Washington Wizards: It’s time to end the Ernie Grunfeld era
By Matt H
Trades and free agency under Grunfeld
What about the types of players Grunfeld brings in?
Across the league, the NBA talent pool resembles a narrow pyramid. Only a handful of teams get those once in a generation type players at the very top. Good teams may have a few in the top 30 and the rest of the league is usually devoid of anybody that makes a difference.
Because of this, GMs are fairly judged by their ability to amass and retain the league’s best players. So how do you know if your team has any of these talented players? An easy way is to count All-Star and All-NBA appearances.
Currently, the Washington Wizards have had five different players make All-Star games under Ernie Grunfeld: John Wall (five times), Gilbert Arenas (three times), Antawn Jamison (twice), Caron Butler (twice) and Bradley Beal (once).
Not bad. However, of these players, how many actually joined the elite ranks of All-NBA? Just two: John Wall in 2016-17 (Third Team) and Gilbert Arenas in 2006-07 (Second Team).
That means, in 15 years, Ernie Grunfeld has managed to acquire a top-10 (Arenas) and a top-15 (Wall) player who were voted to an All-NBA team for that one particular season. You’re welcome, Washington.
The sign-and-trades that brought Arenas, Butler and Jamison to Washington actually worked out well for Grunfeld. However, if you look at all 140+ signings and trades executed over the course of his time in D.C., only getting three top players doesn’t look like such a big number, does it?