NBA All-Star Game Voting Proves John Wall Is Underrated

When will the NBA community recognize Washington Wizards star John Wall as the elite point guard that he is? The All-Star Game fan vote proves it doesn’t.

Despite the contemporary era’s desire to call every reasonably talented player elite, the upper echelon is an exclusive tier. Only a select few players qualify for it, and an even shorter list is undeniable in their presence.

Whether or not you believe Washington Wizards star John Wall to be a member of that exclusive club, his landing spot in the All-Star Game fan vote left one resounding message: he’s criminally underrated.

Wall’s a two-time All-Star, which makes the term, “Underrated,” somewhat inappropriate. While conventional standards may not comply, the Washington Wizards’ resident floor general should receive far more praise than he does.

All-Star Game appearances are prestigious—and yes, they always have been—but when a player is as great as Wall, they don’t begin to do his contributions justice. He’s one of the most productive and valuable players in the NBA, and acknowledging him as anything else would be unfair.

To put it bluntly, it’s half past time to put Wall in the discussion with the NBA’s elite.

Revisiting 2014-15

John Wall was an All-Star in 2013-14, but he had his coming out party a season ago. His production rated amongst the best at his position, and his value to the Washington Wizards was elite in both the regular season and the 2015 NBA Playoffs.

Shockingly, a phenomenal regular season wasn’t enough to secure Wall a spot on any of the three All-NBA Teams.

Wall finished 2014-15 with regular season averages of 17.6 points, 10.0 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 35.9 minutes of action. He was one of two players—All-NBA mainstay Chris Paul being the other—to average at least 10.0 assists per game.

For perspective, Wall joined Steve Nash, Paul and Deron Williams as the only players to average at least 17.5 points and 10.0 assists since the turn of the century.

Furthermore, the Wizards boasted a net rating of  plus-4.2 with Wall on the floor. That number plummeted to a mark of minus-8.0—a difference of 12.2 points per 100 possessions—with Wall on the bench.

There’s only so much more that numbers can do to establish a player’s value.

Thus Far in 2015-16

Thus far in 2015-16, John Wall is doing his best to solidify his place as one of the league’s elite point guards. With key teammates, including Bradley Beal, Nene Hilario, Gary Neal, and Otto Porter Jr., all missing time, Wall has managed to keep the Washington Wizards within striking distance of the postseason picture.

Washington is living and dying by Wall’s success and failure.

Individually, Wall is averaging 19.9 points, 9.7 assists, 4.2 rebounds, 2.1 steals, and 1.5 3-point field goals made on a slash line of .433/.349/.786. He’s No. 9 in the NBA in usage rate and cracks the Top 25 in Estimated Wins Added despite Washington’s 20-21 record.

An explosive December, during which he averaged 22.6 points, 11.7 assists, and 2.3 steals, netted him a prestigious award.

The question is, why hasn’t his reputation improved with his elevated level of play?

According to Basketball-Reference.com, Wall is one of three players averaging at least 15.0 points and 9.0 assists per game in 2015-16. The others are Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook—two All-NBA players.

Furthermore, Wall is creating 23.4 points per game via assists—the No. 2 mark in the NBA. Coupled with his scoring, Wall is producing 43.3 points per contest.

In other words, Wall is directly responsible for 42.4 percent of Washington’s total offensive output.

Perhaps the most significant number to establish Wall’s value is 20. The Wizards are 20-21, Bradley Beal has already missed 20 games, and Wall is averaging just under 20 points per contest.

Yet, he’s nowhere to be found in the, “Elite point guard,” discussion.

Where Is He?

In 2014-15, John Wall was an All-Star Game starter and All-Defensive Team honoree. He was one of just two players to average at least 10.0 assists per game, and he did so on a Washington Wizards team that won 46 games and a playoff series for the second consecutive season.

Yet, Wall was nowhere to be found when the All-NBA teams were announced.

In 2015-16, Wall’s tremendous season has again been overlooked by the general population. Despite nearly averaging 20 and 10, winning Eastern Conference Player of the Month in December, and continuing to lead Washington to overachievement, he was absent from the list All-Star starters.

Rather than honoring Wall for his outstanding season, NBA fans voted Kyle Lowry and Dwyane Wade as the starting backcourt for the Eastern Conference All-Stars.

Lowry and Wade are deserving honorees, but they shouldn’t have been so easily selected over Wall.

Both play for superior teams, which inevitably helps their case amongst fan voters. Wall is averaging more points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks, and 3-point field goals made per game than Wade, however, and leads by a count of 2.9 to 2.6 in Win Shares.

Whether or not Wall should be starting over Wade, one can’t help but wonder where his votes were.

According to NBA.com, Wall was sixth amongst Eastern Conference guards in the fan vote. Kyrie Irving, who has played 15 games all season, checked in at No. 3, with Jimmy Butler was No. 4 and DeMar DeRozan came in at No. 5.

Irving and Butler easily exceeded 500,000 votes, and DeRozan tallied 444,868.

Wall, meanwhile, received just 368,686 votes—less than 70,000 more than Derrick Rose. That’s no slight on Rose, but he’s averaging 15.1 points and 4.7 assists in a season during which he’s been unable to recapture any semblance of his MVP form.

According to the voters, Wall is barely any better than a player who’s struggling to find their niche.

More hoops habit: Is John Wall one of the Top 10 players in the NBA?

All things considered, it’s unfathomable how the NBA community has failed to recognize Wall as the elite point guard he is. God forbid a young man dances while in college.