John Wall is the best PG in the East right now

[DaRealHibachi]

Exactly, fans of the Wizards have to face it : So far, and until proven wrong, Wall has low BBIQ, that's the way it is. He hasn't learned to maximise his strengths and minimize his weaknesses, or rather he hasn't even shown that he is in the process of doing so...

Or even rather*er*, that you haven't watched him play last year..

[Dat2U]

Exactly, fans of the Wizards have to face it : So far, and until proven wrong, Wall has low BBIQ, that's the way it is. He hasn't learned to maximise his strengths and minimize his weaknesses, or rather he hasn't even shown that he is in the process of doing so...

Actually I think the problem is general board posters and posters like jonathanjoseph and yourself are making judgements that your unqualified in making. How in world would you know whether Wall has a low BBIQ or not?

You know about the blinding speed, the freakish athleticism and the explosive first step. But what you might not know about Wizards rookie point guard John Wall is how high his basketball IQ is.

Before Sunday's exhibition game against the Knicks, coach Flip Saunders explained Wall's uncommon court awareness.

"It seems like he's got a photographic memory," Saunders said. "If you tell him something once, like a certain play, he remembers what all five positions should be doing. We knew he was athletic and we knew he had great competitive spirit, but I don't think anybody understood his intelligence and being able to carry that through.
"Is that uncommon in our league? Yeah, it's very uncommon. You have some guys in the sixth month of the season and they still can't remember where they are supposed to go. But we show him a play one time and he knows where everybody is supposed to be."

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/w ... z2kkC9vNVj

Later on in the interview (around the 57:30 mark), Simmons and Collins talk about Rajon Rondo's sense of humor, his prowess with Connect Four and his basketball I.Q., and the conversation steers into some high praise of the Wizards. The partial transcript is below:

Bill Simmons: Did you get a handle on Rondo after five months? Everybody says he's kinda like a genius.


...

Jason Collins: Sometimes during practice, Doc [Rivers] would let the players draw up the plays, because he wants guys thinking. And Rondo would draw up some great plays.

BS: Really?

JC: Yeah. I really gained an appreciation for his court-awareness on both ends of the court. Offensive and defensive, and the way he thinks the game. And along those same lines is John Wall.

BS: JOHN WALL? I NEVER would have guessed that.

JC: Yeah, exactly. But he really thinks the game. And, for a young player to already start to develop that sense of your awareness on the court and be able to anticipate what different plays are and where different players are going to be, you know he really impressed me with his court awareness.

http://www.bulletsforever.com/2013/5/2/ ... ajon-rondo

Randy Wittman believes John Wall is one of the smartest players he's ever coached. His proof? The Wizards' point guard is the first one to call out the other team's plays.

"He knows, from a scouting standpoint, the plays that the other team [runs]. He'll call that out sometimes, which is pretty good. [He remembers] that we've played Milwaukee three times and that '54 Dive' is a play for [Ersan] Ilyasova. That's a talent you can't teach," the Wizards' coach says.

http://www.bulletsforever.com/2013/3/14 ... -john-wall

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.

[fishercob]

I highly recommend Bill Simmons podcast with Collins from today.

But the last 5 minutes are absolute MUST-listen for Wizards fans.

Simmons is, of course, asking Collins about the Celtics. The conversation comes to Rondo and how he's apparently an unbeatable savant at Connect Four. Collins then says that Rondo's basketball IQ is similarly off the charts -- the sometimes at the end of practice Doc will let them diagram plays and Rondo was really impressive in that regard.

And then, out of nowhere, Collins volunteers that John Wall is similarly gifted when it comes to the mental aspect of basketball. Simmons is shocked (I think his impression was consistent with lots of people's -- that Wall is a great athlete but that his mental game was far behind).

To me this is huge. Insanely huge. I've been Charlie Brown'd so much by this team that even with Wall's amazing second half, I've still had a bit of doubt about his true ceiling, the sustainability of this production, etc. But to hear from Collins -- unprompted -- that Wall, at 22 is being lauded for his mind the same way the 27 year old Rondo is? Well that's just amazing.

Collins also gives major dap to Okafor for his leadership and intelligence. He and Simmons seem to agree that the organization is headed in the right direction and that the culture change that has taken place was both profound and necessary.

So, that's good stuff.

Go to the 57 minute mark.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQTNSmI-sj4[/youtube]

[fishercob]

oh, dat beat me to it.

[verbal8]

Wall's stats don't look too far off from Jason Kidd's at a similar point(up to age 23):

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... 01&y2=2014

[nate33]

Wall's stats don't look too far off from Jason Kidd's at a similar point(up to age 23):

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... 01&y2=2014

Yeah, if Wall would just cut out half of the long-2's from his shot selection, he'd be a more efficient version of Jason Kidd, minus a couple of rebounds.

[Ruzious]

Those long 2s are there because the defense WANTS him shooting from there.

Right. And that's why he should stop shooting them altogether. Wall is much, much more effective when creating for his teammates off the dribble. Wall is not a scorer. He is absolutely in the Kidd/Rondo mold, where taking jump shots is a last resort, not some goal. Neither of those players ever looked to pull up off the dribble or ever led their team in FGA. Wall should average about the same number of assists as FGA.

Wall was 1-11 on 2-pointers outside the lane against Cleveland.
He was 2-9 on 2-pointers outside the lane against Minnesota.

This has got to stop.

It does have to stop if he's going to be a great player, but... how will it stop? Reading quotes from Wittman - it sounds like Wittman is NOT telling him not to shoot long 2's. To me, this is NOT on Wall. He needs instruction on this. As far as he knows, the coach is happy with his decisions. To fix it, Wittman needs to talk to him. If the GM sees it, it's his job to talk to the head coach. All of the assistant coaches and assistants to the GM should be speaking up about it - since Wall's development directly affects the future of the organization. But it appears that none of this is happening. Somehow. This is an example of why the organization needs to be changed.

[go'stags]

Or, Wall can start hitting these shots at a respectable clip, like he did last year when he was amazing, and it will open up more driving lanes and make him a top 10 player. I'm willing to let him shoot these for a while longer to see if he can get comfortable.

This does not apply to the long 2's when no one else touches the ball.

[Ruzious]

Or, Wall can start hitting these shots at a respectable clip, like he did last year when he was amazing, and it will open up more driving lanes and make him a top 10 player. I'm willing to let him shoot these for a while longer to see if he can get comfortable.

This does not apply to the long 2's when no one else touches the ball.

I couldn't disagree with you more if I tried. Those 20 footers are never going to be smart shots. Not even if they have Jeff Malone stem cells to inject into him. Checking the digits on my hand, this is his 4th year in the NBA. He could improve slightly, but that's not going to come close to making taking 20 footers smart.

[tontoz]

Wall should never be taking long 2s unless it is near the end of the clock. He is not a shooter. There are very few players that actually hurt defenses from that range.

If he wants to take catch and shoot 3s then fine. But the long 2s off the dribble need to go away.

[Induveca]

Wall will get his touch back, but agreed....should be a dunk/layup or a three. No more 15-20 foot jumpers.

[Nivek]

Looking at the numbers, Wall should stop shooting pull-up jumpers, period. Among the 51 players with at least 5 pull-up FGA per game, Wall is 50th in shooting percentage on that shot type -- 23.2%. Only JR Smith is shooting worse in that group.

[nate33]

Looking at the numbers, Wall should stop shooting pull-up jumpers, period. Among the 51 players with at least 5 pull-up FGA per game, Wall is 50th in shooting percentage on that shot type -- 23.2%. Only JR Smith is shooting worse in that group.

I agree that he should stop shooting them as much as possible, but I don't think it's possible for him to get midrange shot attempts down to zero a game. With him dominating the ball so much, there's bound to be a few times a game when the offensive sets are thwarted and Wall is going to have to shoot an 18 footer with time running out on the shot clock. Even Rondo managed to shoot just over 2 long 2's a game in 2008 despite having elite offensive players at 3 other positions.

Last year, Wall averaged 5 attempts from 16-23 feet. I'd be content if Wall got that number down to 3.5 per game. Unfortunately, I think he's up around 8 or 9 attempts this season, which is monumentally stupid.

[JonathanJoseph]

Or, Wall can start hitting these shots at a respectable clip, like he did last year when he was amazing, and it will open up more driving lanes and make him a top 10 player. I'm willing to let him shoot these for a while longer to see if he can get comfortable.

This does not apply to the long 2's when no one else touches the ball.

I couldn't disagree with you more if I tried. Those 20 footers are never going to be smart shots. Not even if they have Jeff Malone stem cells to inject into him. Checking the digits on my hand, this is his 4th year in the NBA. He could improve slightly, but that's not going to come close to making taking 20 footers smart.

+1000

and an "And1" for the Jeff Malone reference.

[JonathanJoseph]

Looking at the numbers, Wall should stop shooting pull-up jumpers, period. Among the 51 players with at least 5 pull-up FGA per game, Wall is 50th in shooting percentage on that shot type -- 23.2%. Only JR Smith is shooting worse in that group.

I agree that he should stop shooting them as much as possible, but I don't think it's possible for him to get midrange shot attempts down to zero a game. With him dominating the ball so much, there's bound to be a few times a game when the offensive sets are thwarted and Wall is going to have to shoot an 18 footer with time running out on the shot clock. Even Rondo managed to shoot just over 2 long 2's a game in 2008 despite having elite offensive players at 3 other positions.

Last year, Wall averaged 5 attempts from 16-23 feet. I'd be content if Wall got that number down to 3.5 per game. Unfortunately, I think he's up around 8 or 9 attempts this season, which is monumentally stupid.

yep.

[FreeBalling]

The Wall shot that bugs the crap out of me is when he's open from 3pt range, but instead of taking the three, he dribbles in a step to attempt the long two.

SHOOT.

THE.

THREE.

I hope Witt or one of the Vets talks to Wall about where he is shooting long shots.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Nivek]

Looking at the numbers, Wall should stop shooting pull-up jumpers, period. Among the 51 players with at least 5 pull-up FGA per game, Wall is 50th in shooting percentage on that shot type -- 23.2%. Only JR Smith is shooting worse in that group.

I agree that he should stop shooting them as much as possible, but I don't think it's possible for him to get midrange shot attempts down to zero a game. With him dominating the ball so much, there's bound to be a few times a game when the offensive sets are thwarted and Wall is going to have to shoot an 18 footer with time running out on the shot clock. Even Rondo managed to shoot just over 2 long 2's a game in 2008 despite having elite offensive players at 3 other positions.

Last year, Wall averaged 5 attempts from 16-23 feet. I'd be content if Wall got that number down to 3.5 per game. Unfortunately, I think he's up around 8 or 9 attempts this season, which is monumentally stupid.

Two-point jumpers for anyone -- but especially from Wall -- should be a last resort. Shot clock running down and gotta get something off type of thing. This season, Wall's shooting 19-75 -- 25.3% -- on shots from 8 feet to the three-point line. That's 6.8 mid-to-long range two-point attempts per game. He's getting 5.0 attempts per game inside of 8 feet.

It really is past time for the team (and Wall) to reassess his shot selection.

[AFM]

Past time? Or a board pastime? Heh heh.

Someone should rename this thread "John Wall is the fastest PG in the east right now". More accurate.

[go'stags]

Or, Wall can start hitting these shots at a respectable clip, like he did last year when he was amazing, and it will open up more driving lanes and make him a top 10 player. I'm willing to let him shoot these for a while longer to see if he can get comfortable.

This does not apply to the long 2's when no one else touches the ball.

I couldn't disagree with you more if I tried. Those 20 footers are never going to be smart shots. Not even if they have Jeff Malone stem cells to inject into him. Checking the digits on my hand, this is his 4th year in the NBA. He could improve slightly, but that's not going to come close to making taking 20 footers smart.

I agree about the 20 footers. I should have been more specific. But 15 footers? If he can start to hit them then it is worth it to shoot a couple a game.

I know statistically speaking that is wrong, and you want to get layups or threes, but umm .. there is a defense out there, and they know that also.

Pretty much everyone on the board has been saying recently "shoot threes or layups, John!". Well, that's obvious, but he obviously isn't comfortable taking threes off the dribble, an with two big men who range is maxed out at 15 feet, layups are hard to come by (not that they are easy with good shooting big men).

Again, he has to start hitting them, but I'm willing to let him shoot for a while until (or, admittedly, if) they do. That will open up much better driving and passing lanes. This is how he played so well last year for that stretch, and its what I was saying when he was struggling last year.

Hit the mid-range shot and things will open up.

[Nivek]

I'm not suggesting Wall replace long & mid-range two-point attempts with 3s or at-rim attempts. I'm suggesting he replace those attempts with teammate shot attempts. In other words: shoot less often. Let teammates who are better at shooting take those shots instead. Run the offense, set guys up, attack the hoop and shoot open catch & shoot looks from 3pt range.