How John Wall Shocked The NBA World Against The Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks had their home-opener against the Washington Wizards, and with no surprise, won.

Although they won, it was a pretty tight game.

John Wall surprised the NBA World, after being criticize for not have a jumper and being too passive, by dropping 28 points, 5 rebounds, and 9 assists.  Al Thornton and Joe Johnson had a great game also, but this is about J-Wall.

But the Wizards still lost their 10th in a row to the Hawks, who have been sort of a forgotten team in the Southeast Division with all the hype surrounding Miami's Big Three and defending champion Orlando.

**And by the way, Washington's JaVale McGee blocked seven shots, making some of them look like it was easy. But he picked up his fifth foul midway through the final period and wasn't much of a factor the rest of the way.

His Jumpshot

Hey! Hey!! Remember that set jumper that Wall has that was "oh-so" terrible?

Well that same jumper got him to make two 3-pointers and three mid-range jumpshots against the Hawks defense.  Something tells me that after a few weeks, players won't be "Rondo"-ing him on defense anymore because that jumper is starting to look like water.

Ok, maybe not water, but its getting better and has showed tremendous improvement since the season-opener against the Orlando Magic.

I guess that 45 minutes before practice after the loss against Orlando helped some.

Turnovers

First off, the thing that stands out the most on Wall's scouting report is turnovers.  Most people got on him in the summer league for being so turnover prone...but as you see, he has definitely cut them down during the regular season and pre-season.

These are his numbers, from the past, leading on to the present:

Summer League: 5.2 TOs

Pre-season: 3.9 TOs

Regular Season(as of now): 3.0 TOs

He could still cut them down, but the majority of his turnovers occur from teammates not paying attention to the ball and not having good hands.  Remember, he does play with a center with a low basketball IQ level, JaVale McGee; and the soft, Yi Jianlian.

Scoring Role

Now with Gilbert Arenas injured, John Wall doesn't really have a lot to work with on offense, as far as being a "catch and shoot" type of player that can get him assists(besides Kirk Hinrich).  Even though he is profiled as a "pure" PG who looks for his teammates and getting them involved, this is a time where he has to take over and take the scoring approach.

No Gilbert Arenas, no Josh Howard...that is like minus 25 points off the scoreboard right there.  

I'm impressed that John Wall recognized that he is missing some scoring pieces and took over the game, along with Al Thornton.  If Wall did what he did against the Hawks to the Magic, they would've still lost...but not as bad as it was.

On the bright side, Wall still has the most points scored and assists given than any rookie in the NBA so far.

The "Other" Pick

Before the season, preseason, or summer league started, everyone was so sure that Evan Turner would be a better basketball player and have a better stats sheet than John Wall.  Well, so far, its doesn't seem like that it the case.

Evan Turner struggled in summer league and preseason, but has picked up the slack so far in the regular season...he still is putting up "Number 2 Overall" stats, but he is doing a lot better than he started which is great for the organization.

Compared to Wall and Griffin, he will need a lot more to compete for the ROY Award.

The Rookie "Who Should Be" ROY

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LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 27: Blake Griffin #32 of the Los Angeles Clippers reacts after his dunk during the first half against the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center on October 27, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly ackn

Rookie of the Year goes to...Blake Griffin??

This early???

If the award was handed out now then yes, but its not so we have to wait about 7 more months to see how his body acts after recovering from injury.

Blake Griffin better watch out, because John Wall is right on his tail and isn't slowing down.  John Wall proved all the Blake Griffin bandwagoners that its too early to hand out the award yet and that he can put up good numbers too.

People may argue that Blake's numbers are far better than Wall's but you can also say that Wall's opponents were tougher to go against than Griffins.

Bottom Line: John Wall made a statement Saturday Night against the Atlanta Hawks and proved that he can put up elite PG stats in the NBA and the NBA shouldn't sleep on Wall yet.