September 23rd, 2008 – Signed Juan Dixon ... again
o
I
understand the hometown advertising and promotional side of this signing to
draw the crowd, but after his recent steroid bust you can’t help but feel bad
for the poor guy.
12. August 22, 2007 – Named Ed Tapscott Director of Player Development
o
I’ve been
tough on Ed. He’s a respectable, hard-working basketball figure. He was a great coach with memorable
seasons as the American University head coach, an assistant coach under Gary
Williams, the first Executive Vice President and C.O.O. of the Bobcats, but
hey, Ed, how’s that developing our players been coming? …John Wall…Andray
Blatche…Nick Young…Javale McGee…
13. July 3, 2007 - Named Tom Thibodeau Assistant Coach
o
This one
makes both lists. While his tenure with the Wizards didn’t last much
longer than Drew Gooden’s, don’t you wish you could take the Delorean back to
2007 and make Thibodeau comfortable in D.C., and eventually head coach instead
of Ed Tapscott?
Overall, Grunfeld has
taken the good with the bad.
However, the worst of the worst outweigh the best of the best. With a
.392 winning percentage and only surpassing the first round of the playoffs
once, I don’t understand how Ted Leonsis is so confident in keeping him.
Yes, Grunfeld
currently appears to have the team going in the right direction, but
none-the-less he has made questionable decision after questionable decision
with the Wizards’ money. His large
signings have proven to be deadly. Tying up the future and a large portion of
the team’s cap space on injured, aging, and less than tremendous talents.
How can you trust this
man to make the right decisions with the future of your team when he has spent
9 years posting a .392 winning percentage and trying to figure out how to put a
team on the floor decent enough to get passed the conference semi-finals?
Grunfeld has been the
General Manager for the Wizards during the worst four-year stretch in franchise
history. Including the worst
season in franchise history. He
continuously signs free agents that are not the answer, and instead puts a
large amount of money into players that simply are not who he thinks they are,
or hopes they can be.
Ernie leaves fans
shaking their head’s more than he leaves them with the feeling of hope. He
believes deeply in all of his decisions, which is a good trait to have in a
General Manager. But as a General Manager, you should be able to know when
you’re decisions aren’t quite working out, and when to call it quits and move
on.
But, hey, what’s
another 20-62 season? Like I said, he appears to have the team headed in the
right direction, so let’s see where he takes this project. The last one ended with four straight
electrifying and memorable seasons, followed by the four worst seasons in
Wizards history. Wizards’ fans can only hope that the four electrifying seasons
are again around the corner.
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