[Jr. ROXASParticipant]

So first of all, this will be a fairly long post (just trying to generate discusiion at this dead time), so bear with me haha.

 Okay so I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, mostly because there is just no NBA content at this time lol especially at this site. So my question for DC fans, or for any NBA fan in general is: Who would you rather have be your franchise player, Gilbert Arenas or John Wall? For this scenario, we will assume this is prime Arenas, before injuries and the gun incident.

My choice and argument would be Arenas. There is a little bias here because he was my absolute favorite player growing up. But for me, there are a lot of factors including off-the-court ones that make Arenas a perfect franchise player compared to Wall.

Comparing their on-court abilities, there is no doubt that Arenas has the clear advantage in scoring while Wall has the clear advantage in passing. Defense goes to Wall slightly, although Arenas was no slouch at D either. He had a strong body to keep up with bigger players and had excellent off-the-ball instincts. I remember the days where Hughes and him formed their terrifying ball-hawk tandem for one season. Both Arenas and Wall had a tendency to slack at times on D though.

I’d say also that Arenas’ scoring is far ahead of Wall’s that he is the more exciting player to watch. Wall does incredible passes and dunks, but for a 48-minute game, too often Wall grows very frustrating to watch, passing up open shots and clanking up bricks with his poor form. For a volume-scorer, Arenas was pretty efficient and consistent, and he kept you on your toes. If 29 points at 45% FG at that time was incredible, imagine what he could do now with guard play emphasized, a way faster pace and out of Eddie Jordan’s system.

Lastly, Arenas was a way more marketable player than Wall, for some reason. The 0 to hero thing really resonated with fans especially casual ones. He was consistently 1st, 2nd or 3rd in jersey sales at his peak. His signature shoes were big hits compared to Wall’s (lol). Just the whole narrative with Arenas made him such an interesting player to root for. And he really revived that Wizards fanbase. Wall meanwhile, although he has brought them consistently to the playoffs, just can’t seem to get the fanbase behind him. There were empty seats in their playoff games, crazy. 

The argument against Arenas I guess would be obviously that he couldn’t get to the 2nd round. Lebron was just too much for them. But boy, even despite that, he was such a marketable and exciting player.

 

 

 

[cohenbc1Participant]

 I just went to look at Arenas’ stats, and the only thing I can focus on is this: Gilbert Arenas is 36 years old!

I think of him as a dinosaur from another era, but he is FIVE YEARS YOUNGER than Manu, who took over a playoff game against the Warriors four months ago; and only three years older than CP3, who can still be the best point guard in the league on any given night.

Weird.

For what it’s worth I think of them both as really good, not great, players. There was never a moment when either of them was a top-three point guard in the NBA. If I had to pick one I’d take Wall — his run in the 2017 playoffs, leading his team to a game from the conference finals, was a level Arenas never reached.

 

 

 

[ChewyParticipant]

 is only 41. Same as Manu.

 

 

[Scrooge McDuckParticipant]

 I’d go with arenas. Dude was the bees knees. Wall is immature more so than arenas, which is hard to believe 

[Andv1 WaitingParticipant]

 There is two answers to this:

If we assume both stay 100% healthy for full career: Arenas as he had their fans buzzing about the wizards, He has a more reliable offensive game and doesn’t seem like a 100% as much of a douche as Wall can at times who comes across as entitled-Big shoe deal as a rookie,number 1 pick thinking he should be an allstar/us team member when he wasn’t there, throws team mates under the bus and doesn’t appreciate what he full has/had.He also hasn’t progressed much with his jumper as he could have.

However if we are baseing things off what we know their careers will be prime and full careers up to this point: Wall will probably have a longer overall more playing at a productive level/allstar level at least than arenas.

But don’t get me wrong playing for Brooks and John not really having a fully reliable jumper isn’t fun to watch but as far as running a team Wall would get more out of the whole team vs Areanas who would go full habachi mode and drop a 50 piece on someone and lead your team back into a game but maybe not get everyone else going.

  

 

 

 

[TarHeelRavenParticipant]

 They are two completely different players in my opinion.  In his prime, nobody could score better than Arenas.  He had the complete offensive game.  He was quick, athletic, could rain from deep, cross you over and take it to the rack.  He could do it all offensively and nobody could check him if he was on.  Wall is a traditional PG that can get you 10 assists every single night.  He’s not a great shooter, but he’s more of a defender than Arenas ever was.  Both guys were intense competitors.  I’d take Wall over Arenas because he makes his teammates better.  Arenas is his prime was so much fun to watch.  It’s too bad he had all of his injuries and of course the infamous gun incident in the locker room.  

[CoachWyersParticipant]

 I would go with John Wall.

[high floorParticipant]

Style of play, I would go Arenas. He was so explosive & could get to the rim as fast as any guard i’ve seen in his prime.

Side note, Agent Zero seems like one of those guys who played in the wrong era. Guards that can be a primary ball handler & pull-up / create, but also shoot and move off the ball while…. all while guarding multiple postitions…… are extremely valuable in today’s game. Yes he slacked on D & just played the passing lanes at times….. but when engaged he was a fantastic perimeter defender for lengthy stretches.

As good as his career was, I atctually think he could have been better if his prime were today rather than a decade ago.

  

  

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

To be honest, prime arenas reminded me quite a bit of Damien lillard. He was lethal out the pick and roll, off the pull up, had outstanding strength and athleticism attacking the basket, and deep range out to about 30 feet. I’m not sure he would have necessarily been better in this era, because those Washington teams actually played pretty similar to the way a lot of teams play now with an emphasis on keeping the floor spread. The one thing I will say though is that he was a volume scorer, and in this day and age would probably need to adjust his game somewhat to be more efficient.

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

The one thing you have to remember with arenas is that his peak didn’t last very long. He had 3 seasons (2004-2007) where he was arguably one of the top players in the league. Than he got injured and seemingly lost his mind and was never close to the same player again. Wall has already played at an all-star level longer than arenas did and likely still has quite a few seasons left at that level.

Than you have to think about the type of personality you are building around. Arenas was marketed as quirky and eccentric when he was in his prime but that quickly changed to crazy when he wasn’t. I just think it would be very difficult to really build something lasting around a guy who proved himself to be so unstable. I know wall can be aloof and has had issues with teammates, but overall I just feel he doesn’t bring the chaos that arenas did. 

As great as arenas was in his prime, I’m taking wall in and I wouldn’t have to think particularly hard about it.

 

 

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

John Wall is a better leader. That’s for damn sure lol. 

Gilbert Arenas was a great scorer. No doubt about that. He could score at all three levels too. Unlike a lot of today’s players, he didn’t waste time playing with the damn ball. He’d blow by you in 2-3 steps. He didn’t waste dribbles. However, he didn’t really make guys better in my opinion. 

With Wall, you know you’re getting a player who makes guys better and will play both ends of the floor consistently. 

They’re not really the same position in my opinion. Arenas more of a combo. Wall is a legit point guard. They’d be great playing together lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[treytalkssports.comParticipant]

 Arenas had explosive games, but he was probably not as explosive of a scorer as we remember. Arenas played way more minutes per game than anyone does today, which is probably one of the reasons his career was cut short. Those minutes inflated his scoring stats. 

Lou Williams, Victor Oladipo, Kemba Wakler, and Demar Derozan last year all had similar per 48 numbers scoring numbers to Arenas’ best offensive season, but they did so on greater efficiency than Arenas. 

Arenas’ story resonated with NBA fans. He was a legit all-star, but I don’t think he was as good as we remember. 

Even though Wall has dissappointed some, his best statistical season was 2016-2017. Per 48, he only average 3 less points than Arenas, while averaging like 6 more assists per 48 minutes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kobyzParticipant]

 I always say gilbert arenasin today game and in Golden State system would have been a lot like curry…

[The GoatParticipant]

 Wall is a better overall player and a pure point while Arenas was a great offensive player and scorer. I have to give Arenas a nod and acknowledge that although he was a bit of a head case, he did more than anyone expected as a second rounder while Wall has not.. not that Wall has been bad, but I think Walls career to date is the minimum anyone could’ve expected. Any Wiz fan surely would’ve liked to see him do more.

Being from Australia I’ve only seen a few NBA games live, but I got to see Arenas play. It was against Iverson and CWebb in Philly in February ’06, must’ve been this one..

http://www.espn.com.au/nba/recap?gameId=260303020

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