Earlier this week, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal drafted the teams for the NBA’s rookie – sophomore rising stars game. I guess the fact that Barkley and Shaq pick the teams is supposed to drum up interest in the game. At the very least, it has motivated John Wall, who felt slighted by the two coaches. From the Washington Post:

“It’s a joke to me,” said Wall, who is averaging 16.9 points and 7.5 assists in his second season. “If they think there are 11 guys better than me, then that’s their decision. But I know what I think in my mind and all I can do is go out there and play basketball the way I know how to play.”

John Wall is going to dominate the heck out of this exhibition where nobody is playing defense or trying hard on non-alley-oops. Wall was the sixth guard selected, behind Kyrie Irving, Jeremy Lin, Ricky Rubio, MarShon Brooks and Kemba Walker. Should Wall have been taken after all of those guys? In a real game, probably not. In an exhibition, who cares? Complain about disrespect when your team climbs within 10 games of .500.

[WaPo via LBS]