Crawford welcomes challenges. He raises his hand when Coach Flip Saunders seeks someone to help Wall down the stretch and, most importantly, delivers.
“He has guts,” Grunfeld said.
That’s what young center JaVale McGee displayed during his impressive performance on a five-game Western trip.
The athletic, raw 7-footer had the best stretch of his three-year career. McGee was a force on both offense and defense while playing with focus and effort, which hasn’t happened as often as the Wizards would prefer.
And then there’s fourth-year guard Nick Young.
Slowed because of a knee injury late in the season, the Wizards’ leading scorer nonetheless made encouraging strides offensively, which Grunfeld envisioned Young would if his role and minutes increased. Although it would be nice if the 6-7 Young rebounded more (he has a personal-best 2.7 average this season), Grunfeld said “you have a pretty solid three-guard rotation going down the road because Jordan can play both positions.”
What’s most important to rebuilding organizations, what’s most needed to maintain optimism during inevitably difficult times, are signs of progress from the young players who are expected to help spur turnarounds.
The Wizards have had some positive developments in this key area. They also have cap room, and they’ll have two first-round draft picks this summer. Grunfeld is driving the bus, so he gets the credit.
“All those young players have shown real promise,” Grunfeld said.
It’s fair to point out the Wizards are in this mess, in large part, because Grunfeld handed Arenas a six-year, $111-million contract in the summer of 2008.
Grunfeld risked a lot, perhaps even his job status, on the three-time all-star and got burned.
But the late Abe Pollin was not interested in rebuilding, and Arenas was by far the team’s most talented player. From a business standpoint, Arenas drew people to Verizon Center. In the NBA, the worst thing isn’t being bad. The worst thing is being bad and irrelevant.
“Our mandate was to get to the playoffs,” Grunfeld said.
The Wizards reached the playoffs in four consecutive seasons starting in 2004-05. They won only one series, however, and never had more than 45 victories during the regular season. That success, albeit modest, followed a span of 16 years — from 1988-89 through 2003-04 — during which the Wizards had only one playoff appearance with no victories. Washington had not previously advanced past the first round since 1981-82.
Of course, guaranteeing forward Andray Blatche almost $27.3 million was indefensible. Grunfeld should cut ties with Blatche this summer because his strong late-season performances are fool’s gold. The team also could face a difficult decision with Young if the restricted free agent receives a lucrative offer from another team.
When judged relative to the team’s lack of success since the 1970s, what Pollin wanted and how he’s executing Leonsis’s new vision, Grunfeld has performed better than the ledger indicates.
Grunfeld is doing what Leonsis asked of him. That should be good enough for now.
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