I'm sure I missed some, but regardless, here are some important links to read:
- Michael Lee writes that the Wizards have already sold 400 season ticket packages in the 12 hours since they won the lottery. Gotta love that optimism! Also, Ted Leonsis says he plans on retaining Ernie Grunfeld and sitting down with Gilbert Arenas for the first time in the next few days.
- Mike Wise writes a wonderful column that covers the whole saga from all angles. The whole thing is strongly recommended, but I found this part interesting: "But that's probably not how their money will be spent. Look for high-salaried, one-year guys to essentially use Wall and the Wizards to build their free agent value. Look for the Wizards to use those players' contracts to get way under the cap next summer and compete for 'Melo. Look for Flip Saunders to keep using his two-guard front to suit the talent of Wall and Arenas."
- Wall on Gilbert Arenas, via Yahoo's Marc Spears: "I don't know Gilbert, but I know he's a great player, I'll tell you that. I think he is more of a scoring two-guard who's undersized. You just got to see what happens. If I go there, I'm just going to do whatever I can do to help them win games and make the organization better.
- Flip Saunders, to the Sports Junkies, on a potential Wall-Arenas pairing, via Steinberg: "Both those guys are 6-4. so they both have size. But what they do is they put so much pressure on the other team defensively. The thing about Gilbert is Gilbert has the ability to play both positions. He's got super-long arms, so he plays a lot bigger, even being at 6-4, and he can become really a nightmare [against point guards]. You look at Philadelphia when they went to the Finals and they had Eric snow and Allen Iverson in their backcourt. Both those guys were smaller, and not both of them had the same dynamics that our guys could probably have."
- Chad Ford writes that, despite that, the Wizards will try to move Arenas if they can, and the Knicks are a possibility to watch.
- Ted Leonsis, on his blog yesterday: "I want to assure everyone that we won't make the first pick in the draft a "sugar buzz high". We will work to craft a team and a system methodically and with care. We will articulate a plan and strategy built around analytics and with our ultimate goal in mind. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will the new Wizards."
- Steve Buckhantz didn't unleash a "Dagger!" when he heard the news, but he did say this was the most excited he's been since Gilbert Arenas' game-winning shot in the 2005 playoffs against the Bulls.
- Mike Jones writes that the Wizards must take John Wall, saying " There will be Evan Turners in next year's draft, and the draft after that. The it-factor point guards don't come around quite so often."
- Two people who aren't very high on John Wall: Matthew Yglesias and David Berri.
- Ridiculous Upside posts an updated mock draft, now that the lottery order has been set.
- SI's Chris Mannix writes that Wall gives the Wizards newfound hope, adding that they could still consider trading Gilbert Arenas even though Ernie Grunfeld said otherwise.
- Dan Shanoff writes that the Wizards need to begin making their pitch for Carmelo Anthony in 2011.
- If you're looking for a laugh, check out these NBA Draft Lottery captions from Brain on Funk.
- UPDATE: Via bigrm18, here's an old link by Nets blog Nets Are Scorching on why John Wall absolutely must be the number one pick.