400 Level Farewell

This post is short and stupidly (and I really mean STUPIDLY!) sentimental.

In the fall of 2000 I decided (along with a coworker) to buy Washington Wizards season tickets. The tickets cost $10 per game or $410 for the whole season (I can't remember if our package included preseason games or if we just bought right before the season but the $410 number sticks in my head). We got some tickets in Section 402, Row G near the end of the row away from center court. One year later, Michael Jordan returned to the court to play for the Wizards. Cool.

A few years after the Jordan era (and with per game prices now boosted to a whole $15), I moved my season ticket seats in 402 right to the other end of the same row, closer to center court. I had also by this time switched (or upgraded if you prefer) the co-worker I was sharing games with. I used to love mid-week games against non-popular opponents up in Section 402. There were some games where there was literally nobody higher up in the section that us so we could stand if we wanted or walk around during a tense part of a game during timeout. We also had some great memories taunting opposing fans when they came in to the building to see their team beat the Wiz only to be disappointed. It was most fun against Celtics fans and our seats were perfectly positioned to wave and say goodbye to the other team's "faithful" on their way out of the building before the end of the game.

Then one year I bought a 10 game package down in Section 103 right near the tunnel where the Wizards enter and exit the court. That 10 game package grew to a 21 game package then to a full season along with a move across the arena to Section 109 where I have seats today. While I was doing that, I kept my upper deck seats, although we moved across the building upstairs too to Section 415 right on the end in Row C. I think I can get to the bathroom at Capital One Arena faster than anyone else from those seats. It's the secret charm of those seats.

Over time, the $10 per game seats in the 400 level have increased up to $40 per game, which is a complete swindle. No way should those seats cost that much. So next season for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, I will not hold Wizards season tickets in the 400 level at 601 F Street NW. And I likely never will ever again. I'm not going backwards from my lower level seats.

Last night I sat in Seat 13 in Row C of Section 415 for the last time as a season ticket holder. It's been a good ride upstairs, although let's face it the team accomplished pretty much nothing. Somehow it's just not as fun when the cost is 3-4 times as much as it should be. I'm not saying I'll never sit in the upper deck at Capital One Arena ever again for a Wizards game, but I won't do it as a season ticket holder. It's time for someone else to take over that real estate.

In Memorium: Ernie Grunfeld

So I'm halfway through a pair of posts about Ernie Grunfeld and the Wizards up and let him go this week. My timing sucks sometimes. I figured they would wait until the end of the season. I was wrong. So I've abandoned those two posts that were under construction in favor of this one.

Like most Wizards fans out there, I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was time for President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld to leave the team. No other team executive had stayed in place as long as Ernie had with so few good results. It was time to move on and give someone else a shot. I only hoped Ted would do it in plenty of time to get someone else in place before the NBA Draft in late June. It appears he's done that.

The Ernie Grunfeld era in Washington wasn't all bad although as I hope I'll demonstrate below, most all of his successful moves came in his early years on the job. Measure Ernie against his immediate predecessors in Wes Unseld and Michael Jordan and he looks quite successful: one division title and eight playoff appearances, including four trips to the second round of the playoffs. But in a league where there are just five teams in a division and more than half of the teams in the league make the postseason each year, achieving those results in 16 seasons on the job is not good enough. Not by far. Just being better than the people before you who were lousy at their jobs don't cut it.

The posts I was working on were Ernie's greatest triumphs and his greatest failures (one post for each) as the Wizards' head basketball decision maker. I made a top 10 list for each category and I'm posting the lists I assembled for this exercise anyway, although I'm just going to provide a little less explanation than I planned.

Let's start with the top 10 successes. I'm placing the date of each in parentheses because I think that's important.

Ernie's Top 10 Hits 

10. Signing Shaun Livingston to a 10 Day Contract (2010)

9. Drafting John Wall (2010) and Bradley Beal (2012) 

8. Signing Paul Pierce to a Free Agent Contract (2014)

7. Trading for Marcin Gortat (2013)

6. Swapping Kwame Brown for Caron Butler (2005)

5. Trading Rashard Lewis for Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza (2012)

4. Signing Gilbert Arenas to a Free Agent Contract (2003)

3. Trading for Nenê (2012)

2. Trading for Antawn Jamison (2004)

1. Bringing Credibility to the Position (2003)

A few notes on the above list before we get to the misses / disasters list. 

There are three awesome deals in the top six used to assemble the Arenas / Butler / Jamison team that could have been something; each of those deals were masterful. The Butler deal with the Lakers was outright robbery. All three of these transactions occurred in his first two years on the job which is why my number 1 is number 1. He transformed that team into a contender instantly as soon as he started. MJ and Wes couldn't compare.

Drafting Wall and Beal is so low on the list because he had to get these right; these were no excuses type decisions. Bringing Nenê, Okafor and Ariza into the locker room (the first time for Ariza, not the second time) are so high because what the team needed more than anything else was adult supervision. Nenê is in the three spot because a lot of people saw that deal as good for everyone except the Wizards when the opposite turned out to be true. The Okafor / Ariza trade is ahead of the Butler deal because he gave up a second round pick to get them. Can you imagine 2018 Ernie using second round picks to acquire talent rather than erase mistakes? 

You can argue with any of the above items if you want. I'm up for it, especially the Livingston one, which is admittedly a completely emotional decision for me. I'm happy Shaun made it the way he did after that knee injury.

So now that I've made everyone angry by actually maintaining Ernie did as many as 10 good things in his time in Washington, let's take a look at my top 10 non-successes.

Ernie's Top 10 Misses

10. Drafting Oleksiy Pecherov (2006)

9. Extending Andray Blatche's Contract (2010)

8. Not Re-Signing Garrett Temple (2016)

7. Player Options (2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018)

6. Trading Tons of Second Round Picks (2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019)

5. Coaching Hires (2009 and 2016)

4. Trading the 5 Pick for Mike Miller and Randy Foye (2009)

3. Trading Tons of First Round Picks (2013, 2016 and 2017)

2. Failing to Anticipate the Reality of 2016 (2016)

1. The Record (2003-2019)

A few notes on this list. I'll try to be brief. I may not succeed. 

Some of these decisions defy explanation. Extending Andray Blatche three years when already had two years remaining on his deal (the Wiz amnesty-ed Blatche before the extension kicked in but still paid out $35M); choosing Andrew Nicholson, Jason Smith or Ian Mahinmi (let alone all three) over a high character role player and locker room leader like Garrett Temple in 2016; and envisioning Mike Miller and Randy Foye as the guys who were going to put the team over the top and get us a championship instead of drafting Steph Curry or DeMar DeRozan. 

There's clearly a lack of respect for the Draft. Do you realize that from 2014 to 2017 the Wizards held only one first round pick? Ernie even managed to circumvent the rule that a franchise can't trade it's first round draft pick two years in a row by trading the first rounder at the trading deadline in two consecutive years. That rule was designed to save franchises from their own stupidity and Ernie found a way around it. And don't get me started on second round picks which the Wiz don't have for sure until 2024. 2024!!! 

In case you are wondering...2019 pick traded to sweeten the Kelly Oubre deal in 2015; 2020 pick traded to conditionally to acquire Jared Dudley in 2015 and made unconditional to make Jodie Meeks go away in 2018; 2021 pick traded for Trey Burke in 2016; 2022 pick traded to make Jodie Meeks go away (not a typo; it took two second rounders to get rid of Meeks); and 2023 traded to make Markieff Morris go away.

What's the story with player options? How about Paul Pierce (who declined his to leave when we needed him to stay), Jason Smith, Jodie Meeks and Dwight Howard (all of who have or will accept all theirs to stay when they needed or need to leave). And the coaches? How about hiring Flip Saunders and Scott Brooks without talking to any other candidates.

But the biggest thing for me (other than the losing record and no 50 win seasons) was the 2016 offseason. Not because he signed Ian Mahimni, Andrew Nicholson and Jason Smith to multi-year deals but because he failed to realize what was happening in the NBA with the salary cap. By that I mean the Wizards' strategy for that summer was to clear enough space to sign a max free agent (hopefully Kevin Durant) and that realistically they would be one of maybe four or five teams that would have that much cap room. But he failed to see the impact of the new TV deal, which turned almost every team into a max free agent destination. Instead of competing with two or three other teams for the best free agents, they were competing with like 25. And he failed to realize this and failed to adjust. Cap management and long term vision has to be part of the job description, right??

Sorry for being so long winded on that.

Ask 10 Wizards fans for these lists and I'm sure you would get 10 different answers, although some might not get to 10 items on the hits list. 

When I look back at these lists, I see a few things. First, Ernie used to be a good deal maker. Some of those deals he made were just awesome. But there's nothing that I can point to trade-wise in the last five years that's been any good. Second, he has not attracted quality free agents to Washington and he's run screaming from the Draft any time he can. Drafting, trading and signing free agents are three core parts of the job and he's only ever really been good at one of those. And he's not even any good at the one he used to be good at.

Third, and most important, there's an astonishing lack of medium or long term planning with a lot of these moves. 2016 was a complete disaster. I mean one of the total and unmitigated variety. How someone is allowed to dole out that kind of money after whiffing on his top three targets and then use that many future assets (draft picks) to erase his mistakes and then keep his job so long is incredible. And 2016 is not the only one. Sometimes, even when Ernie made a good decision there's a but associated with it. 

What do I mean by that? He made the right move by signing Gilbert Arenas after he won the Most Improved Player Award but give him an albatross of a contract later on. He plucked Shaun Livingston off the NBA scrap heap but then failed to develop him and lock him up long term. He signed Paul Pierce when Trevor Ariza walked (or the team let him walk) but gave him a player option which let him leave the next year. He drafted John Wall over Evan Turner but gave Wall a supermax contract as soon as he humanly could.

Where does that leave the Wizards? Honestly with a lot of messes to sort out. As I detailed a couple of months ago, the cap situation for this team going forward is going to take some real creativity to get a competitive team on the floor. Throw in an injured John Wall making north of $40 million, Dwight Howard with a $5 million plus player option and no second round picks for the next half decade and things look even worse. Despite all that, this team does have some talent and with the right free agent signings, a smart draft and a creative coach who can develop players...who knows.

For now, Ernie's gone. And it's about time.

I know Randy's thinking how long does it take to get this guy out of here.