There’s no denying that this year’s NBA Rookie of the Year runner-up John Wall, who delighted fans at the University of Kentucky for one season prior to being selected as the #1 overall Draft pick in 2010, had an outstanding first season in the NBA marked by many league, individual, and franchise records.
Wall became the first Washington player since Rod Strickland to tally 5 games of 14 or more assists in one season, was 1 of 3 rookies to record a triple-double this season, and joined the legendary Magic Johnson as the only two rookies to ever record a triple-double and 6 steals in the same game during the first six games of their rookie season.
He’s also the first Washington rookie to tally 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, and 100 steals in a season, first Washington player since Earl “The Pearl” Monroe to have 32pts, 10 ast, and 5 stls in a game, and the first rookie since the “Big O” Oscar Robertson to have 7+ assists in each of his first 6 games in the Association.
The 20 year old flamboyant point guard finished 2nd among rookies in scoring(16.4ppg), ranked 6th in the entire league in assists(8.3), and bested all rookies in steals(1.8). In fact, some Washington fans even made this nifty John Wall ROY highlight video in hopes of John somehow prying the award away from Blake Griffin.
To make a long story short, in any other rookie year, meaning one that didn’t include someone named Blake Griffin, John Wall would have been the unanimous winner of the prestigious ROY Award. But at least he succeeded in helping to teach us all how to Dougie.
Not to lose sight of his past as many fans of the Kentucky Wildcats will not soon forget, he became part of a legendary draft class that included a total of 5 Cats being selected in the 1st Round along with DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Patrick Patterson, and Daniel Orton. While Patterson and Orton have had their struggles in their rookie campaigns, Wall, Cousins, and Bledsoe each have made their mark with their respective clubs this past season.
Now that their rookie seasons are finished, the NBA has rewarded 3 of the Kentucky stand-out players with their very own, brand new bobblehead commercial:
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.
