John Wall injured & out 8 weeks
The Washington Wizards will hold a press conference at 2 PM Friday to announce that point guard John Wall, the cornerstone of the franchise, has an injured patella tendon and will miss the next 8 weeks due to the injury. No surgery will be required. The precise injury, apparently, is stress on the patella tendon in the left knee, so expect Wall to miss at least the first month of the regular season.
Obviously, this is a terrible blow to the Wizards, who were hoping to have a big season this year after adding F/C Nene in a trade last year and C Emeka Okafor and QF Trevor Ariza in a trade during the offseason. In addition, the team used the third overall pick in the draft to select SG Bradley Beal, whom they hope to pair with Wall in the back court for the next decade or so.
The Wizards will now have to scramble to fill the gaping hole left by Wall's absence. The team has Shelvin Mack, A.J. Price and Jordan Crawford all on the roster right now and the three of them, or some combination thereof, could fill in for Wall, Crawford really isn't a point guard at all, but he could give the team a few minutes here and there. Price and Mack are point guards, though neither has demonstrated much in the NBA. Mack and Price can't shoot a lick, but tha'ts not a huge problem since Wall can't [or hasn't] either. They both are probably decent backups in the NBA, but they lack Wall's incredible burst, energy, speed, quickness, aggressiveness and ability to play bigger than he is.
For all the additions the Wizards have made to the team in this calendar year, Wall was still the best player on the roster. Going the entire training camp, preseason and first month of the regular season without Wall is a definite setback to the team's ongoing rebuilding plans.
Keep that in mind, anyone who is thinking about a season ticket plan.
