Now's not the time for hand-wringing. Draft John Wall, figure the rest out as it goes

…but a Rondo that won’t take so long to develop. Biggest reason we take Wall?

I’ve been guilty of being reactionary in the past, and I try to stifle it. Much as I got annoyed with Flip over this last season, keeping him on is absolutely the right move. That said, giving him the best PG in the draft is the PERFECT acid test. If he can be successful, he’ll be successful with Wall. If he can’t be successful with Wall, then the questions about him will be well and truly answered.

Can Blatche be successful with a another bona fide on the team? I felt, and I believe all of you who watched him play post All-Star break will agree, that there is much more to him than ‘best player on a bad team.’ But I have my moments of disquiet still, wondering if he can be as productive on a Finals contending team.

Can Grunfeld successfully distill enough talent from the later draft picks to net us some relevant role players? There was a great article I read somewhere on the Bucks and how they built their team. Letting Sessions walk, among other things, to build around Skiles’ philosophy. As you’ve noted before, Grunfeld has pulled off some excellent moves in the past, but taken together indicate little sense of a cohesive vision. Drafting relevant support this year is huge.

I’m all a-flutter a seeing what a talent-magnifier like Wall can do with Young and McGee’s athleticism, much less Blatche’s and the test faced for the former two is the same as Grunfeld’s, do it with Wall or you can’t do it all.

I’m starting to sound redundant, so my point is that upside is now. This is the time to gel. For Flip to understand, motivate, and direct the talent he has while taking it where we expected it to go, or at least getting it on the rails. For Nick Young to become the Jason Terry/JR Smith clone we’re all hoping for. For JaVale McGee to star in his home-shot version of ‘My Giant’ in an Optimus Prime helmet. To see Blatche put the league on notice in case they missed the memo. For Grunfeld to show he can build the contender by adding the right pieces instead of the bright ones. And biggest of all, for Arenas and Wall to become a force of nature. (I am giggling a little on the inside)

In conclusion, this is what rebuilding is about. It is time to start realizing. I don’t care if we don’t do a thing in FA. I want to see things start to take shape. I’m not saying I need the playoffs, or anything approaching a finished product. What I am saying is that Wall officially brings us to a point where I can say I expect to see something. I don’t know what it is. But it’s time for the professionals of this organization to put up or shut up. GO WIZ!

to record tonight. Going to the beat of Cam’Ron’s Down and Out.

If anyone has any good lines for me to put in, holler at me.

I have only written a hook so far.

Prada if I get it laid down tonight I will send to you.

I got to read some reaction late last night but didn’t get to post. Mike you captured my initial response to the “Turner vs Wall” posts perfectly: don’t overthink it. Don’t screw this up by getting lost in stats. Turner is a heck of a player and I would be happy to have him, if I had no shot at John Wall.

i was very impressed with how Wall handled that UK team. He came in with the rep as the best in the country. He never forced a personal agenda on the team even though he was pegged as the potential top pick in the draft. he played defense, he hit open men and he showed he was a better athlete than 99.9% of the guys he played against. Very mature for his age. he will have no shortage of help to work on his jump shot, which isn’t broken in the first place.

Congrats to the Wizards ticket reps as well. they’ve had a tough year and felt the brunt of the teams’ nose dive. I hope they knocked a couple back last night because they will be busy.

But now in the harsh light of a Wednesday morning I am starting to come off my high from last night a bit. What kind of talent do we consider Wall to be? I only got to watch him play a few times in college and he had good games and showed real flashes of excellence, but it seems from everyones comments and evauations that he is not a bona fide, franchise changing player, but a potential great player who could be a key cog on a championship team. So what are we saying about his ceiling? Is he going to be a Rose, Derron Williams, or Chris Paul? I guess what I’m saying is are we getting too excited by winning a player who may not change the fortunes of the team just by his presence?

Don’t forget, Carmelo and Durant have both expressed interest in leaving for the DC area, to be closer to home.

It’s a long shot, but just giving food for thought.

just heard an interview with ernie grunfeld – that guy’s ability to not reveal ANYTHING in his answers to questions is truly awe-inspiring. and actually pretty hilarious.

I have no problem with the tact of being competitive in the short term while building long term. That’s the path we could have used in the past instead of keeping the “contender myth” alive. One way I haven’t read much about is signing RFA to a larger single season contract than they would get from signing their tender. Said RFA would make more guaranteed from us or their original team. They’d be back on the market next year. For us they’d have a chance to play with Wall et al for a season but not be on the payroll in 2011.

Not much to change from what khrabb wrote except to take the best available player at #30. Another quality big would be great but don’t pass on a better player for height. I’m not shying away from a Stanley Robinson/SF just to pick another big. You’re projecting a role player who wouldn’t keep a big time 3 from signing here anyway.

I also make a play for Livingston. He’ll know he won’t be starting but does he really think its start or bust right now? he needs to a have a good full season first. He wasn’t going to start with GA, he won’t start with JW. he can still play next to Gilbert or run the back up point to Wall. I think he’d be receptive to that knowing Flip will use him and push him to use his offensive talents.

it is hard to argue that Arenas in Washington has been anything but a failure so far

This is what we’re discussing. He played before the contract. You can’t ignore what happened before just because the contract and his health since is a mess.
I never said he has earned his current contract. I said he was not a failure and he has not been. He made a lot of money for this franchise by putting butts in the seats and actually getting them to the second round of the playoffs.

OK, I have gone on record as saying that I think we should take Turner. First of all, NEVER did I think we would have the opportunity to choose first. But, now that we have, I have swayed some. I definitely think Turner is gonna be a hell of a player. And I also think that he would be a much better fit with this team.

Now, all that said. We are talking about the first overall pick. Which means you don’t fit him with the team. You make the pick with the intention of building the team around him. While I do believe Turner is the more finished product, I think Wall has the more higher ceiling and, perhaps more important, is the more dynamic player. There’s no doubt that your number one pick needs to sell tickets. This is the reason I STILL defend is choosing Kwame Brown over Shane Battier. Yes, Battier has been the much better pro. But he was never gonna fill seats. Turner may fill seats, but he won’t fill as many as Wall.

But selling tickets isn’t the only reason to draft Wall. You draft him also because you are no longer depending on Arenas as your “franchise player”. Your draft pick will (hopefully) be your best player, so you can’t waste timing worrying about how he fits with Arenas. You make Arenas fit with him.

Of course, I think the ultimate scenario would be to trade Arenas. Maybe to one of the teams left holding nothing when the music stops in the free agent carousel.