Despite bowing out of the Kevin Durant rat race, Washington Wizards star point guard John Wall believes his team has more than enough arguing points to persuade free agents to play in D.C. next season.
In his "DC Sports Bog" column, Washington Post columnist Dan Steinberg shares similar reasons as the former number one overall pick for playing in the nation's capital: “You’re playing with me, first of all,” Wall said with a grin this week. “A pass-first point guard that’s going to get you shots. Not to brag about it or talk about it, but shoot, I got a lot of guys paid since I’ve been here.” Steinberg suggests the team build itself into a contender while Wall is in his prime. The Wizards missed the playoffs last year, going 41-41.
Point guard and recruiter.
According to Steinberg, the 25-year-old guard has, "been in touch" with free agents, finding out who is going where and making suggestions to Wizards management.
Steinberg listed the Wizards other selling points as told by Wall: young talent, a great basketball city, representing the District of Columbia, visiting the White House, and a new head coach in Scott Brooks. Wall feels the team's penny-pinching the past two seasons built to this opportunity to grab free agents: “What we did the last couple years — not re-signing a couple people, signing guys to one- or two-year deals — it all saved up for this,” Wall said Sunday afternoon at his annual basketball camp. “So I feel like this is the biggest summer.”
Room to build around Wall.
Wall started 77 games for the Wizards last season, averaging a career-high 19.9 points per game, 10.2 assists (3rd best in the NBA), 4.9 rebounds, and 1.9 steals. Wall shot a career-high 35.1 percent from three-point range, a far cry from the lockout-shortened 2011-2012 campaign, where he made less than 10 percent of his threes. Still, the three-time All-Star prefers to attack the basket and shoot mid-range jumpers. Washington can add shooters to a team that finished 11th in three-point field goal percentage.
Washington has roughly a $50 million payroll guaranteed for 2016-17 and seven players under contract. Even factoring in an expected large payday for Wall's backcourt mate Bradley Beal, Washington still has plenty of money to woo players to the mid-Atlantic due to the NBA salary cap rising to $94 million. Wall believes his team needs more wings, telling the Post: "to win in the East, you’re going to need a lot of 3-men to go against LeBron,” (Wall) said.
Aside from New Orleans Pelicans forward Ryan Anderson, names like Nicolas Batum, Harrison Barnes, Chandler Parsons and Luol Deng litter the market. The Wizards have a lot of room to improve on a .500 ball club, even if it means spending more than the team wants, according to Wall. According to the Post article: “To win in this new-era NBA, to try to have good pieces come, you might have to overpay people,” Wall said. “Us as a team and the organization’s got to be willing to step up to the plate and get what needs to be done, done.”