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Wizards Win the Lottery

By: Brett Blevins

Nets new owner Mikhail Prokhorov is still confident that his team will land a quality basketball player to help him win a championship within 5 years.

"We're going to get a great player for our team," said Prokhorov on ESPN,, "I'm sure we will have a great drafted player."

The Nets will choose 3rd behind Washington at #1 and Philadelphia at #2. The consensus is John Wall will go first overall followed by Evan Turner from Ohio State.

So, as it stands right now Washington is holding the rights to John Wall. This is unless Prokhorov, a self-admitted playboy, decides to up the ante and make a bid for Wall. Early rumors have New Jersey trading Devin Harris and the 3rd pick for the 1st pick so they can land Wall. In turn, Washington would get a PG in Harris and have a choice between Demarcus Cousins from UK, Wesley Johnson from Syracuse, or Derrick Favors from Georgia Tech.

Landing Wall would immediately bring the nation's hottest player to the world's biggest stage in New York and New Jersey. That is definitely a thought the Russian owner Prokhorov is enamored with. Can he land Wall, and then make a huge play for Lebron?

Imagine Wall pushing the ball at breakneck speeds with Lebron filling the wing...it has championship written all over it. It is definitely a duo the fans would love to see...now can Prokhorov make it happen?

Jay Bilas touched on the subject a little bit before the lottery:

"If you have the No. 1 pick and the ability to get [Wall], it's really helpful because he's a guy that can really get up and down the floor. I think he would be somebody that a guy like LeBron would like to run with."

One thing either Washington or New Jersey will get with Wall outside of his electric playmaking abilities, will be a hard-working and driven young man.

After the lottery Wall told ESPN, "I'm just going to come in and work hard, try to make the team better all day. I'm just gonna try to win games for the organization next year."

And no doubt he will.

POSTED: 5-19-2010

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