Official John Wall Appreciation Thread 2.0

[willbcocks]

I would gladly ruin our tank completely if Wall continues to play like this. Please, please keep it up John.

[jmrosenth]

I think he should give more interviews on Grantland where he says he's a max player.

[montestewart]

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

Nope, and I didn't after the previous game, and the one before that, and the one before that. John Wow, my @$$. You can't keep it up. Monday night, Charlotte will be your Waterloo.

[DCZards]

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

While I'd love to see it happen, I doubt that JW can keep up some of those numbers (like FG%) for the rest of the season. (Just like I don't expect Beal to keep up his amazing 3pt shooting %). But it's great that people are seeing what a healthy and confident Wall is capable of.

As a result, there's a lot less "trade" Wall talk on this board...at least temporarily.....and a lot more appreciation for what this current Zards team is capable of doing.

[Jimmy Recard]

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

No, i don't expect him to sustain this type of efficiency. How could he? TS% 69.3 over the last 4, that's insane.

But it's not necessarily his jumper that's impressed me over the last week; it's been his poise and decision making -both in the half court and transition - that have gotten everyone excited. His ability to control the tempo, the way he's reading and reacting to the defense. It's like the game has completely slowed down for him, and he's just picking apart defenses with ease. Those skip passes are almost LeBron-like in how he's hitting the shooters on point, in rhythm.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgdWnJedkFc[/youtube]

The dunks got me out of my seat, and that block on Dragic was sick, but that cross-court pass at 2:42 might be the most impressive. He anticipates Dragic helping off temple and rotating over to Nene and skips it to Temple right on point. It just shows you how high his IQ is, how well he's beginning the read the defense in the halfcourt and how much potential he has as a playmaker.

[GhostsOfGil]

Grabbed Walls shooting splits from this year and last. Odd to see that his at rim efficiency is down, however he's made a huge jump in his 3 to < 10 ft shooting. Overall his jump shot % is nearing the respectable level.

Stats as of March 17th:


http://imgur.com/c2U7ijr

I also grabbed Beal's shooting splits for the season. Here's how Wall compares to Beal- surprisingly close:


http://imgur.com/WPagiwB

Also worth noting, that Beal is assisted on 76.5% of his jump shots where as Wall is assisted on 36% of his jump shots.

[nate33]

Grabbed Walls shooting splits from this year and last. Odd to see that his at rim efficiency is down, however he's made a huge jump in his 3 to < 10 ft shooting. Overall his jump shot % is nearing the respectable level.

Stats as of March 17th:


http://imgur.com/c2U7ijr

I also grabbed Beal's shooting splits for the season. Here's how Wall compares to Beal- surprisingly close:


http://imgur.com/WPagiwB

His rim efficiency doesn't bother me. In the grand scheme of things, there's really very little difference between .618 and .609. What concerns me a bit is his shot distribution. In 2012, 42% of his shot attempts were at the rim. This year, it's down to 33%. Some of that may be due to some tentativeness to drive the lane during his first 10-15 games back from injury, but that doesn't explain it all. I don't want Wall to fall in love with the jump shot. Even at his improved percentages,they're still not good enough to be considered a "good shot".

[GhostsOfGil]

^ Good observation. That's a huge decrease in shot attempts at the rim. With Nene and Okafor clogging the middle, that may be one of the reasons. With a stretch 4, that number may even out.

[GhostsOfGil]

Another thing I noticed, is that last year Wall was averaging nearly half of his points between 0 and 10 seconds on the shot clock. This year that number is down significantly. To me that suggests his half court offense is improved considering that the majority of those 0-10 second shots were probably fast break points in transition.

This may also explain the disparity in his at rim shot attempts between this year and last.

[hands11]

Again...

If Wall has finally learned how to manage of games pace and when to use his speed... i.e. better assists n less TOs

and

He has finally addressed his shooting issue by shooting the same shot each time with a release point at the the top of his shot.

Then add to that his physical attributes, his defensive skill and his drive to perform.

what does that =

I mean ... it looks like over night he has fixed to his two biggest obstacles that were limiting his upside. Pace and everything that comes with that like TOs, pressing, change of pace drives, etc. And shooting, which will open the floor even more for him and others..

I see no reason not to expect another highly efficient game against CHA and then another against PHX

Add in Beal and Webster opening up the court hitting threes, and this thing is starting to pure. If they didn't dig such a hole to start the year, you would be saying they could be stepping into playing there best ball of the year just as they would be heading into the playoffs.

Now it time for Nene and Okafor to pick it up. Both are shooting below their career average FG%

[DCZards]

I mean ... it looks like over night he has fixed to his two biggest obstacles that were limiting his upside. Pace and everything that comes with that like TOs, pressing, change of pace drives, etc. And shooting, which will open the floor even more for him and others..

Suggesting he has fixed his shot "overnight" doesn't give Wall credit for the work he's been putting in. Even though it wasn't falling, John's shot has been looking better the past few weeks....and some of us had been saying that.

[Ruzious]

One thing we learned last season - a 6 game streak doesn't mean much. So, a 4 game streak means less. But hope is a wonderful thing, and now we have a reason to have more. I'll keep the wait and see attitude I had before the streak and hopefully keep enjoying the seeing part.

[pcbothwel]

I think that graph confirms something I thought I had been seeing with my own eyes. With the current improvement Wall has made he is still not 100% physically. I do not mean to say he is hurt, but i believe a healthy offseason will show that he can be even more effective at getting to the basket than he has shown. While he looks quick, his explosion is not what it was last year and if he get that back along with his other improvements... the Wiz will have a top 3-5 back court for at least a half decade if not longer.

[Dark Faze]

To Johns credit we saw "pace" improvements his first 6 or so games back when even without the jumper people were saying he looked like a differnet player.

Then he slipped back into his bs one speed play after that which had people wanting him gone.

Now that pace is back again along with a jumpshot this time.

At least we're seeing development. This is the first true progress we've seen from the guy which is really refreshing. If he has another bad week or two at least we can hope that his quality play will return, and with time hopefully that sort of play will become more of the norm than anything else.

It's clear John is better when he's being more aggressive offensively.

[tontoz]

Wall's improved shooting is certainly a welcome sight. However i need to see more than just a few games before I believe that he has made significant improvement.

I have seen Josh Smith go through hot stretches from the perimeter but in the end he always reverts back to being a bricklayer.

[Dat2U]

Washington Wizards ‏@WashWizards
Wall is 1st player in 3-pt era to avg at least 24p/11a/5r/2st, shoot at least .600 from field, .800 from 3-pt & .857 from FT in 4 game span.

[GhostsOfGil]

Washington Wizards ‏@WashWizards
Wall is 1st player in 3-pt era to avg at least 24p/11a/5r/2st, shoot at least .600 from field, .800 from 3-pt & .857 from FT in 4 game span.

That sounds impressive until you get the oddly specific FT %.

[DCZards]

I wouldn't be surprised--or disappointed--to see somewhat of a dropoff in the significant improvement we've seen in John's outside shooting and shooting % the past few games. I kinda doubt that it's sustainable. What I'm really looking for (and expect) from Wall is regular and ongoing improvement in his shooting and decisionmaking through the rest of this season and into next season.

[tontoz]

Washington Wizards ‏@WashWizards
Wall is 1st player in 3-pt era to avg at least 24p/11a/5r/2st, shoot at least .600 from field, .800 from 3-pt & .857 from FT in 4 game span.

That sounds impressive until you get the oddly specific FT %.

Or the 80% from 3. He only attempted 5 in those 4 games.

Not to downplay his performance lately, which has been great, but stats like this seem pretty much irrelevant.

[Nivek]

I take a look at Wall's transcendent week over at the blog, as well as update PPA for the full team. Wall's PPA went from 92 to 119 since the last update. Over the past 5 games, his PPA is 308. This year's leader for the season is Lebron: 271.