Wall Expectations

John Wall - 6'4", 195 lb.
2009-2010 with Kentucky Wildcats
34.8 minutes, 16.6 points (46.1% FG, 32.5% 3PT, 75.4 FT%), 4.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists, .5 blocks, 1.8 steals, 4 TOs

Our basketball savior. The guy who made it cool to be a Wildcat again. The guy who calls LeBron James and Drake whenever he's bored. The guy who President Obama name drops about. No, I'm not talking about John Calipari. I'm talking about John Wall. That guy.

Here's the scary thing about Wall at the next level: I believe he could possibly be playing at the level of a slightly altered version of Dwyane Wade within two years. He's got the same kind of size and left for the pros a year before Wade. He's got all the same effortless skills (blinding speed, sick hops, paint penetration at will, incredible court vision, reliable mid-range jumper, and cold-blooded scoring mentality in dire situations) that made Dwyane so special coming in. All Wall needs to do is build on those skills in his arsenal already. He's as quick a learner and willing adjustor as I've ever seen in college basketball. John would identify the situations where his team needed him to force the action and do exactly what needed to be done. It was shown most blatantly in the Stanford, UCONN, and (loss at) Tennessee games. Dwyane even started his rookie year attempting the point guard role before he was slid over to his natural 2 spot, but it's obvious that Wall will be pegged as a point for his whole career and put up better stats than Dwyane's, still exceptional, assist numbers. In the reckless way that both attack the basket and are adept at finding some amazing way to finish the play at the rim and draw fouls, I honestly do think John can come close to being as feared a scorer as Wade. Dwyane is probably the third best player in the entire league today and a guaranteed Hall of Famer when it's all said and done. That's the kind of potential that John has.

Dwyane Wade - 6'4", 220 lb.
2008-2009 with Miami Heat
38.6 minutes, 30.2 points (49.1% FG, 31.7% 3PT, 76.5% FT), 5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 1.3 blocks, 2.2 steals, 3.4 TOs

To exemplify the unworldly expectations of John in the pro ranks, I think the absolute worst he could do as a youngster is replicate Derrick Rose's numbers in a Rookie of the Year-type performance. It's way too easy of a comparison to make, so I'll focus on the differences. Wall's and Rose's 3-point marksmanship were nearly identical in college, both in makes and percentage, but I see Wall as having a little more range in his early career and already has a head start in becoming a more proficient shooter. Where Rose really took the NBA by storm was in his rookie playoff debut, notching 36 points (12-19 FGs and 12-12 FTs), 4 rebounds, and 11 assists all while pulling off the upset. That's winning time. And that's where John Wall has to re-prove himself at. Sure, he hit a game winning 15-foot jumper in his NCAA debut and knocked down every single clutch free throw he ever needed, but he has to prove it again in the national spotlight. His tournament numbers weren't as outstanding or prevailing as Rose's, so it's up to Wall to prove that was a fluke and that he can lead an underwhelming team into playoff contention right away ... like Rose. What better measuring tool is there to compare two insanely talented and freakishly athletic freshmen point guards who played under the same head coach within a three year span? I guess lightning does strike twice, albeit once in Memphis and once in Lexington.

Derrick Rose - 6'3", 190 lb.
2009-2010 with Chicago Bulls
36.8 minutes, 20.8 points (48.9% FG, 26.7% 3PT, 76.6% FT), 3.7 rebounds, 6 assists, .3 blocks, .7 steals, 2.8 TOs

Here's the bottom line: John Wall is guaranteed to be a stud. He was simply already an NBA caliber player his senior year in high school. His style of play is tailor-made for the more wide-open pro game with limited zoning. He's got as quick a first step as you can find and he always has purpose with the ball. I know he has a turnover problem; everyone knows that. But so does Steve Nash, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Kobe Bryant. So the TOs aren't an indication of any sizable flaw in his game; he just has to figure out how to utilize his teammates the right way over time and those lost possessions will naturally shrink. While obviously not against the greatest competition, Wall averaged 23.5 points, 7.8 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals in four summer league games. That's a sick pro platform to jump off of.

Now all that remains to be seen is how Flip Saunders tries to mesh Gilbert Arenas and Wall in the offense together. The entire guard rotation comprises of the two aforementioned players plus Kirk Hinrich and Nick Young; so John's going to get heavy clock from day one, most likely starting every game unless something terrible happens. I swore off believing in Arenas' ability to be a quality teammate in the future, but I'm forced to root for him being a positive influence in the career of UK's first number one overall NBA Draft pick ever. Everybody's eyes are gonna be on Wall in the nation's capital. He's gonna have to balance putting in the time practicing his 3-pointers with all of Barack Obama's personal texts, but he'll make it work. He's made for this.

... and do the John Wall.

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Potluck Post 6/12/10

I've been out of regular posting for a good while now. School had been tearing me up pretty bad this past semester and then I've just been outright lazy since the summer started, so here's a little catch up. Drake. John & Demarcus. Terrence Jones. Kobe. Kanye. Here we go.

I thoroughly enjoy Thank Me Later. I wrote a pretty harsh column on the notion of Drake ruining a good thing by becoming popular. And while many of those points still ring true in the contextual sense of commercial reception, I've had a personal 180 on my opinion of the dude. My roommate at school has met Drake four separate times and still holds that the kid is a genuinely nice person. What further standards can I act self-righteous enough to hold another artist to? Drake has his style and raps about what he wants to rap about. He doesn't try to hide that he intentionally makes certain kinds of records. He has the arrogant boi-1da street banger. He has the Kanye-helmed 808s-esque singing joint. He has the career(-so-far)-reflecting album closer. But he still goes out and makes music. And at this point, I'm just glad that the album doesn't feature Gudda Gudda or Lil' Twist. "Fancy" is the only cut that I'm inclined to say outright sucks, but that might be more so because of my utter distaste of all post-DMX Swizzy. So while Thank Me Later may not strike me as perfectly as Man on the Moon did a year ago, I've still spun this leak endlessly with genuine enjoyment and will be shelling out a purchase on opening week. After seeing him in concert and having a crazy good time, I have a legit investment in his career. So here's hoping that he throws a great pre-Draft party for my UK boys.

Speaking of the future greatest point guard ever ... I hope John Wall saves the Wizards. It's guaranteed that they will take him with the very first pick and though I'm inclined to believe that a Wall-Arenas backcourt wouldn't be optimal, John'll make it work. I just think Gil is kinda the one player in the entire league who wouldn't be content deferring at times to a player of Wall's magnitude for the good of the team. He's kind of annoying like that. All future Wizards decisions must be made knowing that the ball needs to be in J's hands as much as humanly possible, whenever he wants, so he can get NBA-adjusted in the first 15 or so games of the season. I don't know if they have enough talent to compete for the playoffs after their roster implosion last year, but I wouldn't be surprised if John found a way to sneak them in there. It is the East after all. And staying with the Cats ... whoever doesn't pick up Demarcus Cousins in the proceeding draft picks after J will innately regret it down the road. His body is the perfect NBA big man prototype that you can never find with an aggressive attitude mixed in. He will not only be an immediate contributer, but he'll be an all-star within three years with KG, Duncan, and the last remaining '90s bigs on their ways out. Neither Favors nor Monroe nor anyone else from this class who was not a Kentucky Wildcat will be able to compete with Cousins' career. If an NBA GM is dumb enough to skip over Boogie because of his perceived attitude problem, then they won't matter anyways because they'll be promptly fired once he hits his professional stride. That's a guarantee in my book. Quote me.

I cannot believe we got Terrence Jones. When dude came for a visit forever back for the Blue-White game, I sat at a table with him and John Wall (who was destroying way too many crab legs from Hooters) while we watched the Bulls and Spurs play on TV. That's the first time I understood why J came to Kentucky hands down (he sweats Derrick Rose like none other) and the time that I gave up on TJ committing to UK. The kid was as nice as possible and became a personal favorite of mine after admitting he was a Laker fan even though he lives in Portland, but I could just tell how insanely homesick he was just from spending a single weekend that far away from his home. He was talking about all of his other scheduled visits and he wasn't even looking at another school that wasn't plastered right on the Pacific coastline. So I had him pegged for Washington and told everyone confidently so for that day forth. Little did I know the commotion that would come due to that decision so many months later. From now on I'll just firmly entrust all my recruiting worries in Coach Cal's hands. He's infallibly great at selling his offensive system, the tradition of the school, and his professional track record. No one thought this 2010-2011 roster could possibly look so great after our mass early departures, but Coach Cal had his plan all along. Since every single potential LeBron destination is filling out its coaching position without a genuine Calipari scoping (no matter what Adrian Wojnarowski keeps making up), it's safe to say that our all-time 2011 recruiting class will remain intact as well and we will see an unprecedented level of talent funnel through my great University. It's a good time to be a Wildcat fan. There will be no violations on our books. There will only be similarly immaculate 3(or less)-loss seasons.

I have said it before and will hold to the fact that I think Kobe Bryant is the greatest basketball player of all time. The NBA Finals is currently tied 2-2, but I fully expect the Lake Show to pull it out. Kobe's skill set is so vastly superior to any player ever, plus he adds to it unrelentingly on a yearly basis. His long range prowess is what notches him above MJ in my book. Here's exhibit A. He still can be a slasher whenever it's in the game plan, but his midrange game and the billion ways he can get a quality look off is where his natural dominance has lied in the last seven or so years. But I don't need to regurgitate everything you already know about Mr. Bryant. I just wanted to remind you that he is now one of the ultimate and prolific winners in NBA history. Besides his late game heroics (having that reputation cemented with seven game winners this year) in general, he's now made his way to the Finals for the seventh time representing the Western Conference. And in case you haven't watched any professional basketball since Michael Jordan retired, the West has been the far stronger conference in each of those instances. In hopefully capturing his fifth title within the next week, how can anyone deny Kobe's resume? Do you actually remember that there was a discussion as to whether Kobe or T-Mac was the premier wing in the league only five years ago? It was a misguided argument back then that has turned into a psychotic one now. Kobe's run of playoff vengeance this year has been nothing short of brilliant and awe-inspiring. I'll be watching the next two or three games praying that he finishes off his first hand in rings finally.

Lastly, I just wanted to say that the Kanye West comeback will be epic. There's no way around it. This guy is most prolific commercially viable rap artist ever. With his new single "Power", he's continued his constantly evolving sound that never ceases to impress and push boundaries. He's completely unpredictable and no one but the G.O.O.D. Music family and certain guys like Premo know what to expect from his full-length return to rapping, A Good Ass Job. I just know it will be great. His catalogue ensures so. He literally cares what no one thinks about the next direction he takes because he knows the masses will eat it up. It's encoded in his DNA. The man is a legend. Now and for as long as he graces us with his creative genius.

... and do the John Wall.

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Random Basketball Notes, 27th Edition

So I think I've proven that my long column privileges need to be revoked. My Iverson hopes were quickly dashed and now my musings on Gilbert Arenas have been shot to Hades. Crap.

And while Allen quickly found a new home at his old home in Philly, Gilbert will probably have an even tougher road to a potential new destination. AI didn't play a "prank" on a teammate that invoked the most stereotypical assumptions of NBA athletes as well as leading to a felony charge upon further investigations. Gil shoulda known that people like you a lot more if you just inexplicably complain about everything rather than own and display hundreds of firearms. Funny how that works.

But who really cares about them, huh?

My real NBA story of the season so far, besides inglorious amounts of injuries to every single team, is the ... *drum roll* ... Lakers. These Lakers are legitimately playing the worst basketball I've seen out of them since Kwame Brown was on the roster. Since the Cleveland Christmas blowout, we've managed to get rocked by the Suns, Clippers, Blazers, and Spurs all on the road. And while some people quickly excuse road losses against any decent opponent, I say, "screw that". Trust me, I just said it. Playoff series are won by the team who can break the other's home stand. Unless you trust your guys for every Game 7. Which I don't. And then we've let the Kings (twice), Warriors, Rockets, and Mavs all hang with us before squeaking out wins with Kobe ball-dominating and often shooting a terrible percentage.

And yet even with this subpar run piled on with Pau missing 17 of 40 games, Kobe playing with a gimp shooting hand and handicapped back, our bench sucking 90% of the time, questions of Andrew being able to play effectively with Gasol, and a still mysterious Artest Christmas concussion incident ... the Lakers have the best record in all of basketball. Suck it, suck it, suck it. 31-9. Currently a game and a half in front of the Shaq-lugging Cavs. It's unbelievable. While everyone clearly isn't healthy, we now have the complete roster at our disposal for the moment with Luke Walton now in the picture. So we'll see the full starting five with its full bench mob in the coming days. Watch out, league. These sucky Lakers are the best team out of all of you.

Speaking of the Kentucky Wildcats ... (?) ... they're undefeated. 18-0. We've been tested by all our opponents this month (Louisville, Georgia, Florida, and Auburn) and had highly shaky seconds halves, but we wound up beating all of them. Our RPI seems to be decimated by the day since our opponents from our (supposed-to-be) signature wins (NC, UCONN, and UL) have all had relative floods of losses come their way. Let it be known, though, that I appreciate each and every win, because runs like these are never guaranteed to come back around. But still ... we definitely got some work to do. John Wall has tapered off noticeably in the recent games. You wouldn't ever have suspected that if you look to ESPN headlines and highlights for your information. He's easily become the face of college basketball (as well as SI and Sporting News) and a breakaway candidate for Player of the Year at this point midseason. But fans who watch him day in and day out would be more inclined to look up that he's only shot 44% from the field in the last 6 games since our Drexel beatdown for the program's signature 2000th win. And while that's still a perfectly legit and applaudable percentage for a guard or literally any freshman, it doesn't even touch the 53% that he had been shooting in the first 11 games he had played. You can chalk that up to improved competition or increased defensive attention or anything else you want, but true UK fans will notice there's just been a slight drop-off in #11's game impact. He's still easily the greatest thing to come to Lexington in a decade and the most talented baller out there, but this is just an observation. Which I believe is highly correctable, by the way.

The flip-side to that is the recent emergence of DeMarcus Cousins as potentially the best big man in the collegiate ranks. Though he's prone to a record amount of first half foul trouble, he's actually become our go-to player, as hard as that is to believe. He proved it immensely in the last four close games that when the ball is dumped down to him late in the game, he will deliver. And that's something that I never thought I would see after the Stanford overtime game where he nearly blew the W singlehandedly in regulation. On a per 40 minute scale, Cousins is averaging 31 points, 18.5 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks. That is monstrous, ladies and gentleman. And that's not even mentioning his magical free throw turnaround since the Cancun Challenge where he's shot 75% from the stripe in 12 games after hitting at a clip of 50% in the first 6 games. He's proven that even when the opposition's entire game plan is to get him pissed off, in foul trouble, and try to make him hit someone, he can still remain cool and be amazingly productive, regardless. He's a beast who's improved exponentially from where he was physically and mentally earlier in the season. And I believe he's the one who is going to define our continued national legitimacy with his unstoppable work in the post. Wall will continue to garner all the attention and be the next big thing, as he deservedly has earned and very well will be, but look out for Boogie. I'm telling you.

Now let's just hope my idiotic predilections are only ruthlessly disgraced when it comes to professional sports. Because I can't afford to be wrong about my University. Plus there's the fact that Wall & Cuz are right down the hall at this very moment ...

... but do take my word for it.

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AI in TN

Call me crazy right now.

I think it's gonna work.

Of course this team is gonna give up virtually 200 points per game, but that doesn't really matter. Offense puts butts in the seats. Excitement puts butts in the seats. And the Grizzlies this year will have both of those tenfold. Now they're not gonna compete for a championship, obviously, but I'm gonna give them tons more credit than any analyst or random fan will. I'm confident that the Grizz are gonna make the playoffs. Now.

So the starting lineup prolly looks something like this: 1) Allen Iverson 2) OJ Mayo 3) Rudy Gay 4) Zach Randolph 5) Marc Gasol. But this is completely amorphous with the fact that they have the almost-good point Mike Conley and standing log Hasheem Thabeet. So anyone can be moved anywhere to fit the starters appropriately, but the big deal is that they have four renowned ball hogs (who each legitimately need X amount of shots per game) out of their top seven players in the rotation. But I got AI pinned down as a very balanced floor leader this year with this brand new squad. Kind of in the way that I have confidence in Gilbert Arenas making all the right offensive decisions this year, I think the same of Iverson. While Z-Bo is utterly incapable of ever passing, the other big timers will be able to adjust. Mayo's the dead-eye shooter and Rudy's the elite-aspiring slasher, but each also has a little bit of the others' qualities to their game, so that's a hardcore threat when there's also gonna be primed scorers on both sides of them. Quad 20+ ppg guys is the new dynamic duo. It's 2009-2010, y'all.

And Iverson is going to fit in because he chose this team. I mean, he would've preferred a different situation than the gutter Grizzlies, but in the end, he actually did decide to sign with this here squad. There's going to be a full training camp with a full preseason and a full arsenal of weapons at his side once the season starts (... and please keep your stupid practice jokes to yourself ... we off that ...) He's not going to be asked to fill in and improve upon Chauncey Billups' Detroit-tenured shoes. His teammates won't immediately hate him because he doesn't play the exact game as everyone's now-departed best friend. His sole responsibility for this team is to make them relevant with his renewed "chip on my shoulder" mentality. And I think that relevancy will lead them into the playoffs.

The way I figure ... the only teams they have to leap frog are the Suns and Jazz. No other non-playoff team besides maybe the Thunder have much of a chance at breaking out of the lottery. Only the top three of the west is guaranteed, and that's the Lakers/Spurs/Blazers. Fact. So ... yeah. There's no way Memphis gets any worse with this move. This team will gun like none other and freakishly surprise teams in the way the Warriors surprised in their one dream playoff-advancing season. It's not like Conley's growth is gonna get stunted or anything, so there's no real long term negative consequences. Conley'll have primary ball handling duties for like 30 minutes of the game regardless, so I see no for real downside even in the short term. And even if this team combusts ... they're the Grizzlies. They would have sucked whether or not they signed anybody. Come on now. Thumbs up, Grizz, I will now be catching you regularly on my League Pass Broadband.

... but do take my word for it.

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Surprise Team

So I just thought I'd dedicate a few minutes to talking about a surprise NBA squad that I like going into next season. They are one of last year's punchline teams: the Wizards. And I think they'll possibly challenge the Magic/Celtics/Cavs.

Don't look at me crazy. I know they won a beyond paltry 19 games last year. And I know that's crazily nice enough to tie them for second worst in the league. And I also know that they only completed a single trade this offseason and don't even have an impact rookie coming in. But I still like them to surpassingly crush all expectations even though this is a season where I fully expect twelve of the fifteen Eastern Conference squads to compete for those eight playoff spots. Just for the record, I think the Knicks, Pacers, and Nets are those three unlucky teams who are consistent enough to maintain as the East's resident bottom feeders. But on to the Wiz.

Before even discussing their one monster trade, the Wizards simply improve exponentially from last season's nonexistence because of the health of both Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood. These men aren't going to be recovering while coming into training camp, either, because both came around fully right at the end of 2009's regular season. The team's starting point guard and center both had full and complete summers for rehabilitation and contact training. So even more than anyone who's been healthy, they should specifically come into the season in peak condition after not being on their feet most of last year.

And while Haywood is deftly important to this team's interior defense and gives them a (pretend) post scorer to distract some from the perimeter, Arenas is the pivotal cog that will reemerge and bring the Wiz into the upper echelon of East threats. Gilbert has been away from us for so long that all NBA fans have already started to forget or underestimate his floor impact. This man stands right behind Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony in the ranks of pure scorers in the league. He may seem to go games at a time where he shoots unconsciously and detrimentally to the team, but that reputation was gained more out of necessity and lack of team structure than out of pure ballhoggedness. Under Flip Saunders and with a full compliment of offensive weapons, Arenas will show amazing efficiency on the offensive end. Just trust me. And this same principle applies likewise to Antawn Jamison. Last year's team was purposeless on both sides of the floor. The club was marred with injuries and was infusing too many inexperienced pieces with a pitfall of uncertainty. With Arenas back at full capacity and some definitive upgrades at two key positions, this incarnation of the Wizards will show up on a nightly basis and perform.

And now the trade. For three less-than-proficiently talented forwards and the fifth pick in the draft, the Wizards acquired Mike Miller and Randy Foye from Minnesota. And though both players were rather nondescript last season, their skill sets will be highlighted on this team. Miller is instantly infused into the starting lineup and paired with Caron Butler to provide two big and strong wings which will dually cause problems for defenses. On the obvious front, Miller positively replaces a great deal of the 3-point attempts that Deshawn Stevenson, Mike James, Butler, and Jamison have been chucking the last few seasons. He'll knock them in at more opportune times and at a better clip. This also allows the free roaming of Butler and Jamison to become even more of a threat than it already was. You have to cover both of those forwards on the perimeter anyway, but now you have to even tighter and with more urgency since the ball could get dropped off or swung over to Miller at any point. And while he's not a premier defender by any means, his size gives a more versatile look on the defensive end of things when alternating between all the wing D schemes. Foye, on the other hand, provides a greatly talented scoring combo guard to be the first man off the bench for either Arenas or for the position shuffling of any combination of Miller/Butler/Jamison. In his short time at Minnesota, he became a more than adequate floor leader who can pick his spots to be a distributor or prime time scorer. In all honesty, he's a poor man's Gilbert Arenas. Funny how that happens. With Foye in the fold, the points will never drop off between the starting lineup and the bench. The Wizards with these two new players now have five guys who could realistically score 20+ points on any given night.

Once you add the peripheral players in, this team can exceedingly flourish when given the right direction. Nick Young is a big guard with as pure a stroke as you'll find in someone with so much untapped potential. Andray Blatche is a stylized big man of the future with every conceivable skill on the floor who simply needs to tame his shot selection to understand how versatile he can be in literally any system. Javaris Crittenton is a pure point guard, as well as a former Laker, who I fully believe can still develop into an absolute stud whether it's with the Wizards or a future team. Newly signed Fabricio Oberto is one of those veteran big men who, while not a big stat contributor, provides a calming influence and never provides anything negative while on the floor.

So all in all, I would be willing to throw some money on the Wizards being a big time crew next year with an epic bounce back performance. I like what both the Celtics and Magic did to improve their rosters, but I wanted to acknowledge the team that seemingly no one has on their radar right now. I witnessed the game live three years back when Gilbert Arenas laced up the Lakers for 60 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and a win while Butler and Jamison dropped an extra 27 and 25 respectively as well without missing a beat. It was a thing of beauty in the face of my own beloved Lake Show. And I'm not counting on that ever happening again, but I'm counting on everyone being able to score as much as they want and for Arenas to settle back in as a complete threat and floor leader for this overly talented team that will surprise you.

... but do take my word for it.

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