WASHINGTON D.C. - As expected, Ernie Grunfeld didn't have a ton to say at his free agency press conference at Verizon Center today. Here's a list of somewhat relevant bullet points. The big news was covered here.
- On Rashard Lewis: "We're going to study the whole thing, but in all likelihood, we won't Amnesty anybody this year."
- On why he's saving the Amnesty Clause: "This is not a great free-agent market out there. You don't want to tie up too much money now," he said. "We like the balance we have right now and we want to make sure we get our young players an opportunity to get out there and play and continue to get the minutes and develop."
- Later: "If you go way, way under that, you have to spend money to get back to that level. Right now, we feel it's probably more important to keep our flexibility to see what players in the future come on the free-agent market."
- On Nick Young: "We've had conversations. That's the way the system works. We're feeling each other out."
- On the preseason: "We have the 76ers here on the 16th, then we're going to go up there and play them on the 20th."
- On what the team's biggest needs are: "We're pretty well-balanced along the roster, but we probably would look for one or two more veteran players to provide some leadership and provide some experience."
- On the timeline for making moves: "Hopefully, we can have everything done by [December 9], but we might not be able to."
- On Jan Vesely: He said Vesely will have a work visa to come over to training camp as soon as he signs a contract. He'll have to accept a buyout from Partizan, and the Wizards will contribute $500k. Grunfeld also said he has no reason to believe Vesely will have any problems coming over.
He also talked about how he's looking for improvement this year, but the quote was entirely how you expect. Truth be told, the most striking thing was at the end, when he told the assembled room, "Great to see you. I hope to see more of you." Only a lockout can get a GM to say something like that to the press.