Ernie the architect lays solid foundation

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Ernie Grunfeld is armed with a newly inked four-year contract extension as he enters his 17th NBA season as a personnel guru.

That comes out to 14 playoff appearances, two trips to the NBA Finals and the 2-for-18 shooting performance of John Starks in Game 7 in 1994.

The latter is the only circumstance that stands between Grunfeld and a championship ring.

The itchy trigger finger of Starks was not his idea. That onus was on Pat Riley, who allowed the infamous number to evolve incrementally in the course of a 48-minute game.

"I don't blame John at all, because in the games before that, he was great," Grunfeld said yesterday by telephone in Richmond, where the Wizards are holding training camp. "That was a great year, very exciting, and we had our chances in that series."

Grunfeld barely missed a third trip in the NBA Finals in 2001, when the Bucks fell to the 76ers in seven games in the conference finals.

The future face of the organization already was in place, courtesy of Grunfeld.

Michael Redd was a second-round afterthought on the 2001 team, hardly envisioned to be a potential All-Star, as he turned out to be.

That is one of Grunfeld's gifts, seeing something in players that others do not.

His signing of Gilbert Arenas in 2003 reflects that power, for Arenas was no two-time All-Star then.