NBA Draft Lottery : number one draft pick John Wall won by Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards unexpectedly won the 2010 NBA Draft Lottery giving them the chance to draft the consensus top pick John Wall who is expected to make an impact in the NBA.
Before the Draft Lottery, Wall has been linked to the Nets who has the best chance of winning the lottery but eventually dropped to third. Wall could have been a good fit to the Nets mainly because they have a good center in Brook Lopez and the Nets could also land a big free agent in the off season like Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. But now that he’s expected to land with the Wizards, will John Wall be a good fit or the Wizards and eventually make the Wizards a winning team?
The Wizards suffered two consecutive disappointing seasons. In the 2008-2009 season, they had the second-worst record in the NBA at 19-63 just 2 games ahead of the Sacramento Kings which finished the season with a 17-65 record. This season, the Wizards hired Flip Saunders hoping that he can improve the Wizards’ performance. But the coaching change didn’t get them any better. They suffered yet another disappointing season finishing the season with a 26-56 record. Controversies surround their organization especially when the “gun incident” involving Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton. They have also decided to go in a different direction and traded Brendan Haywood and former all-star Caron Butler to Dallas and Antawn Jamison to the Cavaliers.
With the impending entry of John Wall, will he help the Wizards to finally end their slump in the next season?
John Wall spent one season in college where he played under John Calipari in Kentcuky. During his stay in Kentucky Wall has impressed a lot of NBA coaches and scouts with his athleticism which was often compared to NBA Players like Derick Rose of the Chicago Bulls and Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma Thunder. He averaged 16.6 points, 6.5 assists, and 4.3 rebounds for the University of Kentucky leading them to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament where they were eventually defeated West Virginia, 69-56.
The Wizards lacked firepower during the past season after Gilbert Arenas sat out almost the entire two seasons because of injuries and the indefinite suspension after the “gun incident”. Wall is known for electrifying moves so he can definitely be the answer for the firepower problem of the Wizards.
He can also be their eventual leader because Wall can play the point guard position very well. He will have an advantage playing against the point guards in the NBA because of his size and speed. He’s also a good passer and also has the quality of becoming a leader because he’s very vocal when he’s on the court plus he’s also a good decision maker.
Wall’s scoring ability is unquestionable but one hole in his game is his outside shooting much like when Derick Rose entered the NBA. He has to work on his release to become a more effective and more unpredictable inside the court.
Wall can easily give an improvement to the Wizards’ record in the upcoming season, but it’s still questionable whether he can play alongside Gilbert Arenas or not. The Wizards can slide Arenas to the shooting Guard Position but he will be undersize and will be dominated by bigger shooting guards. Arenas can also be traded and buyout will also be considered if there will be no takers for Arenas.
Wall can dominate a game if he wants to but he also needs a good supporting cast and right now the Wizards doesn’t have a deep lineup. Yes, Javale McGee and Andre Blatche have improved but it will not be enough to make the Wizards a title contender this season.
It’s unquestionable, Wall will be a terrific player but he Wizards needs to find a good supporting cast for soon-to-be NBA No.1 Draft Pick if they want to have a successful run in the upcoming season.
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