Gilbert Arenas and John Wall Can Win an NBA Championship Together

NBA fans go into every season saying that their team is going to be better than last year. Some fans also say that their team has a chance to win the Championship. But deep down inside, most of those fans don't actually believe it to be true. In their heart of hearts, they know that there just isn't enough talent (New York Knicks), there isn't enough defense (Golden State Warriors), there isn't enough chemistry (Denver Nuggets), the coaching isn't strong enough (Mike Brown, formerly of the Cleveland Cavaliers), or the ownership is not committed to winning (Donald Sterling, Los Angeles Clippers).

Since 1980, there have only been eight different NBA champions: the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Miami Heat, and Philadelphia 76ers. Winning takes something very special. It takes special players (Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan, Isiah Thomas, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, etc.), good coaches (Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Larry Brown, Gregg Popovich, etc.), and organizations/owners committed to winning.

The Washington Wizards are on the verge of something very special. If you spend enough time watching NBA basketball, you can tell the difference between average, good, very good, and very special. Very special requires the proper combination of three elements: coaching, talent, and chemistry.

This Wizards have a good coach, Flip Saunders, who has never won a NBA Championship, but has coached the Minnesota Timberwolves to a Western Conference Finals appearance. That in itself is a great feat, considering that outside of Kevin Garnett, that Timberwolves team had no place being there.

This brings us to talent. This is the deepest Wizards team in years. John Wall is a potential All-Star point guard for the next 12 to 15 years. Gilbert Arenas is an incredible scorer, playmaker, and clutch shooter. Kirk Hinrich can play both ends of the floor, and is an excellent leader. Josh Howard is an explosive scorer, and an All-Star talent when healthy. Al Thornton is a young small forward, with a lot of upside. Andray Blatche has a post-up game and mid-range jump shot that is reminding many of a young Kevin Garnett. JaVale McGee has athleticism, size, can finish on the fast break, block shots, rebound, and defend the paint. Yi Jianlian can play three positions, and just came off of a great performance at the World Championships. Nick Young is an shot of energy coming off of the bench. And the bench has other solid contributors, Hilton Armstrong, Kevin Seraphin, Trevor Booker, Adam Morrison, Lester Hudson, and Cartier Martin.

The big question is chemistry. John Wall is going to make everyone on this team better, including Gilbert Arenas. Gilbert Arenas will need to make a small adjustment to his game. No longer can he play like Allen Iverson, with the ball always in his hands. Instead, he needs to look to Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan for guidance. If he can continue the score-when-your-team-needs-it mentality, but also learn how to make everyone else around him get easier shots by drawing the attention of the defense to him, these Wizards can soar. The only question that needs to be asked is this: Is Gilbert Arenas a Champ, or a Chump?

Gilbert Arenas needs to look to David Robinson as his example. Robinson was always considered to be a great center, but never could win the Championship. The San Antonio Spurs drafted Tim Duncan in 1997, not to replace David Robinson, but to compliment his game. With two unstoppable big men, the Spurs went on to win the 1999 NBA Championship. But this wouldn't have happened if Robinson had acted differently. He could have assumed that the Spurs were drafting Duncan to replace him. He could have started acting like a diva, and asked for a trade, or sat around and sulked while Duncan had success.Instead of looking at Duncan as a threat, Robinson saw him as a gift. Robinson brought a championship attitude with him every day he and Duncan played together, and as a direct result, they won a NBA championship.

If Gilbert Arenas is a chump, what would happen? Arenas could act like a diva, play selfishly, and force his way out in the next year. The Wizards would still be a consistent playoff team without him. But what good would leaving be for Arenas? Arenas may end up playing out his career scoring a lot of points, being a bad teammate on a 30-win team. If that is what he ultimately wants, he should try his hardest to make his way out of Washington.

Let's look into the crystal ball, and assume that Arenas has the heart of a Champ. John Wall, Gilbert Arenas, Kirk Hinrich, Andray Blatche, and JaVale McGee could be the centerpieces of some deep playoff runs, and in a couple of years, possibly an NBA championship. In two years, the Wizards could have the best starting lineup in the league. Who is going to keep Blatche and McGee from tearing up the paint, when you have the guard combination of Wall and Arenas burning you from the outside. Who is going to stop Arenas and Wall from lighting it up, if Blatche and McGee are owning the paint? The Wizards could have four players make the All-Star game in just a year or two from now. The Wizards would be NBA championship contenders within the next two to three years. The Wizards and Arenas need Arenas to be David Robinson, not some whiny over-paid pain-in-the donkey.

Gilbert, you and John Wall may have something very special here in Washington. But are you a champ, or a chump?