I don’t know why everyone’s hating on John Wall today like he’s some underachieving redheaded step hild. The lightning-quick No. 1 draft pick had 14 points and nine dimes in his debut against Orlando last night, and, despite shooting 6-19 from the field and his team losing by 29, Wall looked damn good for a rookie point guard playing in his first NBA game against one of the best teams in the league.
Throughout last night’s game it was more than apparent that John Wall isn’t just fast; he moves differently. John Wall is an X-Men type athlete whose power is speed; it’s obvious, even amongst a backdrop of hyper-athletes. If you haven’t seen him play yet, the closest analogy I can come up with is footage of a panther being viewed in fast-forward while somehow maintaining its coordinated languidness. And at a long 6’4", most of what I’ve seen from Wall has been against point guards shorter than him, like Jameer Nelson last night, who at 5’10" not only specializes but depends of being the quickest player on the court. With the only advantage of a stunted height in the NBA being ability to hound larger and slower opposing point guards on the dribble, Nelson should have been able to make John Wall’s debut a disaster.
It’s worth noting here that the point guard position is the hardest, most pressurized position to fill as a rookie, because you don’t get the luxury of other people creating plays for you, that’s your job. You also constantly have the ball, dramatically raising the room for error. Yet if you watched last night’s game you’ll have noticed that Nelson was forced time and time again to give Wall a 4-foot buffer on defence in the backcourt, and Wall was still able to burn and crossed Jameer up at will. The fact Dwight Howard, the biggest, most athletic center in the league, was waiting to block Wall on defence irrelevantly dampened his game. It takes time to get used to finishing on people like that. Wall will get it, rest assured.
It’s worth noting here that the point guard position is the hardest, most pressurized position to fill as a rookie, because you don’t get the luxury of other people creating plays for you, that’s your job. You also constantly have the ball, dramatically raising the room for error. Yet if you watched last night’s game you’ll have noticed that Nelson was forced time and time again to give Wall a 4-foot buffer on defence in the backcourt, and Wall was still able to burn and crossed Jameer up at will. The fact Dwight Howard, the biggest, most athletic center in the league, was waiting to block Wall on defence irrelevantly dampened his game. It takes time to get used to finishing on people like that. Wall will get it, rest assured.
After the loss, Washington Coach Mike Fratello summed it up best "Who else would you want to have taking the shots at this point?” … From here, it’ll get easier for Wall. He was going against a very good defensive team and a veteran PG in Nelson who just isn’t going to let a rookie make him look bad on Day 1." Well he did.
And, oh yeah, he's only 20 years old.
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