Dark Faze wrote:My theory is Ted thinks John tore his Achilles by doing something reckless that could void his contract, which probably has a reasonably good chance of being true. Slipped in the shower is super suspect stuff.
Not to me. I recall former Tarheel Eric Montross had his career ended when he broke something in his foot stepping over a baby gate. He had some quote about it that stuck with me at the time like "Not everybody gets a fairy tale ending." Shxt happens. Anybody who has had an injury has had something go wonky in another part of the body trying to compensate for the other injury. John had a serious infection following surgery, and the meds he was taking to fight the infection tend to make tendons weak. Slipping while balancing one injury is totally plausible. The other bad decisions stand on their own.
Anyway Ted didn't need a reason other than the one we all know about. He was publicly embarrassed after having paid John a huge chunk of money and standing by him during rehab and calling him often, the team checking on him every day. Seeing John not rehabbing in Miami but partying late night in New York would feel like Wall was not respecting the situation. Ted felt betrayed and lied to. But didn't reflect on the depression etc that John might be going through.
I think in part the John Wall situation is why Ted overpaid Brad. Beal is the sort of player that never pushes the envelope in this kind of way. If Ted was going to overpay an injured Wall, then it would only be fair if he would overpay a guy like Brad who has shown nothing but loyalty -- even during the tail end of the Grunfeld era when he made clear he was going to jump ship unless the FO changed.
John said it himself though, even his best friends didn't know what was going on with him. He hid it from everybody. Yes a reasonable person could have understood John was going through some mess whatever his public face was, but Ted had John over his house, called him on a weekly basis, etc. Things you generally don't hear about an owner doing. Ted irks me, but he's not slimy. This was just a bad situation all around and decisions were made by feelings. Anyway, it worked out for the Wiz, seems like. And probably John Wall as well, now that he's with a contender.
Wallstar has been one of my favorite Wizards ever, awesome if he makes it back to consequential play and redeems the long struggle. Reading this article just reminds me of what a good guy he is, and how players tend to stand for things larger than themselves. Struggle, grief, mental health, depression -- I like that he is willing to share to be able to help others who see him as a role model. Talk about therapy, and exemplify the idea that if a millionaire hypertalent can struggle then yeah, anyone can. Good dude and I am looking forward to seeing him on court again. I'd love to see him get a bit of redemption for the work he has put in. Or hell, a championship so he can get that fairy tale ending, why not.
