(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)Around 6 p.m. on Tuesday night, John Wall confidently strode into the NBA Draft Lottery media room, flanked by a member of the Wizards’ press relations staff and an NBA escort. He pointed and smiled at a few people, gave former Georgetown and current Detroit Pistons center Greg Monroe a half hug/half handsake, and then did the same to projected number one pick Kyrie Irving. Then he smiled and shook hands with some members of the Washington D.C. media, before finally settling down in his designated area for interviews. He looked like a young man who ready to take on any and everything thrown his way.
Just last June, Wall was a 19-year old kid who was fresh off completing a year of college at the University of Kentucky. A month after the Wizards won the lottery and obtained the number one pick, and just one day after he was selected as the draft’s first selection, Wall was sitting on a dais that included Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, team president Ernie Grunfeld and head coach Flip Saunders. A video was played in his honor, he was presented a key to the city by then-mayor Adrian Fenty, and the day was declared John Wall Day.
When he finally took the microphone, Wall seemed overwhelmed by the moment. His sentences were jumbled. Eye contact was minimal at best. And the only time he really looked comfortable is when he finally stepped off of that makeshift stage, and headed away from the crowd.
That was not the John Wall on the display on Tuesday at the NBA Draft lottery show.
After his initial grand entrance into the media area, Wall went and did a series of interviews with the media, consistently giving clear, concise and confident answers.
On his good luck charm for the draft: “I brought my mom, I couldn’t get [Irene Pollin’s] yellow jacket or her pearls, so I brought my mom.” On his plans for this offseason: “I’m very excited about the offseason, I’ve been watching film just about every day…I got tapes of everybody I played against — Derrick [Rose], [Rajon] Rondo, Chris Paul, I got tapes of all those guys, and I’m just picking apart what I can learn, and I’m just trying to get better.” On his expectations for his fellow Wizards teammates this summer: “I hope our team is either working out or watching the playoffs and seeing what we could be…to just get better or make the playoffs that’s the main thing…and to make progress every year.”
A cynical outsider could easily dismiss Wall’s statements as “company lines” or simple regurgitations of what he was coached and encouraged to say by his handlers, and that could have very well been the case. But for a now-20-year-old player to call out his teammates and vow to break down tape of his performances against superior players while representing the entire franchise on draft lottery day is a big deal. It shows a brand of leadership that has been lacking inside the Wizards franchise for quite some time.
Last summer, the leaders of the team (mostly by default) were Gilbert Arenas and Andray Blatche. Arenas stayed mostly silent as he recovered from the gun incident the previous season; Blatche, meanwhile, injured his foot and stayed out of the spotlight. Even when veterans Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler were considered to be the leaders of the Wizards, neither one of them gave the team a directive on what they wanted to accomplish, let alone how they planned on achieving it. They silently led by example, which is not necessarily a bad way to lead.
But Wall vowed to lead by example, and then implored his teammates to do the same in just four short minutes of interviews. He seemed to fully embrace the start of his second year as the leader of the team.
Just 40 minutes after his initial round of interviews, Wall found himself next to highly influential individuals like Toronto Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo, and Sacramento Mayor/Michelle Rhee fiance Kevin Johnson, who was representing the Sacramento Kings. While they were waiting for the lottery festivities to begin, Wall vacillated between talking with Colangelo and Johnson — later revealing he briefly talked to Mayor Johnson about his role in keeping the Kings in Sacramento — and there was a confidence about him that seemed to be lacking during a rookie season during which his team won 12 fewer games than he did during his one year at the University of Kentucky.
The only area where Wall failed to impress was when it came time to bring home the number one spot in the draft lottery. That distinction went to the LeBron-less Cleveland Cavaliers, who were represented by owner Dan Gilbert’s 14-year-old son Nick, among others. The Wizards landed the sixth pick in the draft, despite having the fourth-worst record in the league — a far cry from their number one selection the previous year. But even after that minor setback, Wall was prepared with a timely joke about the frigid room temperature when he met with the media to discuss the Wizards disappointing draft position.
“Man, it is cold in this room. I know y’all think I looked nervous up there on that stage, but I was cold, it’s freezing here.”
His statements were met with polite chuckles, rather than raucous laughter. But it kept the mood light, and it temporarily deflected the mood away from what could have potentially been an awkward question-and-answer session. Wall was even diplomatic about the Wizards chances to draft a good player in what is being roundly characterized as a weak NBA draft:
“This has been great experience. I wish we could have gotten something a bit higher, but number six is still cool. I think we find somebody to really help us out.”
Shortly after that interview, Wall looked back at his mother and said something to her that caused her to break out in a broad smile. Then Wall walked by former Duke guard Kyrie Irving — who, as the projected number one pick, was now flanked by reporters — and said something in his ear, to which Irving also flashed a broad smile before resuming his interview session. Whether it was the national media, the D.C. press corps, Mayor Johnson, the Raptors G.M. or a prospective NBA player, Wall was working the room with relative ease.
Wizards fans have the summer and possibly a lengthy NBA lockout to endure before seeing John Wall on the court in a new and improved uniform. But if the two hours or so he spent at the NBA Draft lottery are any indication, the former number one pick will have made significant strides — both on and off the court — toward being a better leader.
That’s just as good as winning the draft — almost.
