Every year NBA.com polls the general managers of each NBA team to get a feel for how the league's decision makers feel about the state of the NBA. As always, GMs are not allowed to vote for their own personnel in these decisions, so no one claim bias on results.
This year's edition featured some reaffirming votes for the Wizards in some categories, and some not so reaffirming snubs in other categories. Let's break it down:
The Good
The majority of NBA GMs agree John Wall is the fastest player in the NBA with the ball. 53.4 percent of voters agreed Wall was the fastest, beating out Russell Westbrook, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague, Isaiah Thomas, and current teammate Ish Smith for the honor.
GMs think there are two breakout candidates on the roster. Bradley Beal finished in a tie for the third-most votes for the player most likely to have a breakout season, finishing only behind Andrew Wiggins and Giannis Antetokounmpo and tying with Jabari Parker. Otto Porter also received a vote, which is both surprising and nice to see.
GMs think there are potentially two future head coaches on this year's roster. Jared Dudley and Garrett Temple each received votes from GMs when asked which active players would make the best future head coaches.
At least one GM thinks the Wizards can be the second-best team in the Eastern Conference. That's cool! On the other hand...
The bad
The majority of GMs think the Wizards will not be a top-4 team in the East this season. GMs were asked to rank the top-four teams in the conference. Here's how the Wizards voting broke down:
- 1st - 0 percent
- 2nd - 3.4 percent
- 3rd - 24.1 percent
- 4th - 17.2 percent
- Not in top four - 55.3 percent
In terms of total votes received, Washington finished fifth, behind the Cleveland, Chicago, Atlanta and Miami.
GMs continue to underrate John Wall's passing ability. When asked "Which player is the best passer?" five different players received votes: Chris Paul, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Rajon Rondo, and Ricky Rubio received votes. John Wall, who was second in the NBA in assists per game last season, did not receive a single vote. For some reason, people continue to hold John Wall's speed against him when it comes to being a good passer and it makes no sense.