Official John Wall Appreciation Thread 2.0

[hands11]

Combine Randy and Wall post game comments.

Randy
He is practicing releasing the ball at the same place every time. He was shooting it to many different ways. Some leaning. Some fading. etc etc. Wall practicing every day. We are telling him to shoot it the same way every time. At this stage of the game, you aren't going to change a player stroke a lot but what you can do is get them to shoot it the same way each time. Larry Bird didn't have perfect form, but he shot it the same way every time.

Wall
I was shooting on the way up. Sometimes on the way down. Now I release it at the same point which is at the top of my shot.

-----
Glad to see he is fixing these things. And as I commented before, it doesn't look like he is trying to jump as high. The shot looks very relaxed and smooth. And to me, it looks like he has pulled his left hand back so its no longer on top or in front of the ball. I guess if you aren't holding the ball while jumping so high, there really isn't a need to grip. Now he can cradle it and let it fly.

[payitforward]

John Wow ...

Don't think I've read that moniker for him anywhere before, and it's great, Hands -- patent it!

[payitforward]

John Wall had one of the best games by a guard that I've ever seen in many decades of watching NBA ball.

What.

What's hard to understand about that?

I'm not a John Wall hater -- just draw no big conclusions about him (or any player) until I see a high level of play over a meaningful sample size.

[payitforward]

...I'm thinking that might be the best three games in a row I've ever seen from Wall....

From Wall or pretty much any point guard (short of Magic).

[pancakes3]

John Wall had one of the best games by a guard that I've ever seen in many decades of watching NBA ball.

What.

What's hard to understand about that?

I too am confused.

[hands11]

John Wall has had two outstanding games in a row. That's good. That's even exciting. That's all it is.

Two games. Lets see John be an improved player the rest of the season. I'm not asking for performances like the last 2 games. No point guard in the league produces at that level for that long a stretch. Just ongoing improvement.

As a reality check, understand that so far this season John's eFG% is lower than when he was a rookie. His TS% is lower than when he was a rookie. He's getting to the line less than when he was a rookie. He's turning it over more than when he was a rookie, stealing less than when he was a rookie, and rebounding less than when he was a rookie. He's improved his assists slightly -- .6 more assists per 40 minutes than when he was a rookie.

Love to see him become an outstanding NBA player. That will have to happen in the future.

But he did just have two terrific games in a row. That's good, that's two games good.

Some of your statements are wrong and others are misleading.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ljo01.html

His TS is better but pretty much the same. .496 vs 494
eFG is slightly down but pretty much the same .425 vs 427
FTA/36 are up but pretty much the same. 5.5 vs 5.4

All those number are pretty much the same and could be better or worse a game at a time because they are so close.

What is different enough to actually take notice.

FT% is up. .829 vs .766 and has gone up each year.
AST% is way up from his prev two years. 44% vs 36%
AST/36 up 8.7 vs 7.9 and getting better each year.
DRrt is much better. 102 vs 110 and getting better each year.
WS/48 is up .074 vs .041
FG% up from .409 to .421
Pts/36 17.4 vs 15.6
Block% is up 2.1 vs 1.0

So your reality check wasn't really a reality check.

Wall clearly have room to grow more but if you look at the numbers, his game actually is getting better since he was a rookie. Clearly he is a better FT shooter. He is also clearly a better defender. Those things should not go unnoticed.

So... the above strikes me as kind of nasty and to no purpose. The numbers I quoted were the ones I saw; they probably didn't include the last 2 games (@12% of his total minutes this year?) -- yet the ones you quote aren't particularly different.

He's improved his Drtg (but his Ortg is worse. That's John Wall development so far.

The good news is, the shooting, smart on the court, and managing the game stuff is what we just saw vastly improved those last two games.

Duh. Yes, as I said, he had two outstanding games. And they are virtually entirely responsible (given his few minutes this year) for the improvements you make a big deal of.

I think Walls light bulb might finally be going on.

And I think he just had two outstanding games -- as I said.

Which of those two statements has empirical support?

John Wall is like a penny stock on this forum. One week he's terrible, trade him. The next week someone posts about "the transformation" of his game (after the evidence of two outings!)

Reality check: John Wall may "become an outstanding NBA player. That will have to happen in the future."

You really disagree with that? Should I quote you a week or so ago on Wall.

I wasn't trying to be nasty.

Your post had a specific angle to it that was... the reality check. Its only two games.
You used some numbers and described them as "down". I wanted to see how down they were since simply saying down didn't mean much. So I looked them up.

I then broke them down into meaningfully differences vs to close to matter. .423 vs .425 is down and you can string a bunch of those categories together to paint a picture which you did. Down in this. Down in that. But that doesn't tell the real story. So I simply posted the actual numbers to point that out. It wasn't to be nasty, it was to put some number in there to paint a more accurate picture.

Wall has now play 954 total minutes this season. So any game he plays 35 minutes is going to be 3.7% of that total. 3 games adds ups to about 10% of his total minutes. Weighted averages being what they are, that effect obviously diminishes over time as his total mins accumulate. 3 games of outstanding numbers is going to clearly move his number up in categories that he was way down in.

Now two good games has turned into three and those number have shifted even more. Specially his eFG%. 3-3 from 3 land has shot his 3FG% way up because he has taken so few this year 6-23: .261%. That along with him going 12-15 last game had a big affect on his offensive numbers. It pulled his ORtg up to 100 which is the same it was his previous two years.

As of the NO game, Wall is up in pretty much every meaningful category not only over his rookie year but over last year as well.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... ljo01.html

What are the most notable numbers? I would say they are the ones that aren't shifted dramatically because of just 3 games. Thy are the ones that he has done all year and done well.

AST% 44.6 vs 36 and 37 in previous years. Having some outside shooter is clearly helping Wall

FT% .831 vs .789 and .766 - he is getting better year over year. This is the one thing that gave some of us a little extra hope that he FG% would eventually get better. I asked the question several time. How often do you see a guard who shots so well from the line, not shoot well from the field ? That lead me to believe if he would just relax and take a similar style shot where he doesn't over jump, he could hit that in the flow of the game from the same spot.

AST/36: 8.7 vs 8.0 and 7.9 - getting better every year

DRtg 102 vs 107 and 110 - progress every year.

-----------
So that leaves us with the all important question. Has John turned the corner on his jumper and with his game management/pace ?

From what we see, and what he says and what Randy is saying, I think he lightly has.

He is now focused on a consistent shot. A consistent release point. And not leaning when he shoots. Those are all good things. He is understanding pace better which leads to less turnovers. Over 5 games he has 3, 2, 4, 3, and 2.

So if his AST%, AST/36, DRtg and FT% were already solid and consistent and now he has fixed, or is fixing, the two areas that have most plagued him... FG% and turnovers.....this is about to get really interesting.

John instantly goes from a questionable asset that was a questionable #1 pick to a clearly valuable asset. And that one question getting answered dramatically changes the rebuild since he is only 22 and Beal is only 19.

All issues for the team are clearly not resolved, but things instantly look a lot better.

And so we have another game tonight. If John can do it again, we may have to break out the Kook-Aid again because having Beal turn the corner from sucky shooter to amazing is one thing. If Wall can also do that in the same season. WOW.

[hands11]

John Wow ...

Don't think I've read that moniker for him anywhere before, and it's great, Hands -- patent it!

Ya think ? lol

Hey, have at it. John Wow should be freely distributed.

Maybe it should be John Wow'l

get the the "L" in there to make it sound more like his name.

[montestewart]

John Wow ...

Don't think I've read that moniker for him anywhere before, and it's great, Hands -- patent it!

Ya think ? lol

Hey, have at it. John Wow should be freely distributed.

Maybe it should be John Wow'l

get the the "L" in there to may it sound more like his name.

I've seen it before, but it never stuck. If he keeps it up, not much choice, eh?

Other than his recovering from injury, I didn't think Wall was worse this year, even with no 3 and increased TOs. I just didn't see him really looking better. Until the last three games. It's only three games, but Wow! John Wow.

[Higga]

Wall has been dominant these last few games. THAT's the Wall I expected in year 3 as a #/#1 pick. Hope he can keep it up and not just be typical end of season Wizards fool's gold.

[hands11]

Another highly efficient night for Wall. This is just Fing insanely amazing how he just flipped the switch like this.

PHX 8-11
NO 12-15
MIL 10-19
CLE 7-15
CHA 6-11

43-71 that's' .605%

Granted. You have the bottom of the barrel of teams in that list but still.

[FAH1223]

the real test will be on the road in the West. Let's see if John can do this at tougher places to play.

[hands11]

the real test will be on the road in the West. Let's see if John can do this at tougher places to play.

Well give the first two games on the road are against CHA and PHX, he will get to wade into the water first.

[doclinkin]

John Wall had one of the best games by a guard that I've ever seen in many decades of watching NBA ball.

What.

What's hard to understand about that?

I'm not a John Wall hater -- just draw no big conclusions about him (or any player) until I see a high level of play over a meaningful sample size.

That was a declarative 'what'.
Like: "And what".
That's what.
A 'so shut your mouth' what.
A 'what, son' what.
What.

[Ruzious]

Note the absence of a questionmark.

[GhostsOfGil]

John Wall had one of the best games by a guard that I've ever seen in many decades of watching NBA ball.

What.

That was a declarative 'what'.
Like: "And what".
That's what.
A 'so shut your mouth' what.
A 'what, son' what.
What.

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1236725

[montestewart]

That was a declarative 'what'.
Like: "And what".
That's what.
A 'so shut your mouth' what.
A 'what, son' what.
What.

"What, son?"
"Sure, Loch!"

[dobrojim]

I wise man said something to the effect that if John Wall plays like this, you pay him the max and smile about it all day long.

Great to dream about Wall and Beal together in 5-6 years when they are in their prime.

[B-easy]

Aren't people getting too excited? Do you really think he will keep this up?

[jivelikenice]

24 ppg/11 apg/5.5 RPGs/ 61.6 fg%/ 2.5 spg/ 3-1 record......NBA player of the week?

[doclinkin]

Aren't people getting too excited? Do you really think he will keep this up?

Like an Enzyte Viagra Cialis cocktail. Call your doc.