John Wall is the best PG in the East right now

[hands11]

Hey Wizards fans.. I need some insight on Wall's recent struggles. Can you guys save me a lot of time and break it down for me in a few sentences?

He's taking a lot of long 2 pt jumpers and not attacking as much as he should. Everything else I don't really have an issue with. Defensively he's been better the last few games but he started out really weird IMO. Gambling way more then he ought to. Same can be said of Beal.

Adjusting, young, new teammates, rotations/line ups, tough schedule, back problems, leaving to run a pick n roll.

I am very not worried about Wall right now.

He is very likely to have a career year and look great over the course of the next month.

[stevemcqueen1]

Get used to Jonathan Joseph showing up after wall has a bad game, and him disappearing for extended periods when Wall plays well.

People keep quoting his posts, which defeats the purpose of the ignore list.

[JonathanJoseph]

This "Wall doesn't get the max until next year so he shouldn't have to carry the burden until next season" argument doesn't make much sense to me. He already signed the extension, and the Wizards have committed to him as its franchise player. I don't think it's unfair to expect him to begin performing like a franchise/max-worthy player beginning this season. He's The Guy, according to the folks who run the team. I think it's perfectly fair for fans to expect him to perform like The Guy.

He's young, but this is his fourth season. He's producing about like he's been producing the past couple years, albeit with even worse shooting from 2pt range. Rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers -- all right in line with his aggregate numbers for the past two seasons. Which a) isn't worth a max salary; and b) (if they remain steady) suggest that what we see is what we're going to get. What Wall has done the past couple years isn't bad -- it would make him a solid starting PG. But not a franchise player. And that would be bad for the Wizards.

It would be in the team's best interest for Wall to start producing at a higher level. The sooner the better.

+1000

[JonathanJoseph]

I guess these people all just tell lies and/or no nothing about basketball. Go ahead and tell us how wrong they are and how your right.

Two can play that game.

“You guys are in dreamland. Because this team [stinks] so bad you guys want John Wall to be someone he will never be.

“Before Wall becomes Nene, I would trade him and get rid of him.”

Come on, really?

“I’m serious. He doesn’t have a feel for the game,” Falk said. “He only knows how to play one speed. Magic Johnson had a great feel, a court sense, by the time he was a sophomore in college. Chris Paul had it by the time he was a sophomore in high school.

“You can develop your jump shot all you want, but if you don’t know how to play more than an up-and-down game by the time you’re about 20 as a point guard, the chances of learning are very slim. I don’t see it happening.”

“I’m not down on John Wall,” Falk said, before being further down on John Wall. “I just think people want him to be something he’s never going to be. He’s a big tease.He doesn’t have a good enough feel for the game to be an elite player. I don’t think he’ll ever be the player you think he is. ”

“You want to know the reason why just nine teams have won an NBA title in 40 years? Because if both of them came out today, 99 percent of all general managers would still take John Wall instead of Kyrie Irving. They’d take the athlete over the ballplayer. And they’d be wrong.”

[JonathanJoseph]

^LOL...Have to say it was fun to see the re-appearance. I had called him out on this before and he said work got in the way. I guess his work schedule cleared up this past Wednesday night. hahaha

Seriously? Or I don't come here in the offseason.

But I guess a conspiracy theory works too.

[noworriesinmd]

I think there is a difference between a GOOD player and a GREAT player.
Irving is a GREAT player
Wall is a GOOD player

A great player can win the league's MVP, a good player can go to one or many all-star games. John is the later.

The difference between John being great vs good is his creativity (I think I read that someplace on this board before).
MJ out of no where came up with the reverse layup...whereas JW would never come up with that.

Tonight JW, had a clear lane to the basket that opened up randomly...he didn't expect it. MJ would have continued on...but JW had decided prior to that that he would pass the ball.JWs problem is that he does not take what is in front of him (BTW, JW is no MJ). He has been so good for so long that he could think, "I'm going to do XYZ" and do it. Now there are coaches and players taking away XYZ and giving him ABC.
You could even see that in the OKC game with the last play. JW decided he was going to do a reverse layup vs a dunk.

I don't know if creativity can be learned.
I don't know if you give a good player a max deal.

JW is the perfect Pippen. If we could only find our MJ.

[bjack18]

I thought the light bulb that went on in Walls head last year would stay on but he's playing like crap again...he gets the big contract and thinks hes arrived or accomplished something...he just isn't playing smart or leading this team the way a franchise pg should...

[Illmatic21]

I think there is a difference between a GOOD player and a GREAT player.
Irving is a GREAT player
Wall is a GOOD player

A great player can win the league's MVP, a good player can go to one or many all-star games. John is the later.

The difference between John being great vs good is his creativity (I think I read that someplace on this board before).
MJ out of no where came up with the reverse layup...whereas JW would never come up with that.

Tonight JW, had a clear lane to the basket that opened up randomly...he didn't expect it. MJ would have continued on...but JW had decided prior to that that he would pass the ball.JWs problem is that he does not take what is in front of him (BTW, JW is no MJ). He has been so good for so long that he could think, "I'm going to do XYZ" and do it. Now there are coaches and players taking away XYZ and giving him ABC.
You could even see that in the OKC game with the last play. JW decided he was going to do a reverse layup vs a dunk.

I don't know if creativity can be learned.
I don't know if you give a good player a max deal.

JW is the perfect Pippen. If we could only find our MJ.

Everything you said is in regards to scoring. Irving is not a great "player", he is a great scorer.. Wall isn't. We already knew that though. When we drafted Wall I think everyone knew he wasn't going to be a dynamo scorer, why are people all of a sudden surprised that he doesn't look like MVP Rose out there?

Wall can develop great scoring ability with time but it isn't something that comes natural to him.

I find it funny that the majority of the Wall complaints have historically been about his decision-making and inability to take care of the ball, and now that he seems to be showing improvement in that area (12 assists and just ONE turnover today) people are harping on his scoring.

[thricethefun]

Wall's offensive game reminds me a lot of Rondo's right now. He is a good player and great playmaker that can't really score much. Definitely a good point guard, I would put him in the top 10, but he lacks the scoring ability to become truly elite. His defense though is particularly troubling. He tends to let point guards get right by him on a regular basis, unlike Rondo who in my opinion is an elite defender. I don't know if any team would want him given his ridiculous max contract but if we could get someone like Utah or Sacramento to trade for him and get a top 10 pick in return, I would say go for it. I'm higher on both Exum and Smart as prospects than I am on Wall at this point.

[B-easy]

^ that's because he hasn't been this bad scoring wise. 36.5 FG% , 47 TS% is horrible.

Wall scored 9 points which ends his streak on consecutive double digit scoring nights.

[Dat2U]

Agree with illmatic21 on one point, Irving is a great scorer and very aggressive. He's not a great player yet and really hadn't well this year up until tonight. For one night it feels good for Cavs fans, but they still have a boatload of problems and Irving is still light years away from winning an MVP as his team is still light years away from being any good.

Wall has bouts of confidence issues and isn't always attacking as needed. The 12 to 1 ast/to ratio is nice but he needs to stop relying on his shot to determine whether or not he has a good scoring night. I think the Wizards coaching staff have made such an emphasis of that mid-range jumper that's he's become far too reliant on it. If he's constantly pushing the pace, attacking relentlessly and forcing the defense to give him extra attention he's going to wreck havoc. Open the floor, run pick & rolls at the 3pt line and tell Wall, when in doubt, be aggressive. I'd rather Wall have 5 TOs a night if he's playing at his potential than this passive version of Wall that plays so conservatively that he's hardly making a difference.

But I'm okay with him playing this way for a few more weeks. At this point, I'm all in on #ErnieMustGo and I don't care how they get there.

[Illmatic21]

Agree with illmatic21 on one point, Irving is a great scorer and very aggressive. He's not a great player yet and really hadn't well this year up until tonight. For one night it feels good for Cavs fans, but they still have a boatload of problems and Irving is still light years away from winning an MVP as his team is still light years away from being any good.

Wall has bouts of confidence issues and isn't always attacking as needed. The 12 to 1 ast/to ratio is nice but he needs to stop relying on his shot to determine whether or not he has a good scoring night. I think the Wizards coaching staff have made such an emphasis of that mid-range jumper that's he's become far too reliant on it. If he's constantly pushing the pace, attacking relentlessly and forcing the defense to give him extra attention he's going to wreck havoc. Open the floor, run pick & rolls at the 3pt line and tell Wall, when in doubt, be aggressive. I'd rather Wall have 5 TOs a night if he's playing at his potential than this passive version of Wall that plays so conservatively that he's hardly making a difference.

But I'm okay with him playing this way for a few more weeks. At this point, I'm all in on #ErnieMustGo and I don't care how they get there.

I agree, he's too reliant on his midrange jumper going in. When he's missing it seems like he hangs his head.

But I don't have a problem with him playing like this, he needs to learn how to be aggressive through trial and error. Losing to San Antonio taught him the importance of playing a team game, hopefully losing to Cleveland at home taught him the importance of being aggressive and closing out games.

I'm not seeing how people think this version of Wall is worse than the version who streaks up and down the court recklessly and consistently makes mindbogglingly dumb plays.

[noworriesinmd]

I know that JW is a pass first PG. I agree with you, that he will not be a D Rose type scorer, but I think to be truly elite he needs to work on his creativity.

Prior to the start of some plays I think he decides he is going to pass to someone waiting for a corner three.
He drives...then something opens up...that is not the corner three. Instead of taking the high percentage shot he kicks it out.

Tha 12:1 ratio was incredible. However, more points were left on the table because he just didn't go for the high percentage look.

It is my opinion that he is more cerebral vs taking what the game gives to him.

[JonathanJoseph]

I'm not seeing how people think this version of Wall is better than the version who streaks up and down the court recklessly and consistently makes mindbogglingly dumb plays.

Because he ends up with a 12/1 assist-to-turnover ratio and his teammates were getting in rhythm.

[Illmatic21]

You can't "work" on your creativity, either you have it or you don't.

I would rather him focus on becoming a dominant player in the aspects he is good at, then everything else will come easier.

What's most important to the progression of this team is Wall developing confidence in being able to run the offense. Becoming more confident in his scoring can come later.

[JonathanJoseph]

I know that JW is a pass first PG. I agree with you, that he will not be a D Rose type scorer, but I think to be truly elite he needs to work on his creativity.

I think most would agree that Wall's game is not suited to scoring, it's suited to setting up teammates.

But Wall is averaging 15.5 FGA/game. That's more than guys like Steph Curry (15.0) and CP3 (14.7).

[Illmatic21]

I'm not seeing how people think this version of Wall is better than the version who streaks up and down the court recklessly and consistently makes mindbogglingly dumb plays.

Because he ends up with a 12/1 assist-to-turnover ratio and his teammates were getting in rhythm.

Oops, I meant to say "worse"

And I agree, this is how you want your PG to play. The knack for scoring is an intangible that he may or may not develop to a high level, but it isn't nearly as important as him becoming a capable playmaker.

[noworriesinmd]

You can't "work" on your creativity, either you have it or you don't.

I would rather him focus on becoming a dominant player in the aspects he is good at, then everything else will come easier.

What's most important to the progression of this team is Wall developing confidence in being able to run the offense. Becoming more confident in his scoring can come later.

Do you believe Wall is Batman or Robin?

[Illmatic21]

You can't "work" on your creativity, either you have it or you don't.

I would rather him focus on becoming a dominant player in the aspects he is good at, then everything else will come easier.

What's most important to the progression of this team is Wall developing confidence in being able to run the offense. Becoming more confident in his scoring can come later.

Do you believe Wall is Batman or Robin?

He's Robin.

Unless you have Magic Johnson you always want your PG to be Robin, not Batman. The track record of contenders built around point guards is not very good.

[noworriesinmd]

(Not directed at you) Then why are we building around Wall? Is he worth max money? Should we try to tank this year to get Batman? BTW, I don't want to become clippers-east (prior to CP and Blake)