Washington Wizards: Ranking the Top 5 Point Guards In Recent Franchise History
By Ben Mehic
2) John Wall
Here’s a quick note: I was one of the writers that voted to place John Wall ahead of Gilbert Arenas on this list, but I fully understand the logic behind putting Agent Zero in front of J-Dub.
Before Wall arrived to D.C. in 2010, the Washington Wizards were the laughing stock of sports – not just the NBA. Andray Blatche was the go-to option. Wall, thanks to the ping pong balls, saved the franchise from extinction.
Knowing that Arenas’ time in Washington was inevitably coming to an end following gungate and new ownership taking over, Wall offered the team real hope for future success. Here he was – a 19-year-old from Kentucky who was compared to Allen Iverson and MVP Derrick Rose. And he was a Wizard.
It took a couple of years for Wall to get his feet underneath him in D.C., but once he did, the rest of the league was put on notice.
Now, Wall has become a perennial All-Star and one of the most underappreciated players in the NBA.
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We take his talent, personality off the court and his commitment to the organization as a whole for granted.
The seriousness that Wall approaches the game with and his understanding of what it takes to win hasn’t been seen by other point guards that have walked through the Verizon Center – including Arenas.
In just these past three seasons, Wall has experienced more playoff success than most in Washington have in their entire careers.
He’s gotten to the semi-finals twice and was an injury away from making the Eastern Conference Finals.
Going into his seventh season with the Washington Wizards, Wall still hasn’t even reached his full potential.
He’s shown flashes of greatness, dropping 41 points against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors on national television last season, but he’s yet to play at that level throughout the course of an 82-game season.
The scary thing is, Wall is a 20 and 10 point guard, but people still expect more from him.
By the time his career is over, I have no doubt that Wall will be first on this list.
Perhaps this could just serve as more motivation for him to reach that undisputed status this upcoming season.
Next: 1) Arenas