Comparing December Greats. The month of MVP chants GA vs JW

[GhostsOfGil]

Wizards fans will remember December of 06 as one of the best months of basketball in franchise history. It was the last time I had legitimate excitement, not only for the team but for a star in the making. The city was starved for a basketball revival and Gilbert Arenas was the guy that put DC back in the spotlight.

A walk down memory lane:

Gilbert Arenas goes off in LA for 60 and 8 on 32 shots. Breaks record for most points scored in OT (16).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm2XO28YRYU[/youtube]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/box ... 70LAL.html

Gilbert lights up the powerhouse Suns in OT after calling a 50 point game.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7ap-hsPvUo[/youtube]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/box ... 20PHO.html

Other notable games:
December 8th, Gil hits TWO half court three pointers at the buzzer. Scores 32 in a win against the 6ers.

He finished the month as the eastern conference POTM averaging 34.06 ppg, 6.2 apg, 28.2 PER on 61 TS%. The Wizards win 12 of 16 and Gilbert passes Vince in all star voting (on his way to his one and only start). Eddie Jordan goes on to coach the east All Star team. Fans chant "MVP" for the first time since the 70s. Welcome cloud 9.

Nearly 10 years later John Wall is replicating the holiday magic. In 9 games so far in December Wall is averaging 17.2 ppg, 13.1 apg, 5.4 rpg, 1.9 spg, and 1.3 bpg. He's having the best month of his career shooting 56 tS% with a PER of 23.4. That defense tho... Wall is now ranked the 15th best player in defensive RPM and #1 among PGs. So far the Wizards are a near perfect 8-1. His usage is actually down this month but is still assisting on over 50% of all assisted baskets.

Wall finally breaks through the 16 assist mark scoring 26 and 17 in an emotional 2OT win over the Celtics
MVP chants erupt.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjVdXFZb4YE[/youtube]

Wall takes another step forward with smothering defense on CP3 forcing him into 6 TOs

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametracke ... 12_LAC@WAS

Wall records his second 20/17 game of the month in a monster game against the Timberwolves

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ON76z8y2s[/youtube]

With 7 games to go,I wonder if Wall can mirror the excitement Gil created and break through as the new Wizards GOAT.

[GhostsOfGil]

Mods feel free to merge if there is another place for this.

[Shanghai Kid]

Wall is having a great month, but it's not really comparable to Gilberts. Gilbert for the first half of the season was getting legitimate league wide MVP hype.

[Zonkerbl]

But the Wizards record is better this time around, and yet the city-wide support is clearly much less.

I suppose a lot of casual fans were turned off by the gungate thing. May take a while to get them back.

[AFM]

I like Wall and this team as a whole but if we are talking strictly about individual performances Gilbert was the GOAT

[FreeBalling]

I miss Gilbert Arenas, my favorite Wizards of all time.

December of 2006 was a great month for the Wizards fans. We only lost 4 of 16 games. Gilbert was on fire averaging 34 points a game for DEC. Lets not forget 60 points against the Lakers and 54 against the Suns both road games.

Did you forget Gilbert scored his 60 points with the NEW COMPOSITE SPADING BASKETBALL,



See all 60 points and the record 16 points in O/T (RECORD)

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJDLjTq2QWc[/youtube]


2007 Arenas vs. Stevenson 3pt Shoot Out - Gil only uses one hand.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZPJDyhXeAo[/youtube]





[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5orlL3s161E[/youtube]

[FreeBalling]

The Washington Bullets in the 1974/75 season won 60 games. In December our record was 10-3. Elvin Hayes avg. 18.6 ppg

[RustyMagoo]

I wouldn't trade 1 John for 5 Gilberts with robot knees.

[hands11]

But the Wizards record is better this time around, and yet the city-wide support is clearly much less.

I suppose a lot of casual fans were turned off by the gungate thing. May take a while to get them back.

Probably deserves to be in that Booth thread if I could find it but ...


This town is an embarrassment.

They cheer loader for a Fing Chicken Sandwich then they do for the best team in 40 years.

That's a Fing joke. The fans at the booth are ignorant.

As for the comparison to that other team. I got past that 1 or 2 years ago. This is a way better designed team. Gil was a great scorer. That was about it. And the dude failed the franchise big time. Wall has way more potential.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I like Wall and this team as a whole but if we are talking strictly about individual performances Gilbert was the GOAT

Agreed.

Wall's success is due a lot to him creating and making teammates better. Gilbert dominated games by being a devastating individual scorer.

What's interesting is that I can't imagine Gilbert on this team or John on the 2006 team, if their places were switched.

I really appreciate what John Wall is doing now.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[nate33]

I like Wall and this team as a whole but if we are talking strictly about individual performances Gilbert was the GOAT

I'm loving what Wall is doing right now, and it's arguably the superior type of play for team success, but what Arenas did during that month was one of the most incredible stretches of basketball I've ever seen from anybody. He was just a force of nature. He was completely unguardable, and everybody knew it.

[GhostsOfGil]

But the Wizards record is better this time around, and yet the city-wide support is clearly much less.

I suppose a lot of casual fans were turned off by the gungate thing. May take a while to get them back.

This is an interesting point. I was going to say that was a long time ago but really its only been 4 years.