While Washingtonians await the return of the National Pastime, their winter is not exactly devoid of sports interest. The longtime laughingstock Wizards, with a 22-13 record, are nine games above .500 for the first time since 1985. That's right, 1985, M.J.'s second year as a pro, and Lenny Bias' junior year of college. Two agonizing decades ago. After years of mismanagement by Bob Ferry, John Nash, Wes Unseld, and the aforementioned Air President, the Wizards are the hottest act in town.
Credit for this turnaround goes to former Tennessee sharpshooter and Knick guard Ernie Grunfeld. When the Queens native teamed with Bernard King in Knoxville, SEC fans knew them as "The Bernie and Ernie Show." The real magic involves what Grunfeld, and Coach Eddie ("I'm Doing Better Than Michael") Jordan are working with the Wizards.
The former Washington Bullets had some poor habits. Dan Roundfield, Bernard King, and Moses Malone came to Washington as has-beens. 1988 teammates Manute Bol and Muggsy Bogues resembled a circus act more so than an NBA tandem. And remember Gheorges Muresan? Speaking of the slow afoot, Washington drafted Juwan Howard, a center at Michigan, and asked him to guard small forwards in the NBA. That's not one, but two positions away from that which he had become accustomed.
GM Wes Unseld had a rep for trading young talent for old. Rasheed Wallace for Rod Strickland and Harvey Grant in 1996. Ouch! Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe in 1998. Geezers! The Bullets/Wizards gave up on more gifted power forwards than you can shake Grunfeld's magic wand at — not only 'Sheed and Webber, but Ben Wallace, too. Some fans supported Unseld when he shipped Rasheed, on the grounds that 'Sheed was a head case. Well, Rod Strickland isn't exactly Terrell Brandon.
The strategy must have been contagious, for Michael Jordan fell into the "youth-for-couth" trap. On his watch, Richard Hamilton was dealt to Motown for Jerry Stackhouse, a Tar Heel crony. Like Richmond, Stack was damaged goods by that point in his career. Jordan's final personnel moves amounted to a fiasco — M.J., Stackhouse, and Larry Hughes — and only one ball. Talk about gridlock in Washington.
Enter Grunfeld. The revolving door of coaches (including poor selections such as Leonard Hamilton and Garfield Heard) closed. DC native Eddie Jordan, who as a playmaker helped undefeated Rutgers reach the 1976 Final Four, instituted the offense Pete Carril made famous at Princeton.
No longer does Les' Wiz stand around in the half-court and watch one player (Strickland, Richmond, Jordan) do his thing. The spacing is a thing of beauty, the ball movement precise. None of this would work without the right players. Unlike his predecessors, Grunfled dumped old-for-young. He acquired Gilbert Arenas from the woeful Warriors, and Sixth Man of the Year Antawn Jamison from Trader Mark (Cuban).
Arenas, Jamison, and Hughes aren't a DC law firm, they're three players who each average more than 20 points a game. Hughes leads the NBA in steals, at 3.7 per night. Who knew? Ernie did. With young scorers, no individual need do it all, and the club is often difficult to guard. The motion of the offense creates one-on-one situations, but not the type that consume the 24-second clock as when Richmond was the prime scorer.
Just as importantly, the team hustles on defense, a situation that should improve with the return of injured big men Etan Thomas and Kwame Brown. All this success should serve to motivate the enigmatic Brown, whom Michael Jordan selected first overall in the 2001 NBA Draft when Paul Gasol and Jason Richardson were still available. And while the Heat are the beast of the East, the Wizards compete each night out — they're no longer an off-night during an Eastern road swing. Ask the Sonics, T-Wolves, and Blazers, the three visitors Washington just swept at home.
So while it isn't time to name their basketball home the MCI Arenas, there is a valuable lesson to be learned. As Washington's long-suffering fans suspected, the organization's problems, like most in professional sports, were at the top.
Leave a Comment