Ernie Grunfeld should not still be the General Manager of the Washington Wizards. He has made mistake after mistake in his 15 year tenure and remains an obstacle to the Wizards winning a championship. This petition is for Wizards fans who want to make it clear to Ted Leonsis that WE EXPECT BETTER and for basketball fans who don't like to see incompetence rewarded. His egregious actions:

- A history of very poor drafting

- Repeated incredibly short-sighted trades

- Poor free agent signings that have hamstrung the team down the road

- A sub-par track record choosing coaches

We cannot accept this incompetence. Let's get Ernie out of here so we can become a championship contender. A more in-depth rant/history below:

Rant/history:

It is preposterous that Ernie Grunfeld is still our general manager. He has made poor move after poor move. Giving Gilbert Arenas a max contract after he had torn 2 meniscuses and had microfracture surgery on his knee. Repeatedly failing to find good players in the draft, including drafting Jan Vesely when highly regarded players such as Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, and Kenneth Faried were available. Trading the #5 pick in a loaded 2009 draft for Mike Miller and Randy Foye in an ill-advised attempt to contend for a championship without anywhere close to the necessary talent.

After the 2014-2015 season, it was clear that the Wizards could really go places with Wall leading the way and Beal developing. They needed a better offensive system (bye Wittman) and to sign some more talent. Instead, we stuck with Wittman and help onto cap space for a pipe dream to sign Kevin Durant. That had only the smallest chance of working, not only did it not impress Durant that we weren’t committed to creating a winning culture (hiring his HS bball coach was pathetic), but being his hometown was way too weak of a reason to bet the farm on him when we already had championship potential we should have been building on.

John Wall has been one of the best players in the NBA for years and has been saving Ernie’s job for years by making the whole team better. Last year, with Beal developing into a star, the Wizards had another chance to make it to the Finals or at least contend with the Cavs if they had added some talent. Instead, Ernie spent $106 million on Ian Mahinmi, Andrew Nicholson, and Jason Smith, ensuring a horrible bench and tying up all of our cap space. Then, after failing to add enough firepower for a real championship run, he traded away a valuable piece that could have been developed or included in a trade for a star, our first round pick in a loaded 2017 draft, for 3 months of Bojan Bogdanovich.

The Wizards are one star and a couple of role players away from winning a championship. Given the absolute gifts of Wall and Beal in the draft, that should have been absolutely manageable by now for most general managers. Instead Ernie has consistently stumbled, making ill-fated trades, horrible draft picks, bad management of coaches, and poor use of cap money. It’s unbelievable to me that he is still our GM. Please give this job to a qualified individual to avoid the heartbreak of Wizards fans when we realize that we have wasted away John Wall’s prime years. With his brilliance we should at least be a legitimate championship contender.

More examples:

A history of very poor drafting

1st Round Picks: Oleksiy Pecherov, Jan Vesely, Nick Young, Javale McGee, Kevin Seraphin



Repeated incredibly short-sighted trades

5 overall pick who could've been Steph Curry or DeMar DeRozan for Randy Foye and Mike Miller

Jordan Clarkson for cash considerations.......

1st round draft pick for Bojan Bogdanovich



Poor free agent signings that hamstring the team down the road

Injured Gilbert Arenas - $111 million

Ian Mahinmi - $64 million

Jason Smith - $16 million

Andrew Nicholson - $24 million

Otto Porter - $106 million - Otto is solid but Oubre may surpass him soon and paying a max contract for a role player doesn't make sense

A sub-par track record choosing coaches



No coach yet has held onto the job long enough to show that they can grow the team and be a franchise coach. There's a possibility Brooks is the guy but it took 13 years into Ernie's tenure...