In yesterday’s rousing trade deadline, the trade involving two players with many springs (and many injuries) behind them went by the wayside. The Clippers got from the Rockets the versatile veteran Eric Gordon, 34. Taking the reverse route, along with a pick-swap in favor of the Rockets, was John Wall (32), who returns to Houston a few months after this summer’s buyout.
The swap of two veterans now used to playing marginal roles would be uninteresting in itself, except that the divorce between Wall and the Rockets was not anything but peaceful. Just a few weeks ago, host of the Run Your Race Podcast by Theo Pinson (ex-Mavs), Wall had called the Rockets “trashy.” trash. Specifically, Wall said he was annoyed by the hypocritical behavior of the company, who had hired him to act as a henchman for the young people, only to ask him to not to play To worsen the team’s performance:
The second year they didn’t want me to play at all. I didn’t go for it and said, “Look, if God sent me here. [a Houston] to help the young people is one thing, but He certainly didn’t send me here to tank you sons of … . I am a player who can still have his say and I am not going to waste my time like this.
The former All-Star did not go easy on anyone, criticizing coach and GM, stating that Houston’s handling of young people was totally wrong….
I used to tell them, “Don’t give them such a role by default, make them earn it!” […]. The coach [Stephen Silas] asked me, on behalf of him and the GM. [Rafael Stone], to start from the bench. And I said, “But tell me for whom? Last year I was your best player. Make him earn his place in the quintet!”
… but also pointing the finger directly at their own former comrades (or rather former comrades):
Our quintet was: me, David Nwaba, Jae’Sean Tate, Justin Patton, and someone else, and I’m like “how the f**k am I going to win a game with these guys?
I acted like a professional, I always tried to teach the guys, telling them “don’t get used to it, this is not the real NBA, it’s just a bad company right now.”
Wall’s lecture also addressed what all of Houston hopes will become the stars of the Rockets’ future, Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr.:
I’ve always said to Jalen Green, Kevin Porter, “don’t get used to this way of playing to lose. This is not the real NBA. In any other team, if you behaved the way you behave, you would be out of the league. They would not let you play! When they trade you and you go play somewhere else you will think, f**k, that guy was right!
After this interview, one can hardly say that John Wall has the hair on his tongue. The return to Texas of the ex-Washinton seems to be a real twist of fate and will be accompanied by some embarrassment among coach and former teammates; assuming Wall actually sets foot in the Rockets’ gym. In fact, Houston will almost certainly cut the point guard, who may seek his third team in just over six months. In 34 games with the Clippers, Wall put up 11.4 points and 5.2 assists per game, starting off the bench.
Born in 1995 in Milan, studied sociology and data science at the University of Zurich, Basketuniverso contributor since February 2014.
