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By now, you've probably seen those pictures that make it seem like John Wall has gained a lot of weight in his time sitting while injured. In an interview with 106.7 The Fan, Wizards coach Randy Wittman confirmed that Wall has gained "about 6-7 pounds more than what he was prior to the injury" and "is not where he should be" conditioning-wise. However, Wittman doesn't seem too concerned about it.
"If you broke you hand, you know, then we should be a little concerned with where his conditioning is at. You can go out and run on the beach, you can run on the floor. But with his injury, he went so long where they just completely shut him down, and you can do laps in the pool," Wittman said on "LaVar and Dukes. "You can do a lot of different things. He only gained about 6-7 pounds more than what he was prior to the injury. It's going to be a process getting back into shape."
"The specialist just completely shut him down, and it's hard to stay [in shape]. You've got to watch what you eat, but still, if you don't do anything as a professional athlete for six months, you're going to gain some weight," he said later.
Wittman said that he can't rush back Wall too soon because hamstring and groin pulls happen when a player isn't in optimal shape. The doctors were worried that Wall would make the injury worse with most physical activity, hence the persecription for rest.
As far as a timetable, Wittman seemed to indicate that Saturday, as hinted by Ted Leonsis, might be ambitious.
"We'll get three great practices for him and we'll see what next week brings. Maybe we can get him on the floor for limited minutes starting next week sometime," he said.
For the entire interview, including nuggets about last night's win, click here.