Fansided

John Wall has been great and the Wizards are better for it

By Chris Manning

Dec 30, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) dunks the ball over Brooklyn Nets center Justin Hamilton (41) in the fourth quarter at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 118-95. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 30, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) dunks the ball over Brooklyn Nets center Justin Hamilton (41) in the fourth quarter at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 118-95. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Washington Wizards, at least internally, probably didn’t expect the season to go like this.

Following their game against the Houston Rockets on Monday, the Wizards are 16-17, hanging onto a playoff spot in the hotly contested lower half of the Eastern Conference. For a team that spent $128 million on Bradley Beal, is paying $16 million to a center who has played in seven games and also dropped $35 million over five years on a new coach, a game under .500 isn’t exactly where you’d like to be.

But the Wizards are better off than their current record indicates, at least lately. In December, the team won 10 of their 15 games. They also had a net rating of 3.4 — good for ninth best in the league over the span. They also appear to be having fun again, despite nothing changing in terms of personnel. The team they lost to last night, by the way, had the NBA’s best net rating in December and features the league’s leading candidate for MVP. 

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It helps, too, that they have a star to bank on. And over the last month, John Wall has been sensational. Against the Rockets, he passed the ball THROUGH HIS OWN LEGS to set up a Marcin Gortat slam.

And just look at how fast he gets up the court to create a Markieff Morris dunk, coyly smirking as he heads back up to the court.

As the Wizards have rebounded over the past month, Wall has been a major reason why. In December, he averaged 24.5 points and 10.7 assists per game while shooting 49 percent from the field. Most importantly, Wall kept his turnovers down — 4.3 per game — while also having a 44.3 assist percentage and a 30.4 percent usage rate. He even ramped his defense back up to an elite level by finishing fourth in deflections for December while remaining the NBA’s steals per game leader.

Wall, for all of December, was the best version of himself.

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Wall was the East’s Player of the Week for the last week of December and when the Eastern Conference Player of the Month Award gets announced later today, Wall has a good chance of winning it. Boston’s Isaiah Thomas and Cleveland’s LeBron James are right there, too, but it’s hard to argue against what Wall did for the past month. And when he plays like that, while also having some fun, the Wizards are better for it.

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