The Washington Wizards have hardly been talked about this season, and that’s unfortunate for John Wall, who has had a career year in terms of overall production from an individual standpoint.
The reason the Wizards aren’t talked about is simple: they’ve been stuck in mediocrity all season long and are just 33-35 while trailing by 1 1/2 games in the standings behind the Chicago Bulls for the final playoff spot in the East as of Friday. They’re knocking on the door for another run in the postseason, but unlike last year, they’ve still yet to discover the identity of their team and that’s not a good thing when the playoffs are less than a month away.
With Bradley Beal going in and out of the lineup constantly (once again) throughout the year, Wall has had to carry the load and he has, averaging 20.1 points (a career-high), 4.9 rebounds, 9.9 assists and 1.9 steals. Thursday was another case of Wall doing all he can to help his team get by the Phladelphia 76ers on the road with 16 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists for his second consecutive triple-double and the fourth of the year.
That’s pretty impressive and while he was happy to come out with a 99-94 victory, Wall was critical of one particular part of his game during the contest:
Great team win, gotta get these to’s down though…#WizSquad ##PlayoffPush !!
— John Wall (@JohnWall) March 18, 2016
Wall had nine turnovers for the near quadruple-double and has compiled a whopping 17 total turnovers over his last two games. He’s third in the league in turnovers with four per game, just behind James Harden and Russell Westbrook. It’s the one area of his game that still needs to be cleaned up, but it’s also understandable given how often he’s forced to create for the rest of his team.
Jim Park is a blogger and Tweet of the Night author of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.