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I'm having some trouble choosing a direction I should go in with my hyperbole about John Wall's debut last night; there's a couple great options for this situation. I could go with the incredible potential angle, the esoteric, "Hold your horses, It's just one pre-season game," or declare that basketball has returned to Washington D.C.
Because we've seen a lot of very highly rated prospects come in and look great early, and follow each of those story paths. For every Kevin Durant that has been able to develop the potential they showed early and turn their cities into basketball towns, there's a Marvin Williams who has become just a very solid role player (which I think I'm making sound worse than it is, but it is a major letdown for such a high draft pick). Truthfully, it can go either way.
I am among those who believe he will have a very good career, and restore some degree of excitement to basketball in Washington. Like everybody else however, I just don't know.
What I do know is that he looked very good last night. He was bigger, faster, and a better ball handler than I was giving him credit for. But it's just one game. A great opening game doesn't ensure a player will go onto exceed expectations, but it makes that conclusion easier to jump to than a bad debut would have.
The level of hype and anticipation surrounding John Wall is already at a very high level. A good performance doesn't raise those expectations, it just maintains them. We've already set a very high bar for John Wall, and last night, he didn't show anything that makes us want to lower it.
Today's must-reads from around the SB Nation network:
- This shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but Bullets Forever has a more in depth recap of the first preseason game.
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Hogs Haven has an early preview of the Packers. They get the cheese joke out of the way early.
- Federal Baseball has been counting down the five best stories from the Nats regular season and their at the top of the list. I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with Brasmas.
On Tap today at SB Nation D.C.: Ken Meringolo is back with another D.C. Rank and File, almost a blooper reel actually.