John Wall Shines In Summer League Debut

The jitters are out of the way for John Wall. Now he can focus on saving the moribund Wizards.

Wall scored 24 points and had 8 assists, but also turned the ball over 8 times in his mostly impressive NBA Summer League debut.

The Wizards defeated the Golden State Warriors, 84-79.

Wall shot 7-for-15 from the floor and knocked down two mid-range jump shots, which was identified as one of his biggest weaknesses coming into the NBA.

He also got into the paint on several occasions, and found his way to the free throw line 11 times. (Wall went 10-for-11.)

John Wall scored 24 points and had 8 assists, but also turned it over 8 times in his NBA debut in Las Vegas. Photo: Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images

Wall admitted he was a little nervous in his first game as a professional.

“A little bit of jitters were there at the beginning so I had [a few] turnovers,” Wall told NBA TV’s David Aldridge.

“But I think I did a good job of running the team and getting to the basket and helping my team come out with the tough win.”

Wall also appeared to have a connection with Wizards forward JaVale McGee. Two of his assists came on pretty alley-oops to McGee, who finished with an authoritative flair.

Still, Wall’s eight turnovers caused NBA TV analyst Kevin McHale to give him just a ‘C’ on his first NBA performance.

“I thought he had a good game overall, showed a lot of potential, but the turnovers bring his grade down,” McHale said.

Wall  said his nerves won’t get the best of him again.

“I was just too hyped to play [tonight]…I was going too fast…you could see me losing the ball of couple times but I got my jitters out of the way so tommorrow I’ll come out with a better performance.”

Also see:

NBA Draft Profile: John Wall

2010 NBA Mock Draft