I think the Wiz will be fine and stop doubting Ernie, I think he’s not our GM for nothing.

Peace Out

J50

So, instead of McGee we’d have Luther Head, Greene, Chalmers, and a high 2d round pick next year. McGee might outshine all that, he really might. But, with those 4 assets I have the flexibility to make *lots* of moves. *I’m* in control to a much greater degree.

Now there are salary and other financial considerations I haven’t mentioned. But Head costs less than Mason is going to cost and he expires next year. And #28 and 33 together cost no more than #18. As to trading our 2d round pick to Boston for a little cash — doesn’t it tell you something that *Boston* who won the championship feels like it needs a guy taken at that point in round 2, but we don’t?

Well, for one thing Houston has just spread its risk. If Greene is a bust, Dorsey may be good, the guy they grab next year w/ the pick they just got may be good.

For another thing, when you have multiple assets you can treat them different ways; you have much greater flexibility.

One more thing — Houston won 55 games last year, yet they felt they needed to draw in multiple assets, they needed to have an active plan, they needed to be *strategic* about getting better. We won 43 games last year, and what I hear Ernie say is “we’ve proven that when we are healthy we can compete with anyone in the East.”

Am I making my point?

Now — lets assume we *had* made the trade w/ Houston. This is fantasy of course, but what would I have done w/ our assets in the draft? Next post.

But, that’s not what makes this a good draft or a bad draft. Let me explain my thoughts:

Here’s how Ernie explains his draft methodology in this morning’s Post: “We rank our players through a four-, five-, six-week process and the highest-ranked player on our board, we pick,” said Grunfeld. “If the best player on our board was a 6-foot-5 player or if one of the point guards slipped down to us, we would have taken them. We looked at all of those players. This is just how the draft played out for us.”

So there are 2 parts: 1) rank the players and 2) take the best guy available at your pick. Obviously, if the phone rings w/ a proposed trade, that an unspoken 3d part — you consider it.

Well, obviously *every* team ranks players — how could you draft w/o doing that. So his strategy reduces to “wait your turn and pick the best available player.”

Now, Kevin Pritchard of the Blazers, explains *his* strategy: “We were very active…. “The biggest thing for us is that we were very well planned out. We saw the draft fold out.” In other words, KP had *a picture of the whole draft* in his mind and a strategy for it. As a result, he made several moves.

Remember the rumor that we’d exchange round 1 picks w/ Houston and also get Luther Head — which Ernie said wouldn’t happen because Head is not a step up from Mason (he’s right about that)? Here’s what Houston did w/ pick #25. For this pick, they got Donte Greene (pick 28), Joey Dorsey (pick 33), and Memphis’s 2009 2d round pick — figure one of the top 6 picks in round 2 next year.

That’s what happens when you *have a plan.* Now, in my next post I’m going to tell you why I think that’s a better way to draft.

GO WIZARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully we get Gil and AJ signed. Also my wish list as far as free agents go is to see if we can sign Chris Duhon as a reserve pg if things go well with resigning Gil and AJ.

McGee weighs 237. Pecherov weighs 234. Where’s the beef?

By comparison, Haywood, who certainly isn’t beefy, weighs 263.