NatP4 wrote:Are we actually buying all this “Wall has become a good 3pt shooter and learned to play off ball while rehabbing”?
I feel like I’ve heard those exact quotes on 15 different occasions during Walls career. I’m fully expecting him to be a net negative player when he returns.
I understand your skepticism. I'm not buying that Wall will suddenly become a good off-ball player. I think he'll improve his catch-and-shoot some, but I seriously doubt he'll make aggressive backdoor cuts or suppress his instinct to pound the ball when he has it.
That said, I do think he will be better than in the first 25 games of 2018-19 when he was playing on one leg. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect him to look similar to he looked during the playoffs of 2018. I've seen enough of him in video to be pretty confident that most of his burst is back. And if he is no longer in agony from the bone spurs, he'll hopefully become a more energetic defender.
If nothing else, he'll still be really good with the ball in his hands, but perhaps unable to effectively share primary ball handling duties with Beal in a synergetic manner. But in that scenario, Brooks can stagger Wall and Beal so that they only share the court for about 20 minutes a game. And when they play together, they can at least take turns as primary ball handler and give each other rest to play defense.
Finally, Wall is going to be infinitely better than Isaiah Thomas on defense. Wall may have lapses of energy defensively, but he's still big and tall and can switch 1 through 3 effectively and rebound from the guard position.
