Ernie's moves

At the time, we were lucky to get Arenas and to keep him. What happened to Gil wasn’t Ernie’s fault. And much to his credit, Grunfeld was able to hood-wink the Magic into taking him for a lesser (but still insane) contract. What else could he have done?

The Foye/Miller acquisition made sense when we still had the Big 3. In fact, we can use shooters like them now. And besides, we also managed to unload some dead weight in that deal.

I thank Ernie for not matching Haywood and being able to dump Jamison and Butler. Imagine where we’d be if we were still taking on their salaries!

In the end, Arenas’ knee and his handgun devastated this franchise much as the Len Bias episode tanked the Terps (and to some extent, the Celtics) for some time. And a lot of us can recall how long it took Maryland to recover.

A less-than-stellar draft class (although I think, that the majority of the fans here likes Singleton and Mack and are coming around on Vesely) and very little pre-season did the Wizards no favors. So this process has been more painful than it may have been expected to be. Some things just can’t be planned for. Ernie’s fault? Not entirely.

All we can hope for is to see who on our team can play in this league and who wants to stay by improving and showing effort.

Arenas had a prior criminal record wth guns. And EG did nothing to counsel Gilbert or manage the situation when he got here. In fact, some basketball insiders believe that the Wizard’s organization encouraged Gilbert’s zaniness as a means to attract fan interest. Therefore, while most fans don’t associate gun-gate with EG, his hands are not clean.

For me, the buck stops at the President/GM on all issues affecting the organization. That is, that person has responsibility and accountability for the entire organization. The facts shows that EG’s overall w-l record is dismal, the reputation of the organization is shot (no pun intended), and the team and coaching staff are dysfunctional. Other than that, EG says nothing when he speaks. That’s not good leadership. The Wiz need strong leadership with a clear vision of how to turnaround the franchise.

The road to rebuilding starts at the top. Ted ought to know the score and bring in a new GM.

Should messing in a shoe have set off an alarm? Perhaps..
But what criminal record are you talking about? The only mention of a Arenas arrest that I was able to find prior to his confrontation with Crittenton was for blocking traffic.
Yes, he did own 500 guns but many were WWI collectibles. And recall that he did not own any illegally. So for one to anticipate that Gil, an adult, would pull a seemingly career-ending stunt like that, he or she would have needed a high-end crystal ball.