NBA executive talks to Jeff Goodman about John Wall, Daniel Orton

This is from Jeff Goodman’s blog on Foxports.com. Some really interesting stuff about a couple of UK’s heralded freshmen:

I just found out the Preseason AP Poll will be released on Thursday. Kansas will be the clear-cut No. 1 team in the land, but it’ll be interesting to see who gets the nod at No. 2.

Personally, I like Kentucky – especially with the rave reviews coming out of Lexington about freshman point guard John Wall.

One NBA executive who was at practice recently raved about Wall’s leadership.

“I’ve never seen anything like it from a freshman,” the NBA executive told FOXSports.com. “You can tell he’s all about winning.”

Supposedly, Wall stood at midcourt and every single player on his team came over and slapped his hand.

The NBA guy also said that freshman big man Daniel Orton had his way on that afternoon with fellow frosh DeMarcus Cousins.

“He tore his #$% up,” is what he told me.

I know this will be viewed as Patrick Patterson’s team, but John Wall is clearly going to be a key leader.  Also, John Calipari has been looking for Daniel Orton to come out of his shell post-knee surgery, and this is the most positive news I have heard on this front.  If Orton can push Cousins this way as the season goes on, it will force Cousins to improve his inconsistent effort.

Hat tip to AllKYHoops.com for the find.