John Wall just may turn out to be a fabulous player, he's very athletic, but for a point guard, and a potential #1 pick, he has some glaring weaknesses. He plays out of control too much. He is very quick and has a great burst, but his gear seems stuck on turbo. He doesn't seem to have a natual feel for situations and switch his gears accordingly. His shooting stroke looks very rigid and release very slow. Not a natural jump shooter. At 6-3, 6-4, he'll have problem shooting over longer defenders. Also, watching him in the SEC Tournament against, I believe Miss State, he seemed to struggle badly around the rim when his shot attempts were challenged, pretty disappointing for a guy who is so athletic. As far as his court awareness goes on the offensive end, it seemed very average at best. I didn't see him make any pass or set up a play beyond his drive to the basket and kicking the ball out. I didn't see any real knack for creating opportunities and finding the open man for easy baskets on a team as loaded as UK. I'd like to get opinion from people who's seen more games of him, but I came away more impressed with his teammate Bledsoe, as a point guard, which may be a result of John Wall's hyped reputation.
Wall was outstanding for a freshman and that's placing aside the fact that he was an NBA player trapped in the college game. The NBA is much more of a one-on-one game where his explosiveness and athleticism will enable him to blow by just about any defender. He can run the PnR very well too -- which is huge given that's the bread-and-butter for many teams. Overall, he's almost the perfect NBA prospect save maybe his lack of an outside stroke. Tall for his position, monster athlete, VERY fast, great handles/vision, big-time penetrator, huge upside, unselfish and seems very coachable. He'll also be able to adapt to just about any coach the Nets bring in given his ability to either go uptempo or simply run a more traditional halfcourt offense. Personally, if I were the Nets I would consider upping the tempo and utilizing Wall's explosiveness, vision and ability to push the ball up the court. In any event, if I have the #1 overall pick and I'm looking for a "turnaround player", it's hard to argue somebody being better suited for that position than Wall. Also, at 6'4" how do you figure he'll struggle to get his shot off? Unless he's being defended by two's or three's (very doubtful), his height puts him well above the average size for his position. ...and "average at best" court vision/awareness? I can't agree with that.
I haven't drunk the Wall Kool-Aid like some, but he has a very good career ahead of him and is a worthy #1 pick. He has all the tools to be an impact player in the NBA. He won't be LeBron, Wade, KD, CP3 or even Derrick Rose, but Wall is a no-brainer #1 pick in this year's draft. OP, if you honestly came away more impressed with Bledsoe than Wall, you have a long way to go in learning how to evaluate players. How many UK games did you watch? Couldn't have been many. Bledsoe's NBA career depends on two things: (1) 3-point shooting and (2) keeping his head on straight. If Bledsoe doesn't do both exceptionally, he won't do much at the next level.
Really? No knock on you, but can anyone see this kid being a top 5 player in the game, in about 5 years?
Maybe he only saw the two games where Bledsoe outplayed his teammate... the first one, where John was unable to play and the East Tennessee State game in the tournament. Don't get me wrong, I love Eric and think he's going to be a solid PG in the NBA, but he's not better than John.
What does him saying he's a no brainer #1 pick in this draft have to do with being a top 5 player in 5 years/
Yeah that had to be the case. I think Eric will do fine in the NBA if he he keeps his head on straight. Coach Cal said that Eric looked great in the workouts in Chicago.
I'm saying that, do you think this kid can be a top 5 player in 5 years? A_3P0 listed the best players in the game currently. Since he mentioned that John Wall won't be in that category, I am posing a question to people asking if Wall can become great. No knock on him, because I quoted him. I didn't want to just randomly ask a question out of the blue.
I don't take it personally. "Anyone" can see this? LOL! Umm, obviously not. YOU and others are entitled to an opinion. That's all it is at this point. Believe me, plenty of us don't see Wall as a top 5 player. Props to him if it happens.
Wall can become a top 5 player in the future. Nobody is ruling out the possibility. The real question is will he become a top 5 player. Hayesfan, as the biggest UK & John Wall homer on the forum, I'd like your guess about Wall becoming a top 5 NBA player in 5 years. Will he or won't he?
LOL at people thinking Wall could be a bust. The guy will be WAY better than in college because his game is better for the NBA than for the NCAA. He has height, MAD speed, vision, great ballhandling skills, IQ and leadership. The only thing he lacks is a legit mid-range + 3pt shot, and guess what, that attribute comes with practice! Something he will be doing A LOT in the NBA. Only an injury could disable him from being one of the, if not the best PG in the game in a couple of years. Depending on what team he goes to, I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled a Tyreke Evans in his first season.
John Wall is the obvious consensus best prospect in this years draft. I didn't disagree that Wall is a terrific prospect. Dude has a scary upside. But a perfect prospect? Once he steps foot in the NBA, he will automatically be one of the top 3 most athletic PGs if not the most athletic PG in the NBA, tho I do project him more as a "super" combo guard, a la Dwayne Wade. His feel for and skills for the position is not proportionate to his athleticism, which is why he plays out of control a lot. His court vision on the break is great, but his overall court vision is negated by his, like night and day, vision in the half court set. There is no denying his ability to break down his defender and blowing past them, but he consistently ran into walls with a "now what?" look on his face, very often turning the ball over or forcing up a bad shot. As far as getting the shot off goes, in the NBA, defenders rotate to the shooter much quicker than the NCCA, so he will have to shoot over taller defenders. And I think he will be play a lot as a combo guard until he polishes his PG skills, because the team who is drafing him will probably already have a decent to good point guard already installed, bad teams usually do. Defensively, Wall gets beat badly by inferior athletes because he reaches a lot. He needs to maintain more discipline on the defensive end. All in all tho, my point isn't to say John Wall sucks or that he will be a bust, god no, lol. He's definitely an off the charts prospect, but one who has a lot to work on, IMHO, for a guy who has to be the savior of a bad franchise (most likely). He's far from a "perfect" prospect. As far as Bledsoe goes, as a casual fan of the NCAA, I was pretty impressed with him, because I had nothing to expect, unlike John Wall, who arrived with astronomical fanfare and a Youtube sensation. So based on expecations, and from the games I've seen, Bledsoe impressed me as an explosive scorer, a blur who can run stride for stride with Wall, if not faster, out on the break, and who can be a fairly good finisher for a guy his height. Very quick, nice stop and go, with a rock solid build. But he is definitely a project tho, whose play was very streaky. I'd gamble on him in the lower part of the 1st round or high in the second round, in a very weak draft, especially at the PG position. There's more to being a great point guard in the NBA than having MaD SkilLZ and MAd HanDlZ, i wanted observations from fans who got a chance to see how he handled the nuances of playing the position with more game samples than I had (5).
In the NBA this will transform into a foul getting called for him. Especially for a guy with that much hype. As for Bledsoe, I was also impressed, but I think he should have stayed one more year at UK, but he knew that with the arrival of Knight he might not have been the starting PG. I like the kid and wouldn't mind picking him up somehow. He sure has been underrated thanks to John Wall's shadow.
"Inferior to Rose" is an interesting way to put it. I think Rose will be a better NBA player than Wall.
Top 5... that's debatable. I doubt it. Top five in five years... barring injuries LeBron Durant D-Wade Melo Howard Sort of hard to break into that top five imo... but I do think he can be an all-star by that time.
