Many speculate just how well Washington Wizards rookie John Wall’s flashy, light speed type game will translate at the NBA level. Well, all throughout NBA Summer League and Pre-season action, this year’s #1 overall pick has not disappointed by regularly getting the best of his opponents. In fact, one could argue that he is living up to every bit of the hype by averaging 15.6 ppg and a league best 8.4 assists this pre-season.
Now before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s only pre-season, as the true test will be how he competes and matches up against some of the game’s top point guards on a nightly basis once the regular season roles around. It will no doubt be fun to watch seeing how Wall fares against the equally speedy Rajon Rondo with Boston or the more physical types, like Deron Williams of Utah and Tyreke Evans in Sacramento.
Surely Wall hopes to follow in the footsteps of last year’s top rookies Evans, Brandon Jennings, and Stephen Curry, and could even possibly garner some All-Star consideration if he performs as advertised. No doubt it would be fun to see Magic Johnson once again doing that silly John Wall Dance sometime during All Star Weekend.
Last week, Wall got a true test in gauging where he stands in his early development, when he went up against last year’s NBA ROY runner-up when his Wizards took on Brandon Jennings’ Milwaukee Bucks squad. While Jenning’s injury depleted Bucks defeated the Wiz 96-88, Wall performed very well by putting up 15 points, 11 assists, and 2 steals compared to Jennings’ 12 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals. But when it came to the one-on-one match-up between two of the league’s rising superstars, undoubtedly Wall outplayed “Young Money.”
Watch as Wall fills the lanes and “chins the rim”:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
