Official John Wall Appreciation Thread

[DCZards]

Crawford's ideal role is on the second team providing instant offense off the bench. I wouldn't trade him, it sounds like the kid hates losing as well. You need guys like that.

I'm also for keeping Crawford as a back up. He's capable of playing backup at both SG & PG. He's a chucker (something I hope he learns to control), but I love Jordan's competitiveness and confidence.

[Nivek]

I also like Jordan's competitiveness, but I could do with more accomplishment to go with the confidence. Among the 41 players this season with a usage rate of 25 or higher, Crawford was 38th in efficiency.

[DCZards]

I also like Jordan's competitiveness, but I could do with more accomplishment to go with the confidence. Among the 41 players this season with a usage rate of 25 or higher, Crawford was 38th in efficiency.

I need a little more info/context. Where did Crawford rank among those 41 players in terms of experience? age?

[7-Day Dray]

Jordan's idea of competing is to chuck and go into "Me Against the World" mode. Not really seeing his competitiveness as a positive.

[Dat2U]

I just can't get over Jordan Crawford's shot selection. I've played with dudes like that and a guy with no conscious like that just breeds contempt and selfishness amongst his teammates. Jordan often turns everyone else including Wall into a spectator. Even if were talking about a backup role, he'd still be taking a lot of questionable shots. And Wall is going to be playing 36-40 minutes a night in most cases so even in a reserve role, Crawford & Wall would play together in spots.

If were about totally serious changing the culture, I think that means Jordan Crawford's shot jacking ways need to go as well.

[Nivek]

I also like Jordan's competitiveness, but I could do with more accomplishment to go with the confidence. Among the 41 players this season with a usage rate of 25 or higher, Crawford was 38th in efficiency.

I need a little more info/context. Where did Crawford rank among those 41 players in terms of experience? age?

Crawford was 8th youngest. Of the 13 players his age or younger, he ranked 11th. Of the 6 players his age or younger AND in their 1st or 2nd year in the league, he ranked 5th. Over the past 10 years, there have been 40 players seasons in which a player in his 1st or 2nd season played at least 500 total minutes and had a usage rate of 25 or higher. Crawford this season ranked 35th. Last season, he ranked 38th.

[Liverbird]

Kevin - so who were the other 4 players that ranked above Crawford in efficiency based on age and years experience?

Cheers

[GUYANNAGRIZZLI]

KS NENE vesely are ALREADY 3 GUYS VERY IMPRESSIVE IN THE PAINT WHO CAN Hold
THE COMPARISON FOR NEXT YEAR WITH THE 3 GUYS OF UTAH BIG AL MILLSAP AND FAVORS. it's great for the Wiz who has totaly change his roster on the current season in the paint and in much better. ByE BYE Mcgee and Blatch guys who don't have the good mentality to be effective and leaders and welcome for Seraphin and nene who are real offensive threat and solid defenders in the paint and with a percentage of shooting highly over 50%. And what about the end of season of Vesely who is so athletic for his 6.11 and has a great futur in this league with great ability in offensive and defensive rebounds.
Some great perspective in the paint to add with Wall who has now a solid and clearly definished front court and can really dishes a lot of assist in the paint and still be a scorer and he has really impressed whith his ability to run cost to cost, he is very very spectacular but also effective in his game which is the most important.
I think for the draft if they can't have Davis, a good shooter from the field who has the ability to catch and shoot at 45 % and to make some 3pointers would be the better option and also who is able to defend good. Harrison Barnes, gilchrist, bradley beal.
To finish i would just say that what has really improve lately the Wiz in this season is the complementarity of Nene ks, and ves (singleton)who are the main reason of the good results because without some solid big guys whith at least 6.11 for nene and VES and 270lbs like Seraphin you have no chance to win in long terms, it's just impossible. And now Wiz is a candidate for the playoffs if they continue to defend well.

[The Consiglieri]

Anyone seen these quotes? Boy do they paint a picture:

Link:

http://hoopshype.com/rumors/tag/washington_wizards

"
The Wizards were certainly hamstrung by the lockout, because their young roster had no summer league, a short training camp and limited practices. Conflicting agendas early on also fostered an environment of individual play that was so unproductive that the phrase “selfish play” was used after nearly every loss. “For some guys, it was contract year, wasn’t serious with the basketball as I think they should’ve been and with them being traded to veteran teams, it helped them,” John Wall said. “We didn’t have any veterans to get on them, they was the veterans. Now they are with veteran teams doing better and we’re doing better.” Washington Post

Washington Wizards, John Wall | share


Wall, the 2010 No. 1 overall pick, struggled early, finally got on track shortly before Saunders was dismissed, then put up all-star caliber numbers for nearly 20 games, and later entered a lengthy slump before finishing with an assist flurry. He had 12 assists in the season finale. “This year, really, after the trade, it felt like it was my third year,” Wall said. “It was a whole totally different team and we started playing totally different, to be honest. No disrespect to any guys we had before, but everything changed. We were more serious in the locker room, more serious on the court, unselfish play, everybody played together and just wanted to win.” Washington Post"

[gesa2]

Budding Defensive Stopper Award: John Wall

Everyone looked around and mumbled, "What's wrong with John Wall?" when he got off to a surprisingly sluggish start this season. Quick review: he averaged 13 points and six assists on 27 percent shooting while turning the ball over nearly five times a game in December. January wasn't much better. The culprit: Wall was surrounded by a horde of inexperienced teammates who had yet to grasp the concept of team basketball. Wall eventually turned it around and had a pretty solid season.
Dwyane Wade
Geoff Burke/US PresswireWall is developing into a savvy defender.

But something else happened. Ironically, while we were expecting fireworks offensively, Wall quietly began to transform into a legit defensive player. His pick-and-roll defense and decision-making improved considerably from a year ago. He took fewer gambles and his on-ball pressure could be suffocating at times. On Feb. 8, he held Chris Paul to two points on 1-for-8 shooting. In two games he limited Kyle Lowry to 5-of-21 from the field. This season he was second among guards in blocks and only one of two guards to average 1.4 steals and 0.9 blocks. (Three-time All-Defense second-team defender Dwyane Wade was the other.)

Sure he still misses assignments and occasionally lacks focus (he's only 21), but with Jason Kidd-like size and quickness Wall has the potential and ability to one day soon become one of the league's top defenders.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/ ... nal-awards

Hopeful. I wonder what Wall's more advanced defensive stats show this year? I hope we can create an identity as a team that fights on defense, rebounds and pushes the ball. We'll need to unless we have a significant upgrade in offensive talent.

[verbal8]

I wonder if may be Gary Payton isn the closest comparison for Wall. I don't expect him to get steals at the same rate, but his shot blocking could create the same havoc that Payton did defensively. Payton was a more efficient(and lower usage) 2 point shooter, but Wall getting to the line makes him slightly more efficient. Neither player started their career with a 3 point shot.

Payton's 3rd year(when he was 24) is probably closest to Wall this season.

[doclinkin]

I think with either of Davis or MKG we could be a ridiculously difficult defensive team for the foreseeable future. Toughness, depth, length, smarts, energy -- shotblocking, theft from on-the-ball pressure more than gambling, and potentially the bar none best defensive EFG% in the league.

Either player adds a dynamic to our defense that we're currently lacking, but each enhances what we already do well. Davis' effect would be obvious, we need a long armed option that bigs with range can't simply shoot over. Nene and Seraphin give us tough immoveable frontline bruisers with good positioning. Both defend the pick and roll well, challenging outside and dropping back to the interior. But it would be useful to have a mistake erasing defender on the interior who could swat the ball away, and ideally keep it in play, send it to the other end of the court.

This is what Davis does well. Seraphin is a competent shotblocker now that his weight is better and he doesn't foul on every attempt, but Davis is a superlative missile shield type. More than anything though successful defensive teams need a counter to the sort of long-distance bigs who have found a role in the no-hand-check era. Players like Dirk make players like JET/Barea suddenly useful as interior-attacking midgets. Pau, Dirk, KG, Sheed, Timmy, etc. The Stretch Four is a reality on championship teams. If you have no way to defend them you'll have limited success at any top end contests.

As for MKG, the next most important player is a do-it-all blanket defender who can ride herd on the opponents best perimeter attacker, take personal responsibility to choke him off. For this you need length, strength, anticipation, effort, and a frenzy of constant energy to cover your man and your man's man. Here you want to be always in the way to present interior penetration, with long active hands that stifle interior passing. Make them swing it sideways, not through you.

This is Kidd-G's metier. In fact he was so active a defender in the NCAA that at the NBA level I'm concerned he may suck fouls for a while 'til he figures it out. This has happened to our own Chris Singleton who has become frustrated and passive with rookie hazing by the refs. He hasn't yet earned the reputation of an NBA caliber defender, thus he won;t get the benefit of the doubt, thus he's gotten somewhat sour with the refs, which won't earn him any calls.

The difference being that KiddG is much more naturally gifted with lateral speed and anticipation on positioning. Yes he's handsy, yes he's too physical on the perimeter (where you can get away with it on the interior). Granted, the games where he disappeared this season often came when he picked up quick fouls, he doesn't know how to play at half speed, it's all or nothing. But adding him to a squad that earns a reputation as a tough defending squad, and being that he'll have name recognition as a Nat'l Champion, and will be picked early in the draft on this reputation primarily, I suspect he may garner some benefit of the doubt cushion.

Either way, when he's active, and with his clear competitive joy I suspect he won't sulk for long no matter the foul situation. I can see teams having a devil of a time trying to run what they do. He can pressure the ball, pressure the shooter, trap the pick, collapse to slap away an unprotected ball in a crowd, and will earn hustle points from referees who see him diving after every loose or contested ball. And no fast break could count on an easy basket at the other end as like John he rarely gives up on a play.

Strange to think that defense could be the hallmark of a Wizards team, but the way things are shaping up now it looks like we could be downright nasty int his regard. With Johnny Ballgame taking a leadership role on this front as well.

[hands11]

Anyone seen these quotes? Boy do they paint a picture:

Link:

http://hoopshype.com/rumors/tag/washington_wizards

"
The Wizards were certainly hamstrung by the lockout, because their young roster had no summer league, a short training camp and limited practices. Conflicting agendas early on also fostered an environment of individual play that was so unproductive that the phrase “selfish play” was used after nearly every loss. “For some guys, it was contract year, wasn’t serious with the basketball as I think they should’ve been and with them being traded to veteran teams, it helped them,” John Wall said. “We didn’t have any veterans to get on them, they was the veterans. Now they are with veteran teams doing better and we’re doing better.” Washington Post

Washington Wizards, John Wall | share


Wall, the 2010 No. 1 overall pick, struggled early, finally got on track shortly before Saunders was dismissed, then put up all-star caliber numbers for nearly 20 games, and later entered a lengthy slump before finishing with an assist flurry. He had 12 assists in the season finale. “This year, really, after the trade, it felt like it was my third year,” Wall said. “It was a whole totally different team and we started playing totally different, to be honest. No disrespect to any guys we had before, but everything changed. We were more serious in the locker room, more serious on the court, unselfish play, everybody played together and just wanted to win.” Washington Post"

Maybe the rosy picture is just the truth. We did actually see the difference on the court.

It's really not so hard to believe. Smart matters. Mature matter. Nick and McGee were two of their oldest young core and they were two of the stupidest immature players on the team. Swopping them for Nene was just addition by subtraction, it was that plus they had Nene who is a great leader, talented, smart, mature, great personality. That was a home run trade and totally changed this franchise.

[cleek+wall]

walls half court game has improved by leaps and bounds.Hes grasping the offense onto its balls and tugging it properly. he has some magic-esk-passing- easy flow in him

[gesa2]

...Hes grasping the offense onto its balls and tugging it properly...

Please elucidate!

[montestewart]

...Hes grasping the offense onto its balls and tugging it properly...

Please elucidate!

Sometimes I really feel like I'm missing the game within the game.

[hands11]

walls half court game has improved by leaps and bounds.Hes grasping the offense onto its balls and tugging it properly. he has some magic-esk-passing- easy flow in him

Since Nene showed up and Randy got to direct Wall, I became a lot less concerned about if and when Wall would play the right way. Now I feel pretty confident he is going to blow up next year. 10 plus assists is now more probable then not.

Wall will challenge for the assist title next year. If he can add a jumper, it could be an amazing year for Wall.

When you consider that alone along with what they already has, you have to think playoffs are in their reach. A team can have holes if they have an amazing PG dishing like that and a solid vet like Nene leading the team. Specially since Wall can coast to coast and drive/finish. A jumper would put his game over the top. With Nene and Keveen scoring in the post and Ves doing his hustle glue things and your in the playoffs right there.

This team can easily put it together just by bringing everyone back and have them them healthy. Booker will be ready to roll next year and so will Mason if they bring him back. That not even talking about what they can add at back up PG and SG depth.

[hands11]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html


I think this is a pretty good article. Seems like a fair evaluation and echos things said on the board already.

I think he takes care of business and comes back strong. I also think that will be easier for him if they keep Randy as head coach. They know each other. Respect each other. And they ended the year on the same page.

[Rafael122]

Can't imagine what Wall's assists numbers would look like if he had actual shooters around him. The fact that gets 8-9 per game says a lot.

[tontoz]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wizards/wizards-john-wall-says-he-was-kind-of-the-same-in-his-second-season/2012/04/29/gIQAoB2SqT_story.html


I thing this is a pretty good article. Seems like a fair evaluation and echos things said on the board already.

I think he takes care of business and comes back strong. I also think that will be easier for him if they keep Randy as head coach. They know each other. Respect each other. And they ended the year on the same page.

“That was tough to see some guys accept losing,” said Wall, who has won 43 games in two seasons in the NBA after winning 35 games in his one season at Kentucky. “I’ve never accepted losing in my life.”

"He’s a had a tough cast down there. I don’t want to put anybody down but he’s not playing with the smartest guys in the world,” New Jersey Nets all-star guard Deron Williams said about Wall. “That’s tough, man. That’s tough. They’re not smart. I’ve been watching. JaVale McGee was on the Not So Top 10, like, 50 times this year.”

LOL