Many skills are invaluable to making it big in the NBA. The modern game revolves around shooting, if a player can shoot the ball well, then they likely can find a solid role in the league. But other parts of the game are equally important, and one of the most exciting skills a star can master is ball handling.
Everyone loves a slick move to get past a defender on the court. Allen Iverson’s crossover against Michael Jordan is still spoken about to this day. And the guards that initiate the offense and make good things happen tend to have the best handles. While his career is petering out due to injury, John Wall is still one of the best point guards around. And in an interview with Bally Sports, he revealed which players had handles that he admired the most.
Allen Iverson, for sure. Tim Hardaway, Steve Francis, Stephon Marbury, Baron Davis … you know what I mean? Actually, one of my favorites that really got me learning how to dribble was ‘Hot Sauce’ aka Philip Champion from the AND 1 Mixtape. Watching him and ‘Skip to My Lou’ aka Rafer Alton and watching Sebastian (Telfair), and everybody used to (say), ‘The way you dribble through everybody, (it’s) like you’re from New York’ with my play and my swagger.
These are some stellar picks and Allen Iverson totally deserves to be on the top of anyone’s list. The rest of those guards, like Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury, aren’t spoken about enough, but they had some smooth moves as well. When picking current players with elite handles, though, Wall’s pick was slightly more controversial.
John Wall Didn’t Include Stephen Curry On His List Of Current Best Ball-Handlers
Kyrie Irving is who people think of first when it comes to handles in the modern NBA. But Stephen Curry isn’t too far behind, either. That’s why it was surprising when Wall seemingly neglected to mention him in his list.
“Currently in the NBA? You got Jamal Crawford. You got to have him. That’s one of my old heads. Kyrie Irving, for sure. Trae Young has an ill handle. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one of those sneaky ones who you think doesn’t have one, but he has one for sure. LaMelo (Ball) pats the rock well. CJ McCollum got a handle.
“Ja Morant got a handle. You got so many guys who got that thing on a string. … Even Jalen Brunson, who people sleep on — he has a handle. So, it’s so many guys that are out here that are gifted and talented that work on their game so much, and you can tell that it’s working out for them the way that they wanted it to be.”
A lot of these are very fair shouts, but it’s important to point out that Jamal Crawford retired over 2 years ago at this point. Stephen Curry’s ability to maneuver the ball and get free is simply spectacular as well, so one can assume that the name just slipped Wall’s mind. After all, the rest of the lists do seem quite solid.
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