Blatche has surgery on injured right foot
The police escort, red carpet, balloons and videos from the hero’s welcome for John Wall, the newest Washington Wizard, have all come and gone.
After the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft arrived in Washington on Friday — which was proclaimed “John Wall Day” by District mayor Adrian Fenty — he was set to return home to Raleigh before jetting off to Miami for a couple of days of much-needed relaxation.
The next time he returns to D.C., it’ll be time to get to work.
“As I told his mom, now I get to throw the iron fist out,” said Wizards head coach Flip Saunders. “But usually the players of his caliber, the thing that he has that great players have is he has that extreme competitiveness, and they’re all-around players.”
Saunders said Friday that he thinks Wall can be better than any the superstar guards he’s coached before, including Chauncey Billups and Stephon Marbury, but likened Wall to Gary Payton thanks to the defense that he hopes the 19-year-old will make his signature early on his career.
Regardless of his focus, Wall understands that the Wizards’ expectations for him are even larger than the massive banner on the side of Verizon Center that reads, “WALL: Game Changer.”
“I never heard of nothing like too much pressure,” said Wall. “… Like LeBron [James] said, he told me: ‘Don’t try to live up to all the hype, just play every game like you love it. Just go out and play the way you know how to.’ That’s basically all I know how to do.”
Blatche out three months
A day of celebration for the Wizards on Friday did have one negative turn when the team announced that forward Andray Blatche underwent surgery on the injured fifth metatarsal in his right foot and would miss the next three months.
Much of the team’s plans for next season involve Blatche, who averaged 22.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists when he moved into the starting lineup last season after the team was dismantled at the trading deadline.
