Michael Lee of the Washington Post spoke with John Wall today about his expectations for this upcoming season, which will be Wall's fourth in the league. Wall was matter-of-fact about his focus for next season tell Lee (via Twitter):
"My whole goal is, this is my 4th year & I need to be in the playoffs. Nothing more & nothing else needs to be said about that.”
Wall will make $7.259MM this season with the Wiz and if he and the team don't reach a deal on an extension by October 31st this year, the Wizards have the option to extend him a QO of $9.698MM in the spring.
Here are some more notes from around the Southeast division…
- Lee also writes at the Washington Post that third pick Otto Porter's versatility will be put to the test.
- Heat President Pat Riley says the team will try to find young veterans who can supplant the team's stars when they move on, as Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel notes.
- The Magic will likely buy-out Al Harrington tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld.
- Louis Williams missed a large part of last season after he tore his right ACL, but as Lang Green at HoopsWorld finds out he's still a big part of the Hawks' plans after talking to coaches and executives. If the Hawks were to trade Williams to free up cap space, Mark Deeks of Shamsports.com says they would have no problem doing so.
- The Bobcats finally made a splashy free agency signing by getting Al Jefferson with a three-year $41MM deal earlier this summer. Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes that Jefferson has special skills as one of the last dominant low-post big men in the game today.
- Bonnell's colleague, Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowler sounds off on the hysteria over the Bobcats/Hornets name change.