Washington Wizards Have John Wall, The Best Point Guard in the NBA?

Statement: Quick in 10 seconds, name your top five point guards in the NBA, go.

Kyrie Irving
Tony Parker
Russell Westbrook
Derrick Rose
Chris Paul

I did this exercise with a friend and he had no objection to my list. The only person he felt should leave the list was Parker, and he chimed in with Stephen Curry.

One of my colleagues, Gerald Bourguet intelligently ranked the Washington Wizards starting point guard John Wall within his top five (Goran Dragic ahead of Wall, seriously?). When I thought of my list later I felt so guilty I didn’t even think to mention his name.

With that being said, a lot of people I know still do not think of Wall when it comes to ranking the best point guards in the league. He is though, in fact the discussion can begin if we can anoint him as the best point guard in the NBA next season.

Have we seen way too many clips of John Wall dunking, doing the dougie, or getting hype during games to say we are getting spoiled?

Is he getting the credit that he deserves?

Last season Chris Paul led the NBA in assists with 10.7 per game. Who finished second?

Not Stephen Curry, not Kyrie Irving, not Tony Parker, and not Russell Westbrook but Wall. He finished the season averaging 8.8 assists per game. In Wall’s career this was the third time that he managed to finishing the season with more than eight assists per game.

Every year in the league Wall has gotten better. The maturation in his game has been impressive because we can see that he is starting to finally the see floor.

Because of his growth and his leadership, he has allowed the Wizards to once again have hope in their franchise because of his growth. Coming off his All-Star Game selection, Wall has already cemented himself as one of the best point guards in the NBA.

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Think about it like this, out of all the point guards in the NBA, who would you rather have for the next 10 years to build your franchise around? Better yet, even the next five years, who would you pick?

• Tony Parker is already 32 years old and on the tail end of his career.
• Derrick Rose is somewhat injury prone (I hate writing that, since I love his game so much).
• Russell Westbrook takes some of the worst shots in the NBA and can shoot you in or out of a game.
• Damien Lillard has never averaged more than seven assists in a season.
• Kyrie Irving is not a good defender yet.

That leaves me with Chris Paul.

One of my favorite players in the NBA is Paul and as much as I love watching his style of basketball, he has his share of problems. Though he is the most intelligent point guard in the game, he finds himself having to guard the other great point guards in the NBA.

At 6’0 and 175 pounds, there is only so much he can do with his size against guard like Westbrook, Curry, Irving, Lillard, and Rose. They all have elite athleticism and incredible quickness and scoring ability. I would rather have Wall since he is 6’4″ and 200 pounds and has the linear quickness to stay in front of all the guards mentioned above, and he’s only 24 years old.

I understand that Paul made the All-Defensive First Team last season, but I’d rather gamble with Wall becoming an elite defender for the next decade since he already has the physical ability and potential to become an even better defender than Paul ever was. At the end of the day, Paul has never averaged more than 0.2 blocks per game. Wall has never had a season with less than 0.5 a game.

Offensively, Wall is a blur on the court and possibly the fastest player in the NBA next to Westbrook. The maturation in his game is attributed to his intelligence to slow the game down at certain points and getting quality shots in the half court setting instead of always going fast and pushing the ball in transition.

Wall has even acknowledged the fact that he has gotten better at understanding how to play the position. In an interview with Karen Madhok of Slam Magazine Wall said this:

"“With me, it’s more just…I can read defenses early. I know how defenses are guarding me or where the help is coming from.”"

Wall even added more when he talked about his lofty goals for next season.

"“I’m trying to be the best point guard of the league next year and lead my team to the Finals. Winning the NBA championship. That’s my biggest goal. I’ve made the playoffs, now my goal is to bring a championship to D.C. That’s something I’ve always preached. That’s what I’m all about.”"

Last season Wall had a very gifted year and had a lot of wonderful statistics on the floor including the best true shooting percentage of his career, effective field goal percentage and was nearly accountable for 40 percent of the Wizards points scored when he was on the floor. In addition he was tied for 28th in Win Shares last year.

To even top it off, Wall got his teammates involved more when he averaged 9.3 assists after the last half of the season after the All-Star break.

Wall has already placed himself within a class of his own because of his play. Next season I am in anticipation if he can have his first year averaged 20 or more points and 10 plus assists.

Next season exciting dunks, highlight passes, and dougie’s are coming to a city near you.