<div align="center">Washington Wizards - Behind The Front Desk By: Will Mui aka Ming637</div> <div align="center"><u>Quick Overview</u></div> In recent past of this Washington Wizards franchise, they've made some key mistakes which led them to an awful start of the century. Trading Ben Wallace along with Tim Legler, Terry Davis, and Jeff McInnis for Isaac Austin, trading Rasheed Wallace who had a decent season despite the left thumb injury, and traded Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond, which jumped the shark for his career. Looking back on those transactions left people wondering the type of frontcourt they would've bound to have in the future. This was before the Abe Pollin was able to bring Ernie Grunfeld in. In his past managing the Knicks from 1989-1999, he was responsible for bringing every player on that roster except for Patrick Ewing. He's done trades such as Charles Oakley for Marcus Camby, and John Starks for Latrell Sprewell. They reached the finals in 1999, falling 4 games to 1 to the San Antonio Spurs. Afterwards, he took the job as the Bucks' general manager, until 2003 until he became the Wizards general manager. <div align="center"><u>The MJ Era</u></div> [imgl]http://www.artrustjr.com/jordan.jpg[/imgl] In the Michael Jordan Era for the Wizards, they came in short of making the playoffs with both seasons ending up a record of 37-45. During that era, Michael Jordan made some decent moves as the Wizards' president of basketball operations. Some of the big moves included returning to play again, trading Hubert Davis for Brendan Haywood, signing Larry Hughes, and drafting Juan Dixon, and Jared Jeffries, which everyone had success and provided scoring and defense for the Wizards. Some bad moves Michael has made for this franchise include trading away future all-star Richard Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse and signing Kwame Brown, which ended up having the Wizards struggling the next 2 seasons. Later, Michael Jordan was released as a player, part owner and team president ending Michael Jordan's career. <div align="center"><u>Ernie Grunfeld Joins The Wizards</u></div> With Ernie Grunfeld joining the Washington Wizards in summer of 2003, the fans in D.C. were excited to see what he would do for this franchise. His first signing with the Wizards brung in the future of this franchise, Gilbert Arenas. ?We are trying to put a team together, and when we signed Gilbert, we knew we needed a point guard and he was the best one out there. We made a hard run at him and we were fortunate that it worked out." Fortunate that it worked out indeed, with Gilbert in the top 5 in the NBA in terms of scoring and has been leading the team to the playoffs 2 consecutive years. Ernie Grunfeld also managed to sign Jarvis Hayes and Steve Blake to add along to the youth of this squad. Despite the transactions, the team fell to a 25-57 record ending up second to last in the atlantic division and the fifth pick in the following draft. Ernie Grunfeld decided that bringing in another rookie, wouldn't help this franchise, but a veteran who can bring a lot of scoring, would help. He later traded Jerry Stackhouse, Christian Laettner and the fifth pick for Antawn Jamison, which certainly was a good move to get rid of Jerry Stackhouse and bringing in Jamison who can score.[imgr]http://www.nba.com/media/wizards/grunfeld_pc308_030630.jpg[/imgr] Fortunetly, the following season was season that the Washington Wizards were able reach the post-season with a 45-37 record, being led by Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes and Antawn Jamison. They had great chemistry bring the highest scoring trio that season, with Arenas leading the team in points and assists, Hughes leading the league in steals and being a defensive threat and Jamison contributed with scoring from the perimeter. Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison were voted to the all-star game that year, with Larry Hughes being injured during the time, but would've made it as well. ?Antawn and Gilbert are very deserving of this honor, and it really comes with team success. I am happy for them and I?m happy that they?ve played such a big role in our success. They have really played well. Antawn is the glue that holds this team together, and Gilbert has had a terrific year. I?m proud of both of them.? After ending the season with a trip to the playoffs since 1997, the Wizards looked to go all the way to the NBA finals. They were eventually stopped and swept by the Miami Heat after beating the Bulls in an exciting 6 game series. The Wizards weren't happy, but they know it was a start of an era for this team. Gilbert Arenas made the All-NBA 3rd team and Hughes made the All-NBA Defensive 1st team. <div align="center"><u>2005 Offseason</u></div> Going into the offseason, Ernie Grunfeld looked to change the team. He decided not to match Larry Hughes' contract offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers, losing a big part of their offense and defense. Ernie Grunfeld was able to rally back making a trade getting rid of Kwame Brown and guard Laron Profit, but recieving Caron Butler who was able to make a solid recovery and replacement for Larry Hughes and Chucky Atkins, who later was released because of his role on the team. ?Caron is a versatile player who can play both the guard and forward positions for us. Over his career, Caron has been a very productive player, a physical defender and a very unselfish player. Chucky has experience as a starter in this league, and also has been a valuable contributor off the bench. He is a good three-point shooter and a tough defender.? Ernie Grunfeld also signed Antonio Daniels who later showed his presence off the bench for Washington, like he has his whole career. Entering the season with a positive note and chemistry was important for the Wizards. They started the season out 5-1, with everything going great, until they stumbled below .500. The team was able to pull themselves back up to .500 around early February when Gilbert Arenas was named to the all-stars once again. They were able to reach clinch their playoff spot and having a 42-40 record. Unfortunetely, LeBron James and the Cavaliers were too much to handle for the Wizards in the playoffs, losing the series in 6 games, leaving the team dissapointed. ?I think right now we are all disappointed on how the season ended for us. We played a very exciting series against Cleveland. I just finished meeting with most of our players and they all feel like we should still be playing and that?s good. The series hurt them and bothered them. At the same time, it gave the players added motivation for next year." All in all, the past two seasons put the Wizards on the next level of success with back to back playoff appearances with hopes of doing the same next season, but this time, Arenas hopes for even more. [imgl]http://www.nba.com/media/grunfeld_285_050802.jpg[/imgl] <u>2006 Offseason</u> Heading to the offseason, Ernie Grunfeld in his press conference said that he was comfortable with what he had and to let it stand. "I believe in continuity," he said. "I believe in consistency, and you can't make wholesale changes every single year and expect to have that good chemistry." Arenas threatened to bolt by 2008 if Ernie Grunfeld did not assemble a championship calibur team. "I won't be happy just making it to the playoffs every year and that's it. I want to compete for a championship in my young years," said Arenas. He was also willing to take a paycut, if he needed to, but by the CBA agreement, he couldn't. I thought it was too soon for Gilbert Arenas to be acting out wanting to win it all now, when it takes time to assemble a championship calibur team. The pace they were at was fine and it was only going to get better with the players improving every season and putting filling in the puzzle, piece by piece. Going into the draft, the Wizards was focused on the 19th pick, and drafted Oleksiy Pecherov.?We really like Oleksiy?s upside,? said Grunfeld. Ernie though did not Brendan Haywood's inconsistency, and got out to sign Darius Songalia, which was a good to give the Wizards in the inside presence they needed. "One of the areas was to get a frontcourt player who can pick-and-pop, who knows how to play in this system, who can make 15-foot jump shots and who can bang on the inside as a good rebounder. Darius can do that for us in the power forward spot and he can also play some backup center if we need to go small in certain situations.? <div align="center"><u>What Lies In The Future?</u></div> After a struggling start of the season for the Wizards, they were able to manage a playoff appearance witha 42-40 record. This year, the team led by Gilbert looks to make a name for themselves, looking to head to the NBA Finals. Ernie Grunfeld added a hole they need to fill signing Songalia, and injured Jarvis Hayes and Andray Blatche look to contribute to the team the entire season.
