DefeatingTheCurse

johnwall In a week where we, D.C. sports fans, have been impatiently waiting to hear who the Redskins hire as their offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, I have been severely distracted. Distracted by the one, John Wall, point guard for your Washington Wizards.

The wizards have had an incredible week! Starting with the pure domination of a show against the Portland Trailblazers, followed by wins at home against the Memphis Grizzlies and in the legendary MSG. John Wall’s numbers haven’t been Russell Westbrook good but I would make the biased case that John Wall is a better pure point guard. Per basketball-reference.com John scored 24, with 7 assists against Portland, 25 and 13 against Memphis and 29 and 13 in MSG. Wall also racked up 2 steals in each the Portland and Memphis game and had 3 in the Knicks game.

At this point I am not going to try to convince you that John Wall is a better point guard than Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry, James Harden, or Kyrie Irving because to me that is pointless, there are many great NBA players. My point is John Wall is the best pure point guard to me. What makes him the best? The energy he plays with, his ability to make his team competitive in every game, and finally his ability to MAKE PLAYERS BETTER! Sure Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, Kelly Oubre, and Marcin Gortat are very good players but at times John Wall makes his teammates elevate their game to ultimately help the Wizards win. To me that’s what matters. Take a look around the league there are plenty of great players who don’t make their team better, point proven in today’s game against the Knicks. What has Melo done to make his TEAM better? Sure he racks up the numbers but what does that matter if they can’t win the game?

The NBA All-Star game, sure it’s a more credible “all-star” game than the NFL pro-bowl but is it really a showcase of the most valuable players or the best players in a ranked order? Or is it just a popularity contest? In a comparison between the guy who beat John Wall to become Eastern Conference All Star starter, Kyrie Irving, did Kyrie make the Cavs better before Lebron James and his superstar crew joined the Cavs?

My point is that John Wall, the Wallstar, has elevated his game to greatness the past few weeks. Oh and despite his wrist sprain and having two fingers wrapped. For a team that was struggling early and started off just 2-8 John Wall has made an impact, brought this team together, elevated the play of his teammates and his own and brought this team back to 23-19, a top eastern conference team in the past month, and should earn his right to a fourth all-star appearance.

Oh and by the way, who cares if he is a Cowgirls fan??? Do you think Oakland is mad that Kevin Durant is a Redskins fan? Oh wait Oakland won’t have a NFL team for much longer.

Dear Scot McCloughan,

Its been two weeks since the Redskins lost what should have been an automatic win. Kirk Cousins received most of the blame for that loss. Yes the defense was trash, as they usually are, and the offense wasn’t really helping Kirk. However, he threw the INT that cost us the game. He could have brought it down and ran to gain a few yards. He didn’t. Kirk Cousins did what he’s done all year…drop back, make his read and throw the ball…

I’ve been a Redskins fan my whole life. I had a night light that would play “Hail to the Redskins” and help me fall asleep. I’ve followed this team and cared about them for as long as I could remember. Once I was old enough and truly learned and understood the dynamics of the game, I followed the Redskins even closer. The decent year, the horrible years, that one Zorn year, and then back to the decent years….never able to enjoy a team that was regularly competitive. We either barely scraped by a win, or we got blown out. I’m a loyal fan. Convincing myself and everyone around me that we are just a few key pieces away from being playoff contenders. Are we an elite franchise? Not even close. But we are close to being a team that is not embarrassing. A Cincinnati Bengals or an Arizona Cardinals…just at the cusp of success.

For so long we’ve been looking for a QB. A guy that can come into the huddle, command respect, bark out the right play and not screw it up. More than a game manager. Now, if we had a stellar, shut down, “we dare you to pass”, earn every yard defense, then a game manager would do. We don’t have that. We have a defense that has a lot of holes. Missed tackles, injured players, confusing schemes and apparently a secondary that doesn’t like each other. So we focused on the Offense. We brought in wide receivers, maybe giving us one of the best set of receivers in the NFL. We have always been strong with our tight ends. Even strong with Jordan Reed. Our run game is slacking, our o-line is almost there….but nothing works without Kirk.

So Scot, how do we hold on to whats been built so far? Continuity. Yes, Joe Berry is gone. Yes, Sean McVay will be leaving us. However the most important piece is just waiting for us to commit to him. I don’t have to compare his numbers. The stats are out there. He’s proven himself over and over again. If the INTs and fixable mistakes are whats holding you back, take a look at the AFC playoffs right now. Backup QBs costing teams their chance at playoff victory. Offense schemes no longer working, resulting in a defense constantly on the field getting ripped apart. Its not rocket science.

Committing to Kirk is the right move. Not by tagging him, but by showing him he is our guy and keeping him here long term. Build up the offense with a stronger run game, developing Doctson and keep that offense at a high pace. I have no doubt you can rebuild our defense. Yes we have holes, but many of them can be fixed via draft. Kirk has the skill set and dedication. More importantly, he has the work ethic and the ability to become one of the best QBs. I heard it takes about 2 full seasons before the game slows down and you can start to really improve. This will be Kirks third year as THE guy. Watch and see what he can do…I bet you wont be disappointed.

-Paul Farag

@faragp

Author: DefeatingTheCurse

John Wallstar – A True All Star

Dear GM,