Big Z Throws Elbows, John Wall Responds, John Wall Gets Ejected

A couple things about this, good for John Wall for swinging at a big guy and standing his ground. This isn't a big story but I do like it when people try to punch Heat players. The thing I don't understand is why Z wouldn't be kicked out as well? I guess you can't gauge intent, but it's pretty obvious he was head hunting with the bows. Also, It's to bad that Wall missed with his fist and connected with his elbow, nothing would have made me happier then to see Big Z fall to the ground.

I'm sure this is somehow LeBron's fault.

TOP 25 UNDER 25 - #14 John Wall

JOHN WALL - Point Guard, Washington Wizards

Our next entry brings another #1 overall pick in the D.C. area - John Wall of the Washington Wizards. Drafted after just one year at Kentucky, Wall has the misfortune of playing his rookie season in the same year as Blake Griffin (at least as far as the Rookie of the Year voting is concerned).

Having grown up in Raleigh, North Carolina Wall spurned his home state schools, UNC, Duke and the like and decided to take his talents to Rupp Arena to play with Coach Cal. No amount of money in the world could convince me that there weren't some ulterior motives there, but nonetheless Wall was a Wildcat and not a Tar Heel - for one year anyway.

His college career was brief, but not short of excitement and stellar play. In his very first college game Wall put himself on the map in a big way by nailing the game winning jumper with half a second left to beat Miami University. And on his biggest stage yet, against UConn at the garden, Wall put up a career high 25 to help Kentucky win. He was also able to lead his team to a victory over UNC despite battling cramps, putting up 16 with 7 assists and 5 boards. For all the great players that have gone through Kentucky, it is Wall that owns the school record for 16 assists in a game. Despite all the great play, Kentucky, a #1 seed in the 2009-10 tournament was upset by #2 West Virginia in the Elite 8.

As expected, Wall took his electrifying game to the NBA after just one season in college, following in the footsteps of Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans as the triumvirate of great Coach Cal one-and-done point guards. It didn't take Wall long to start making an impact for the befuddled Wizards. He is the first player in NBA history to record at least 9 assists in hist first three NBA games. In his debut he had 14 points 9 dimes and 3 steals. With lightning quick speed and off-the-charts athleticism being his two biggest assets, Wall is often over-looked for his defense and play making abilities. Just a few games into his NBA career he had already become the 3rd youngest player ever to record a triple-double putting up 19, 13 and 10 to go with 6 steals. He joined only Magic Johnson in recording a triple-double with 6 steals in his first 6 games of his career. The fact that he puts up any assists on that pathetic excuse of a basketball team is remarkable.

As a rookie, Wall is averaging over 9 assists per game which currently puts him at 5th in the league, behind greats like Rondo, Nash, Williams and Paul. He does need to improve his shooting touch, although his 40% is respectable. Like most rookie point guards, he struggles with turnovers on occasion - but that should improve with experience.

By most accounts Wall is a likable guy and a good teammate (he never publicly voiced concerns about playing with Gilbert Arenas) and so far has been very marketable. Reebok made him the face of their new ad campaign for Zigtech.

The future looks very bright for John Wall - even brighter if the Wizards keep losing and get a couple more lottery picks. At just 20 years of age, Wall is one of the babies on this list and Wizards fans will hope to see him climbing up this list in the coming years, and as long as he can refrain from bringing handguns to the locker room in D.C. I think he very well may.

If all of this wasn't enough to convince you, the man has created a god damn dance craze! I don't know how in the world this silliness ever caught on, but if you haven't seen it here it is.

Doing The John Wall = Missing Open Jumpers?

So I flipped on the Wizards vs. Magic game last night to see prized rookie John Wall take on one of the better teams in the East. So what did I learn?

The Wizards are one of the softest teams I have ever seen. Blatche was awful, and I don't know if I have ever seen anyone who has as much natural talent, but no idea how to use it. Hinrich couldn't cover DP, honestly every guy just blew by him.

But at least there is John Wall right? Well, not last night at least. Sure his stat line looks fine (14 points 9 asts), but he shot 6-19. All his shots were forced, he didn't accelerate the offense, he couldn't hit open jumpers, and in general looked reckless. Still, it is the first game and he is playing against a really good team, but anyone who thinks this guy is going to take over the NBA may need to wait a year or two. A lot of the "problems" Rondo has are the same Wall seems to have. He can't hit the outside shot, and unlike Rondo he doesn't have the talent around him to take the pressure off.

I don't believe in the NBA's +/- rating, but you know you didn't play well when you are -31 for the game, which is what Wall was last night. Not a lot is expected from the Wizards, but they should be ashamed of this 112-83 loss, because the blowout could've been over 45 points if the Magic kept their starters in.

At the end of the day John Wall will have much better games, because the Magic are good at clogging up the lane with guys like Howard and Co, but it is also obvious that he has a lot to work on and he is going to have to do a lot of it on his own, because even when Arenas comes back this team is just way too soft.

Wizards Win John Wall Sweepstakes

The Wizards won the draft lottery Tuesday night, moving up from the No. 5 spot to earn the top pick in next month's draft, when it will likely choose between Kentucky freshman John Wall and national player of the year Evan Turner of Ohio State.

I love John Wall but I hate him on the Wizards. I really was actually wanting the Nets to win to get Wall and maybe LeBron. But the Wizards now have an interesting team going into the future with a big 3 of Wall, Gilbert Arenas, and Josh Howard. They also have some cap space to sign some decent free agents.

The rest of the lottery goes:

1. Washington	8. LA Clippers
2. Philadelphia	9. Utah*
3. New Jersey	10. Indiana
4. Minnesota	11. New Orleans
5. Sacramento	12. Memphis
6. Golden State	13. Toronto
7. Detroit	14. Houston
* -- From New York via Phoenix

It will be interesting to see how it plays out, because other than Wall and maybe Evan Turner this draft lacks star power but certainly has a ton of talent in it.

The NCAA Basketball Rules Are Kind Of A Joke

I have to quote this:
After filling his stat line again on Saturday (16 points, seven assists, three steals), Kentucky freshman John Wall said he had "no choice" but to enter this year's NBA Draft.

That echoed UK Coach John Calipari insisting to radio host Dan Patrick earlier in the week that Wall would turn pro after this season.

"I joke about coming back, and like you say, he tells me, no," Wall said after UK's 101-70 victory over Arkansas on Saturday.

When a reporter noted that players must obey their coach, Wall smiled and said, "Yeah. I really have no choice."

Calipari told Patrick he'd wrestle with Wall rather than let the freshman return for a second UK season."

"Coach might," a smiling Wall said. "He might pull my eye out. You never know."
Kentucky.com

Both John Calipari and John Wall know the whole system is a joke. I think it's really stupid too. If I was a kid who was as good as John Wall, I would have done the Brandon Jennings technique and at least gone over seas to make some money before going to the NBA. I personally think that there should be no age limit in the NBA. The only big question with this is a person's maturity level. As a high school kid your not mature enough to live in an NBA lifestyle, but is a year in college that big of a difference?

Wall was the preseason number 1 pick in the NBA draft, and is going to be the number 1 pick now. Him going to college was just a waste of his time.

Current College BBall Rankings

AP POLL:
# SCHOOL RECORD POINTS PREV RANK
1 Kansas (61) 9-0 1620 1
2 Texas (1) 9-0 1512 2
3 Kentucky (1) 10-0 1486 4
4 Purdue 9-0 1426 5
5 Syracuse (2) 10-0 1388 7
6 West Virginia 7-0 1315 6
7 Duke 8-1 1137 8
8 Villanova 9-1 1107 3
9 Tennessee 8-1 1104 9
10 UNC 8-2 1039 11
11 Georgetown 8-0 1008 15
12 Michigan St. 8-2 922 12
13 Florida 8-1 864 10
14 Connecticut 6-2 762 14
15 Gonzaga 8-2 505 21
16 Texas Tech 9-0 492 23
17 Kansas State 9-1 391 29
18 Ohio State 8-2 383 13
19 New Mexico 11-0 364 35
20 Mississippi 9-1 334 25
21 Butler 7-3 257 22
22 Georgia Tech 8-1 253 24
23 Texas A&M 8-2 221 16
24 Washington 6-2 179 17
25 Cincinnati 6-3 174 19

Others Receiving Votes: Memphis(7-1) 129; Wisconsin(8-2) 110; UNLV(8-1) 96; Clemson(9-2) 84; Temple(8-2) 83; Northwestern(8-1) 59; Illinois(8-2) 44; Miami (Fla.)(10-1) 40; St. John's(8-1) 30; Oklahoma State(9-1) 29; Dayton(7-2) 24; Charlotte(8-1) 24; Seton Hall(8-0) 24; Florida State(8-2) 23; Missouri State(9-0) 20; Brigham Young(8-1) 14; Mississippi State(8-2) 9; Virginia Tech(8-1) 7; Baylor(8-1) 6; Minnesota(8-3) 5; Rhode Island(8-1) 3; Cornell(7-2) 3; North Carolina State(7-1) 3; Tulsa(7-1) 3; Wake Forest(7-2) 2; Western Carolina(10-1) 2; Northern Iowa(7-1) 2; Pittsburgh(8-2) 2; Army(7-2) 1; William & Mary(6-2) 1

Well, Looks Like John Wall Is Going To Be The Balls

Does it worry me a little bit that my Kentucky Wildcats struggled against Miami of Ohio? Yes. But believe me, this Kentucky team is winning the chip this year.

John Wall Pleads Guilty

Kentucky Wildcats recruit John Wall has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and entered a program for first offenders which could lead to having his record cleared.

Wall, 18, pleaded guilty Wednesday to breaking and entering.

Wake County Assistant District Attorney Phillip Cowan said that under the terms of the plea, Wall must complete 75 hours of community service, pay court costs and program fees and stay out of trouble for the next six months.

This is probably the last thing Calipari needs figuring the media shit storm that is about to hit him. However, Wall is going to be nasty and most likely be in the NBA next year.

John Wall commits to Kentucky

"John Wall has committed to play at Kentucky next season and given John Calipari another one-and-done point guard to help run the dribble-drive motion offense that turned Derrick Rose into the NBA Draft's top pick a year ago (Sportsline)."

Say what you want about Calipari, but the guy can recruit. Wall is by far the best PG coming out of high school, and most people think he will be the #1 pick in the 2010 draft. It sucks that Kentucky will most likely only have him for a year, but he should ease Calipari's transition into Kentucky. He is a bigger PG (6-4) that has drawn a lot of comparisons to Rajon Rondo, but with a better jump shot. Anyways it will be interesting to see this kid playing in the SEC next year...

Oh yea, this is the same guy who was arrested a couple weeks ago for breaking an entering....the new Kentucky Thugcats?

Top Recruit Arrested

"John Wall, the nation's top-rated point guard who remains uncommitted, was been cited for breaking an entering by the Raleigh Police Department, WRAL out of Raleigh reported Monday morning. The station reported that Wall was charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering in connection with an April 27 break-in at a home at 3924 Laurel Glen Drive in Raleigh. According to WRAL, an officer saw Wall leaving from the rear of the residence and was able to detain him. Two others were also charged -- one while walking along a nearby street, another when he returned to the residence. How or if this will affect Wall's recruitment is unclear. He is still publicly considering a number of schools -- among them Kentucky, Duke and Florida (Sportsline)."

Well you know he won't be going to Duke now. My guess is that Florida still lets him in though. Anyways, how fucking stupid can you be when you are a top recruit, about to get a full ride to a top school, and you get charged with breaking and entering. Sometimes these athletes amaze me. it is like they have no vision for their future at all. I hope he loses all his offers to every school he wanted to go to. Then goes to URI!