Is John Wall the new Point God?
He gets undervalued because he’s never made it past the second round of the playoffs. He gets underappreciated because he plays in the transient city of Washington D.C. But make no mistake, John Wall is the best all-around point guard in the NBA right now.
This may sound like shooting hot-take cannons into the void, but take a look at all the other top lead guards in the league. Wall possesses aspects of all of them without any of their glaring weaknesses. Sure, the Wizards couldn’t make it past the Celtics in this year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals. They came up short in Game 7 and the pundits threw shade at Wall thanks to his scoreless fourth quarter — which is ridiculous, he was the reason they were there in the first place. Does that even matter? LeBron James would have put this Wizards team into the blender like his morning protein shake.
Nonetheless, Wall carried his squad — one devoid of any depth — as far as it could have realistically gone. And after a superb year, he actually raised his scoring and shooting percentages in the postseason to become a weapon unlike any other in the NBA.
We currently reside in the Golden Age of point guards. Scanning the depth charts around the NBA reveals it’s the deepest position. Glancing at the playoff bracket tells you all the successful teams deploy high-quality floor generals, either by definition or in practice. Basically, if you want your team to prosper, you’d better find a special player to lead your offense. It’s therefore no coincidence the Wizards’ rise to competency dovetails with Wall’s arrival in the Nation’s capital. And with each year he’s been in the league, the former first overall pick improved his numbers, essentially across the board.
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We also live in an era gravitating towards small-ball lineups and spreading the floor. Length is a premium and switchability is paramount. Wall has ideal size (6-foot-4) to go along with a crazy 7-foot wingspan, making him fully enabled for defensive oscillation.
Steph Curry is a real-life basketball wizard, but as we saw in last year’s NBA Finals, he can be exposed in the right situation. Smart teams put him in the pick-and-roll spin cycle until he gets matched up with a bigger player who can overpower him like James did.
As awesome as Isaiah Thomas is, his size (or lack thereof) poses the same problem. His aptitude for lighting up the scoreboard is objectively amazing, but the pint-sized powerhouse becomes a liability on the defensive end — which is why his looming contract negotiations pose such a difficult question for the Celtics.
When it comes to otherworldly athleticism, Wall is really the only player on the same level as Westbrook. (Okay, maybe not the spit-out-of-a-nuclear-reactor’s-core kind of athleticism, but it’s close). While the argument can — and will — be made for who’s the fastest player in the league, both of these guys play like their turbo buttons are permanently pushed down in NBA2K. Once the ball gets in their hands, they turn into one-man fast break comets streaking across a hardwood sky.
Nothing takes Chesapeake Energy Arena’s roof off more than a Westbrook 3-pointer followed by the requisite finger guns, but he chucks 7.2 per game at a clip below league average. While Wall also shoots under the league average from deep, he takes less than half the attempts that Westbrook does. Improving the range on his jumper is the final hurdle for Wall, but being aware of what you do and don’t do well is also a strength to have.
As you probably know, Westbrook just finished a historically-great season and was the first player to average a triple-double since Oscar Robertson did it in 1961-62. Westbrook’s all-encompassing box score opulence is driven by his signature musk of volcanic domineering. Wall didn’t log any triple-doubles this year. But if you’re into arbitrary base-10 stat lines, Wall had 50 double-doubles, good for seventh-most in the NBA and third-most among guards (behind Harden’s 64 and Westbrook’s 62).
The James Harden transition into the Mike D’Antoni offensive engine went extremely well (until the Spurs series, but still). Moreyball’s posterchild led the NBA in assists and points created as he was flanked by shooters and roll men. Wall was right behind him in both categories, with fewer weapons at his disposal, and playing at a much slower pace (and while not being basketball’s equivalent of a designated hitter).
Wall’s been an elite distributor for some time. He’s averaged double-digit assists over the past three years while finishing second, third and second in the league per game in that time span.
The zenith of the position since basically entering the league has been Chris Paul. Built like a fire hydrant, he’s long been associated with making surrounding players better and being a defensive stanchion. Paul had no holes in his game and held the title of Point God for nearly a decade.
All things come to an end, though. Father Time keeps taking his shots and as his dings accumulated, Paul’s missed games total rises. Wall definitely has the durability edge, only sitting out 12 times over the past four seasons combined. Wall’s also adopted Paul’s mid-range prowess. It was on full display against Atlanta in the first round. Wall would probe the defense until they were off balance, and drill a 15-footer once he got daylight. It was straight out of the Chris Paul handbook.
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This is a shift change for the old guard. Wall snatched the point guard belt behind the most comprehensive skill set in a league headlined by stars with obvious blemishes. Now he just has to hope he doesn’t share the same playoff fate as the last Point God.