I'm not going to talk much about the euphoria of winning the draft lottery last night. Honestly, I can't really put into words how much it meant to us as Wizards fans. We all know we went through an awful year, and we all understand why we were so irrationally happy last night. So I'd really be preaching to the choir.
All I'll say is this: now is not the time to nitpick and overthink. 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 post. But fundamentally, 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. That's what 2011 is for, and until 2011 plays out, the Wizards need to put in a good faith effort to make this all work. They owe it to Wall to surround him with talent, they owe it to Arenas to see how he plays with a potential superstar point guard, and they owe it to us, the fans, who have delusions of greatness in our heads.
Regardless, thanks to the magic ping pong balls, we have our first bona fide building block. Now, let's not overthink this and give away a chance at a truly dynamic team until we see how it all comes together.