Kanyewest wrote:Ruzious wrote:nate33 wrote:Not if Wall never recovers to be the player he was in 2016. If Wall continues to look like the player of this year and last year, then the team is merely a 2nd round finalist until Wall can be replaced.
Wall would need to devote himself to being a pure set-up man who is content to have the 4th highest shot total on the team while devoting his energy to pushing the pace, rebounding, and defense. Wall would have to try and emulate Jason Kidd, not Russell Westbrook. The Wall we know will end up taking too many low efficiency shots that should have gone to Porter or Zion.
Interesting thought about emulating Kidd. Kidd was content to become a role player toward the end of his career - and won a championship with Dirk, Chandler, Jason Terry and old friend DeShawn Stevenson. It'd require Wall to play consistent physical defense - rather than his current risk-taking style. If we got Zion, Wall would have to defer to him as the on-court leader at some point.
I have my doubts that Wall is not going to be ready to take that role soon. Jason Kidd was in his late 30s at that stage in his career. When Jason Kidd was in his late 20s like Wall, his teams were going deep in the playoffs including the NBA Finals and losing in 7 games to the Detroit Pistons that went on to win the title. Kidd had already made 3 all NBA 1st teams and an all NBA 2nd team, and 3 all defensive first teams when he was Wall's age. I think moreso Wall has to be even better than Jason Kidd offensively because he isn't as capable on the defensive end, plus the emphasis on 3 point shooting.
Ideally, Wall needs to take a smaller role on this team going forward- playing somewhere in the neighborhood of 26-30 minutes per game because he doesn't seem to have enough energy to play on both ends including moving without the ball and guarding his man more consistent rather than gambline for steals. And it might be wise to rest him occasionally like the Spurs. That being said, Wall might not accept it nor do expect Washington to foster that kind of environment.
The first thing that Wall has to do is get himself in shape BEFORE training camp.
Wall has gotten away with being a fat ass in the summer playing himself into shape every year. He literally has a gut he picks up every summer.
But the last two years he hasn't been able to do it because as he gets older his body can no longer handle the weight combined with the workload.
Who in the hell supposedly puts on all this muscle when they know they've got a bad wheel and have been dealing with it for years? That's an Andray Blatche type move. Eat all summer, get fat and then claim it's all muscle.
Unless he starts paying attention to the obvious signs and begins treating the offseason seriously I will assume every season will be similar to the last two.
That said, if Wall does come into shape next training camp then hope springs eternal. Who knows, maybe landing Zion motivates him. I believe Zion's talent is so transcendent that Wall will have no choice but to relinquish shots and a starring role in time even if Wall is at his best.