Much has been made of John Wall's absence on ESPN's "25 Under 25" list. As it turned out, Wall was the very final player cut from the list. ESPN listed the 10 finalists that didn't make the list, and Wall's name was the first name on there.
His ability to get to the front of the rim and make plays for himself and others is astounding -- his assist percentage has been higher than 35 percent in every season of his career -- and it is easy to forget that he's had just three years of high-level basketball (one at Kentucky and two in the NBA) under his belt. Despite rumblings around the league that he might have hit his ceiling, I believe Wall will be a game-changer, not only as his jump shot improves but as his supporting cast does as well.
The author for this piece was Amin Elhassan, not Kevin Pelton or David Thorpe, so I guess it's not clear where Wall would rank on their list. But it seems pretty clear that they all worked together.
The other nine near-misses, in order: Ricky Rubio, Evan Turner, Andre Drummond, Derrick Favors, Eric Gordon, Danilo Gallinari, Tyreke Evans, Klay Thompson and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. I think a number of those guys belonged on the initial list.