Washington Wizards: Ranking The Top 5 Shooting Guards In Recent Franchise History
By Ben Mehic
1) Larry Hughes
One of the hallmarks of the Gilbert Arenas Wizards was an explosive offense, one that could hit you with five straight buckets before you even realized what happened.
When Hibachi was cooking, defenses were left helpless to try and cover all the weapons in the Washington arsenal.
Unfortunately, another major hallmark was the lack of production on the other side of the ball, namely from Arenas and Antawn Jamison. Both players treated defense as fairly optional, either through apathy or inability, and a fun team was left as first round fodder for LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
The often forgotten cog in that mid 2000’s machine actually left the Wizards before their sustained run of success reached its conclusion.
Nonetheless, his last season in D.C. may have been the apex of the entire era.
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Larry Hughes was the initial third member of Washington’s Big Three, coming over from Golden State and forming Warriors East with Arenas and Jamison.
He played three seasons in Washington, and was a force on both sides of the ball.
While Caron Butler later provided toughness and clutch shot making, Washington definitely missed Hughes’ ability to guard either backcourt spot, alleviating Arenas in much the same way that Klay Thompson helps Stephen Curry as well as his constant activity in passing lanes.
Hughes earns our top spot in the shooting guard rankings despite moderate team success (only one playoff berth) and persistent health issues (he missed 57 games in 3 years). The reason why was when he did hit the floor, he was as dynamic of a guard as Washington has seen in recent history.
While we saw glimpses of Bradley Beal stuffing the stat sheet come playoff team, Hughes made that part of his every day job in D.C.
Over the course of his tenure, he averaged 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals a game. While he wasn’t a marksman from deep (just 31 percent from three for his career), he converted at a high clip at the basket and went to the free throw line over five times a game.
Hughes’ 2004-05 season was easily his best.
He put 22-6-5 a game, shooting a blistering 68 percent at the rim and averaging a league-high 2.9 steals per game, leading to a First team All-Defensive selection.
From an advanced stats perspective, his 21.6 PER ranked first on the team and .157 win shares/48 minutes were second behind Arenas. Incidentally, both figures are higher than John Wall has ever registered for a single season.
As mentioned above, this was the only season that the Wizards advanced past Round One, beating the Chicago Bulls in a thrilling six games before succumbing in a sweep to Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and the Miami Heat.
While Hughes struggled on offense in the playoffs, shooting just 38 percent from the field, he still put up 30+ points in two games and defensively held Ben Gordon in check.
Want more evidence of Hughes’ impact to the overall success of the team? In his final season, the Wizards ranked 19th overall in Defensive Rating. Not spectacular by any measure, but at least enough to compete.
The following four seasons yielded ratings of 22nd, 28th, 24th, and 29th before the era was done for good.
Next: Top 5 Point Guards In Recent Wizards History
Larry Hughes wasn’t quite an All-Star, but he was in some respects the team’s best player. And that’s why he’s number one on our list.