Washington Wizards: John Wall is the Eastern Conference’s Best Point Guard
The NBA is chock-full of elite point guards. So many, in fact, that it’s hard to compose a top-five list that everyone can agree with. Between players like Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard, there is no lack of top talent at the position.
With that begin said, most of the best playmakers reside in the Western Conference, with the East being left out in a big way. Teams out west have been beating up on their Eastern counterparts for quite a while now, so the discrepancy in point guards may be a big reason why this has been happening.
However, the Eastern Conference has been making a comeback in a big way, and it starts with the best point guard in the conference: the Washington Wizards’ very own John Wall.
When Wall came into the league in 2010, he was viewed as a can’t-miss prospect, one blessed with elite size and athleticism for his position. Wall showed at the University of Kentucky that he had that extra gear when it comes to speed that could power him into the lane or up the court for easy scores at the rim whenever he wanted, he just had to learn how to harness these gifts.
A number of years later and Wall has certainly made a lot of progress in that area, and then some. Wall has become a master of changing speeds and not playing too fast in certain situations. Unlike in his early days, you won’t see him force things offensively whether it be a pass or a drive to the basket. Wall has become much more aware of where his teammates are on the court and the situation at hand, which does come from being in the league long enough.
Now that Wall has the patience required to be a great point guard, he has become a much better passer, especially from out of the lane. The best part about Wall’s game is that he is deadly when it comes to the kicking the ball out to the perimeter for open shots. Wall gets into the lane so fast sometimes that the defense has virtually no time to choose how to react. Most of the time, help defenders will come over and be more concerned about Wall getting to the rim, leaving an open shooter on the perimeter waiting for the ball to him.
Very rarely does Wall turn the ball over when his happens because he is usually a step ahead of the defense. Wall’s ability to sense how the defense is going to react certainly puts him ahead of a lot of point guards in the league, and it’s something that makes him arguably the best passer the league has to offer, especially considering he is averaging 10.6 assists per game.
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Of course Wall has always been able to score because of his excellent quickness and ball-handling abilities, but he wasn’t always the shooter that he is today. Scoring from the outside was his biggest weakness for a long time, but it seems that he now has that part of his game in check.
Wall has become much more comfortable pulling up from the midrange, hitting a career-best 51.9 percent of shots from between 10-16 feet out from the rim. His previous career high? 37.9 percent. As you can see, that is a huge improvement and a major factor as to why he is averaging 17.9 points per game on 45.2 percent shooting, also a high mark in his young career.
Wall always seemed to be scared of pulling up because he knew he wasn’t an outside shooter, that shot just wasn’t a part of his game. This hesitation and resistance to pulling up would get him in many situations where he would think too long about taking the shot and ultimately take a much poorer shot than he could’ve had a few seconds earlier.
Now that Wall has fixed his timing on his release and has gained the confidence he needed, Wall’s offensive game is virtually unstoppable when you factor in his size and elite speed. Wall is no joke, but his offensive arsenal isn’t what defines him as one of the league’s best.
Defense has never been a problem for Wall, as he loves to play on that end of the floor as well and is always willing to take on the opposing team’s point guard and make his life miserable for 48 minutes.
Wall is a hound on defense, as he utilizes his lateral quickness to stay in front of players and his long wingspan to create disruption in the passing lanes. Rarely does Wall get completely beat on defense between those two physical attributes, making him one of the best individual defenders at the position.
When the ball isn’t in the hands of Wall’s defensive assignment, he isn’t exactly slow to help out his other teammates either. Wall is always looking for opportunities to steal the basketball, and will switch with any of his perimeter counterparts in order to have a chance at a steal and transition basket. His help instincts are second-to-none on his team, and are valued very highly by his teammates and coaches.
Having a player who is supremely athletic and great at recognizing defensive schemes and rotating around the court is a huge bonus for a team looking to contend, and that is exactly what the Wizards are trying to do.
Washington isn’t going to bow down to anyone else in the Eastern Conference. The Wizards, led by Wall, believe they have just as good a shot as anyone to get to the NBA Finals. Now they just have to keep playing at a high level and not look back at any previous seasons or mistakes. It’s time for this team to live in the moment and make the most of it.
After all, they have the conference’s best point guard and one of its best players, so how much is there to really worry about?
*Statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.