Raleigh’s John Wall is on the new (1/11/10) cover of Sports Illustrated. Inside the covers is an article by Grant Wahl which uses quotes by some of basketball’s pillars to describe the Freshman sensation as the best point guard in college basketball and a lock for the top of the NBA Draft in June.

Missing from the article is any mention about Wall’s late development as a player. I coached little league basketball in Raleigh for 11 seasons, and was closely in touch with the state of middle school basketball in Raleigh when Wall was at that level. Interestingly Wall was not even on the radar at that level, nor did he even make the Broughton JV team. Reasons for the latter are varied, from Wall’s inability to compete at that time to his reported bad attitude, work ethic, and choice of friends; depending on whom you interview, of course.

The latter seemed to plague Wall throughout high school, as numerous top coaches approached Wall and were spooked by off-court issues. His arrest for breaking and entering an empty house last spring did not help matters. Wall signed with new Kentucky coach John Calipari, however, and has turned college basketball on its head. To date, Wall is nothing but a phenomenal success at the college level. Hopefully those other days are behind and John Wall is ready to be the incredible, consistent professional he is capable of being.

For now, though, it will be interesting to see if Wall so good that not even the SI jinx cam bring him down.