Throughout the summer, the NBA releases videos celebrating the best highlights of the season. On Thursday, they released one featuring the best spin moves of the season, and Wall made two high-profile appearances on the countdown, at number three and number one on the list:
Both of Wall’s spins that made the list came during the Wizards’ series against the Celtics and help illustrate what makes his spin move so special. Let’s start with the spin that came in third on the list:
The thing that makes this spin so effective is Wall can do it quickly AND cover a lot of ground at the same time. He doesn’t just throw Kelly Olynyk off-balance, but he puts himself significantly closer to the basket which keeps Jae Crowder from contesting the shot. If anything, you could argue Wall went too far and put himself in a position where he almost couldn’t get a shot up, but thankfully, he reacted quickly and put the ball in just the right spot on the glass to get it in the bucket.
On the number one spin, Wall utilizes those same skills, but adds in another element with his passing vision:
Using the spin move to throw two defenders off balance is special all by itself, but then to still have the wherewithal to see Gortat cutting to the rim and hit him with a wraparound pass in traffic is just a thing of beauty.
There are a lot of players in the NBA with great spin moves, but Wall’s unique ability to do it quickly, cover ground as he does it, and still be able to either pass or shoot coming out of the spin makes it one of the effective moves in the league. Here’s to hoping Wall finds even more opportunities to use it next season.