The Official Washington Basketball Thread: Wizards, Mystics etc

[SuperBash]

Well hopefully he doesn't get the chance to rebuild this team for the 4th time. He has done it twice and now with McGee and Young gone, he's gonna have his third chance. How many other GM's nowadays get all of those chances?

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Lol, Seraphin just clowned Diop. He was backing him down and Seraphin just stepped to the side. Diop went down like a bag of bricks

[SuperBash]

LMAO The streamers never get old.

[StillUnknown]

Lol, Seraphin just clowned Diop. He was backing him down and Seraphin just stepped to the side. Diop went down like a bag of bricks

Seraphin pulls the chair at least once a game.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

LMAO The streamers never get old.

Make me laugh too. Not in a good way.

Damn I wanted to win by 30. Oh well

---------- Post added April-23rd-2012 at 09:25 PM ----------

Seraphin pulls the chair at least once a game.

Diop made it special. Diop has always made me laugh.

I remember the Kwame draft, Diop was the third high schooler (also Chandler). The quote was, I can't remember who maybe Kornheiser, when. Jordan asked about taking Diop was "Diop can't ji-ump". Been a fav ever since.

[No Excuses]

He's not staying because of the late season surge. He was here to stay the moment Ted allowed him to take on 60 million in salary. Ted had made up his mind a while ago.

He's a joke of an owner. The Capitals already exposed him somewhat, but this does even more. He's completely gutless. Can't make the tough decisions. And then he'll raise your season ticket prices.

It doesn't matter though. The fans for this team are almost all lemmings. Ernie will make a short sighted crappy move and they will sing praises.

---------- Post added April-23rd-2012 at 09:52 PM ----------

The Bobcats btw are probably one of the top 5 worst teams of any sport.

Edited April 24, 2012 by No Excuses

[Thinking Skins]

Im not a genius. I dont know true basketball x's and o's. But damnit' date=' it is pretty obvious why we look good at the end of the year. The other teams that are good are resting for the playoffs, and the teams that suck are trying not to ruin their draft spot. It cant be that hard to spot this! I feel like im taking crazy pills here.[/quote']

yeah, but that's only half the story. Ever since Whittman took over we've been looking better and competing harder. Since we traded Young/McGee and benched Blatche and Lewis we've seen Seraphin emerge and this team has been a lot better. In fact they played their best ball of the year in March. You can say the year was over then if you want, but I think a lot of teams were still competing.

Here's a rough sketch of the improvement that I saw from december til april (not counting tonight's game)

Month, wins, losses by 0-5, losses by 6-10, losses by 10+

December - 0 wins, 0 close losses, 2 mid losses, 3 blowout losses

0% 0% 40% 60%

January - 4 wins, 2 close losses, 5 mid losses, 7 blowout losses

22% 11% 28% 39%

February - 3 wins, 1 close loss, 3 mid losses, 7 blowout losses

21% 7% 21% 50%

March - 5 wins, 5 close losses, 1 mid losses, 5 blowout losses

31% 31% 6% 31%

April - 5 wins, 1 close loss, 2 mid losses, 4 blowout losses

42% 8% 17% 33%

Just look at the numbers and you can see this team improving. January and Feb we were a lot more up and down, but come March we started seeing this team compete consistently, And what you see is that the number of blowouts went down a lot. And that percentage of games where the final score was actually close is 62% in March and 50% in April.

And the numbers are even better since the Young/McGee trades (8, 6, 2, 6) for (36%, 27%, 9%, 27%). I think you're being way too dismissive of the progress we saw from this team this year.

---------- Post added April-23rd-2012 at 10:00 PM ----------

sounds like Stockholm Syndrome to me Thinking Skins

maybe, but at least I've enjoyed 4 years of being held captive with Ernie. Before that (even the Webber/Howard years) it was just misery. Tell me you didn't get excited about Hibachi/Agent 0. That guy was the king of DC for those 4 years. Sadly, just like the Verizon center, it seems like Wizards fans (or at least the sports media) has forgotten who he was and just lumped the past 30 years into one big failure. I disagree.

[No Excuses]

Yeah and the thankless rat ran did his best to pin all the failures of that season on Gilbert. The only guy who brought some moderate excitement to this team was punted disgracefully out of town so fatso can save his ass and keep his job. People forget that the team was a fricking disaster before gun gate. Gun gate happened and Ernie got to blame Gilbert for the entire mess and then initiated a rebuild of his own disaster.

I've been ****ing about him being fired ever since. Today is like a massive dropkick to the balls.

Edited April 24, 2012 by No Excuses

[skinfan2k]

Ernie goes to places and destroyed the Big 3 in every single organization where he has been. Ever seen those franchises have been trying to rebuild the crap he left. NYK, Mil, and here

[TradeTheBeal!]

Jan Vesely gonna be dunkin' on some fools!

Edited April 24, 2012 by mboyd784

[StillUnknown]

Yeah and the thankless rat ran did his best to pin all the failures of that season on Gilbert. The only guy who brought some moderate excitement to this team was punted disgracefully out of town so fatso can save his ass and keep his job. People forget that the team was a fricking disaster before gun gate. Gun gate happened and Ernie got to blame Gilbert for the entire mess and then initiated a rebuild of his own disaster.

I've been ****ing about him being fired ever since. Today is like a massive dropkick to the balls.

I concur.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

I'm just so ambivalent about the Wiz now. Seriously. I don't have any emotions to spare for them. If we lose I laugh. If we win, I laugh. RGIII and the Nats definitely help.

And I'm here still watching every single game (which is more than most can say in this thread, no offense) so forget the "you're not a fan anymore " nonsense. It's just like, what's the point. They're the Wiz. Why should I expect something positive and get upset? They're the ****ing Wizards. Them sucking comes right after breathing air in **** I'm familiar with. I'm just along for the ride.

Edited April 24, 2012 by G.A.C.O.L.B.

[Thinking Skins]

Yeah and the thankless rat ran did his best to pin all the failures of that season on Gilbert. The only guy who brought some moderate excitement to this team was punted disgracefully out of town so fatso can save his ass and keep his job. People forget that the team was a fricking disaster before gun gate. Gun gate happened and Ernie got to blame Gilbert for the entire mess and then initiated a rebuild of his own disaster.

I've been ****ing about him being fired ever since. Today is like a massive dropkick to the balls.

I understand that and it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth, but I also understood the team's perspective. He shouldn't have ever been given that contract but I think Abe wanted to sign him much more than Ernie did. I mean Gilbert continuously thanks Abe for that contract to this day. Once we signed the contract we realized that he couldn't stay healthy. So it wasn't really about "blaming" him, it was more of a business move. Luckily we had somebody dumber than Ernie in Orlando who was willing to take Gilbert. I'm not a fan of Lewis, but at least as the last guy on the bench he's not somebody who has the influence that Gilbert had on the playful locker room that we had here.

[No Excuses]

I understand that and it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth, but I also understood the team's perspective. He shouldn't have ever been given that contract but I think Abe wanted to sign him much more than Ernie did. I mean Gilbert continuously thanks Abe for that contract to this day. Once we signed the contract we realized that he couldn't stay healthy. So it wasn't really about "blaming" him, it was more of a business move. Luckily we had somebody dumber than Ernie in Orlando who was willing to take Gilbert. I'm not a fan of Lewis, but at least as the last guy on the bench he's not somebody who has the influence that Gilbert had on the playful locker room that we had here.

There are ways to go about dealing with a bad contract.

What Ernie did was completely disgraceful. And it was noticed around the league FWIW. There were several NBA players who spoke out against the bull**** Ernie pulled. Paul PIerce of the top of my head.

The clown show runs deep with this franchise.

I'm calling it right now and you guys can quote me on this when it happens: Mike D'Antoni is the next head coach of this team.

Edited April 24, 2012 by No Excuses

[StillUnknown]

There are ways to go about dealing with a bad contract.

What Ernie did was completely disgraceful. And it was noticed around the league FWIW. There were several NBA players who spoke out against the bull**** Ernie pulled. Paul PIerce of the top of my head.

The clown show runs deep with this franchise.

I'm calling it right now and you guys can quote me on this when it happens: Mike D'Antoni is the next head coach of this team.

We go from embarrassing losers to exciting losers. Apparently, thats enough for some.

Edited April 24, 2012 by StillUnknown

[No Excuses]

We go from embarrassing losers to exciting losers. Apparently, thats enough for some.

He's one of the laziest GM's in the league. I fully expect him to half ass his way through the next two years.

Him and Ted better spend money in FA this year. Though they'll probably sign some has been to a 4 year mid level deal. Then Ted will write a fluff piece on his blog. His blog is the most cringe worthy thing.

I'm unfriending Ted on facebook lol.

Edited April 24, 2012 by No Excuses

[Skin'emAlive]

yeah, but that's only half the story. Ever since Whittman took over we've been looking better and competing harder.

Come on man. We have all looked at this silver lining crap for a long time now. The fact of the matter is, we have done absolutely everything possible. New owner, new players, new colors, ( hopefully soon to be new name), new coach. Everything except the one guy who is putting it all together. EG. Sure, we have seen... some improvement here over the last 2 months. A minor amount that to me is entirely correlated to the respective standings of the opponents. But we are still a losing team. 2 years after we received the no.1 overall for sucking, we suck just as bad if not worse and if not for the worst team in the history of basketball, we would be inline for the no.1 again!

How can we look for a silver lining in this if our gm is refusing or is unable to build a roster that can compete without the other teams laying down.

[SuperBash]

I have 3 players on my Wizards franchise on 2k12. Chris Douglas Roberts Blake Griffin Enshaw Baylor. Thats the mix we need to get!

[DallasBlowsBig]

let's wait and see how this team turns out in a couple years before we bash Ernie.

Abe wanted to win now, that was his orders to Ernie, so Ernie formed Gilbert, Caron, and Antawn.

Gilbert decided to be an A-hole, cost us the season, and we had to break up the big 3.

Now we rebuild, and if you look at OKC, Memphis, and other rebuilding projects, they painfully took time and did not appear as though things were becoming good.

I like Jan, I like Sepharin, of course I like Wall. I like Trevor Book and I like Nene. Not sure about Singleton but he could be alright. Once we start spending some money then we can judge the franchise.

[Skin'emAlive]

let's wait and see how this team turns out in a couple years before we bash Ernie.

Abe wanted to win now, that was his orders to Ernie, so Ernie formed Gilbert, Caron, and Antawn.

Gilbert decided to be an A-hole, cost us the season, and we had to break up the big 3.

Now we rebuild, and if you look at OKC, Memphis, and other rebuilding projects, they painfully took time and did not appear as though things were becoming good.

Our season wasnt lost because of Arenas going crazy. Our season was lost because management ( EG) was pushing him to come back early from injury due to the backlash he was starting to receive for giving a guy coming off a horrible knee surgery a max contract. Then when our injury staff mismanaged his knee injury ( who saw that coming? lol) and injured him more the Washington media hounds started to destroy Gil. He went from one of the most liked in the league, to the cover of nba2k, to disliked everywhere due to the contract. Then he went crazy. Combine this with EG's great decision to resign Jamison to a long term deal as well, and neglect everything else. But in any case, the season wasnt lost because he went crazy. It was bad way before then, and EG used gil as a scapegoat for not building a good team.

OKC is not relate able. They have an amazing front office. Did their homework, and compiled a great team in a small market. We have a team with 0 identity, and filled with role players. Only 2-3 of them are starter material. And that is subjective. That is on EG. Dude can kick rocks.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

We were never going to do anything big with Gilbert. Dude was a clown. It created a clown locker room. See Nick Young, McGee, Blatche. That was--2nd round of the playoffs or not--going to be the ultimate result of the Gilbert years.

I was as big of a believer as anyone, but the following years just woke me up.

---------- Post added April-24th-2012 at 09:57 AM ----------

Don't worry guys. We have high-speed cameras now!!

http://www.tedstake.com/2012/04/24/ernie-to-continue-rebuild/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Ernie to continue rebuild

Posted on April 24, 2012

I’m pleased to announce that Ernie Grunfeld will remain as our GM and continue to lead our rebuilding efforts in partnership with me. Like all of the employees at Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Ernie’s performance is evaluated based on the strategy we jointly establish and his ability to execute that strategy.

When we purchased the Wizards, I felt it was necessary to revamp and change the direction of the team; Ernie has led that charge and embraced our new philosophy. We have accumulated talented, young players and worked at developing them. We have acquired veteran players who can help guide the younger players and just as importantly, help us win games. We have a roster right now that features six first-round picks from the last two drafts. Under Ernie’s leadership we have almost completely turned over the Wizards roster. We are not only going to be in a position to add a lottery-pick player through the draft, but also because of the exceptional salary cap flexibility that Ernie has created, we will be able to be active in the free-agent market, if we so choose.

When I bought the Wizards I told you that we would be rebuilding and that was a process that would take time. I believe we have completed the first segment of that process and are poised to be a competitive team going forward. We have a strong nucleus of young players led by John Wall and veteran leadership from Nene.

In addition, Ernie and his staff have created one of the most technologically advanced basketball operations departments in the NBA. We now are able to evaluate talent with a unique use of high-speed cameras and an innovative approach to statistics.

I give credit to Ernie for putting us in this position so quickly, but, like you, I now expect the Wizards to transition from a work-in-progress to a team that competes for a playoff spot.

Our fan appreciation night is coming up Thursday, and I want to share how much I have enjoyed the excitement and support our season-ticket holders have displayed – and it’s rubbing off. While we are actively renewing accounts, we also are securing new plan holders who have sampled our game and the Verizon Center experience. Thanks to our season-ticket holders for being such great ambassadors.

We continue to be in this together.

[pjfootballer]

We were never going to do anything big with Gilbert. Dude was a clown. It created a clown locker room. See Nick Young, McGee, Blatche. That was--2nd round of the playoffs or not--going to be the ultimate result of the Gilbert years.

I was as big of a believer as anyone, but the following years just woke me up.

Welcome to my neighborhood. I've been saying this for the last few years. Other than watching Wall play, there is nothing, nothing about the Wizards that I can get excited for for the future. I've said it many times in here, but I'll say it again. When your last championship was in the disco era and the last time your team won 50+ games in a season was 32 years ago (THIRTY TWO YEARS AGO), there is no hope for the future.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Welcome to my neighborhood. I've been saying this for the last few years. Other than watching Wall play, there is nothing, nothing about the Wizards that I can get excited for for the future. I've said it many times in here, but I'll say it again. When your last championship was in the disco era and the last time your team won 50+ games in a season was 32 years ago (THIRTY TWO YEARS AGO), there is no hope for the future.

I think a lot of this with the fanbase is an age thing. Some of us came of age/became Wizards fans in the Hibachi era. Some of us--me, you, Thinking Skins--came of age in the 80's and 90's. I mean Michael Adams (God bless him) and Calbert ****ing Cheany were THE players of my childhood. I bought into the whole Gilbert thing for a few years. But I've seen the light since. Just more Bullets/Wizards.

[Backpack3r]

Ernie Grunfeld is a terrorist and is a virus to this organization. He is in the same league as Vinny Cerrato, someone who doesnt know how to build a team, and the team wont get better until he is actually gone.

[MattFancy]

Ernie Grunfeld is a terrorist and is a virus to this organization. He is in the same league as Vinny Cerrato, someone who doesnt know how to build a team, and the team wont get better until he is actually gone.

Yeah I don't see Ernie as any different than Vinny. The Wiz won't go anywhere as long as Ernie is running the show.