Tom, thanks for the reminder, you’re still on point.

Wiz_fusion, you really don’t have to argue for Gabbo/Getabig, we all know that he is more than capable of speaking for himself….are you trying to take my job away from me? (Le Stirrer of Le Pot…lol…). You are adding more adjectives (scoff, put-down, controversial, etc…are you a ghost-writer for housewives of “pick-a-city”) than I could think of using. Stop sniffing the glue

Okay, keeping the blog classy, we all can give our opinions (which makes it a blog). Agree, no; accept, yes.

see ya on the next page

Sure, we’re in rebuilding mode, but we’re not starting with Blatche and nothing more. For starters, we have 6 players under contract. Then, we have three more who ought to get a contract offer (Howard, Singleton, Livingston). We’ll probably get at least two of them. Then, we have three draft choices. Our 2nd round choice will be a high one, so we can expect all three to be on hand, at least for a year. So we’re at 11-12 players. We still will have holes, but it’s not like we’re going to form a whole new team from FA’s.

4) lack of ownership voice. most of *us* know …

Per what I’ve said here over and over, we’re in TOTAL rebuilding mode right now.

We’re not building around what we have, we are starting over. Projecting starting lineups may be fun fantasy, but it does translate into anything.
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see, this is where our opinions differ. i also thought the team is on full “rebuilding” mode after the trades, but the more i look at the situation and at who’s still in management, the less likely i’m inclined to think that way. here are my reasons why

1) grunfeld did his job already – which was to purge the luxury tax by getting rid of assets for the current owners. and he’s never been like a presti who can rebuild teams from drafts. because dc has drafted somewhere in the middle pack during the playoff run days, grunfeld was able to get a talented but flawed guy that none of the lottery teams wanted/devalued – yielding nick young (very smooth but all over the place) and javale mcgee (has potential but currently has a limited number of offensive skillsets and is getting pwned defensively by more seasoned nba centers with girth).

2) flip is coming back next season. flip is going to go back to his motto of “trying to win a championship” instead of “trying to rebuild” – where the latter was NEVER part of the deal when he signed with washington last off-season. due to flip’s “win now” mentality, grunfeld will build another team, within reasonable financial means, to get the franchise back to playoffs next season. and this will not be done via more young free agents and the draft.

3) revenues are at stake. after 2 consecutive fallout seasons, dc’s pro basketball fandom is back approaching dormancy. a lot of newly signed ticket holders were “duped” that this season would yield breaking out of round 1. unless these folks have an insatiate appetite for the nba (in general), they’ll walk and not come back until the team is ready to win consistently again.

retention is the other key. i don’t know how long GABBO and HCF and others have been ticket holders, but if they’ve been doing it as long as, say, i have, they’ll most likely continue because they can’t get enough of pro basketball (mentioned above) and because of loyalty. however, if the appetite is not there (because the team and organization stink beyond repair) and/or if the organization is no longer devoted to these loyal fans, then these folks also will walk. the organization is really going to be in a tailspin if it can’t retain the “diehards” because these people are the foundation for the “fans platform”. i got a better sense of how other “diehards” that go to games think and why they don’t even “bat an eye” when the renewal invoices show up in their mailbox. it may be maniacal, but these people really love the wiz.

4) lack of ownership voice. most of use know what the pollins stood/stand for. some of us know what leonsis is standing for with the capitals. however, when both sides are at odds with settling the control issue of the franchise (and other related assets), it is impossible for grunfeld to expand possibilities for the future because the future owner may not have the same viewpoints as the current owner.

as an example – say grunfeld resigns josh howard and the pollins are fine with that decision this july 2010. however, leonsis, finally acquiring the wiz after july 2010, does not want josh howard. then what? grunfeld did the correct thing with one owner but not with the other. and, with this off-season being so wide open for washington, don’t you think grunfeld’s job is equally challenging? i know he’s told the washington post that he’s still following pollin’s orders, but in reality, is he really doing that knowing they’ll not be owners for that much longer?

GV is having a pretty good season; the knock on him is that he isn’t athletic enough for the NBA, esp. on defense. Even if he does make it w/ hard work, I don’t think anyone is looking at him as a starter. Still, you never know.

As to retaining Livingston next year, we don’t have any more of a shot at him than any other team. He is unrestricted. For anything more than a veteran minimum salary, however, he’s a big risk — you just don’t know how that knee is going to hold up.

Per what I’ve said here over and over, we’re in TOTAL rebuilding mode right now. We have one potential starter under contract for next year (AB), one reliable backup (Singleton), one still-raw giant (JM), and 3 guys who haven’t yet brought much in a combined 10 years in the league.

We’re not building around what we have, we are starting over. Projecting starting lineups may be fun fantasy, but it does translate into anything.

Btw, Lawson was a much bigger steal than either Collison or Maynor (or even Beaubois, who I think is better than either of those guys). Lawson is a guy who will start for most of his career. Next to Dejuan Blair he was the steal of the draft.

We do have to have 12 guys, so I imagine that Livingston will be signed for the rest of the season. Gee, who knows. There are lots of athletic guys his size in the D League.

paraphrased from a former dc attorney

but back to the argument – i didn’t think it was fair for you to putdown GABBO’s lineup. you have every right to criticize the players on that lineup, but i didn’t get that sentiment from you originally.

other bloggers type lineups here all the time – so i didn’t know why GABBO’s lineup was more controversial than the rest for your tastes. as you guessed it by now, GABBO only typed livvy at PG cuz he has shown, in like 12 days, that he can run plays for the team – instead of running plays for himself (himself being foye, arenas, and boykins). you may have missed that GABBO also typed gil at SG – and i would say quite a few people that visits here would want to see arenas play SG instead of PG. i thought GABBO’s lineup was subtle yet intriguing, but i guess you didn’t see it that way.

anyways, no one is going to kick rocks except that blogger who wishes the voodoo on big tigger.