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probably next year, it's going to wear down. 82 games, I have to save myself for the season, but I just love to play basketball, man. It doesn't matter what time of night. I tried to come in here yes- terday after we went bowling. I tried to come back here last night but they said the lights weren't going to be able to come on.
DIME: You might've been the most visible NBA player this
summer. Does anyone ever tell you to slow down? JW: Some people say I need to take a break. It is tough with this lockout. I just want to play basketball. I just love to play the game. That's what I love to do. I can do this all day. I could wake up at 4 o'clock in the morning, drive to a gym that's maybe an hour away just so I could play.
You never know when this day could end or when it could stop and when you could lose it. I'm just enjoying every bit of it.
DIME: How did you learn your spin move and be able to do it
in traffic? JW: I dunno, man. I just kinda go off instinct. So if somebody cuts me off, I'm just thinking about… it's not thinking. I just go with a counter, whatever move I feel is comfortable. Most often I spin or go behind my back.
Some people do it when the defender's off of them. You can only do it when you feel the defender on you. If he cuts you off and I can feel your body on me, that's when I would spin away.
DIME: You can't really practice that can you? JW: You can practice it, but I'm not good at practicing it. I mean,
I'm great at practice. I like working on stuff. But those type of things, some things I do just come off instinct. You know how you do one ballhandling move. It might be off instinct, but you've worked on it before. But at the time, you weren't really thinking about doing it.
It's just like when I bounce or stutter-step, I can go either way I want. I can go past you, crossover, in-and-out. So it's basi- cally just having counters. You basically have to read what the defender gives you, and that's how I play.
DIME: The second half of the season you weren't healthy. Are
you now getting back to normal? JW: Yeah, after I sprained my foot in Chicago, I was still fighting through that. Then, I got a bone bruise later in the season so I was still fighting through it all. Now, I'm back to myself – being explosive, being myself, being able to jump.
DIME: Was there anything that you couldn't do at the end of
the year? JW: There was a lot. A lot. I was still blowing past people, but it wasn't how I wanted it to be. You know what I mean? I couldn't do certain moves that I wanted to. When I drove to my right hand, I would always jump off my right foot because my left leg was so bad. I had a bone bruise and a sprained foot so I couldn't really jump off my left leg.
DIME: What are your expectations this year with the Wizards? JW: My intentions are the playoffs. Last year was kind of tough.
That's what I wanted, but I was fighting through injuries and a couple of other guys got injured and traded, so we never had our full focus. But I just want to make the playoffs. I love watching basketball. I love going to games, but I just want to play. I can't really go watch and sit.
Last year, we were a real young team and we all were just going for ourselves. We played together as a team at times and you could tell; and at times you could tell we played for ourselves. I think with a year under our belt and all of us knowing how the
end of the game goes – and knowing what you want to do and why you want to play in the playoffs and what winning in this league is all about – I think we can be a whole lot better.
September 28, 2011
There's a voice on the other end of the phone. It's John Wall, calling from Reseda, Calif., about 20 minutes from downtown Los Angeles. We're talking birthday parties. Wall just had a tour of them all up the East Coast, from New York to South Beach. Turning 21 is a big deal. Drake came through. So did Carmelo Anthony and Diddy.
Wall's at 360 Health Club, a sprawling complex somehow hidden within the shadow of a sketchy side street. Inside on the bas- ketball court, a workout is going on opposite Wall's photo shoot. Outside there is a valet service… for the gym.
Not everyone will talk about the past – especially when that includes a father who served jail time, and an angry childhood that had one foot in disaster and the other very nearly in prison or even death. That's where he was heading, they all say. Before he turned it around. But the past doesn't frighten Wall.
In-between breaks to set up the photographer's lights, Wall is joking with the other players in the gym or holding impromptu dunk contests on a mini hoop. His new signature sneaker – the Reebok Zig Encore – is dropping soon, and Wall can tell you everything about them. He helped design them.
Wall poses everywhere during the photo shoot, wears whatever he's asked to and is dripping sweat after someone calls for an extended series of action shots.
DIME: Coming up, you've told me you had a tough childhood.
What was that like? JW: It was tough, man. Losing my dad at the age of nine, I really didn't know what death was. I just knew about living and enjoy- ing life as a kid. I just knew down the road… I'd see kids doing