Wizards/Bullets Franchise Mount Rushmore

[fishercob]

It's the dog days of summer and NBA franchise "Mount Rushmores" have been a hot topic in social media over the past couple of weeks. So I started poking around basketball reference and wast reminded t-- that for a brief moment in time -- Gilbert Arenas was a complete and total badass. When I went to pull up the old Gil shrine, the most recent pages were lots of unpleasantness that is all too germane in the wake of recent board news. So hey, new thread!


HERE is a list of every individual season in franchise of more than 1000 minutes and .150 win shares per 48 minutes. There have been 40 such seasons. Here are lots of observations, in no particular order.

1. Pre injury Gilbert was the best Wizards of the last 30 years.

2. The only current Wizard on this list is Gortat, who barely made the cutoff.

3. The Grunfeld Wizards of the early-mid 2000's were ahead of their time. I don't think it was intentional, but if you gave a modern NBA coach a roster with Gil, Haywood, Jamison (an exemplary stretch 4), Butler, etc, they could be really good.

4. The franchise has been so bad for long. I have the faintest of memories of Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes -- none of Walt Bellamy.

5. The Chris Webber trade was really, really bad.

6. Hilarious to see Brent Price and Tim Legler on this list; that closer three point in the mid-90's was ridiculous.

7. Such a shame that injuries ruined Gil to the point whee his demons got the best of him too. He was just tremendous. Better than Lillard. Similar to Kyrie -- including the injuries -- but I think better. He wasn't as good as Harden is, but I wonder if that would be the case if he had played in today's league.

Based on this list, you'd have to go with Wes, Elvin, Bellamy and Gil as your Mount Rushmore. Hopefully that changes over the next decade or so.

[pineappleheadindc]

Great topic, great idea to free it from the previous Gil thread, and great picks for the Wiz Mt. Rushmore.

I like Phil so much as a commentator -- yeah, this board is often more insightful, but Phil's such a calming TV presence. Wish he could someone get some space on the mountain as well.