John Wall Is Killing Everyone In The “Lockout League”

If we didn’t know any better, off this summer alone, our top five NBA players might read something like this: Kevin Durant…Brandon Jennings…LeBron James…freakin’ Josh Selby…and John Wall. Washington’s finest has been destroying everyone from the blacktop to the gym. As “The Lockout League” has finally taken shape, he’s not doing anything to force us to back off some of the prodigious claims we’ve made about him. He’s going to be a beast, and some of us even think he could eventually be the best point guard in the world. These are still pickup games, and guys like J.J. Hickson (34 points and 14 rebounds) are doing work. But with 10 NBA players on the floor, they might be amongst the greatest pickup games of all-time. Wall has been the best player there so far, and in one game dropped 42, nine dimes and eight boards. We don’t expect this to be some summer fling. He’s going to be noticeably better next year. One guy we were interested in seeing do well was Avery Bradley and he did, dropping 20 points. The C’s better give him minutes this year. DeMar DeRozan also dropped 35 … But Wall’s rep falls on the shoulders of his teammates. It’s always about winning, and that’s even more important when you’re talking PGs. Who’s going to show love to the floor general for a lottery team? It doesn’t happen. So we love what Andray Blatche tried to do, but we can’t help but make fun. All you need to know about the Wizards, you can get from this story. Blatche recently read a book on leadership that inspired him to call up the troops and get everyone together for team workouts. Of course about half the team committed to it, but in the end it was only Blatche, Hamady Ndiaye and first-round pick Chris Singleton who came through. This story reminds us so much of those old middle school birthday parties when you always had to wonder if people would show up or if you’re bitter classmate rivals would purposely kill your party by setting up something cooler and better at the same time. Some of the guys had excuses, but still the Grizzlies just pulled the same thing and Mike Conley was telling us just about everyone was down in Memphis working out … Keep reading to hear about Mario Chalmers’ beef with Jay Wright and more NBA 2K12 news …

For this, Mario Chalmers gets a few extra points in our book. Not necessarily because all of this happened, but because he came out and admitted it. In an excerpt from a book called “Beyond the Phog – Untold Stories from Kansas Basketball’s Most Dominant Decade”, Chalmers and Sherron Collins to an extent admitted they have a problem with Villanova coach Jay Wright and took the NCAA tournament game against him personal during the year Kansas won the title. The summer before that season, both tried out for the national team, and both were cut, Wright opting to keep his guy Scottie Reynolds when Chalmers thought he BADLY outplayed him. Once they met up in the NCAAs, it was on. Chalmers says: “But during the game we were talking all kinds of s–t to Jay Wright. We’d run by him and tell him, ‘Sit your ass down! We got this!’ Another time we said to him, ‘This is what you get for cutting us. We’re about to dog you!’ Anytime we were throwing the ball in from the sideline, when he was standing up trying to call a play, we’d tell him to shut his mouth and sit down.” … Everyone and their mama might be trying to get Chris Paul to New York City, but he’s just posted up in the gym. Check out this video of his killer ab workout … After a day off (those movie ballers can’t take the every day thing), the final four in the Dime Ultimate Movie Baller one-on-one tournament will kick off today. To get there, Neon Bodeaux barely snuck by Tom Shepherd while Jesus slaughtered the Wolf. Butch McRae also advanced, but the surprise was Billy Hoyle, shutting down Kyle Lee Watson pretty easily (he had close to 70 percent of the vote). People really love them some White Men Can’t Jump huh? The two semis will be (1) Neon vs. (4) Jesus and (6) McRae vs. (15) Hoyle … The thing with video games is we just want the core product to be great. It has to have replay value, and it has to be enjoyable. All of that extra jazz is great, but if the actual gameplay is weak, then who cares right? NBA 2K12 has spent a ton of time talking up certain aspects of their game – namely the legends mode. With most products, that would put off an alarm for us. Are they overlooking the actual game to make secondary modes perfect? 2K has never been one to shy away from going all out to try to make the perfect game, and yesterday they quenched our thirst with another Developer Insight on the post game. Always an iffy portion of the game, the moves will be easier to control this year. Plus, there will actually be defense involved. In previous years, it felt like everyone was a 90% shooter with the six-foot hook shot. Now you can pull the chair, push back, guess left or right and generally get your Mahorn on. This should be amazing … Here’s a first quarter clip of actual game footage between Boston and the Clippers … And they’ve come to an agreement on a new CBA. Not for the players, but for the refs, and it’ll stay in effect for the next five years. As we’ve said before, progress … We’re out like Andre Johnson‘s ego.