Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld on selecting John Wall with the first pick in the NBA Draft:
“We’re really happy about it. He’s an outstanding talent: great speed, quickness, a very good defender. He has a very good competitive nature to him, and he wants to be a great player. He has a great work ethic so we think We think he’s going to be a focal point for this organization for many, many years to come.”
Grunfeld’s best quote, on if the decision was always Wall:
“I think so. When I was in the back room [of the lottery], I saw when [NBA vice president] Joel Litvin said that the Wizards have the No. 1 pick, I said, ‘I can’t believe it. We’re going to get John Wall.’
And lots more:
“He’s an outstanding player, as are some of the other players – Evan Turner is a very, very good player, and some of the other players, [DeMarcus] Cousins, [Derrick] Favors and Wes Johnson – they’re all very good players. We just felt like John has some special physical tools that could really make him an outstanding player down the road. It’s going to take him some time. He’s only 19 years old. He’s going to be a rookie. He knows he has a lot to learn, but he has a great work ethic, and he’s really going to come in here and be a dynamic player for us.”
“You always look for the best players out there, but point guards are very hard to find in this league, as are centers, and he’s a natural point guard. He looks to pass first, and he has the ability to make his teammates better, which is rare to find nowadays.”
“We spent a lot of time on this. That’s a player that everyone, really before the season even started, that this player has the potential to be a number one pick and he proved most people right. He came to college, he had a great year, he led his team. They won a lot of games, and they were a very young team, primarily freshmen, and he didn’t disappoint anybody, and he was under the microscope for the whole year in a big time program, 24,000 every game. So he didn’t disappoint anybody, and we did our homework on him, as we did on some of the other guys.”
“We’re going to be patient with him, obviously. We expect him to come in and play and work hard and learn, and that’s going to be the main thing. He knows himself. He’s 19, but he’s confident, and as well he should be in his talents and his abilities. But anytime there’s a transition from college to the pros, there’s a learning curve, and you have to learn, you have to learn your opponents. You have learn terminology. You have to learn the plays and the style of play, play 82 regular season games instead of 30 regular season games. It’s a different type of environment and different type of scenario. Being the number one pick, I’m sure he’s going to get a lot of attention because of it. We’re going to work with him, and we’re going to have patience with him because we feel like he really has the ability to be a special type of player.”
