31 Quotes by Ernie Grunfeld

Kwame was the number one pick here and it probably didn't work out the way he would've liked or we would've liked, but we wish him the best, ... Sometimes a new beginning is good for everyone and we feel we have two very solid players for him.

Larry Hughes's agent informed us that Larry is not returning to Washington, ... He rejected our final offer which we regarded as very fair and very meaningful. We have a lot of outstanding players on this team including All-Stars Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison, and we will add players that will continue to make us a very competitive ball club. Our goals remain the same which is to be a perennial playoff contender.

Our number one priority is to keep our own players, ... Larry Hughes's situation we want to deal with first, and then we have some other free agents we also want to deal with.

We have spoken to Andray and the doctors have informed us that he is in good condition and doing well.

We had him ranked as a first-round talent, ... We think he really has a good upside with the use of the NBDL. This makes it a better situation for all of us. We have a deep team and we're going to be able to bring him along slowly.

When you only have the 49th pick to deal with, you don't have much leverage, ... We had some conversations, but nothing really came close to getting into the first round.

Every case is a different case, ... We'll give him all the attention that we can. At the same time, he's going to have to put the effort in on his own.

The special ones, you keep a closer eye on. He was a very highly rated player and very unselfish. I used to tell him that one of the negatives people say about you is that you're too unselfish. That's a negative you'd like to have. He's very tough, very competitive.

I've always believed that player development is absolutely crucial to a franchise, ... You can do some things with trades and free agency but you have to develop your own players. I think you've seen some of our young guys really improve the last couple of seasons. What we've tried to create is a culture of hard work and commitment and we've put a premium on working with our young players.