(Post originally written October 16, 2006)
Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld recently received a multi-year extension to his contract with the team. When you take a look at what he has done over the past two years, you understand why the Wizards made sure to lock him up for several more seasons. They have been able to smartly replace key talent leaving the organization with strong replacements.
Wizards Responses to Free-Agent Defections/Trades:
1) Transaction: July 2005/Larry Hughes (13) signed with the Cavaliers.
Response: August 2005/Signed Antonio Daniels (5.5).
Notes: Daniels played in both the PG and SG spot and was the team’s sixth man.
Analysis: The Cavaliers obviously overpaid Hughes and the Wizards were not about to budge. They signed Daniels to a contract one-third the size of Hughes’ deal and then made a very significant subsequent move by trading for Butler.
2) Transaction: August 2005/Traded Kwame Brown (8) for Caron Butler (7)
Response: Increased Brendan Haywood’s minutes from 19 to 28 to fill Kwame Brown’s minutes.
Notes: Butler had his best season as a pro.
Analysis: It was time for the Wizards to cut their losses with the Brown project and were able to get a great young wing player in return.
3) Transaction: August 2006/Jared Jeffries (6) signed an offer sheet with the Knicks for 5 years and $30 million; Wizards did not match the offer.
Response: July 2006/Darius Songaila (4) signed with Wizards; August 2006/Deshawn Stevenson (1) signed with Wizards.
Notes: Songaila will be the backup at the power forward and center spots and Stevenson will compete for the starting shooting guard role.
Analysis: The Knicks offer for Jeffries was much higher then the Wizards anticipated. The Wizards were able to bring in two younger players for the same amount of money that the Knicks gave to one player (Jeffries).
Summary:
These series of moves can be summarized by seeing that the team lost Larry Hughes ($13 million per year), Kwame Brown ($8 million per year), and Jared Jeffries ($6 million per year), which would have cost them $27 million per season. Meanwhile, Antonio Daniels ($5.5 million per year), Caron Butler ($7 million per year), Darius Songalia ($4 million per year ), and Deshawn Stevenson ($1 million per year) came to the Wizars for a total of $17.5 million per year.
In the end, shrewd moves and the ability to think outside-the-box have allowed Grunfeld the Wizars to be a playoff team, winning 45 games in the 2004-05 season and 42 games in the 2005-06 season.
No comments:
Post a Comment