As some of you may know, the Caps aren't the only professional sports team that calls the Verizon Center home. I've recently been made aware of something called the NBA, which is a professional basketball League, one of whose member organizations - the Washington Wizards - plays its home games at the V.C. (I've seen some banners hanging from the rafters referencing a "Washington Bullets," but haven't seen anything related to these "Wizards." I also have seen banners denoting a "Washington Mystics" as "WNBA Attendance Champions," but figured that has to be a joke.).Anyway, apparently these Wiz (as they are familiarly known) have a superstar of their own - Gilbert Arenas - who possesses that rare combination of brilliant skill and radiant personality that puts him in a class of his own. Nearly. For as we all know, the Caps have their own phenom, Alexander Ovechkin. This being a sports blog in which apples-to-oranges comparisons are par for the course, then, the logical next question is, "Who's better - Agent Zero or Alexander the Gr8?" This being a Caps blog, then, you might think you already know the answer. You might be wrong.
The Numbers
- Arenas is currently second in the NBA in scoring (points per game), while Ovechkin is tied for the NHL lead in goals. Advantage: Push
- Arenas leads all NBA guards in shooting percentage and leads the League in shots taken. Ovechkin leads the NHL in shots on goal, but is 133rd in shooting percentage. FYI, if Ovechkin had the same number of shots on goal but the best shooting percentage in the NHL, he'd have 58 goals already and would likely be annointed the greatest player of all-time. Still, advantage: Arenas
- Arenas is 12th in the NBA in assists. Ovechkin is 14th in the NHL in assists. Advantage: push
- Arenas is fifth in the NBA in steals and seventh in the League in turnovers per game (i.e. most turnovers per game). Ovechkin is seventh in the NHL in takeaways and seventh in the League in giveaways (i.e. most giveaways). Advantage: push
- Arenas is tied for 169th in the NBA in blocked shots. Ovechkin is tied for 234th in the NHL in blocked shots. Advantage: push
- Arenas is tied for last in the NBA in hits with none (Carmelo Anthony leads with one). Ovechkin is 33rd in the NHL in hits. Advantage: hockey
- Arenas is 11th in the NBA in personal fouls per game. Ovechkin is 122nd in the NHL in penalty minutes. Advantage: Ovechkin
- Arenas's Wizards are in sixth place in the NBA's Eastern Conference and 12th overall in the League. Ovechkin's Caps are in 11th place in the NHL's Eastern Conference and 20th overall in the League. Advantage: Arenas
- Arenas has led the Wizards to the playoffs twice. Ovechkin has yet to lead the Caps to the playoffs. Advantage: incomplete
- Arenas was the NBA's Most Improved Player in his second year in the League. Ovechkin won the NHL's Calder Trophy as the League's Rookie of the Year for the 2005-06 season. Advantage: Ovechkin
- Arenas is 25-years-old and in his sixth year in the NBA. Ovechkin is 21-years-old and in his second year in the NHL. Advantage: Ovechkin
- Arenas had the 20th best-selling jersey in the NBA in 2005-06. Ovechkin had the 5th best-selling jersey in the NHL in 2005-06. Advantage: Ovechkin
- Ovechkin appears on the cover of the EA's NHL 2007 video game. Arenas plays the hell out of Halo. Advantage: Ovechkin
- In May of 2006, Arenas was arrested for disobeying police. Ovechkin's record is clean. Advantage: push (c'mon - an NBA player with that as the only thing on his rap sheet is as squeaky clean as they come)
- Arenas's birthday party had its own website and guests included Diddy and (possibly) other entertainment heavy weights. Ovechkin's birthday party was hosted by DC101 and guests included D.C.'s Republican mayoral candidate. Advantage: push (had Diddy been a no-show, Arenas would have won this one easily)
- Arenas is really bizarre. Ovechkin is really Russian. Advantage: push
Clearly, the nation's capital has two of the brightest stars in their respective sports in terms of both ability and personality (three, if you throw 'Skins runningback Clinton Portis in the mix). But who's better? At present, Arenas might seem to have the slight edge, but he also has more experience and a more veteran (and relatively-expensive) team around him. However, if you polled NBA and NHL GMs and asked them to pick one player with whom to start a franchise in their respective sport, my bet is that AO would garner more votes than Gil, based on the two players' respective ages and the depth at the positions they play (surely Dwayne Wade and LeBron James would receive more votes than Arenas, and Sidney Crosby would likely receive more votes than AO).
At the end of the day, this leaves us with advantage... Ovechkin. Of course with these two, you can't go wrong with the apple or the orange.
6 comments:
Having grown up in DC, I can't tell you how happy I am to have multiple superstars on local teams. I can't recall the last time when the area had one player in the top-10 list of those up for discussion as to who to take when starting a team, let alone two!
bwahaha! great article! thanks for the pleasant read. if the nats' or skins' ever do anything i guess you can throw in a comparison for one of their players (i would have said DC United too but they have been trading everyone away, Adu/Eskandarian, etc)
If at some point waaaaay down the line, Gil and Alex find themselves in their respective Halls of Fame, I believe this would be the first time future HoFers were playing for the Wiz/Boulez and Caps at the same time since 1987-88 and 1988-89 (when Moses Malone, Rod Langway and Mike Gartner were all playing).
The only other time that happened was in 1980-81 and 1981-82 when Gartner was a kid and Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes were still playing for the Bullets.
I think the last athlete to be this big in D.C. was Doug Williams in 1987. If Arenas keeps it up for several years, he'll be up there will Riggins and Jurgenson. I am very curious to see how big Ovechkin will get.
Portis was on his way to being a juggernaut, but he got hurt this year and it turns out Ladell Betts can run too.
1) Ovechkin will get 'Big' if, like the others you alluded to, helps win a championship for the city/area.
"Arenas is tied for last in the NBA in hits with none (Carmelo Anthony leads with one). Ovechkin is 33rd in the NHL in hits. Advantage: hockey"
That's tremendous. Hockey >> NBA
(for all you non-nerds out there, >> means "much greater than")
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