Official John Wall Appreciation Thread 2.0

[FAH1223]

All were needed on Sunday night, as the Wizards let an eight-point lead evaporate into a three-point deficit and then lost Bradley Beal to an ankle injury before Wall scored the game's final six points - two huge jumpers and two huge free throws - and recorded a game-saving blocked shot to secure a 90-87 victory at Verizon Center.

"I like the ball at the end of the games," Wall said after scoring a team-high 16 points with six assists and five rebounds. "With those type of plays, you want to be the hero. You want to have the pressure. Sometimes you're going to succeed. Sometimes you're going to fail, but as long as you have confidence and believe in yourself, you'll be all right."

http://www.bulletsforever.com/2013/3/4/ ... s-a-damper

[tontoz]

"I like the ball at the end of the games,"

I don't like you having the ball at the end of games.

It was nice that he was successful last night but his track record at the end of games is less than stellar, especially this season. He forces the action way too much.

[nate33]

"I like the ball at the end of the games,"

I don't like you having the ball at the end of games.

Seriously though, it's good that he's not afraid of the pressure, as long as he understands that it doesn't matter who the "hero" is. Just make the right play so that someone gets a high percentage shot.

[tontoz]

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.

That would certainly give the tank a much needed boost. There are several teams closing in on us in the tank race. We need to get some separation.

[Nivek]

Over at the blog today, I broke players into three groups: Less Efficient Offensively with Wall; About the Same with or without Wall; More Efficient Offensively with Wall. These are since 1/12, which is when Wall returned to the lineup (one game after Price came back from injury as well).

Less Efficient with Wall

- A.J. Price
- Garrett Temple
- Jan Vesely
- Kevin Seraphin
- Trevor Booker

About the Same with and without Wall

- Bradley Beal
- Martell Webster

More Efficient with Wall

- Chris Singleton
- Emeka Okafor
- Nene
- Trevor Ariza

Overall, the offense has been slightly less efficient with Wall on the floor since he came back (ortg with: 102.6; ortg without: 104.2).

Sample sizes for individual players are still on the small side. Wouldn't reach any conclusions from this. It's a subject worth revisiting later in the season.

[Dark Faze]

You sure about those numbers? I mean, Beal was playing so bad before Wall came back that despite multiple months of shooting 50% from 3 and over 15 PPG he's still sitting at a PER of 13 and a FG percentage of around 40. He was playing that badly.

[tontoz]

You sure about those numbers? I mean, Beal was playing so bad before Wall came back that despite multiple months of shooting 50% from 3 and over 15 PPG he's still sitting at a PER of 13 and a FG percentage of around 40. He was playing that badly.

You should go back and look at Beal's game logs in early January. Beal played 5 games in january before Wall came back.

[nate33]

You sure about those numbers? I mean, Beal was playing so bad before Wall came back that despite multiple months of shooting 50% from 3 and over 15 PPG he's still sitting at a PER of 13 and a FG percentage of around 40. He was playing that badly.

Good grief. How many times does this myth have to be refuted before people stop repeating it?

Beal got better BEFORE Wall got back. After Wall got back, there was NO DIFFERENCE in Beal's play whether or not Wall was on the court with him. Wall is clearly not the primary reason Beal turned it around in January. He probably helps in the same way any decent PG would help anybody, but there is no magic chemistry between Wall and Beal that makes Wall indispensable. Beal plays well with or without Wall.

[Nivek]

You sure about those numbers? I mean, Beal was playing so bad before Wall came back that despite multiple months of shooting 50% from 3 and over 15 PPG he's still sitting at a PER of 13 and a FG percentage of around 40. He was playing that badly.

You should go back and look at Beal's game logs in early January. Beal played 5 games in january before Wall came back.

And, you can look at Beal's numbers with and without Wall since January 12.

Or, you could read my blog today, in which I show Beal's performance by month, or my blog entry from last week about how Beal is playing like an All-Star. Beal's high quality play has been happening with and without Wall on the floor. This is a GOOD thing.

[GhostsOfGil]

You sure about those numbers? I mean, Beal was playing so bad before Wall came back that despite multiple months of shooting 50% from 3 and over 15 PPG he's still sitting at a PER of 13 and a FG percentage of around 40. He was playing that badly.

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1190581&start=1230

[tontoz]

[And, you can look at Beal's numbers with and without Wall since January 12.

Or, you could read my blog today, in which I show Beal's performance by month, or my blog entry from last week about how Beal is playing like an All-Star. Beal's high quality play has been happening with and without Wall on the floor. This is a GOOD thing.

True but you have posted about that several times already. If it hasn't sunk in by now....

I agree that Beal's play is about Beal, not anyone else. I think it is just a simple case of a 19 yr old kid needing some time to feel comfortable in the NBA.

[hands11]

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.

I'll take tails on this. I think when he plays with "confidence" he tries to do things he hasn't proven to be good at. Even in that game where he started very in control and had only 1 turnover the entire game, down the stretch the was feeling that "confidence" and turned the ball over with sloppy handles. He also got bailed out on a forced drive were he was out of control.

Now, he did made a very nice defensive play with the block. He can do that kind of stuff.
He sank two free throws on that bail out call... but he has been hitting FTs at a nice clip all year.
Then his made a late shot with the team up 1 to make it 3. Not counting on that shoot falling much better then it has in the past but after him making it, I expect he will take a lot more of them.

So if history is to repeat itself, with Beal out, Wall will try to do to much next game. I expect more forced drives. Higher turnovers. More fancy dribbling cross overs at the top of the key. And several clanked outside shots.

Do I hope for that? No. Do I expect it? Yes.

I would prefer he just start next game the way he started this one. Actually, I prefer he finish the game the same way. Wall trying to do to much has rarely yielded good results. Maybe this time will be different.

I predicted 3 or less turnovers from him last game. He ended with 2. Next game I expect 5-7 and at least 15-17 shot attempts of which he will make maybe 6-7. 5-6 FTAs. 8-9 assists So he will get his 17-19 or so pts. But it won't be efficient.

[stevemcqueen1]

We need to go ahead and negotiate Wall's extension this summer--a year early--like Denver did with Ty Lawson and GS did with Steph Curry. IIRC, Boston did it too with Rajon Rondo.

The result of doing it was getting their PGs on outstanding deals.

GS got Curry on a four year extension for just under 11 million per year, Lawson has four years around 12 million annually.

It seems to me John would have less bargaining power than them ultimately, since Lawson led his team to the playoffs and Curry was on the World Championship team. None of them have AS appearances though.

Go ahead and negotiate with Wall this summer, lock him in for four more years (maybe five) at 11 million per and you avoid falling into a bad situation like Milwaukee is going to have with Brandon Jennings. You insulate yourself against him blowing up next season or having to swallow a poison pill that could blow the team up the year it kicks in. Getting him at 11 million per anum would save an average of four to five million a year against a max extension.

Or heaven forbid he won an MVP next season and qualified for the Derrick Rose rule and we had to pay 30% of the cap, that would save something like 8-9 million dollars annually.

Lock him in early and we can use the savings to keep someone like Webster or sign a good backup PG. Or maybe you could even use the savings to scrabble enough money together to get Okafor to come back for a couple years on a smaller deal after his current one expires.

[Dark Faze]

I'm all for locking John in a year early at a reduced price.

I don't know if I see him taking less than Javale Mcgee though, which is 13 per, but maybe..

[Nivek]

$11 million per season isn't reduced enough to extend Wall this offseason instead of waiting. It could end up being a relative bargain, but it's at least as likely he'll end up not being worth that much. If he abruptly breaks out and has an MVP type season, I'd have no problem paying him the max. But, I wouldn't want to get stuck paying $11 million per year to an average player.

[Dark Faze]

I don't know if that's a bet I'd be willing to take Nivek. I'm quite a team would be willing to pay him more than 11 PER based on potential alone.

[Nivek]

Another team CAN'T pay Wall anything until 2014 at the earliest. And even then, the Wizards will have the ability to match any contract offers. What I'm saying is that locking Wall up at $11 million per season is a waste of time because it's not a bargain, and -- to be blunt -- it's really not looking all that likely that it will be unless Wall improves a TON between now and when that extension kicks in.

If Wall doesn't improve at all, you really want to pay him $11 million per season? I don't. And no, I don't assume that improvement is automatic. It certainly hasn't been for Wall. Let someone else overpay, if that's what they want to do.

For now, there's just no advantage in doing an extension with him. The Wizards have him on his rookie deal for another season, and then have control over where he goes the season after that. No rush. Unless Wall will agree to something that has a chance at being a true bargain extension -- something like $8-9 million per season.

Wall is not an elite player having a rough season. He's a youngster with potential and ability, and big-time holes in his game. If he was the 9th pick in the draft, no one would be talking about giving him $11 million per year.

[nate33]

A 4-year, $44M contract would start at $9.9M with 7.5% raises. Wall's qualifying offer is $9.7M. I don't see any way whatsoever that Wall agrees to a 4-year, $44M extension when he could just as easily take the qualifying offer and then become an unrestricted free agent in 2015 (and potentially play himself into a max contract).

Discussion about extending Wall to anything less than a max or near-max offer are just a waste of time. Wall won't accept it. Our only realistic course of action is to wait until 2014 and match the best offer out there.

[fishercob]

Discussion about extending Wall to anything less than a max or near-max offer are just a waste of time. Wall won't accept it. Our only realistic course of action is to wait until 2014 and match the best offer out there.

Or trading him.

[stevemcqueen1]

I'm all for locking John in a year early at a reduced price.

I don't know if I see him taking less than Javale Mcgee though, which is 13 per, but maybe..

JaVale doesn't make 13 million per year. Javale's contract is for exactly 11 million per year. 13 million per year would have actually been a near max deal for JaVale since he was eligible for 14.5.

Javale's a 7 footer too. John isn't going to get as much money as him unless he is an All Star.

Javale's deal is also pretty lousy when you think about it. I think deals like his come about when you let a young player hit the market. Ironically, if you view a young player as a franchise cornerstone, you tend to sign them for less because you sign them earlier usually. The guys who you aren't sure what your long term plans for them are often seem to be the ones you end up having to pay a premium for because you let them hit the market.