Not long ago, many wondered if John Wall could ever reclaim his reputation as the possible savior of the Washington Wizards – a burdening label immediately thrust upon him when he was drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010-2011 NBA Draft. In fact, some openly wondered if he’s even worth building around.
And when I say “not long ago”, I’m talking about just weeks ago. For the most part, it was hard to agree with those that harshly criticized Wall’s game, simply because of his youth – he’s still only 22 years old – along with his undeniable athleticism and the high probability of improvement in his game (developing jump shot, playing in different speeds, etc) over time.
Here’s something else that’s rather difficult to agree with: Wall is a max-contract-level player. With his eligibility of a contract extension coming up in the summer, the guard has been asked about his current value a number of times, and he has said on every such occasion that he “deserves” max money. Here is the latest on his mindset, from Michael Lee of Washington Post:
“You never know, but I feel like I proved myself for them to give it to me,” Wall said. “I feel like the organization, the ownership knows what I’m capable of and what I bring to the table as a point guard. I feel like I put the pressure on myself to push myself to show that I’m willing to be a max player.. . . I feel like I did what I have to and still want to prove myself. I’m still not done. I still haven’t reached my peak and I feel like it’s up to them to make the decision.”
“I would be hurt. I feel like anybody should that feels like they are a franchise guy and proven themselves and still working to develop and get better. But this is a business and you have to deal with the stuff that comes with it and goes with it. I leave that up to those guys, but I love playing for D.C. I love this team, my staff, my teammates.”
“Proved himself” when, exactly? Wall was supposed to “take over the league” last season after a successful, yet disappointing (for his standards) and injury-ridden rookie season. That obviously didn’t happen, as he arguably regressed and showed the world how unreliable he was from 15 feet and out. The Washington Wizards were a dreadful bunch and finished at a woeful 20-46. It’s not fair to pin that all on Wall, but he was certainly a part of the issue. Then, of course, there is this season, when he was supposed to have figured everything out but found himself sidelined for more than two months of the season with a leg injury after originally being diagnosed to miss maybe the first month of the season. Injuries do happen and Wall has shown that he is susceptible to them – he played 69 games in his rookie year and is projected to finish this season with 49 games played.
When he does play, he can be a handful, but he has also been known to be detrimental with his “just run full speed to the basket and see what happens” type mentality. Wall’s recent hot streak – which saw him win a Player of the Week award – aside, his shooting touch has always been suspect at best. Granted, he doesn’t shoot a whole lot from beyond the arc (and there is a reason for that), but the guard has never shot above 30 percent from the 3-point line. His ability to make plays for teammates is there – evidenced by his career average of eight assists – but his assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.06 is one of the worst among all starting point guards. In fact, only Kyrie Irving is worse. Right now, Wall is basically a poor man’s Russell Westbrook.
Speaking of Westbrook, let’s name some of the top point guards in the league today: Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Deron Williams, Jrue Holiday and Kyrie Irving. Can we currently put Wall above any of these guys? If we can barely put him on the list of top 10 point guards in the league, how can we call him a max player?
The Wizards have been playing a tad better than .500 basketball since Wall’s return, and it’s easy to credit him for the turnaround.
The fact of the matter is, though, this team has seen just about everyone in and out of the lineup due to various injuries. With the type of defensive group it has, they never would have been as bad as they were had Wall been the only player to miss a significant amount of time. Interestingly, everything came together when Wall returned. It’s as if some *cough Nene cough * never took the season seriously until his starting point guard would return. What I’m getting at is this: Wall has been good enough to help his team be a borderline playoff team since his return, but the coming together of the rest of the team – the development of Bradley Beal, Martell Webster, Trevor Ariza, etc – has just as much to do with their recent success. Regardless, the Wizards appear likely to give Wall what he believes he’s worth, from Lee: