Official John Wall Appreciation Thread

[DCZards]

Interesting contrast to the Blatche thread with a pretty forgiving approach towards Wall.

On more than one occasion Wall followed a terrible turnover with very visible pouting and not bothering to get back on defense at all. I should cross-post this in the Blatche thread, because since I didn't hear any booing we have a little bit of a double standard there.

I'm guessing that Zards fans are a lot more patient with and tolerant of Wall because he's a 21 year old, 2nd year player who, from the start of his career, has been given the difficult task of leading a team of immature vets like McGee, Young and Blatche. While Blatche is 25 years old, in his 7th year in the league...and still acting and playing like a knucklehead.

[JonathanJoseph]

It's not a double standard. They are on nowhere near equal footing in terms of effort, attitude, work ethic, desire, and competitiveness.

Whereas Wall's occasional poor body language and extremely rare lack of effort (extremely rare) are because he is frustrated with bad, unmotivated teammates who suck at basketball, Blatche's constant lack of effort and body language are entirely due to lack of conditioning and giving a ****. There really is no comparison.

I said a "little bit" of a double standard. I was specifically referring to a comment from the Blatche thread re: booing where someone said that "anyone who" displays those characteristics gets booed. I am not comparing Wall and Blatche directly. That's my fault for not providing that context.

That being said, your post proves my point. That kind of lack of effort and pouting (which is less rare than you are suggesting) is NEVER acceptable. Blaming it on his teammates is a complete load of BS as is explaining it away as "rare".

[tontoz]

If Blatche played to the level that Wall has played over the past 6 weeks I would guess people would be more forgiving of a bad game. Blatche has never done that in 7 seasons though so it is just speculation. He has been consistently lazy, dumb and inefficient for 7 seasons. Comparing him to Wall is nonsense.

It isn't a question of Blatche getting boo'd for a bad game. He gets boo'd when he goes into the game. There is a reason for that.

Wall knew he was having a rough night so he took only 8 shots and let other guys carry the load on offense. That is the type of self awareness that Blatche has never shown.

[nate33]

I was unable to watch the first 3 quarters. If the Lakers were so good at jamming up Wall on the pick and roll, then why did the Wizards keep running it? Wall should have been able to break down Fisher and Blake off the dribble with no assistance from a pick.

[pancakes3]

i don't know if they KEPT going to it, but your point stands. with such slow guards and such active/long big men, a pnr is not the best play. however, with such active/long big men, any drive inside isn't a good play. luckily mason was on fire and we got a ton of turnovers off bynum when we doubled him. really, POTG should have gone to bynum. he must have turned it over on 3 straight possessions that led to buckets in the late 3rd/early 4th.

[Ruzious]

I was unable to watch the first 3 quarters. If the Lakers were so good at jamming up Wall on the pick and roll, then why did the Wizards keep running it? Wall should have been able to break down Fisher and Blake off the dribble with no assistance from a pick.

I just saw a few minutes of the first quarter. I think what happened was - the Lakers packed the middle - and it's hard to get to the hoop with Bynum and Gasol both back there. Also, it seemed the Lakers focused on playing the passing lanes (which makes a lot of sense when Wall is driving) - Kobe deflected at least 2 passes from Wall that I saw.

[JonathanJoseph]

Bill Simmons' annual trade value post. Ranks Wall 30th overall behind Paul George and Serge Ibaka.

As you know, I'm the longtime chairman of the "Is He a Point Guard or Not?" committee. (It's kind of like how Tip O'Neill was the Speaker of the House for all those years — you never knew how it happened, just that it was.) My verdict on Wall: He's a breathtaking athlete who has little to no idea how to run a team, lead his guys, make teammates better, ride hot hands, control the tempo of a game or do anything else that, say, Chris Paul does on a nightly basis. It's also a terrible sign that, for two straight years, Wall hasn't affected Washington's win-loss record really at all. Then again, could there have been a worse situation for a young point guard than the post-Arenas Blatche/McGee/Saunders Wizards? I wouldn't trade him … but I wouldn't trade for him, either. To be continued.

Follows with some funny non-Wall related Wizards comments, but Simmons "verdict" on Wall seems to match up well with mine so far.

http://es.pn/xBP9mo

[Illuminaire]

I was unable to watch the first 3 quarters. If the Lakers were so good at jamming up Wall on the pick and roll, then why did the Wizards keep running it? Wall should have been able to break down Fisher and Blake off the dribble with no assistance from a pick.

What Ruz said. I'd also tack on two more things: John looked lethargic, like he just didn't have a lot of energy, and Blake/Fisher are grand masters at the uncalled hand-check. Every time Wall started to drive he got an elbow to the chest or a hand grabbing his jersey, and it was never called once.

I put most of the blame on the lack of energy though. Wall should have been able to break those guys down and penetrate, regardless.

[Illuminaire]

Follows with some funny non-Wall related Wizards comments, but Simmons "verdict" on Wall seems to match up well with mine so far.

Given that Simmons has probably seen ten Wall games total, and routinely plays his opinions to the extremes of hyperbole for dramatic effect... his negative opinion of John Wall gives me immense comfort.

[dobrojim]

Fisher probably gets away with as much grabbing/holding/undressing of
the man he is guarding as any PG I can think of.

[tontoz]

Simmons has Evan Turner (at 8 ppg) ranked ahead of Josh Smith, Roy Hibbert and Ryan Anderson.

[Illuminaire]

Simmons is a fun read. From time to time, he has some real insights. Mostly though, his knowledge of the game is more historical than predictive, and he runs off "gut" more than analysis in most cases. He only has detailed information about a handful of franchises and his opinions regarding the rest are routinely (and severely) flawed.

If one is going to quote him for positional support, though, one could add that Bill had Wall as one of his breakout stars for the season. *shrug*

[BarnabyJones]

RE: Simmons

I'd rather hear his buddy Joe House's opinion on Wall. He's actually a Wizards fan and watches the games.

[Illuminaire]

Eh. House is no Nivek, if you get my meaning.

[tontoz]

Wall is 9th in the league in assists per game on a team full of guys who can't shoot. Wall's playmaking ability is not a concern at all. His jumper is the big issue with turnovers being a distant second.

[Zonkerbl]

Fisher probably gets away with as much grabbing/holding/undressing of
the man he is guarding as any PG I can think of.

Muggsy Bogues?

[dobrojim]

Wall is 9th in the league in assists per game on a team full of guys who can't shoot. Wall's playmaking ability is not a concern at all. His jumper is the big issue with turnovers being a distant second.

not sure about how you should rate his deficiencies

seems to me his jumper has looked better at times this year
although I would still say/agree he needs a respectable 3, which he has not shown.
High TO rate is a serious deficiency. This continues to be a problem.
It could be argued that shooting is more correctable because you
can always turn down bad shots ie shots you don't make at a high rate.
TOs, for a PG, are a big deal. Your job (duh) is to handle the ball.

[tontoz]

High TOs are pretty common for young pgs. If he was in his 5th year and the team didn't have piss poor spacing then i would be more concerned.

Wall has a long way to go with his shot. I have seen Josh Smith go weeks where he shot well from the perimeter but in the end he always ends up reverting back to his bricklaying ways. ON the season Wall is shooting 32% from 16-23 feet. He has improved recently but it is still a major issue.

[tontoz]

Some turnover numbers from other pgs.

Deron 4.2
Westbrook 4.0
Nash 3.7
Rondo 3.6

[Illuminaire]

High TO rate is a serious deficiency. This continues to be a problem.
It could be argued that shooting is more correctable because you
can always turn down bad shots ie shots you don't make at a high rate.
TOs, for a PG, are a big deal. Your job (duh) is to handle the ball.

To put Wall's turnovers in perspective, here are some other PG's TOV%:

Jason Kidd - 27.3%
Steve Nash - 25.2%
Ricky Rubio - 22.2%
Rajon Rondo - 20.7%
Jeremy Lin - 20.4%
John Wall - 19.6%
Kyle Lowry - 18.7%
Deron Williams - 16.9%
Russel Westbrook - 15.5%
Chris Paul - 12.0%
Derrick Rose - 11.9% !!!

So yes, he's somewhat high. Cutting back a TO/game would be a wonderful thing for himself and the team. He's not actually that bad given his usage rate, though. And he's not in bad company.