My favorite NBA team, the Washington Wizards, were blessed on Tuesday night with the first pick in the upcoming NBA draft. The draft will take place on June 24, about a month from now. The Wizards were supposed to get the fourth pick, but thanks to the lottery they got the 1st. It was known that they were probably going to take Derrick Favors from Georgia Tech or Demarcus Cousins from Kentucky. Both of those players are forwards, and although the Wizards have an alright team down-low consisting of budding star Andray Blatche, a very solid player in Al Thornton, and a promising young player in Javale McGee, the team could've used another big body underneath (no homo.)
But obviously now the Wizards have the first pick. This opens up literally tons of possible scenarios for this team to take. They are probably going to take either John Wall of Kentucky or Evan Turner of Ohio State. Both are very qualified basketball players and both would contribute to the Wizards in their own way. I'll break down what they would offer to the Wizards below.
John Wall. That name was synonymous with college basketball last year. He brought the Kentucky basketball program back to it's powerhouse status that had been lost in recent years. Wall is a tall point guard at 6'4", and plays a lot like Dwayne Wade in my opinion, except slightly less athletic. I think he has better court vision though, almost like a Steve Nash. Wall can totally dominate games if necessary, a lot like disgruntled Wizards star Gilbert Arenas. He can also hold back and be more of a team player, if someone like Blatche decides he wants to score 30 points that night. I think John Wall is going to be a superstar in the NBA if he is given the right surroundings.
The problem is, the Wizards still have the aforementioned Arenas under contract, for many years to come and for a lot of money. A few seasons ago, Arenas was arguably one of the league's top 5 players, averaging almost 30 points a game. With a lot of injury problems and some criminal activities keeping him largely off the court for the last three seasons. Arenas showed signs of prominence last year before he was suspended, but is he the Gilbert of old? It's hard to say, really. He could still contribute a lot to this team. I doubt he is ever going to average anything close to 30 points a game again. There's nothing wrong with that, except the Wizards have a ton of their salary devoted towards him. What's to do, trade him? Buy him out of his contract? I don't know if there are any teams out there that would want to take on his contract. Buying him out would also be very expensive, perhaps the upwards of $50 million. Do the Wizards want to be paying their second best PG that much money? No.
There is one way they could avoid this problem, and that is drafting Evan Turner. Turner can play both guard position and small forward if needed. That way there would be no conflict with Arenas at all. However, Turner is not the player Wall is and never will be. This is not The Gilbert Arenas Show, this is the Washington Wizards. They're supposed to be a basketball team rather then a squad built around a once-prominent superstar. If something doesn't work because of Arenas, get him the fuck outta here.
That's why I think the Wizards should choose John Wall in the draft. We have absolutely no idea how a Wall/Arenas back court combo would fare, and we shouldn't trade Arenas without knowing. It could very well work, and work very well. And if it doesn't work, then Arenas can be dealt with. This is going to be Wall's team more then Arenas' team moving forward. If Arenas wants out, and the team wants him out, he could probably be moved at the deadline, or maybe even after the season. The Wizards could then go after in free agency next summer.
All in all, I want the Wizards to draft Kentucky point guard John Wall. He is a game-altering player and is going to be an All-Star within a couple of seasons. If he isn't a huge bust, he is easily going to be a perrinial all-star, especially if current Wizards players like Blatche and Thornton keep growing around him, not to mention veterans who may or may not be back like Arenas, Miller, Howard, and others. If managed correctly, this Wizards team may be heading for stardom.
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