FanPost

The Elephant in the Room


The success of a business or in this case a professional sports franchise typically hinges on the leadership of the executive board. The owner(s), CEO, and managers are the ones that steer the company and their employees, creating the blueprint for winning and improving from the status quo.
How this relates to the Wizards is simple:

  • Leonsis purchased the team
  • Issued an organization "rebuild"
  • EG implemented the "rebuild"
  • Saunders/Wittman have tried to coach the "rebuild"
But what happens when the plan fails, blame is placed, and somebody becomes the 'dead man walking"?
Most people around the team or the league would be quick to acknowledge that many of the Wizards most recent acquisitions have failed. Drafting Jan Vesely, trading for Nene, trading for Ariza and Okafor have all been moves with Grunfeld pushing the buttons...and they have all been failures. Therefore Ernie Grunfeld is clearly identified as the most likely "dead man walking" within the Wizards organization, as Ted is the boss and nobody could confidently place the blame on the head coach.
So here's quite possibly the BIGGEST issue facing the Wizards moving forward:
If Leonsis plans to fire EG, he needs to do it now! Why now? Because the longer he keeps EG in the "big boy chair", the longer it's going to take for the franchise to rebound from their multitude of mistakes.
EG isn't worrying about 2014, 2015, or beyond. He's only worrying about the seasons in which he is employed by the franchise. If his job is in question, why worry about the future if he's not going to be around to see it through? Why trade for other prospects or future draft picks if he'll never be the one developing them or making the picks?
EG is the "elephant in the room" and until Leonsis makes a change, the team won't be able to get out of the quicksand that they have been stuck in for the last 5-6 years

This represents the view of the user who wrote the FanPost, and not the entire Bullets Forever community. We're a place of many opinions, not just one.