John Wall doesn't seem all that happy

[CobraCommander]

I agree. This has actually been a concern of mine as Wall has piled up the accolades and honors. There really isn't much incentive for him to change anything about how he plays: he's getting a max salary, he's making All-Star teams, he's getting praise for being great. The biggest narrative about this season is that the Wizards wasted a season of Wall's prime by giving him a crappy supporting cast, which also (darn the luck) got hurt a lot. I've written a lot about how that narrative is inaccurate, but (wild guess here) Wall probably isn't reading my blog.

Why would he change anything when he's widely praised for being great and blame for the team's disappointing record is assigned elsewhere?

It doesn't sound like the praise is going to his head.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/sports/wp/2016/04/15/there-are-no-nights-off-for-nba-point-guards/?tid=sm_tw_ps

At the end of his best NBA season, John Wall can think of only one way to react.
With extreme self-loathing.
“It wasn’t good enough,” the Washington Wizards point guard says, shaking his head in disgust. “I wasn’t good enough.”

He's saying all of the right things. It remains to be seen whether it'll translate into action. He needs to come into training camp in the best shape of his life, for starters.

In the same press conference, he also indicated he had a "career year."

But, I'd agree with his assessment: he wasn't good enough.

Says the right things...but this team isn't deep enough and Wall isn't good enough to carry this team. Fair assessment

[80sballboy]

Wait...I watched all of the post game interviews when the Wiz lose and Wall always starts by saying it starts with him. Wall seems to verbally take accountability. But I do think Wall and Beal need much better coaching to improve. Wall has to be a little arrogant when he is the first pick in the draft and a 3 time all star and avg 20 and 10. I am sure that type of validation could lead to him being a little arrogant at least. I know you guys may think this is BS but I think losing Sam Cassell and Andre Miller was a big deal for Wall. Both of those guys could critique and coach Wall on his point guard play.

On the favoritism, Nene was a disaster this year and if the coach wasn't calling him out but calling Beal, Gortat and Wall out...that could lead to them being righteously angry with the coach. Also we all hated the rotations for Porter a few years ago and KOs this year...seemed like young players were getting inconsistent minutes while old vets on one year contracts were getting run- which seemed very short sighted. I blame the culture of the team on the GROWN MEN IN THE ROOM...the coach and GM. We have a chance to get a better coach and that should satiate Wall, Beal and Gortat...now if they play better we will be satisfied too!

This is really stupid. Nene PHYSICALLY couldn't play anymore with any consistency. There is no point in calling out a guy who physically can't do it anymore.

On top of that, not only was Nene not a "disaster" this season, I thought he played some of his best ball as a Wizard during the last couple of months of the season. Over the last 15 games of the season, Nene averaged 12 pts., close to 7 rebs., and more than 2 assists in 19 minutes.

The Zards ball movement was at its best when Nene was being used as a facilitator. He also showed he still had some decent quickness, especially for a big guy, when attacking the basket.

It's over. Time to move on. The last 15 games? Where was he the first 57? Oh, that's right, missing about a month with a calf injury. I know what he provides when he's motivated but I think he should lean towards retirement. No thanks.

[TheSecretWeapon]

I don't have time to look in detail, but my PPA tracking would suggest Nenê wasn't any better over the last 15 games or so than he was earlier in the year.

According to the table at my blog, Nenê's PPA on March 14 was 90 (where 100 is average and higher is better). On April 5 (my most recent update), it was 82.