I wanted to take a moment to communicate directly to our Wizards fan base on a few matters. I have been reading a lot lately about being “loathe” to bring in free agents into our organization. I truly dislike broad generalized statements by third parties, so I thought I would be direct and unfiltered to everyone here on my blog about what I am thinking and what we shall do.
There are many tools at the disposal of a franchise to build a great team. By great, I mean a team that gels, plays with an identity, adheres to a system, makes the playoffs on a consistent basis, sells out the building, and then wins a championship… or two…or three.
The team has identifiable stars, but plays as a unit. It is deep, talented, and it is filled with character and heart — and plays with passion for its fan base. It isn’t all about the “I.” It is about the “We.” It knows the “Secret.” It gets it.
Our franchise has a lot of work to do on all of these fronts. We haven’t qualified for the playoffs in the last two years. We had an aging, expensive lineup that was under achieving, and we are at the bottom third of the league in ticket sales. We now have only six players under contract, and I firmly believe there will be a new system in place in terms of a collectively bargained agreement between the league and the players in our future. We don’t know what that system will look like, but I know it will be different than it is today.
The tools available for the most part to rebuild a great team are the draft, trades, free agency, rookie free agency, waiver wire pickups, developmental league players, and finding players in Europe through the draft and free agency.
Also, developing a system that works for the core of your players and teaching it, and then fitting in new players that play key roles in the system, creates an advantage. As does the creation of a high-quality metric-based analysis and stats department so that a true picture of the productivity of the players can be presented; and a true development of players via competitive scouting, mentoring, physical therapy, and ongoing coaching can be achieved.
There is no single way to build a great team. It is hard work. It takes commitment, infrastructure, culture change, investment, patience, belief, leadership, and a “we are in it together” mind set. There is no magic wand. There is no new one player to be added that gets it all done.
I am loathe to the notion that if we added one player we would be a great team that could win championships. That is a notion that I reject out of analysis of past great teams, and out of personal experience. You must put in the hard work on all of the above; you must use all of the tools at your disposal; you must measure and improve season after season; you must make the investments; you must be in the process daily; and you must be in the moment and believe in what you believe.
For the most part, the draft is the primary way to build a core of great young talent that builds the foundation of a great team. Look at LA, at San Antonio, at Houston, at Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Miami. Seven teams have won championships in the last 20 years. Each has foundational players that were brought into the team via the draft. That drafted player has been the identity of the team, the leader of the team, and for the most part, the team’s best player.
The draft is important because a young, great player gets identified with the team; the fans fall in love with the player over a long period of time; the coach gets to help build a system around that player’s basic skill set; that player helps to build the identity of the team. And younger players are less expensive than max free agents, so they allow you to build more options and have more depth. And I believe when the time comes, your own young players should be courted, respected, treated, and wooed like they are free agents. I prefer to reward people that we know and trust more than players we don’t know and have contributed to another system and franchise. That is why we were able to sign at the Capitals Alex Ovechkin, the MVP of the league, to a 13 year extension; Mike Green, a first team all star, to a long term deal; and Nick Backstrom, a great player, to a 10 year contract extension. We treated our own players like they were star free agents. We drafted them all. We kept them all here to play for our great fans and to our sold out building.
The Washington Capitals have built a core of great young players primarily through the draft. The Pittsburgh Penguins have too, as have the Chicago Blackhawks — the last two Stanley Cup winners. Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher were both drafted in the same draft. Paul Pierce was drafted — Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, Wade, Isiah, Akeem the Dream, Magic, Larry Bird…The list goes on and on.
Trades are vital as well. Having lots of young players and draft picks also help you to rebuild your team. Astute trades — for missing pieces — using your depth and picks and some young assets, can accelerate your rebuild and help you to build a great team.
Rookie free agency and second round picks sometimes really can help. European players can help and “D” league players can help.
And then there is free agency.
Small, medium, and large.
So my point is, I am loathe to the notion of adding one free agent to solve all of the ailments of a franchise.
We have seen time and time again that there is huge risk in signing a max free agent without having true infrastructure, system, and a core already built.
We have seen in the NBA and the NHL that young players drafted and developed correctly, are the best way to build a great team. A team that wins championships.
We have the first pick in the draft, and we have many additional draft picks. I want to attempt to add to this number of picks, or to move up in the draft — that would be consistent with our strategy.
But I promise to use all of the tools available to us to build a great team.
I promise to be committed to the long term health and well being of our franchise.
I am open minded on all opportunities, but I won’t ever be delusional about an unknown magic wand to wave to improve the team, to win a championship. We will do our best to use data, best practices, and plain hard work.
The magic will be in how we blend and mash up all of the above in our own identifiable way to create something great, something built to last, a team that holds a mirror up to the communities we serve, and that can compete and win championships. It isn’t an easy thing to do. Witness that such a few franchises have won championships during the last two decades.
But we can start our process of rebuilding and our journey together this week. The draft will be a crucial pivot for our franchise. We have many young players to pick and develop. It all starts now. I am truly excited for this coming draft. I am truly excited about talking to you all, and telling you what I believe in an unfiltered way. Thank you.
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Slow on the Draw (10) Get 10 assists in a single Hideout in a public Free Roam session.
Can someone forward this link to Andray Blatche?
Ted, thanks for the note. Unfortunately, as a long-suffering Wizards fan, I’m feeling less-than-positive about the conventional wisdom that you’re going to select John Wall with the first pick in the draft. Looking at his numbers using WP48, he doesn’t seem like a very good choice. The conventional wisdom has him as the safe pick, but the numbers just don’t add up. Cousins has much better numbers.
I was very happy when I heard you making positive comments about Wages of Wins. I thought “Finally, this guy gets it. He thinks with an analytic mind.” We have tried drafting, and signing, players based on gut. And that got us Kwame Brown.
“The Miami Heat have traded their way out of the first round of Thursday’s NBA draft but, in doing so, cleared more cap space by sending the 18th pick and guard Daequan Cook to Oklahoma City for the No. 32 pick in the second round.”
What happened? This deal fits perfectly with the strategy you have laid out. It seems like OKC and the Wizards are operating the same plan but that OKC is operating that plan with a more capable GM.
I agree with most of that. I think many of those teams had big Free Agent signings or made big trades that really pushed them over the top (as you alluded to). I can think of Shaq going to LA. Rodman signing with the Bulls on their second threepeat. The 2004 Pistons fielded a starting team in which only Prince was drafted by them (Billups, Rip, Wallace -Ben and Rasheed) were through trades. Pierce didn’t win it all until they traded for Garnet and Allen. Houston had Akeem but for the second Championship Clyde Drexler was a big addition.
I agree that we are more than one max player from a Championship. I only see 2 max players in this class..LeBron and Wade and I doubt they want to play with a team rebuilding. I feel the others are second tier (Bosh, Johnson, Stoudemire) but someone will give them max money.
You are the majority owner and you get to decide, but I feel that your ideas seem misguided. Without a superstar you simply don’t win in the NBA. Your current GM seems like an honorable fellow, but he is the one who built the team that, in retrospect, everyone now criticizes. As a season ticket holder of 20 years I was courted by the management team to renew our tickets with the promise that we were now under the cap with will able to quickly retool a compete. What we will now have is a D-league team at NBA prices. When we did renew, Rhonda promised that we could have our money back if we were not happy with the progress of the team by June 30. Sadly, (we love basketball)I suspect that we now will cancel our renewal and spend our entertainment dollars elsewhere, perhaps with the local college teams.
Mr. Leonsis,
Speaking of youth, there is a young man that was a second round draft pick in 2006, played for the championship Spurs, as well as won a championship in Turkey the next year. He returned to play the 2008-09 season in the “D” league where he led the league in scoring and won the dunk contest. Houston signed him to (2) ten day contracts and then for the rest of the year. He was traded to Denver got cut the last cut in the summer of 2009 and played last year in Moscow. This young man’s name is James “Flight” White. He is a Washingtonian and a “You Tube” dunk phenom with excellent defense. He played his college basketball at University of Florida and Cincinati. This “kid” is a steal. Get with your folks, you’ll be glad I sent this email. I know the value and premium that you put on quality, respectful and dignified players that are in it for the long haul. This kid is a sleeper. His agent’s name is Bill McCandlish. Thank you Mr. Leonsis.
Respectfully Submitted
Clifton L. Coates Sr.
Mr. Leonsis,
In the past, we have not seen any of our young players moved to the DL for “growing pains” and developement, will that be something the organization will look into if we get some young guy we cant get into the rotation due to experience?
Thanks for addressing the fans concerns! Us ‘armchair GM’s’ have always talked about scouting (NBDL, Europe, free agency).
Sean – Reborn Wiz Fan!
Ted,
You make some good points here. You pointed to a few franchises that made sound decisions in the draft and surrounded that talent with a nurturing environment.
I will just state this, L.A. and Boston have purchased the last 3 championships. If you want to look a true model of enduring success look at the scouting talent of San Antonio. There simply isn’t a better organization at drafting players to fit a system than that organization. They’re struggling right now because Duncan is slowing down, but they are still the best franchise in terms of drafting.
IF you want to succeed make sure that you keep scouts in your organization that work as a team and know the philosophy going forward. If you do that, no matter where you draft, you’ll have a solid pick that fits the system.
Point well made, Ted. Notable exception: Champion Detroit Pistons II were constructed almost entirely through FA and trades: Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace were the core of that team (in that order).
There are only two players worthy of all our financial eggs in one basket: Bosh is worth the max, and LeBron is worth twice that. Stoudemire is appealing, and we might want to pay for that. With Carmelo signing an extension, the window of uber-free agents shuts in the next month.
A dark lining to our silver cloud of John Wall – we may indeed be victims of our own success, as if we indeed immediately improve to a middle-of-the-road team as soon as next year, that dampens the likelihood of acquiring top talent in the draft. For every mid-to-late round steal, there’s five busts. We immediately shift to relying on FA and trades. Which, if JW is as exciting a player to play with as advertised, may not be a problem.
Ted,
Loved your letter and approach. As you stated, so many things are exaggerated or taken out of context, as I believe the comments attributed to you about free agency were. You have proven with the Caps that you approach free agency strategically, which seems to be your mantra in everything you do. You can’t make decisions like you are running a fantasy team (after all you’re not Dan Snyder – no comment expected)..this is a real team..this is real money..and there are a lot of us who are loyal fans who want to see this built the right way. We are fortunate that we have had a chance to kinda “hit the reset button.” and do it the right way. As you know, as fans, we’re emotional and hopeful, and so are the press. Hindsight is 20/20, but I remember most folks in the press and the majority of fans loved the moves we made for Chris Webber, Ike Austin, Rasheed Wallace, and Richard Hamilton at the time. Now, we know those quick fix moves were disastrous. Detroit has us to thank for their great run of contention and a championship. Dumars did a great job of building the foundation piece by piece with each of the tools you mentioned.
So, no matter what you hear and read, most of the loyal, knowledgeable Wiz fans are not demanding you change the name immediately nor demanding a championship next year. You have the canvas and the tools to make a masterpiece, and I support you. Our situation did not happen overnight and won’t be fixed overnight. As the saying goes, “Rome was not in a day.” Ron in Alexandria
Ted:
It’s refreshing to see an owner take the time to address the fans in such detail. Let me start by saying I agree with your statements about building through the draft and that bringing in free agents to complete a team works better than building a team around a high-priced free agent. I have worked in professional sports for over 20 years and have watched teams climb to the top yet never become great. I’ve worked with teams that felt winning was the answer to everything, yet never build a build a fan base that was dedicated enough to stay with them when times got tough.
Perhaps it’s because I have always worked on the marketing side and not the team side but I wholeheartedly believe that building a successful franchise comes through hard work off the court (or ice). I’ve witnessed first-hand, (while working with the Denver Nuggets in the early ’90′s under the direction of Tim Leiweke) how a team can build a following through their community and marketing efforts long before the team ever becomes successful. Too many organizations place their success on the shoulders of the players and neglect to put forth the effort off the court. Sports teams are not what they were 30 years ago. Corporate partners want a great return on there investment and fans want to be entertained before and after the whistle blows. “Sports” guys are being replaced by keen “marketing” people and the results are starting to become evident. I’ve had conversations with VP’s of Marketing within sports organizations that admitted to their teams skipping entire generations of fans because they were so focused on their teams success. And these comments came from some of the most successful teams in sports.
So while I commend you on your efforts to build a strong franchise through the draft, I encourage you to put the same strategy and energy into hiring and rewarding the people not wearing the uniforms – your marketing staff. Give them the tools and leadership that will help them prepare for the teams success.
Like Pat Williams said, “In sports there is only one winner. Everyone else is a looser.” Prepare for the reality that your team will loose some of the time and be ready when they win. When it all comes together it’s a beautiful thing to be a part of.
Ted,
During last week’s event for former season ticket holders and in the blog entry above, you mention the 2004 Pistons as a model team built around a core player drafted by the team. Just to refresh your memory, those Pistons were almost entirely brought in via trade and free agency (3/5 of their starting five were former Bullets). I think in cases where a championship team was assembled through trades and free agency (like the 04 Pistons and 08 Celtics), the common key ingredient is actually a commitment to defense. If you see an opportunity to add a free agent who brings championship-caliber defense, I urge you to consider it. Those players are often undervalued on the free agent market and can make an immediate impact.
As an aside, I purchased season tickets after last Monday’s event. Your vision for this team convinced me to buy in now! Thanks.
Each article I have read is very well written and to the point. I would also like to state, not only are the posts well written, but the design of your web-site is excellent. It was easy to navigate from article to article and find what I was looking for with ease. Keep up the excellent work you are doing, and I will return many times in the near future.
Thank You Mr. Leonsis. I truly believe as you have described as to how WE want to build this franchise to resectability. I am buying in. I WAS a season ticket holder (as a retired couple) and bought into the last few promises as to how to build. I bought in because I am a Bullet/Wizard fan. I was witness to the Championship year(s), of the Bullets and am truly hometown. I have supported the Washington Nationals since they have been here,and only because affordabilty will not allow me to go to Redskins games that I do not support them as far as tickets. Oh by the way I am coming around to understanding Hockey and never miss a game on TV. I will continue to LOVE my Wizards. Since my seats are gone now I will have to do a game by game purchase or a package. Thanks again Mr. Leonsis, I am certain we will be mentioned positively on NBA TV & ESPN, and the like very soon. One last thing , I really appreciate the handling the Gilbert Arenas situation. I am reall y pulling for him.
As a longtime Wizards fan who has rooted for this team alongside his father for years, I’ve recently become disenfranchised with this franchise (no pun intended). Blogs like this from someone in charge of this team not only make me excited again for Wizards basketball, but have a legitimate chance of making me MORE excited than I’ve EVER been. Thank you Mr. Leonsis!
Run for President. Then buy the Redskins. Please?
Thanks very much for this, Ted. This made me feel as good about the future of the franchise as I have ever felt.
I agree with everything! But is this really much different from what was the Pollins were trying to do? Ted – did you have much say as a minority owner of Bullets?
Amen. Truly. Looking forward to the draft, the coming season and to seeing where the Wizards go over the next several years.
I’m sold. I buy in. We’ll follow your lead, Ted.