John Wall, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft, is a 2-time All-Star. The 25-year-old was 1 of the 34 players invited to the Team USA camp in Las Vegas this summer. The Wizards signed him to a maximum contract extension in 2013.
Clearly, he is a talented, young point guard, but just how good is he?
BALL POSSESSION & PASSING:
Wall is a ball-dominant point guard. He had the ball in his hands an average of 8.2 minutes per game, leading the league. That translates to 22.8% of the time he is on the court. There were 7 players with at least 7.0 minutes of ball possession per game last season. Wall’s percentage led these players.
Pct of Time on Court With Ball
Notable Point Guards; Last Season
Pct
John Wall 22.8%
Russell Westbrook 22.4%
Chris Paul 22.3%
Kemba Walker 22.2%
>min. 50 games played
Wall led the league with 71.1 passes per game. There were 29 players that played at least 50 games last season and averaged at least 50 passes per game. A true gauge of a point guard’s ability is to create opportunities for his teammates. Here, I can measure the percentage of passes for these players that resulted in assist opportunities (regardless if the player made or missed the shot).
Highest Pct of Passes Resulting in Assist Opps
Last Season
Pct
Ty Lawson 31.7%
Russell Westbrook 28.0%
Chris Paul 27.3%
John Wall 26.6%
>min. 50 games played & 50 passes per game
With these numbers in hand, we can judge that Wall is the most ball-dominant point guard in the NBA, but he’s also one of the most effective at creating opportunities for his teammates. The Wizards’ effective field goal percentage was at a rate 6.1% higher with Wall on the court last season.
SHOOTING:
Wall’s 47.3% effective field goal percentage last season was the same as in 2013-14. The good is that is it his career high. The bad is that it ranked 73rd among all guards and 42nd among point guards.
DEFENSE:
Wall made the All-Defensive team last season. His 4.2 defensive win shares ranked 12th in the league and were the most by a point guard. Wall is 4.6% more efficient on defense than the average NBA guard. Simply put, he’s an upper-echelon defender.
SUMMATION:
John Wall is among the best in the NBA with creating opportunities for his teammates. He controls the game and pace. He’s one of the best (if not the best) defenders at his position.
His two main areas of improvement are shooting and turnovers. Wall’s turnover percentage was among the bottom-20 point guards in the league. It dropped his assist/turnover ratio down to 2.61, which ranked 20th among all point guards (min. 50 games played).
Wall remains a really good, All-Star caliber point guard, but his deficiencies currently prevent him from being mentioned among the NBA’s elite point guards, which would include Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry.
Peter Newmann is an analyst and writer who spent 10 years at ESPN, 8 as the NBA senior researcher working 24/7 on the league. He wrote game notes for crews, articles for ESPN.com, analysis for studio shows, and regularly assisted reporters and writers. Follow him on Twitter, and check out his Web site, www.peternewmann.com.