Official John Wall Appreciation Thread 2.0

[Higga]

I love Beal but anyone who would take him right now over prime Gilbert Arenas needs to get their heads checked. Prime Gil was downright unstopable, offensively he was right there with the Kobes and Carmelos. 30 points and 6 dimes a game, wake me up when Beal can reach half those #s(and again don't get me wrong, I love Beal, and think he will be a star, but he ain't prime Gil yet).

Don't understand some of the Gil hate here. I think he was just fine as a franchise player, the problem is we were crippled with a moron head coach and a GM who didn't properly build around his talents.

I would say the exact opposite. You really need your head examined if you would take Gil over Beal.

Beal right now is nowhere near Gil was in his prime. I think Beal will be a great player, but is he ever gonna average 30 and 6 like Gil did? Chances are, he won't. As of now, prime Gil > Beal. But we'll see how Beal develops.

[Nivek]

In February, Beal has played about as well as Arenas did in 05-06 season. Not quite up the 06-07 level, but still. Beal has been playing extremely well this month. Small sample size and all that, but the kid can play.

[dobrojim]

age for age, how do they matchup?

I remember one of the first really insightful posts I read from you (Nivek)
was about the likelihood of Gil becoming a total stud based upon his production
at a young age. You were dead on correct. I've remembered that well and
is a reason why I'm more and more stoked about BB.

He's only 19. Yikes.

[Nivek]

Probably time for me to update my comparison of Beal other young rookie guards. When I last ran the numbers, Beal was about average for rookie guards age 20 or under. His PPA at that point was 76. At the same point in his rookie season, Arenas had a PPA of 93. Arenas ended up with a PPA of 122. He was at the same level his 2nd season (121). His first year in Washington, he had that abdominal strain and posted an 82. Then he went off -- 148, 153, 168.

Then he got his knee wrecked...

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

With his ability to create these open corner 3s, imagine what they could do with a stretch 4. The lane would be wide open or we'd have Beal/ Webster/ Stretch 4 with wide open looks all game....

I sure hope EG actually does well with a second round pick this time, and that he selects Doug McDermott if he's on the board. Kenny Kadji is taller but McDermott is going to score a ton of corner threes.

[GhostsOfGil]

With his ability to create these open corner 3s, imagine what they could do with a stretch 4. The lane would be wide open or we'd have Beal/ Webster/ Stretch 4 with wide open looks all game....

I sure hope EG actually does well with a second round pick this time, and that he selects Doug McDermott if he's on the board. Kenny Kadji is taller but McDermott is going to score a ton of corner threes.

History says: Don't get your hopes up...

[Dark Faze]

I wonder if rookie John Wall is the best we'll ever see of dude

[Brenice]

It's obvious the time lost due to the knee injury set John back a lil. The team is playing better because of his presence, but his game is behind what it was last year. For example: When is the last time he did his lefthanded dunk in a game?

His game is off right now.

[nate33]

It's obvious the time lost due to the knee injury set John back a lil. The team is playing better because of his presence, but his game is behind what it was last year. For example: When is the last time he did his lefthanded dunk in a game?

His game is off right now.

I wouldn't call that "obvious" at all. It's certainly a plausible theory, but not necessarily the correct one. Wall could be rusty, or maybe he simply hasn't improved. Hopefully, the next 20 games should give us more of an indication.

[Brenice]

I wouldn't call that "obvious" at all. It's certainly a plausible theory, but not necessarily the correct one. Wall could be rusty, or maybe he simply hasn't improved. Hopefully, the next 20 games should give us more of an indication.

Why would Wall be "rusty" compared to anybody else, if not for the injury? It has nothing to do with him not improving. Whenever you are forced to not play at all for an extended period of time, like he was, you have to re-gain some areas of your game, especially when you are playing with people who have a head start for the season.

Hopefully, he will re-gain the skills he is looking for, that were there last season.

[GhostsOfGil]

It's not like Wall is missing layups or not getting into the lane. He's still making the same mistakes he was as a rookie. Picking up his dribble at half court when a defender denies an entry pass, jumping into the air with no one to pass to, forcing a pass through 3 defenders.. It's not rust, he just isn't improving.

[nate33]

I wouldn't call that "obvious" at all. It's certainly a plausible theory, but not necessarily the correct one. Wall could be rusty, or maybe he simply hasn't improved. Hopefully, the next 20 games should give us more of an indication.

Why would Wall be "rusty" compared to anybody else, if not for the injury? It has nothing to do with him not improving. Whenever you are forced to not play at all for an extended period of time, like he was, you have to re-gain some areas of your game, especially when you are playing with people who have a head start for the season.

Hopefully, he will re-gain the skills he is looking for, that were there last season.

I'm not sure why you are arguing. My "rusty" comment was in agreement with yours. I'm saying he could be rusty from the long layoff after the injury which might explain his relatively poor play. I don't think the injury itself is bothering him. It's not like he had surgery or anything.

The part where I disagree is with the "obvious" part. You make it sound like it's a foregone conclusion that Wall should improve significantly from what he did a year ago and any lack of improvement must therfore have an alternative explanation. I'm not quite as confident. From the data we have so far in his career, there isn't much reason to expect massive improvement because he really hasn't improved since his rookie year. We can hope for improvement, sure. But expect it? I'm not going that far.

[Brenice]

The part where I disagree is with the "obvious" part. You make it sound like it's a foregone conclusion that Wall should improve significantly from what he did a year ago and any lack of improvement must therfore have an alternative explanation. I'm not quite as confident. From the data we have so far in his career, there isn't much reason to expect massive improvement because he really hasn't improved since his rookie year. We can hope for improvement, sure. But expect it? I'm not going that far.

To me, it is obvious. I know from my own experience of losing a lil something in my game after a long injury related layoff. It has nothing to do with a lack of improvement. It's getting back to the level he had last year. The example I threw out there is his left-handed dunks, or lack/infrequency of them are 1 sign. His reluctance to finish at/near the rim after penetration is shown when he penetrates and passes up layups to force a pass back out. Maybe his confidence is lacking but it points to his inactivity. But, I could be wrong and by no means think he can't get it back. I hope he does! I still think he will be the best Wiz, not Beal.

Friendly question: Do you think his athletic explosion is the same?

[REDardWIZskin]

With his athleticism i wish he would finish above the rim more often. He attempts to many finger rolls and layups below the rim vs Rose, who prefers the tear drop and Westbrook who has the foul line jumper. Just an observation.

[TheKingOfVa360]

Wall with the last 6 points to seal the win vs the 76ers. He deserves some praise for that. His jumper was money tonight. Hopefully he has practicing his jumper a lot.

[DCZards]

Wall with the last 6 points to seal the win vs the 76ers. He deserves some praise for that. His jumper was money tonight. Hopefully he has practicing his jumper a lot.

During the post game interview, it sounded like Wall said something about feeling good about making those shots because he's been "working on them."

[SUPERBALLMAN]

Wall with the last 6 points to seal the win vs the 76ers. He deserves some praise for that. His jumper was money tonight. Hopefully he has practicing his jumper a lot.

Good game John.

[TheKingOfVa360]

Wall with the last 6 points to seal the win vs the 76ers. He deserves some praise for that. His jumper was money tonight. Hopefully he has practicing his jumper a lot.

During the post game interview, it sounded like Wall said something about feeling good about making those shots because he's been "working on them."

Good, that's what I like to hear. If Wall puts in the work he can prove everyone wrong. But its clear he has a long way to go.

[sfam]

Wall with the last 6 points to seal the win vs the 76ers. He deserves some praise for that. His jumper was money tonight. Hopefully he has practicing his jumper a lot.

Good game John.

I like that Wall says he needs to be more aggressive. To me, listening to his post game comments, this almost sounded like he has to play with confidence. This is what has been missing. If Wall is confident, his whole game will improve.

[Dark Faze]

He really needs to look to score more. Beals injury isn't serious to maybe its a blessing in disguise that our best scorer is out, giving John a reason to be a little more selfish.