The Wrap On The Wizards

     From the researching genius of lifelong Washington hoops fan Josh "Hibachi" Kranz, words on the woeful Wizards' front office problems. 
                                 

Here is the Wizards draft history since 1997:

Year	Round	Pick	Name	From
2008	1	18	JaVale McGee	University of Nevada, Reno
2008	2	47	Bill Walker	Kansas State University
2007	1	16	Nick Young	University of Southern California
2007	2	47	Dominic McGuire	California State University, Fresno
2006	1	18	Oleksiy Pecherov
2006	2	48	Vladimir Veremeenko
2005	2	49	Andray Blatche
2004	1	5	Devin Harris	University of Wisconsin–Madison
2004	2	32	Peter John Ramos
2003	1	10	Jarvis Hayes	University of Georgia
2003	2	38	Steve Blake	University of Maryland
2002	1	11	Jared Jeffries	Indiana University
2002	1	17	Juan Dixon	University of Maryland
2002	2	38	Rod Grizzard	University of Alabama
2002	2	39	Juan Carlos Navarro
2001	1	1	Kwame Brown
2000	2	35	Mike Smith	University of Louisiana at Monroe
1999	1	7	Richard Hamilton	University of Connecticut
1999	2	35	Calvin Booth	Pennsylvania State University
1998	2	43	Jahidi White	Georgetown University
1997	2	45	God Shammgod	Providence College
1997	2	48	Predrag Drobnjak

First thing that is clear is that the Wizards paid dearly for the Chris Webber trade.  They ended up with only one first round pick from 1997-2000  Now that one pick was a great pick – Richard Hamilton, who Michael Jordan then traded for daring to talk back to him.  Calvin Booth and Jahidi White weren’t bad picks for where they were taken, but no impact.  All that stuff is from the Wes Unseld era, including the trades in question plus the Rod Strickland/Rasheed Wallace trade.

Now you get to 2001-2003, the Michael Jordan GM years.  Kwame Brown was obviously a huge mistake, although Jordan and Doug Collins also screwed up the dude’s potential development the way they handled him.  Of the top 3 high schoolers taken in that draft, only Tyson Chandler really worked out at all and he has very limited offensive game.

Fast forward to 2002: I think they traded away Courtney Alexander to move up and get Juan Dixon.  Good move, at least it looked like it at the time.  Jared Jeffires – I remember somebody I liked a lot more went at #10.  Was it Caron Butler?  Jeffries never really panned out, no offensive game, though he was the glue guy on the Wizards’ playoff teams.  In 2003 Jarvis Hayes was pretty much a bust, and Steve Blake maybe wasn’t given long enough to show what he had.  Since then, he’s been a surprise.

I think before MJ left he made the trade that brought Antawn Jamison in, with Jerry Stackhouse and others going to Dallas, and Dallas using the draft pick to take Devin Harris, which became Jason Kidd. Interesting.  I think Jamison proved to be a good addition and it was a good deal.  And actually, looks like the Wizards drafted Harris and then traded him.

Around this time MJ left and Ernie Grunfeld came in, and he made the moves to get Gilbert Arenas and Butler and no matter what you might think about Zero, those were great moves and helped the team get out of the NBA basement.

Grunfeld’s draft history isn’t bad.  Blatche at 49 is a great pick.  Nick Young at 16 isn’t terrible and McGee at 18 was a very good find.  The only big mistake was Pecherov at 18.

Grunfeld’s follies are giving Gilbert the $111M contract after knee surgery, trading away the #5 pick last year for Randy Foye and Mike Miller, and hiring Flip Saunders.  All of those decisions are among his most recent.  Bad sign.


More from Josh "Hibachi" Kranz 

Flipped Out - The Frequent Failures of Flip Saunders

Flip Saunders, the master of coaches who choke, is finding new ways to sabotage the Wizards in Agent Zero's absence . In an environment of historic chaos, he's fulfilling his legacy as a coach who inspires players to underachieve. 

The Wizards have 21 wins with 12 games left & Flip is on pace to his fewest coaching wins in any season, including his 25 wins in both the lockout year and when he was fired after 51 games in '05. 

 We continue to hear more about Arenas & Crittenton's gun wielding wilding out in the locker room including new reports of text messages from team captain Zero instructing players to lie to the organization during the investigation. Arenas has never been the model player or teammate. Under Saunders, he went criminal and thought it was funny until the police showed up. 

Yesterday Flip went public & accused Andray Blatche of being uncoachable & indifferent to going back in to a game. The truth is that Blatche stayed ready with a heat pack while he was waiting to go in. Why would a player who didn't want to play use a heat pack? Blatche was emerging as a possible bright spot in Washington and now he's at odds with his ineffective coach.

The Wizards' roster has been gutted. But it wasn't until Flip and his questionable leadership skills showed up that the Wizards went into full character melt down with public dirty laundry.

Kevin McHale gave Saunders his first NBA coaching job with the Timberwolves mid-season in Kevin Garnett's rookie year. He coached the Marbury/Garnett teams that are now more memorable for a thong commercial than wins on the court.  That talented tandem couldn't get out of the first round of the playoffs.

  Under Saunders, Kevin Garnett was an MVP & a Defensive Player of the Year. Michael Jordan is the only other player to have won both awards. And yet Saunders only got to 1 conference finals with Garnett, losing to the Lakers who went on to get crushed by the Detroit Pistons. 

After being fired by McHale, Flip went to the Pistons who had been in the previous 2 NBA finals, winning one. He got Detroit out to their best start ever, 37-5. They finished with the best record in the NBA. In the playoffs, Flip  barely got the Pistons past young LeBron's Cavs in 7 games before losing to the Miami Heat in 6. That debacle marked the 2nd time Flip failed to even get a team to the finals while coaching them to the best regular season record in the NBA.

4 time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace complained that Flip didn't know how to utilize his talents on both ends of the court. Larry Brown went to the finals twice with Ben as a huge part of the Pistons' success.  A team that was known for defensive dominance under Brown was in defensive disarray under Saunders. 

The following season, the Pistons blew a 2-0 lead, losing in 6 games to the Cavs during the playoff emergence of LeBron James.

Saunders managed to get to 3 straight conference finals with the Pistons. Considering they'd been to the previous 2 finals & had outstanding regular season records, Saunders' overall tenure with the Pistons was a letdown for a championship franchise that had its contracts in order & roster set for years.

Flip's latest troubles with the Wizards reveal more about a coach who doesn't get the best out of stars while alienating valuable role players like Ben Wallace & budding talents like Andray Blatche.

Kevin Garnett left the Timberwolves and immediately got a ring with the Celtics in his last dominant season. How many more rings would he have had with a better coach?