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After his first practice with the Houston Rockets, point guard John Wall spoke nostalgically of his decade with the Washington Wizards and vowed to return to All-Star form with his new franchise after a two-year hiatus.
Wall said it was a “surreal” sensation to show up to practice in Houston, trading Russell Westbrook for Wall and a future protected first-round pick in a maximum salary point guard trade, after spending the previous decade in Washington.
“He was a skinny, 19-year-old boy with no facial hair and he didn’t know where he was going in life,” Wall said, recalling his arrival in Washington after being the first overall pick in the 2010 draft. “They watched me grow up and be this one. grown man who has two beautiful kids and a family at home. That’s all I can say. I love you. My heart will always be there. The way I touched the fans, the way I touched that community, that it still exists today and it will continue to exist until the day I leave this Earth.
“I wish the whole team, the organization, the best of luck this year, but my main focus is my new team, the Rockets, and what I’m trying to achieve: to come back and be an All-Star player and be. “. player that everyone feels that I have no more. “
Wall’s debut with the Rockets will be his first game since December 26, 2018, which was shortly before he underwent surgery on his left heel. Weeks later, Wall tore his left Achilles tendon after slipping and falling at home.
Wall will reunite with his old friend and former Kentucky teammate DeMarcus Cousins in Houston as they both return from serious injuries. Cousins, a four-time All-Star center who signed a veteran-minimum one-year deal with the Rockets, has been limited to 38 games (including the playoffs) in the past two seasons due to an Achilles rupture, torn quadriceps and tear. ACL.
“They’re not limping or doing any of that,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “They both look good physically. It’s just the conditioning piece … Neither of us has played in that long. It may be a while before we look like old Boogie or old John Wall, but they both look better than nobody expected them to look at the fight we did today. “
Wall said he’s been feeling completely healthy since March, when he played with the Wizards’ G League affiliate and got some practice with the NBA team. He specifically recalled feeling “like, yeah, I’m back” while playing 3v3 and 4v4 during the Wizards’ visit to the Bay Area last season.
Wall, a five-time All-Star with career averages of 19.0 points and 9.2 assists per game, said his heel had been bothering him for years and limiting his athleticism.
“I’m going to be John Wall no matter what happens when I get on that court, but at the same time, I’m out there and I just see how much longer I want to play and certain things I want to improve at, I can do certain things that I couldn’t do before. when he was injured and playing through certain things, “said Wall, who has $ 133 million in three seasons remaining on his contract. “That’s why I feel like my game is going to evolve, because I’m finally healthy and I don’t have those pesky little injuries that I’ve been dealing with for the last six or seven years. People will finally be able to see at some point what I was playing for and why. What was happening.
“Doing what I was doing on one leg basically lets me know how special I am.”
