Washington Wizards point guard John Wall was named an All-Star starter Thursday night. This will be Wall's second All-Star appearance, but his first as a starter.
He's the 11th Wizard to be named a starter for the All-Star game, but the first since Gilbert Arenas in 2007. Wall talked about the selection in a phone interview following the announcement:
“It’s going in the right steps. There’s still a lot more love and respect I can get. But like me and Coach [Randy Wittman] talked about last year, you only get to those situations, those places when you’re winning. So it’s a big honor for me and my teammates and coaches. I appreciate the fans a whole lot for voting me in as a starter.
“It’s going to be same, nervous, man, because now it’s different. Last year, I came off the bench, so it was like, ‘Okay, I’m in off the bench, the game is already going and I just got to come in and do a little bit.’ But you’re anxious. Your first shot, you hope you don’t air ball. All the guys were telling me, ‘Make your first shot a layup. Make it easy.’ Now it’s different because I’m starting the game and I’ll be the main guy running the show from the beginning. So it’s going to be a lot of nerves.”
Wall led all Eastern Conference backcourt players with 886,368 votes, 81,000 ahead of Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry, who will start alongside Wall. Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James was the conference’s leading vote-getter and will start in the frontcourt with Chicago Bulls center Pau Gasol and New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony.
Wall is averaging 17 points a game and leads the league with 10.0 assists and 2.4 steals a game.
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