GRUNFELD DISCUSSES DRAFT, WIZARDS
Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld met with members of the media to discuss the upcoming draft, and touched on other topics regarding the team. You can listen to the full press conference online (MP3). A video with segments from the PC will be posted later, along with an exclusive one-on-one with Wizards Magazine.
A sampling of Ernie’s comments…
On Thursday’s NBA draft:
“I think it’s a very good draft, and we’ve put a lot of time into it. We brought in over 40 players, a lot of whom we’re looking at for our first round pick, some for our second round pick, and even some guys that will be free agents that we wanted to take a look at. Everybody knows who the Top 10 or so players are, and when they’re gone, there will be a group of players for us to pick from after that. There are always surprises, and you never know what happens. Traditionally there are curve balls thrown along the way, but we’re prepared, we’re excited, and I think we’ll get a good player.â€
On if the Wizards are going to take a ‘big man’:
“We’re looking for the best player, not necessarily a big one. We have some young big guys. Oleksiy Pecherov is in here working out right now. Andray Blatche, who is 6-11, is also a promising player. I don’t think we’re going to get somebody at 16 that will come in right away and help us, but if there is a good big man available or somebody drops, we’d definitely take a look at it.â€
On Washington’s recent draft history:
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve really only had one first round pick – Pecherov. Our first year here, we traded the pick and we got Antawn Jamison. The second year we didn’t have a pick because it was traded prior to us getting here, and last year we got Pecherov. If the right opportunity comes along where we think we can help ourselves by trading the pick, it’s something we’ll take a look at, but we are comfortable with keeping the pick.â€
On trade talks ahead of the draft:
“We have had conversations about moving up, we’ve had conversations about moving back, and we’ve had conversations about moving the pick…just like every other team in the league. But we are comfortable with keeping the pick, and I think we’ll be able to take a solid player with a good future.â€
On Washington’s draft strategy:
“A lot of it depends on how the whole draft plays out. You never know what direction you are going to go in ahead of time, because other teams will determine what we’re able to do. The people in front of you determine what’s left for you, but we’ll be prepared for all of the scenarios, and we’ll take a player that we feel can help us not only today but also down the road.â€
On his personal draft history:
“I’ve been pretty fortunate where I’ve been associated with a lot of playoff teams, and when you are associated with playoff teams, you are going to pick low. But the player that turned out the best is Michael Redd – a second-round pick at 43rd.â€
On working with the scouting staff to evaluate players:
“It’s a great exercise. Everybody has their own view, and sees every player a little different, and sees different strengths and weaknesses in a player. We work our way through it. It doesn’t happen over night; it’s a process that takes weeks. We talk every day, and evaluate players every day, and we’ll rank our players accordingly.â€
On pre-draft workouts:
“You can’t put too much emphasis on a 45-minute workout. We’ve been following these players’ careers. We watched them in college. We’ve watched a lot of tape. So just because a player burns it up – or doesn’t play well — in a 45-minute workout, it’s not going to drastically change his position. It’s just another tool in the evaluation process. We had some real good workouts, but it’s not only about the workout itself. It’s about getting to meet the player, getting to talk to them, and finding out a little bit more about the player as a person.â€
WORKOUTS CONCLUDE
Prior to the press conference, the Wizards conducted their final set of pre-draft workouts before Thursday’s draft. The players who took part were Dontaye Draper (College of Charleston), Gabe Pruitt (USC) and Marcus Williams (Arizona).
Posted: June 26th, 2007 under Wizards.
Comments
Comment from LilGil
Time June 26, 2007 at 2:35 PM
Lol yeah he’s great, cracking little jokes just so that you don’t realize he won’t answer, but when he has to he says straightly that he won’t answer. I can’t wait to see who he picks and to understand next year strategy, many decisions to make this summer, Deshawn and all the free agents guys…
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time June 26, 2007 at 5:54 PM
Yeah, you got your first group of 8-10 players, then you got your second group of 8-10, so now we know exactly who the Wizards will draft — not! 
I liked when he said he had made promises to two players — Oden and Durant! lol
Key thing he said: the guy we get isn’t going to crack the rotation. He said that several different times and ways. Now, given that he *can’t* tell the truth in this kind of press conference, that must mean he has someone in mind who will get lots of minutes — right?
Comment from Telvis
Time June 26, 2007 at 10:26 PM
Jarvis Hayes, Brendan Haywood, Etan Thomas would be my first thoughts of trade. What is the possibilities of getting KG? Or even Wallace from NC?
Comment from Wizards4Life
Time June 26, 2007 at 11:24 PM
do we got a smiley that shakes its head in disapproval? if not might want to look one up i got a feeling we are going to need it
Comment from bjpush11
Time June 27, 2007 at 7:57 AM
I agree with Telvis, but keep Brendan Haywood, we need big bodies in the paint. Etan had one good season and that was it. So hurry now and grab KG and a shooting guard that can block outside shoots.
Thanks
Comment from Wheat
Time June 27, 2007 at 8:48 AM
If you’re staying put at 16. Then you take the best player there. Hopefully a guy who likes playing D
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time June 27, 2007 at 9:37 AM
I love all these suggestions that we should “get KG.” Gee, ya think that would be good?
Hey W4L, why the disapproval?
Comment from sharpydog22
Time June 27, 2007 at 9:46 AM
WE SHOULD TAKE SEAN WILLIAMS!!! He would upgrade our defense immediately, his offensive game would be more than adequate in transition, and he’s twice as good as any big man we currently have on our roster. Why does nobody else see this?
Comment from sharpydog22
Time June 27, 2007 at 10:19 AM
WHAT ABOUT SEAN WILLIAMS?!!! He would immediately upgrade our defense, his offense would be more than adequate (especially in transition), and he’s twice as good as anyone we have now. Why has nobody even mentioned him as a possibility at 16?
Comment from sharpydog22
Time June 27, 2007 at 10:59 AM
sorry for the double post… i thought my internet was screwed up on the first one. If we take jason smith i’m beating a hobo to death
Comment from Wizards4Life
Time June 27, 2007 at 11:10 AM
just the fact that every one is trying to get rid of every center we have that knows the system for a PF who is unable to play center and not only that he is only 80 and he has a 22+ mill contract with a 5 mill trade kicker. other than that the fact that i don’t think we could get KG for those 3 guys unless we put at least one of the big 3 in there and that’s not a good idea seen how it takes time to work people into the system that gives us another down year to learn each other and with KG able to leave after that year then we have no money to resign Gil and we are stuck with nothing but a back up team and no star player at all! IMO how ever i may be wrong
Comment from Tom Mandel
Time June 27, 2007 at 11:22 AM
No, you’re not wrong — in any case, looks like Kevin’ll be in LA soon.
If you are analyzing the draft to figure out whom we should pick, take a look at http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=2146. Key thing: looks to the numbers (and to me) like Thaddeus Young and Javaris Crittenton may be busts in the making (along w/ some guys who want even fall to our pick).
The analysis is based on the Wages of Wins method; the article links to DJ Berri’s blog coming off of the book.
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Time July 4, 2007 at 10:36 AM
[...] week, when asked about Navarro’s contract situation during his pre-draft talk with the media, Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld wasn’t optimistic about Navarro being able negotiate a [...]
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Comment from Wizards4Life
Time June 26, 2007 at 12:58 PM
if you ever got a secret you wanna keep but you got to tell some one tell EG because he can talk on a topic for days and never say anything lol