• April 16, 2024

You Could Bet The House On John Wall, He’s The Real Deal

Man oh man did Washington Wizards guard John Wall look impressive in his first action of the 2010 NBA Summer league campaign in Las Vegas. Like most rookies, Wall appeared nervous at first but the nerves quickly vanished.
It was almost as if Wall said to himself “yo this game isn’t any different from the game I’ve played my whole life.”
After a few times down the floor, Wall looked like the same guy we all grew to love at Kentucky. He took over the game and never gave any reason to doubt who the No. 1 pick in the most recent NBA draft was.

One of the best moments of the game happened during the 1st quarter. Wall shot a foul line jumper and it bounced off the back board hard. I’m talking about super hard. The kind of shot that had me instantly question whether Wall can shoot or not.

After a brief stoppage of play, the camera zoomed in on Wall as he was being mentored by former NBA guard Sam Cassell. Although I wasn’t in the huddle, I can pretty much determine what Cassell told Wall. He most likely told Wall to calm down and relax out there on the court and just ‚Äúplay ball‚Äù.

Well whatever he said to Wall, it definitely worked.   The number one pick naturally looked more aggressive and in the flow of the game.  Prior to this point, he seemed to be trying to do too much.

The former Kentucky star finished the contest with 24 points, including 10 of 11 from the charity stripe. He also added 8 assists, a few coming courtesy of Wizards center JaVale McGhee. McGhee and Wall combined for 45 points (McGhee had 21 points and 13 rebounds).¬†¬† They hooked up for a few nice finishes including a sweet alley-oop slam in the early stages of Washington’s 84-79 win over the Golden State Warriors.

We all know that everything we see from young players during the NBA Summer League games will not completely transfer over to the regular season. Some players look great during these games and others don’t.¬†¬† A few should be on the court and a number of others should probably be following in my footsteps as a reporter rather than the footsteps of LeBron James and company. John Wall is not apart of the latter group. The kid is special and the real deal.

I’m not jumping the gun nor giving the kid too much credit just yet, but I believe that over the next few years John Wall will emerge as one of the elite guards in the NBA. You can bet the house on this kid, trust me. I guarantee you will be hard pressed to find ONE person that says Washington made the wrong choice with the No. 1 pick in 2010 NBA draft.

John Jervay

Read Previous

Three Prospects Likely to Make Jump to Phantoms This Season

Read Next

Next Week, The Week Before Training Camp Will Tell The Story On Vick

0 0 votes
Article Rating
20 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
phillywill
phillywill
July 13, 2010 5:14 am

hahaha i said this awhile ago
i like stats too but if wall played for ohio state he’d avg 25 and like 8
his team sent 5 1st rounders and if u saw last nights game bledsoe is a ver good pg as well
wall is great kid had 19 and 10 assist when i fell asleep last night he’s a pure pg
u know my wish list everyday for the sixers was wall i posted that several times guess we have stud jrue lmao

phillywill
phillywill
July 13, 2010 5:20 am

hahaha wall’s kentucky team better than any summer league team including his own

schiller
schiller
July 13, 2010 11:58 am

p will – I’d pay to see you sit down with Steve Nash, Magic Johnson, Jason Kidd, John Stockton, Andre Miller, Chris Paul (etc. you get my point, I’m not claiming to have made the definitive all-time PG list), and talk about the position. They’d all be cracking up on the floor, it would be priceless.

phillywill
phillywill
July 13, 2010 12:12 pm

i get ur drift schill but dre shouldnt mentioned with those guys lol

all time pg’s
#1 isiah thomas (i dont argue magic my opinion is based on the fact that isiah had much less to work with and still was great)
# 2Magic Johnson
#3 the big o oscar robertson ( stats wise he’s the best ever)
#4 guess i gotta go john stockton here
#5 tiny archibald
#6 j kidd gary payton walt frazier stev nash pistol pete maravich whatever order u like

phillywill
phillywill
July 13, 2010 12:15 pm

harder top 10 would be centers all man how do u rank them
im a philly guy so u know who’s num 1

greenfan
greenfan
July 13, 2010 12:22 pm

my try at ur centers:

1. Wilt
2. Russell
3. Kareem
4. Akeem
5. Moses
6. Dolph Shays (goin old old school)
7. Parrish
8. Shaq
9. Ewing
10. Walton (injuries and length of career)

phillywill
phillywill
July 13, 2010 12:30 pm

cant argue to much with centers good ol 444 at #5 lol
me personally id have shaq a lil higher because he is most dominant player ever besides maybe wilt but cant really argue they r all great
good ol chief lol

greenfan
greenfan
July 13, 2010 12:38 pm

couldn’t find a place for manute bol or shawn bradley

phillywill
phillywill
July 13, 2010 12:46 pm

how bout mike gminski

greenfan
greenfan
July 13, 2010 12:48 pm

i hate duke, i would not list the gman

Paul Mancini
Paul Mancini
July 13, 2010 4:12 pm

How about Wes Unseld & Bob Lanier…
Talk about a Center who did more without a great Supporting Cast surrounding him..
then you have the ultimate team leader in Willis Reed,…
I would place the 3 of these players in that #6-#7-#8 trange on down and remove Ewing,Walton all together for the list..
P Ewing had to have one of the most disappointing careers of anyone… Losing to Villanova in the NCAA and losing every year in the Playoffs for the Knicks when theyt had talent…

greenfan
greenfan
July 14, 2010 6:28 am

P-man…I grew up a HUGE Wes Unseld fan, the great rebounding and two-handed over the head outlet pass to Dave Bing….but those teams were really run by the big E, Elvin Hayes. I guess you could aurgue the same thing about Robert Parish playing second fiddle to Bird and McHale. But Parish played for sooo many years that I figured longevity should count for something. I always thought that Unseld was undersized at center, but glad that you would bring him up.

phillywill
phillywill
July 14, 2010 6:56 am

yea i dont know if he makes top 10 tho (wes unseld) and u could say the same for john stockton karl malone that ur saying about pat ewing. they played jordan era he denied alot of greats championships barkley too and while he’s not the best center he has to be top 10 in my opinion

Paul Mancini
Paul Mancini
July 14, 2010 7:10 am

I also forgot Marc Ivaroni….
(at least for the All-Italian Top 10 list for NBA Centers..)

Paul Mancini
Paul Mancini
July 14, 2010 7:29 am

Bob Lanier, Tree Rollins,Artis Gilmore,Dan Roundfield (love that name),
and of cousre the Sweedish meatball himself Swen Nater….

phillywill
phillywill
July 14, 2010 7:47 am

ivaroni lol pf
mo in the middle

phillywill
phillywill
July 14, 2010 7:50 am

tree rollins lol awe man bringing back memories
no mention of matt geiger
for a half a season theo ratliff was great haha

phillywill
phillywill
July 14, 2010 7:51 am

cant forget the bulls trilogy after cartwright they went with luc longley bill wennington wil perdue all man

Paul Mancini
Paul Mancini
July 14, 2010 9:37 am

I heard that this is where the title of the movie “White Men Can’t Jump” originated from….
and Weddington was from Canada too… He should have stayed with Ice Hockey and probably could have been a decent Goalie at that size…. ha ha

Paul Mancini
Paul Mancini
July 14, 2010 11:28 am

One last point PW,
Even Paulman could probably score 20 pts with Sam Cassell guarding me…(picture above)..