John Wall's exclusion from the USA Basketball player pool for upcoming international competitions may be the best thing to have happened to the Washington Wizards since they won the 2010 draft lottery, allowing them to select Wall.
Not only does his absence from the program's top-28 names mean that Wall won't be tasked with strenuous international competition during the 2014 and 2016 offseasons, but it's also providing Wall additional motivation.
Wall was largely considered the biggest "snub" from the list - though Chandler Parsons thought his own exclusion was "a joke" - and he's taking it personally.
"I just use it as more motivation. It’s nothing I could do. It’s nothing I can say, and I don’t want nobody to babysit me or try to make it work for me. They made their list, they made their decision and that’s what they’re happy with, and I just have to look past that. It’s more motivation because I didn’t make McDonald’s game. I wasn’t national player of the year. I wasn’t rookie of the year. So those are just tabs I keep to motivate myself to prove people wrong."
A John Wall with a chip on his shoulder is a scary thought; he's already averaging career-highs of 20 points, 8.5 assists and 1.9 steals, numbers only Stephen Curry can match.
As long as he's not taking it out on teammate and USA-team select Bradley Beal in practice, this could be a major positive for the Wizards.
