Going Commando

I don't think Noah is what we want Javale to be. For as much defensive potential in McGee, he has that much on the offensive end too. The guy will be impossible to defend if he develops some variety of a hook shot or if he can get a respectable 15 foot jumper which he can use to pump fake. There really isn't a center in the league who can match up with him athletically besides Dwight Howard.

That's what I think his potential is. Being the 2nd best center in the league behind DH12. The ability to block, rebound, change shots in the paint, run the fast break, finish around the rim.... McGee has it all. He just needed time and experience and it's all coming together now. Besides Howard, I wouldn't trade McGee for any other center.

I tend to agree with you here. He reminds me of a quicker, stronger, longer, better leaping type of Amare Stoudemire in his ability to run. McGee has such big and quick hands he'll be a demon on defense. He's already a top 5 blocker and if he played aggressively all the time, he could be a top 7 rebounder (Howard, Noah, Love, Evans, Bogut, and Lopez being the other ones moving forward).

I'd briefly consider a trade for DeMarcus Cousins. But Cousins has like 16% body fat and that measurement was taken at the combine when he had been dieting for months. That, plus his immaturity, would keep me from favoring him over McGee. Shaq came into the league with 12% body fat...

If you classify Scola, Camby, Lee, Stoudemire, Gasol, Horford, and Duncan as better fits at power forward, this is the list of who I see as the top true centers over the next five years:

- Dwight Howard

- Joakim Noah

- Andrew Bogut

- Brook Lopez

- Al Jefferson

- DeMarcus Cousins

- Roy Hibbert

On that list, Howard and maybe Lopez are the only players I would take over Javale. Like you said, Lopez doesn't have McGee's upside. He's got a better post game and is a better rebounder while still bringing an ability to play above the rim that's less than McGee's, but still acceptable. They're also both only 22. In the end I'd probably take Javale over him on the defensive potential he's got plus his ability to run.

Speaking of which, all of our bigs can run and are guards are quick. Why we don't run a fast break offense against slow teams like the Suns do? Unlike the Suns, we can actually get down the floor and defend since I think we've got the types of players to play effective man defense.

Yeah I agree with you about that. I just want to see Wall and McGee stay healthy and grow up some over the course of the year. I'd also be disappointed if Yi and Young got hurt since I see them as being pretty valuable to us in the long run. In a way, It's almost a bit of a blessing that Wall is getting some rest now due to a minor injury because he was getting so many minutes before. Blake Griffin's monster games while Wall's been out are going to let him pass Wall for the ROY award though. Such crap.

Here's a question for you. Since most seem to be in agreement that were we could use help at is at the 2/3 positions, say we have the first overall pick in this upcoming draft. Who would you take? I think the two best players in the class will be small forwards, but I'm on the fence about which one I like better. I think Perry Jones will be the better player in the long run--he's a better ball handler than Harrison Barnes, has ridiculous quickness, and is already a capable outside shooter. Plus he's 6'11 with a 7'2 reach which is gigantic for a small forward. But there are a couple of things that I read about him that worry me. First off, the knock that he has a history of disappearing from games has been mentioned in several different places. I also read that his high school team didn't win as much as they should have and there were questions about Jones' basketball IQ. Those things scare me. I feel like we have enough players like that already on the team. But Jones has such astonishing potential, especially as a defender, if he figures everything out. He's a kind of guy with the potential to get you 20-10 with 2 or 3 blocks a night as a 3.

Barnes is an interesting case. He was an inside player in high school and only recently moved to the wing. He's 6'8 with a 7' wingspan and an NBA body with good quickness. But he hasn't completely gotten his handle down and apparently doesn't have a well developed left hand. So he's still got plenty of room to grow into his position. I love the versatility of his offensive game. He's also reported to be a very smart player with a great work ethic and attitude--he gets a lot of comparisons to Grant Hill. But I can't call Barnes a winner yet. UNC has already lost two games this year and they were against good, not great teams. Barnes was also pretty terrible in each of the losses, going 0-12 from the floor against Minnesota. He went up against another guy who's probably a lottery pick in Rodney Williams and Barnes managed to keep him from being effective. But you need to see him have a break out performance. He doesn't have the same kind of defensive potential that Jones does and doesn't play as well above the rim. Plus, Jones is already more comfortable with the ball in his hands. But then saying that isn't a huge criticism of Barnes. He still has elite defensive potential, has quick hands and is long enough to become a very good shot blocker, and already has a nice jump shot and variety of moves . Plus he's a powerful finisher and it would be a hell of a lot of fun to watch John Wall throw him and McGee 15 alley oops a game.

I don't know who I would take if I were fortunate enough to be able to choose between them. Right now, I'm leaning towards Barnes but Jones has already had a pretty great performance. I'm actually kind of hoping that Jones and Barnes slump this year and some other PG or PF really shines and passes them.

Here's another question posed to anyone. Do you all see Wall/McGee as being the most desirable young tandem in the league? Would you trade them for any of these tandems:

- Tyreke Evans/DeMarcus Cousins

- Michael Beasley/Kevin Love

- Brook Lopez/Derrick Favors

- Blake Griffin/Al-Farouq Aminu

- Derrick Rose/Joakim Noah

- Brandon Jennings/Andrew Bogut

- Russell Westbrook/Kevin Durant

- Rudy Gay/O.J. Mayo

I'd trade them for Westbrook/Durant but that's the only one I think I'd make. Also, Westbrook/Durant is weakened without Jeff Green and that excellent bench the Thunder have.

One more question. Beasley got traded to Minnesota for a song. Why the hell didn't we make a play for him when the Heat started shopping him? We were active with the Jianlian deal, and we were looking to use some cap since we took ourselves out of the big time FA crop. I was pulling my hair out at the time, wondering why we didn't go after Beasley, and it looks like it was a mistake to sit that one out. Put Beasley on this team and we'd probably be winning instead of looking to the future.

BTW, this is absolutely the best time of the year for sports. I'm almost overwhelmed. I've got both the NFL and college football to keep up with. I've also got both the NBA and college basketball. And then there is Hockey and a UFC fight or Boxing Match on almost every weekend. Life is good.

Would you trade Gilbert Steve?

Tough question. Could we? I doubt we'll get an offer above 20 cents on the dollar. I'm one who doesn't think Gilbert is a selfish player or that he hurts the team in an intangible way, so I don't see how that would be a reason to get him out of town. I just want to see him play well with Wall. If he proves he can do that this season, then I wouldn't trade him. We need great shooters like him on the team because he'll get so many open looks if Wall and McGee develop into excellent scorers. Plus I prefer to keep Young in a 6th man style role for now.

But if someone swung us a real offer, I'd consider it. Arenas isn't necessarily old, but it couldn't hurt to get younger as long as the talent in return is close. Say he continues to play well like this over the course of the season, what do you think we could get in return for him?

That was a tough game BTW ugh. I find it helps to deal with my disappointment over the course of the year by focusing on the long term goal. A breakout performance from McGee is reason alone to celebrate and a loss just keeps us in the running in the lottery for Barnes/Jones.

What the? Goddamn why didn't I start Arenas tonight? He would have won me the week in assists if I had. Not to mention his points would have helped me narrow the deficit in points I'm facing. Now I have to pray for a monster game from Stephen Curry on both counts, especially because they other guy has Monta Ellis.

Yup I don't have any doubts anymore either. We have a top 5 talent at the PG and C position. This team has the potential to be scary good if both Wall and McGee become what we think they can.

When I really started following the Wizards this summer (after they won the John Wall lottery, yeah I'm a bandwagoner) Wall and McGee were the first two players that jumped out at me. I talked all kinds of **** to some Heat fans I know about how we were building the right way and that we'd be the future powerhouse and own the next decade instead of the Heat. Needless to say I looked very foolish and my enthusiasm but it wasn't entirely misplaced. We've got a great foundation in having such remarkable talent at the 1 and 5 positons. I also talked a lot of **** to a Kings fan I know about how Wall and McGee are a better foundation than Evans/Cousins and I think I went on ESPN and argued with a bunch of Nets fans too.

I still hope we end up with a top two pick. If we won the lottery again I think our team would be set. You'd have to take either Perry Jones or Barnes because:

1.) They are the two best prospects in the class IMO

2.) An elite scoring wing who's a lock for 20 points a night is our biggest need.

This is our long term roster IMO:

1 - Wall

2 - Arenas, Young

3 - X, Thornton

4 - Blatche, Seraphim, Booker

5 - McGee, Jianlian

I see talented youth there everywhere but at SF. I think Arenas and Young make a nice scoring combo at the 2, and Thornton is a guy you can win with in a pinch but I'd prefer a bigger talent there. Imagine if we had that Grant Hill like presence at the three in Harrison Barnes. Or maybe a 6'11 Tracy McGrady in Perry Jones. I think we'd be impossible to defend once all those pieces grew together.

I'd take our youth over anyone else's in the league.

Ugh I needed 1 steal from Arenas or McGee tonight. Instead they both come up empty.

IIRC McGee has asthma so his conditioning is an issue. I don't see him ever playing more tahn ~26-28 minutes a game. I think in the long run he'll best be used as an energetic big off the bench.

Can't we get him some effective steroids or something? I don't have anyone else that can reliably get me blocks and now that David Lee is hurt, my rebounding is taking a hit.

BTW, this fantasy team is mostly incredible. I'm not even sure exactly how it came together so well, but it involved some trade devilry. Here's the roster if anyone cares:

PG: Stephen Curry

SG: Dwyane Wade

SF: Kevin Durant

PF: Dirk Nowitzki

C: Al Horford

G: Joe Johnson

F: David Lee

UTIL: Michael Beasley

UTIL: Jason Terry

UTIL: Javale McGee

Bench: Gilbert Arenas

Bench: Richard Jefferson

Bench: Ben Gordon

Richard Jefferson was the only guy I picked up on waivers. I did this in an auction league and got lucky there was a moron in the league who basically ended up trading me Durant and Nowitzki for a final total of Blake Griffin and Tim Duncan. (He traded me those two for Wade and Joe Johnson, then traded me those two back for Duncan and Griffin). Lee and Nowitzki and Curry have underachieved so far, but they'll come around eventually... I hope. But it's a H2H league so I've still been able to win matchups from scoring so many points, shooting so well, and eking out enough steals, blocks, and threes to come out on top. Unfortunately, I'm getting creamed in rebounds and assists every week.

I like the Washington Taxmen or the Washington Revenuers... a name sure to strike fear into the heart of any modern professional athlete.

For some reason, Minutemen in my mind belongs to Boston or at least New England. I do like the idea of a name that celebrates the United States though.

Yeah Minutemen has a New England association. UMass' mascot is the Minutemen. I'd want something a little more specific to the Virginia colony or to the Potomac region.

McGee's a fantasy beast. He got my team 10 rebounds (6 offensive) and 2 more blocks in only 26 minutes. Damn I wish he got more time. Come on Flip, Free McGee. He'd have five blocks a game if they played him for 10 more minutes or so and that'd probably be enough for me to win that category with just him. Aside from that, WTF Arenas? You got me two 3s but that was the only positive about your performance. Crap scoring, crap shooting percentages from the floor and line, and no semblance of help in the assist or rebounding categories. Back to the bench with you.

Well, if we're going with personal, anecdotal evidence...then I'm someone who flies in the face of what you're saying. I played organized basketball from the age of 6 until I graduated from high school. I've played it recreationally since that time into my 30s. At no point during those years (roughly 1982 until today) have I ever been tempted to start seriously following the Bullets or Wizards. For many who play(ed) the sport (which is a huge contingent in this area) the NBA seems like a different game. I have always preferred to watch the NCAA over the NBA.

All I'm saying is that I just don't see the professional basketball team every trumping the football or baseball teams assuming relatively similar success on the court/field. I don't blame you and GACOLB for losing your enthusiasm for the Redskins...but you're still in the minority when it comes to which professional sport you prefer to follow.

That's the rub though. While I think the future for the Nats is very bright, do you feel the same sense of optimism about the Redskins as you do for the Wizards? Everything Leonsis touches turns to gold, he gives me confidence that the future will not resemble the past when it comes to the Wizards. Add to that we've got an immensely talented young center growing with an immensely talented young pure point guard and it's a formula that instills hope. Plus we've got young role players who have flashed ability and we're also probably going to finish with a very high draft pick this year. The plan for improvement the Wizards are using is coherent. It makes sense, is transparent, and it's one that has worked for other organizations in the past.

I don't think you're going to see the same level of success between each franchise over the course of the next decade. If the Redskins are improving at all, it's going to come extremely slowly since last year was an entirely wasted offseason. We made no positive gains in the draft. We replaced a former perennial All Star left tackle with one who looks like he can be one too. But that's pretty much a status quo move. We traded our other high pick for a shaky QB and then basically threw the rest of our draft picks away... during one of the two or three strongest classes of the decade.

Yep, high school and college basketball has a rich tradition here. Professional basketball does not.

But that suggests the region loves basketball. This is definitely the case in Southern Virginia, where I'm from. Basketball is the most popular sport to play, and almost nobody in the region has an entrenched loyalty to an NBA franchise yet. I think there are a lot of fence-sitting potential Wizards fans like I was. Growing up, everyone I knew picked their favorite NBA teams based on their favorite players. Most like the Lakers because they like watching Kobe Bryant. Putting a spectacular one like Wall on the Wizards ensures those fans will pick them. Say we finish the year with a high enough pick to draft Harrison Barnes and I think you'll only end up courting the rabid Carolina demographic even more since Wall is from Raleigh too. The Bobcats are in Charlotte which is far enough away that you aren't automatically going to get the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill base and they certainly aren't an entrenched team.

I'm with GACOLB about being jaded with the Redskins. The franchise has been so incredibly frustrating because of its stubborn pattern of ineptness. I don't think I can take another offseason where we refuse to bite the bullet and make a concerted effort to improve by stockpiling draft picks. Hell at this point, I'd settle for simply keeping our original ones and using them. Plus the NFL is a mess with such a high level of unfairness built into the game that it's driving me away. Things like the Lions losing a game because of a horrendously worded catch rule should just not happen in 2010. Couple that with the fact that the game day experience of the NFL is so inferior to watching at home, plus the fact that the pacing of NFL games is infuriating with all of the advertisements, and that the media coverage of the sport is so unbearably awful; it's shocking that the league is as popular as it has been. Especially since football is such a complex game where individual performance is difficult to isolate and the vast majority of the action happens away from the ball--it discourages laymen from following it.

DC is not a professional basketball town. DC is an amateur basketball town. The Bullets/Wizards will never be as popular as successful DC football or baseball, though it should easily eclipse hockey if/when the basketball team becomes contenders.

I wouldn't be so sure of that. First, winning will change things, especially if the Redskins remain inept. Is Boston still a hockey town? Plus, D.C. gets so much new blood every year and a lot of people seem to move there from the north east. With them comes a love of baseball and basketball. More casual fans will abandon their old teams if the DC ones get good.

McQueen, who would you take Isiah Thomas or Michael Jordan? In their primes of course.

If the team's are identicaly, I'd take Jordan there. Isiah from the 80's used to whup up on Jordan from the 80's, but his team was clearly better and more competitive. There is a clear difference in their caliber as players. Jordan is unquestionably the best two guard ever while I'd put Isiah behind Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and at least John Stockton in PG rankings. I think Gary Payton might have been considered better than Isiah if he'd ever been able to win a championship in his prime. At least, I know I would rather have Payton than Thomas.

Plus when you've got a scoring 2 like Jordan who was also a great defender and ball handler, I don't think there is a huge difference in positional value between him and a true PG. You can run the offense through Jordan and it will go smoothly. But I do still maintain there is a difference in positional value between that type of 2 guard and a dominant true center like Kareem, Wilt, or Russell in his era. Wilt and Russell came from such a different era it's hard to say whether or not I'd take them on a team over Jordan. Would Russell have dominated in the paint against the type of bigs Jordan played against? Would Wilt have?

I'd consider taking Magic or Robertson over Jordan if I were trying to build a championship team. Again, Robertson is tough to say though because he did his damage in the 70's. But when you get into a discussion of Jordan versus Magic, Kareem, Robertson, Chamberlain, and Russell, you're probably talking about 6 of the 7 greatest to ever play the game. You could clearly build around any of them.

Well we're not much better, if at all. I'll take a win no matter how it comes.

Seraphin and H both got on the court... for 4 minutes combined. McGee continues to bring a monstrous amount of per minute value to my fantasy team with 4 blocks and 9 rebounds tonight. Arenas got me 3 three pointers as well. Good job guys .

In other news, Perry Jones had a pretty good first game tonight shooting 50% from the floor, scoring 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks. He looks like he's going to be a hell of a combo forward. Jared Sullinger had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Ohio State.

Congratulations to Ryan Zimmerman for winning his second consecutive silver slugger. He's a beast.

Well, we're officially ranked last in both of ESPN's power rankings this week. Honestly, this might as well continue, disheartening as it is. Maybe we'll end up with a 40% chance at the number one overall pick this year. We're on pace for what, 20 wins? Guess we'll be praying for draft salvation.

A lot of the cutting into the minutes for our starters was because of injuries or foul trouble. Blatche picked up two early fouls and sat the entire first quarter. Wall pulled something late in the third. Yi got hurt so Booker got his minutes. Flip hates McGee so Armstrong undeservedly got more minutes than he should.

I always thought Eddie Jordan sucked at rotations and coaching in general but Flip Saunders is making him look like Red Auerbach. As some posters have said earlier in this thread, at least one phase of our team used to look NBA caliber. Under Flip, it's looked like complete crap on both ends of the ball. This is with a veteran team when he had Miller, AJ, Caron and Brendan or with the younger guys.

Yeah I agree that I don't really think Saunders is the man for the job. It's clear he doesn't make sense for us. We need a patient coach who's willing to suffer growing pains gracefully and a guy with a track record of working well with foreign players. I have no stake in Saunders whatsoever. But I thought for that game alone, our bench finally got involved, and perhaps even outperformed the starters. Wall probably could have kept going despite the pain in his foot but he was wisely pulled. He's hit the 44 minute mark this season, that's far too much time and I wouldn't be surprised to see him slump in a month or so as the grind of the NBA season gets to him. We haven't given him any chance to adjust hardly. And Blatche's conditioning is notably poor, giving him as much time as he's been getting means we're getting an ineffective player by the end of the game.

The problem with our youth is where it's concentrated. Outside of Wall, it's almost entirely in the front court as Hinrich, Arenas, Young, Howard, and Thornton bring the age on our roster up quite a bit. Armstrong gets so much PT because Yi, Booker, and McGee are all so young, not to mention a bit undersized. Same for Seraphin who's what, 20? Blatche is by far our most experienced big at 24 years old. It kind of sucks having so little experience in the front court because those positions seem to take the longest to adjust to the NBA. In view of that, we'll probably be a poor rebounding and defensive team for a while as this group of players grows together. One thing's for sure, we won't become a significantly stronger and tougher team until Seraphin and Booker start getting a lot of time.

One thing I'm confused about though is why we've stacked the PF position with so many young prospects when we've already got a 24 year old incumbent with a lot of time left on his contract. Why trade for Yi and then trade for the rights to Seraphin and Booker all in the same offseason following the breakout year of Blatche? We're hedging our bets so thoroughly for a good backup PF? That's simply a foolish team-building strategy unless you trying to get quite a few high draft picks in a row.

A huge criticism of mine towards Flip is that he uses a really right rotation and plays his guys more minutes than they should. Last night on a back to back we had injuries happen to Yi, Wall and Blatche. Flip needs to use the bench a lot more and at this point Seraphin can't be worse than Armstrong. I really want to see him get minutes. He might be a bit clueless and the language barrier will cause problems but he'll go in and bang with the other teams big men and grab rebounds/block shots. Armstrong provides nothing in in the paint.

The bench actually got a fair bit of playing time last night. Arenas got 32, Armstrong 18, Booker 19, Jianlian 13, and Young 19. Armstrong also grabbed ten rebounds which was good for the team lead. I'm not sure what he brings to the table in the long term, but he had a decent game last night. For the most part the bench played fairly well. I think our starters were the ones who got the worst of it. FWIW, Wall's minutes were also down to 31 last night. They were definitely too high in the past, I believe he had 44 the night before.

Let's get a petition started and sent to ESPN that using the nickname "J-Woww" for John Wall by an ESPN anchor is now grounds for summary dismissal and loss of pension. This needs to end now.

Also, has anyone else noticed that McGee leads the league in per minute blocks by quite a bit? He's at almost six--about a full block higher than the next guy. At least there is something positive to take away from McGee's play so far.

Also, interesting stat from last night: The Wizards had 8 free throw attempts, the Bulls had 34... Whatever happened to home town officiating? Edit: I'm dumb. I see the game was away. Nevermind.

you mentioned in the Football draft/scouting thread that alot of underclassmen could choose to remain in school since a lockout looks likely

do you think the NBA could be facing a similar issue? getting another high draft wouldn't be quite as valuable if only seniors show up

Possibly. I'd have to look into the nuances of the CBA agreement and see if the draft would even be held. The NBA is a different animal. I'm not sure if the owners are built to weather a lockout like the NFL owners are. DeMaurice Smith said the NFL owners will still make 5 billion dollars next year from their TV contracts after their renegotiations in '07 and '08 so they can take the hit from not playing at all. I don't know if the NBA could lockout the entire season. If that's the case, then draft picks will probably still get contracts. Plus their contracts are guaranteed in entirety so there isn't the same climate of uncertainty surrounding the sport as in the NFL. Underclassmen in basketball also declare in much higher percentages for the NBA than they do for football, where at least 4/5ths of players drafted are always seniors. Last year set the record for most underclassman entrants into the draft at 53. 255 players were drafted.

In the 2010 NBA draft, only 17 out of 60 players drafted were college seniors, and only four of them were taken in the first round (none in the lottery).

And another thing that might be an issue for NFL rookies but not NBA rookies is the contract negotiation process. They aren't very contentious in the NBA because there is a pay scale in place and usually contracts straightforwardly adhere to it. The loss of a season won't really change the type of deals that the rookies ask for and receive. That probably won't be the case in the NFL.

I don't think there will be a shortage of underclassmen declaring for the NBA draft this year. Some will probably stay in school because of it. But I expect potential lottery picks planning on coming out will do so anyway.

Well lost in the middle of such a bad game were Yi's six blocks. For those of you scoring at home, that's 10 blocks in his last two games. That has been the most surprising stat for me over the past two days. Maybe this big Chinese dude can play?

I can honestly say that these sorts of losses don't bother me that much as long as our young guys handle themselves well. Last night was probably Wall's worst game so far, but he's still improving because his assist/turn over ratio has gotten better by leaps and bounds. Perhaps things are starting to slow down for him a little bit.

Our rebounding is pathetic though. Kevin Love pulls down 31 boards and I find myself thinking we need a powerful, impactful presence like that in the paint to fight for possessions and stop these athletic forwards like Wallace and Thomas from picking up so many rebounds on the offensive end. Too often, I find myself asking why isn't McGee a better rebounder. With his reach and athletic gifts, he should be an automatic double double. Maybe we could have more success by going out and getting our own dominant rebounding cornerman.

As the college season progresses, I'm going to make it a point to watch UNC and Baylor. If we keep losing and end up with a top two pick, I'd be pretty excited about selecting Barnes or Jones. Also if Arenas does get traded, we could look for a good two guard if there is one.

Agreed. The good thing is that there really isn't anything wrong with his form on his shot, he just tends to overthink it. You can see him hesitate at times before he pulls up, with more practice to breed confidence in the shot, it will be come more instinctual.

Certainly. And he'll get more comfortable shooting off the dribble just by doing it in practice and games. All it takes is time and repetition. I think he's already an elite scorer when he attacks the rim and he's a much stronger finisher than I expected. I expected to see a skinny 20 year old kid who was more comfortable passing but he's pretty strong.

Wall just got a triple double with rebounds as one of the stats. His rebounding is fine. As for his shot blocking, Sam Cassell said Wall had a chance to lead the team in blocks this season because he's so good at it. Seeing as how Javale is a top 5 shot blocker in the league, I don't think that's likely. But the point is that Wall has the ability to become an ELITE defender and he's already leading the league in steals 6 games into his career.

Then you talk about assists and the ability to be pass first. He's fourth in the league in assists with his name inserted firmly in the middle of Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, and Deron Williams. Only his supporting cast isn't as good as any of those other guys and I'm not sure we've got a guy who can reliably nail open shots now that Arenas looks like a shell of his former self. And as someone else pointed out, Rondo gets so many assists largely because he gets to play alongside four other 20,000 point scorers who've got about 50 all star appearances between them. He's an experienced player who's playing on an experienced team filled with great players. Rondo the rookie didn't do **** though.

Finally you talk about leadership and the ability to be confrontational. How about in his FIRST summer league game when he got in McGee's face about rebounding? A fresh faced rookie in his first professional moment telling off a third year veteran is impressive. Nevermind he also led a young Kentucky team to the final four as a freshman, which is a hell of a lot more than say, Michael Jordan did his freshman year. Kevin Martin specifically said after the triple double game that (paraphrasing slightly), while you couldn't call Wall a great leader yet, the leadership ability is definitely there--implying that he'll be a great leader one day.

The only pronounced flaw in Wall's game right now is his tentative shot. His offensive repertoire shooting from the floor is still developing. That's it. But it will improve and the seeds of a good shooter are definitely there. Everything else will probably improve and be at a high level by the end of the season--his defensive awareness, his turnover rate, etc. I think the shot will be there by year two or three.

Comparing Rondo to Wall is silly. Rondo gets to pass the ball to four future Hall of Famers. Surround Wall with that kind of talent and there is no way he doesn't win at least one ring. But as McD5 said if he's stuck on a bad franchise or has a string of bad luck he won't win. There have been a lot of GREAT NBA players, particularly PGs, that have never won a ring for a number of reasons. Stockton, Nash, Kidd, Payton(until he hopped on to the Heat bandwagon waaay late into his career)just to name a few. It's silly to say Wall will never win a ring when he's only 20 and just starting his career playing for a franchise that has always been fairly mediocre(although probably on the upswing now with new ownership).

The whole dad thing is just stupid. Men without father figures can't be great leaders? Tell that to Barack Obama.

Barkley too. Dr. J wouldn't have ever won one if it weren't for Moses Malone.

The dad thing was completely offensive and shows, once again, how little class the piece of **** has (TPOS is how I'll refer to him from now on). Why don't we take a look at this dramatization of his father figure during his birth:

He's contemptible. Let's treat him with contempt and ignore him.

He is an anomaly. The generalization is still true.

John Wall is an anomaly too. He has 6'9 reach. He'll be a very good rebounder. I'm not sure how Cowherd can criticize him for rebounding. Really there is nothing to criticize Wall over. Pretty much he is as great as a rookie PG can be.

Cowherd is just a stupid, worthless piece of ****. That's all that needs to be said about him. Let's not do ourselves the disservice of actually paying attention to his tripe.