Hoop365: Wizards Soaring, Wall Struggling

[Lanky Gunner]

The Washington Wizards won their first round series against the Chicago Bulls in pretty dominating fashion, winning three road games to dispatch their foes in just five games. This despite entering the series with very few people picking them to win, let alone to win with relative ease. Washington also took their first game, again on the road, off the top seeded Indiana Pacers and played the Pacers down to the final minute of game 2 in an absolute must win for Indiana. One might assume that with such unexpectedly positive results that the Wizards’ face of the franchise, and newly-minted superstar, John Wall must be single-handedly lifting Washington to new heights. Such an assumption would be very, very wrong.

http://www.hoop365.com/nba/wizards-soar ... truggling/

[queridiculo]

Repairing Rose's meniscus Monday forever impaired the Bulls' vision of a championship and the perception of a homegrown point guard everybody thought would lead them to it.

Realistically, when a 25-year-old player whose game depends on explosiveness undergoes two knee surgeries in 19 months, perhaps the best isn't yet to come.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013 ... rto-center

[dangermouse]

This has been discussed in other threads. His shooting has been off. That is literally the only part of his game that has been off, he has hardly been struggling on defense, setting up his team mates, playing under control. He does enough in other areas that it negates his poor shooting, which while it has been poor, hasnt been forced. I havent seen quite as many long twos early in the clock that hurt the team as we did in some frustrating regular season games.

[Illmatic12]

This has been discussed in other threads. His shooting has been off. That is literally the only part of his game that has been off, he has hardly been struggling on defense, setting up his team mates, playing under control. He does enough in other areas that it negates his poor shooting, which while it has been poor, hasnt been forced. I havent seen quite as many long twos early in the clock that hurt the team as we did in some frustrating regular season games.

1) His jumpshot has completely left him
2) He's not attacking the rim

Those are two major parts of his game that are nonexistent

[GhostsOfGil]

This has been discussed in other threads. His shooting has been off. That is literally the only part of his game that has been off, he has hardly been struggling on defense, setting up his team mates, playing under control. He does enough in other areas that it negates his poor shooting, which while it has been poor, hasnt been forced. I havent seen quite as many long twos early in the clock that hurt the team as we did in some frustrating regular season games.

1) His jumpshot has completely left him
2) He's not attacking the rim

Those are two major parts of his game that are nonexistent

And when Beal runs the point he literally just stands in the corner until the play ends.

[Illuminaire]

And when Beal runs the point he literally just stands in the corner until the play ends.

That appears to be by design.

[dlts20]

This has been discussed in other threads. His shooting has been off. That is literally the only part of his game that has been off, he has hardly been struggling on defense, setting up his team mates, playing under control. He does enough in other areas that it negates his poor shooting, which while it has been poor, hasnt been forced. I havent seen quite as many long twos early in the clock that hurt the team as we did in some frustrating regular season games.

1) His jumpshot has completely left him
2) He's not attacking the rim

Those are two major parts of his game that are nonexistent

I agree with dangermouse. Both things you said are basically one in the same. Also, he's attacked the rim I think a decent amount. Not as much as preffered but I think its been decent. The problem is that he's passed it when doing so like 85% of the time. The bad is he's passing up good shots. The good is that luckily most of his passes still end in good shots.

The bottom line is that it would be crazy for anyone to think that we have been winning in spite of Wall which is what the article and some fans seem to suggest. He's been a major part of our winning. However, there is no doubt that we could even take it to another level and probably become elite if he regains his scoring touch. Maybe that horrible display late was enough to get his mojo back

[hands11]

This has been discussed in other threads. His shooting has been off. That is literally the only part of his game that has been off, he has hardly been struggling on defense, setting up his team mates, playing under control. He does enough in other areas that it negates his poor shooting, which while it has been poor, hasnt been forced. I havent seen quite as many long twos early in the clock that hurt the team as we did in some frustrating regular season games.

Agreed. The worst I can recall from him is the brain fart 1-2 mins down the stretch of last game. Other then that, I thought he had a real nice game.

Not really worried about Wall night now. He has a ton on his shoulder running this team offense and he has delivered. Scoring isn't everything. I trust Wall and keep improving. These playoffs are an opportunity for him to keep getting better with ever increasing challenges.

But how about the young BB. I was concerned about him going into the playoffs but man has he stepped up.

[Higga]

Seemed like everytime Wall attacked the basket on Wednesday, something good happened(usually open shots for someone else). He just needs to keep doing that. The jump shots will fall eventually but he shouldn't be shooting them so much anyway. I really hate those possessions where all he does is dribble up and then jack up an 18 footer. He has been making them more often this year but it's still bad offense. Use that speed and set up easy shots.

[blazinskillz]

He needs to step up. At the end of the day, it's the playoffs and if they want to advance and if he wants to reach his personal goals and become the best pg, he has to. I really appreciate that his turnovers has been down, I just need his play to be up. He's not confident in his self and I think the love that beal has been getting, is affecting him. I'm not saying John is jealous, not by far, but you can see things in a person's body language that suggests he being complacent. I don't really like Beal running point when Johns on the court. His stats looks nice but watching him dribble in traffic is like a TO waiting to happen. John probably doesn't really like it but he goes along with it, not wanting to be a distraction. I like Randy Wittman, but I don't believe he's the best coach for wall. But this is a team and wall will have to step it up.

Sent from my SM-G900T using RealGM Forums mobile app

[Illmatic12]

Damian Lillard vs John Wall

http://nba.si.com/2014/05/09/damian-lil ... ref=sircrc

Surprisingly most of the writers picked Wall in a landslide. I thought they'd all favor Lillard because of his shooting/clutchness but I guess it shows how much confidence people have in Wall's untapped potential

[TGW]

Damian Lillard vs John Wall

http://nba.si.com/2014/05/09/damian-lil ... ref=sircrc

Surprisingly most of the writers picked Wall in a landslide. I thought they'd all favor Lillard because of his shooting/clutchness but I guess it shows how much confidence people have in Wall's untapped potential

That, and Lilliard isn't a point guard. He's a shooting guard in a point guard's body.

If you watch Blazers game, you'll see him hike up a ton of ill-advised shots. He doesn't run an offense well. He's a helluva shooter, like Kyrie, but his pure point guard skills are lacking. Defensively, he is lacking as well. Wall pretty much has one [glaring] weakness, and that is his shooting. Wall is pretty solid at everything else.

It's not a surprise that many people prefer Wall...he is a better POINT guard.

[Illmatic12]

Damian Lillard vs John Wall

http://nba.si.com/2014/05/09/damian-lil ... ref=sircrc

Surprisingly most of the writers picked Wall in a landslide. I thought they'd all favor Lillard because of his shooting/clutchness but I guess it shows how much confidence people have in Wall's untapped potential

That, and Lilliard isn't a point guard. He's a shooting guard in a point guard's body.

If you watch Blazers game, you'll see him hike up a ton of ill-advised shots. He doesn't run an offense well. He's a helluva shooter, like Kyrie, but his pure point guard skills are lacking. Defensively, he is lacking as well. Wall pretty much has one [glaring] weakness, and that is his shooting. Wall is pretty solid at everything else.

It's not a surprise that many people prefer Wall...he is a better POINT guard.

I agree 100%, but the media has riding Lillard hard lately so I figured they'd say something like "Lillard has the *IT* factor and Wall doesn't" or some bs.. I'm glad there are people actually paying attention

Lillard, to me is fairly close to his ceiling, at least statistically. He's never gonna have natural PG instincts, and probably won't develop them in Portland's system because they don't need him to

[Nivek]

Damian Lillard vs John Wall

http://nba.si.com/2014/05/09/damian-lil ... ref=sircrc

Surprisingly most of the writers picked Wall in a landslide. I thought they'd all favor Lillard because of his shooting/clutchness but I guess it shows how much confidence people have in Wall's untapped potential

That, and Lilliard isn't a point guard. He's a shooting guard in a point guard's body.

If you watch Blazers game, you'll see him hike up a ton of ill-advised shots. He doesn't run an offense well. He's a helluva shooter, like Kyrie, but his pure point guard skills are lacking. Defensively, he is lacking as well. Wall pretty much has one [glaring] weakness, and that is his shooting. Wall is pretty solid at everything else.

It's not a surprise that many people prefer Wall...he is a better POINT guard.

This strikes me as an odd critique of Lillard. I agree he's more of a shooter than a pure PG, but...so? He's extremely efficient on offense, Portland had the league's 2nd most efficient offense, and that offense was 7.7 points per 100 possessions BETTER when Lillard was on the floor.

Want to knock Lillard, stick to the defensive end where his size works against him. But, his offense is a real strength. Wizards fans should wish Wall could be as good on the offensive end.

[Illmatic12]

^Lillard's size isn't working against him, he's 6'3 and fairly athletic to boot. His problem on defense is that he has no awareness.. it seems he doesn't know when screens are coming or how to defend PnR

[dckingsfan]

Surprised we don't have a "are we better without John Wall" thread.

[CobraCommander]

Surprised we don't have a "are we better without John Wall" thread.

Wow I hope you are joking about this or you are pointing out how foolish it would be to imagine the wiz would be better without their best player. Have to admit his shooting has been less than ideal but we need him.

Go wiz..... Please

[payitforward]

Surprised we don't have a "are we better without John Wall" thread.

Wow I hope you are joking about this or you are pointing out how foolish it would be to imagine the wiz would be better without their best player. Have to admit his shooting has been less than ideal but we need him.

Go wiz..... Please

Our best player? No. That would be Ariza -- and by a lot not a little.

[dckingsfan]

Surprised we don't have a "are we better without John Wall" thread.

Wow I hope you are joking about this or you are pointing out how foolish it would be to imagine the wiz would be better without their best player. Have to admit his shooting has been less than ideal but we need him.

Go wiz..... Please

Straight sarcasm

[dckingsfan]

Surprised we don't have a "are we better without John Wall" thread.

Wow I hope you are joking about this or you are pointing out how foolish it would be to imagine the wiz would be better without their best player. Have to admit his shooting has been less than ideal but we need him.

Go wiz..... Please

Our best player? No. That would be Ariza -- and by a lot not a little.

Yep, he is flat out earning a huge payday.