But other picks in the top five were available, including the fifth pick itself, which would have cost Washington Kwame Brown and the tenth pick.Īnd here’s where the unclear chain of command took a bite out of Washington’s future.
Realistically, there was no way Washington could have traded into one of the top spots for LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony (although Pistons fans surely wish they’d gotten something more-even Kwame Brown would have been a better return for second pick than Darko Milicic). With a squishy and temporary command structure, and a front office suddenly missing personnel as basketball operations staff followed Michael Jordan out the door, the franchise was ill-prepared to enter the talent-rich draft. He didn’t formally join the Wizards until June 30. Bizarrely, Grunfeld remained in Milwaukee to run the Bucks draft. brilliant basketball mind…” Ernie Grunfeld to helm the franchise. Unseld and Pollin went the other way, and snapped up Nets assistant Eddie Jordan three days after New Jersey lost to the Spurs in the NBA Finals.Ī few days after hiring Jordan just days before the draft, Pollin chose “. The best practice for sports franchises is to hire the top executive first, and let that executive pick his or her coach. With Jordan gone, Unseld was back in charge.but only until they could find a new GM. He’d remained part of the front office during the Jordan years, but in a figurehead role. Just as a reminder, Unseld orchestrated two of the worst trades in sports history: Chris Webber for Mitch Richmond and Otis Thorpe, and Ben Wallace, Jeff McInnis, Tim Legler and Terry Davis for Isaac Austin. Their incompetence was what led to Jordan coming to the Wizards in the first place. This left Pollin and franchise legend Wes Unseld at the helm, which they had previously shown was a bad combination. This was when Michael Jordan went to a meeting with Wizards owner Abe Pollin thinking he would resume his role as team president, but instead got fired. But, the disorganization and lack of strategic coherence weren’t a one-time thing: screwing up a draft pick was a process that developed over time.īecause this isn’t going to be a history book, we’ll keep things in 2003-just 50 days before the draft. Much of the dysfunction played out at the draft, where the team picked Jarvis Hayes over much better prospects, but only after rejecting a trade offer that could have brought them Dwyane Wade. It included the firing of a legend, a bassackwards leadership restructuring and a terrible draft pick that could have been improved without watching a second of video, or conducting a single workout or interview. The 2003 offseason holds a special place in #SoWizards history. The Wizards selected Jarvis Hayes with the tenth overall pick. This piece focuses on the 2003 NBA Draft, widely regarded as one of the most talented drafts in NBA history. This week, we’re going to take a look back at how the events of 2003 altered the trajectory of the franchise-for better and worse over the past 15 years. Editor’s Note: In 2003, the Wizards made dramatic changes to their front office and roster that have shaped the course of the franchise ever since.
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