The Washington Wizards may be struggling to make an extended playoff run. The team is doing all it can to build the team from its current status as bottom-dwellers in the East, but they’re simply struggling to put together a competitive enough team.
Washington has taken on many forms during their years for a championship, and the most successful they have been in the past two decades was when John Wall was the man running the show for Washington.
Wall and Bradley Beal led Washington to multiple Eastern Conference Semifinal appearances, but they’ve never made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. However, injuries and a poor team composition prevented him from rising any further, which saw his career fizzle out with the Los Angeles Clippers at 32.
With his playing years behind him, Wall openly talked about his career on a recent podcast appearance. He revealed the toughest player he’s ever had to guard, and it’s another great player whose superstar career was cut short by injuries.
John Wall says Derrick Rose was the toughest player he’s ever had to guard in his time with the Washington Wizards
Wall appeared on The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis and talked about his speed-focused play style. The conversation naturally moved to Derrick Rose, one of the speediest and twitchiest players to play in the league before multiple ACL injuries robbed him of his athleticism.
He said that he knew Rose would be a problem from the very first preseason game he played against him as a rookie for the Wizards.
“My rookie year was MVP year for him, so that was hell for me…” Wall said. “I remember we played him in pre-season. I was like, ‘Damn, this might be the first guy that’s quicker, faster than me.'”
He then elaborated what made Rose so difficult to play against:
“The hardest person I had problems with was D Rose. You got to think, with Thibs’ system, everybody around him was located to play defense. You couldn’t stop him. It’s unlimited pick-and-rolls, he’s scoring at will.
“You could get any other guard that played with Thibs, they all got that freedom, but you know D Rose [was] just on a different level.”
Rose was unstoppable during his turn as the youngest player in NBA history to win MVP. He averaged 25.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 1.0 steals a game. Meanwhile, Wall had a great rookie campaign with his 16.4 points, 4.6 boards, 8.3 steals, and 1.3 steals.
Both are known as blindingly fast players, but Wall will be the first to tell you that Rose was a different beast during his rookie year with Washington.
For More Content
Message me at [email protected] for questions and opportunities. Click here for more content about your favorite NBA, WNBA, and college basketball teams!
