The Starting Five

Mr. President and good friend Marty Nesbitt take in a game at the Verizon Center

The city of Washington, DC now has reason to be optimistic about each of its core sports teams after winning the 2010 NBA draft lottery. The Wizards now have the top pick in next month’s draft.

After the blockbuster trade that sent future Hall of Fame quarterback Donovan McNabb to Washington, Redskins hopes in Chocolate City were revitalized. The Capitals are on the rise with phenom Alexander Ovechkin and after last night, add the Wizards to the mix as Washington beat the odds and secured the first pick in the 2010 NBA draft. Barack Obama is a tried and true sports fan and similar to the jolt of energy he has given the country, the capitol’s teams now all have reason to look forward.

The Wizards had a 10.3 chance of getting the pick. With the 5th worse record (26-56) the death of longtime owner Abe Polin and the uncertainty of star Gilbert Arenas casting a huge shadow over a proud organization, the potential of having the exciting John Wall is just want the city needs. Irene Pollin, Abe’s widow, represented the franchise wearing the Bullets 1978 championship ring.

Trust Anthony Gilbert and I will report from DC many times this year. The Sixers getting the second pick was just as much of a shock (good to see the smile on their Jrue Holiday’s face). The Nets number one pick dreams were dashed. The team with the worse record hasn’t won the lottery the Orlando Magic did so in 2004. The Magic picked Dwight Howard and find themselves in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season.

There is noise of the Wiz taking Evan Turner, but trust Wall will be the pick. This is the era of the point guard and Wall potentially could be as good as any with his combination of size, speed and athleticism. The Wizards last won the draft lottery in 2001 and Michael Jordan selected Kwame Brown with the pick.

The Sixers have many questions but Turner seems to be the pick at 2 and the Nets most likely will take Derrick Favors out of Georgia Tech at 3 if everything stays true and no transactions are made (fat chance). This should be one of the more exciting drafts in recent memory.

Here’s how writers from around the country feel about what transpired last night.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 1:44 pm and is filed under Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.