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John Wall’s Fantastic Season Is Being Wasted

By Brayden Neubauer

Jan 28, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) dribbles the ball as Denver Nuggets guard Gary Harris (14) defends in the third quarter at Verizon Center. The Nuggets won 117-113. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 28, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) dribbles the ball as Denver Nuggets guard Gary Harris (14) defends in the third quarter at Verizon Center. The Nuggets won 117-113. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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While the Washington Wizards have been a disappointment, John Wall has still been great.

The Washington Wizards as a whole have been a slow and painful-to-watch train wreck this season. They’re 20-24, which puts them 11th in the East, just one season after sweeping the Toronto Raports in the first round of the playoffs and making it to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The main reason for this can be attributed to the injuries the team has faced, but despite everything that’s gone wrong, John Wall has been magnificent. And it’s a shame that his All-Star level play is being wasted.

Diving deep into the realm of NBA.com’s “Sortable Player Stats” and Basketball-Reference.com’s “Player Index”, we can see that John Wall is having an incredible season.

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Wall is currently third in the league in assists, averaging 9.8 dimes per game. His assist percentage is 48.8 percent, which ranks fourth in the league, per NBA.com, and is 7.6 percent above his career average.

This is especially impressive considering Wall has been without Bradley Beal, the other half of what some call the best young duo in the NBA, for nearly half of the season (Beal has missed 21 games).

While Wall is able to dish out nearly 10 assists per game, he’s scoring just less than 20 points a night at 19.9, with 4.2 rebounds per game. If he were to continue at this pace, he would be only the eighth player in the last 40 years to average at least 19 points, nine assists, and four rebounds per game, per Basketball-Reference.

Other names on that list include Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, and Chris Paul (Russell Westbrook is also currently on pace to accomplish this feat this season).

His consistency in scoring and assisting has earned him 24 double-doubles in the 44 games played so far. That puts him second among all guards, trailing only Westbrook, who has the mind-boggling amount of 36 double doubles, per NBA.com.

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    • John is also averaging a career high in steals, at 2.1, which puts him fifth in the league, per NBA.com, and is No. 1 in blocks per game among all guards at 0.8. Wall’s defense has never exactly been considered elite, but he’s been much more active on the defensive end than he has been in the past, and the numbers reflect that.

    That has been part of the reason that the Wizards as a team are forcing 16.7 turnovers per game, which is third in the NBA, per NBA.com. That’s enabled Wall to get out in transition and lead his team in fast-break points per game with 4.9, which is seventh in the league, per NBA.com.

    The Wizards are also second in percentage of points scored in the fast break at 18.8, trailing only the Golden State Warriors (20.8).

    There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging how great a player has been, even if he’s on a bad team.  Wall is exceeding at nearly all levels of the game, and it’s being overshadowed by the Wizards underachieving season.

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    There is absolutely no doubt that John Wall is a star, and despite Washington’s struggles, he’s absolutely playing like one. He’s more than earned his spot on the All-Star squad, and it’s only right that we treat him as such. Wall has been perhaps the sole bright spot in the Wizards’ disastrous season.

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