Building a Wall in Washington

The Wizards figure to make John Wall the center of their rebuilding efforts.

In my mind, the choice here really is simple.  Evan Turner is a very nice player, but in today’s NBA, point guards are much more valuable than wings.  This is something for a longer post, but I really do believe Turner and Wall’s college numbers are deceiving.  Turner was placed on a team where his teammates weren’t good and asked to handle the ball and do everything.  There were no other ball-handlers, no other rebounders, no other slashers, etc.  It was Turner and a bunch of shooters.  Not to say that Turner’s stats are meaningless, but it’s not all that surprising to me that he put up amazing numbers.  Wall, on the other hand, played with so many great teammates that he was able to take a backseat.  His numbers all suffered, but that doesn’t mean he disappointed.  In fact, it speaks volumes, to me, about his ability to defer for the good of the team.

So Wall has to be the pick.  And once he is, there inevitably will be all these questions about how he’ll coexist with Gilbert Arenas.  I personally think they’ll work great, at least offensively, and that argument is one for another day and time.  However, Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo saysthe Wizards will still try to trade Arenas, and that Wall’s face will soon be hanging on the side of Verizon Center But offensively and  fundamentally speaking, the Wizards shouldn’t even be thinking that way right now.  This league is about talent, and you can’t pass up talent or trade away talent right at the beginning of a rebuilding project until you see how it all comes together.  Trading away talent will only set you back as you start on the path back to respectability.  This isn’t to say all three of Wall, Arenas and Andray Blatche will be here in 2012, but it is to say that we don’t have enough information to tell right now.

A rough sports year will sometimes mean grabbing little victories wherever you can get them. Still, there are definitely some legitimate bounces that will help restore faith that things will indeed get better. Last night was just one of those nights for the Washington Wizards, beating the odds and four other teams with higher probabilities to secure the #1 pick in the 2010 draft. The Wiz may have had the worst of it of any team – controversy around its biggest star and the unfortunate loss of its owner, Abe Pollin – so this was definitely a needed break in their favor.

Smart money suggests that management – which now includes Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis – will likely grab John Wall, the freshmen phenom who spent one year in college before declaring earlier this spring. Aaron Morrissey definitely won the headline war this morning over at DCist (“Great Wall of Chinatown” – well done, sir), but there are many more reasons for Wizards fans to be ecstatic beyond the likely pick of the Kentucky point guard.

Ultimately, when June 24th rolls around, whether it’s John Wall or another top prospect, the Wizards will be adding a third leg to complete DC’s “Big Three” of pro sports. The young, top-pick talent of this pick, Alexander Ovechkin and Stephen Strasburg will hopefully be something sports fans around the District can get excited about for many years to come.