In the dwindling days of another awful season, Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis has two major decisions and neither should be hard.
It’s time to part with general manager Ernie Grunfeld and coach Flip Saunders.
Three straight seasons in the NBA Draft lottery is enough to see it’s not working. It’s time to stop blaming Gilbert Arenas for wrecking the franchise, even though this is largely his fault. Then again, Grunfeld re-signed an injury-prone Arenas to a mega-contract so that’s his black mark.
Forget blaming a roster of underperforming players. No matter how long the Wizards hope Andray Blatche emerges or Nick Young matures, it’s not happening.
Bottom line: Everybody connected with the Wizards who isn’t named John Wall — get out.
Leonsis enters his first full offseason as owner. He gave Grunfeld and Saunders a chance instead of immediate changes, and they responded with perhaps the second-worst team in the league.
The Wizards get blown out all too often which shows a lack of caring players. Everyone has bad nights, but the Wizards have them all the time.
Leonsis knows how to rebuild. The Capitals were terrible for a couple years before building into a solid team. Now, Leonsis needs to do the same with the Wizards but with a new brain trust.
Grunfeld has made decent trades, awful draft picks and terrible re-signings since arriving in 2003. Grunfeld doesn’t seem a complete failure because predecessor Michael Jordan was so awful and the Wizards managed a playoff series win that teased everyone.
Wall was a no-brainer last year as the No. 1 overall selection. But Grunfeld is saddled with JaVale McGee, Young and Blatche as signature picks. All this trio has done is produce one of the NBA’s worst teams.
Washington should get a top-5 pick again, maybe No. 1 if they luck out once more with the ping-pong balls. They should ask Irene Pollin to return after plucking the first pick last year. Do the Wizards really want Grunfeld picking players once more?
For a long time it was easy to give Saunders a pass on the team’s performance. He was sucked into taking over a veteran team that just needed focus and quickly oversaw a young club with mediocre talent and seemingly no desire.
But at some point two franchise-worst seasons are on his resume. Saunders is a good coach, but this is a poor fit. He can’t get through to a young roster. As the team rebuilds, they need someone who inspires. Maybe former Maryland legend John Lucas, now a Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach, would be a good choice.
It’s not easy, but Leonsis is tough enough to do the right thing.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more on Twitter @Snide_Remarks or email [email protected].
