When a team's season has kicked the bucket, opposing GMs come a-calling like sharks to chum in the water.
Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld has been receiving a "steady stream of calls" about the pieces on the team he's constructed. Depending on your translation of the obscure Washington Post article, Grunfeld may or may not possibly make a major or minor move ... or not.
You see, when teams are bad, opposing move-makers assume explosion because of implosion. But to blow up the Wizards because of a lost season due to health issues is a tough call. And in all fairness, the BlackBerrys of all GMs, of good teams and bad, will be draining their batteries up to the Feb. 19 NBA trade deadline.
But just like a good politician, GMs must be masters of the spin. So, instead of, 'Yes, the Wizards are crappy, but no, we are not trading Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison,' it's "I've gotten a lot of calls about a lot of our players and that's a good thing. That means our players have value around the league."
When it boils down to it, Wizards fans don't care either way. They just want a winning team. After the 'value' spin, Grunfeld's sales pitch involves the contingency of health.
"If you take the long view, we have a good nucleus of players and once we have all of our guys back, we feel that we can be a very competitive team."
Working from a platform built upon "ifs" is never ideal, especially when faced with those 'ifs' of epic proportions, swayed by the time tested Curse O' Les Boulez.
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Stand pat Grunfeld cannot, whether it be now or in the off-season. The man must tap his creative juice to shed the dead weight contracts of Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila and Mike James.
If Big Ern can find a way to do that while improving the team, he can add magician right under wizard on his resumé.
