John Wall and Marcin Gortat Beef
When John Wall went down, the Wizards were in the midst of a losing streak and were in jeopardy of falling out of the playoff moving picture in the Eastern Conference.
Fast forrad about a month and the Wizards have shot up from the 7th to the quaternary seed in the conference and are knocking on the door for the three seed.
The Wizards are notwithstanding good despite losing half of their all-star backcourt. And, on summit of that, in that location seems to exist a rift between Wall and Marcin Gortat — one big plenty for them to have to have a sit downwardly to address it.
When you lot put all that together, it leaves a infinite for people to question whether the team is better off without Wall.
So how good have the Wizards been since Wall has been gone?
They went six-ane on the road in February and are overall 10-iii in the 13 games since Wall went down.
And they aren't merely beating scrubs, either — they're knocking off playoff teams. They've beat the Bucks, Raptors, Pacers, Thunder, and Cavaliers in this stretch and they've looked skillful while doing it. They've got a net rating of 3.6 in the month, which is about how a playoff squad should perform.
All of that shows united states of america this — they're good without Wall being there. And they should exist. They're a playoff team with plenty of other talent on the roster. Existence able to play this well without a peachy actor points to how practiced the roster can actually be.
Well, if they're winning and so why do they need him?
Because Wall, at his best, is still a special histrion. He played about of this flavour on a hobbled knee joint and had to have mid-season surgery to fix it. He wasn't 100 percent and the team suffered a bit because of it.
But when he'due south at full strength, he makes plays that the Wizards desperately need against the all-time defenses in the league. The Wizards had a lead of equally many as 24 points confronting the Bucks and information technology dwindled because, when the defensive pressure turned upwardly, the Wizards' ball handlers couldn't brand great plays against it.
Sure, they could make the right laissez passer, merely not ever the one that would lead to a score. For example, Giannis Antetokounmpo leaves the weak side corner wide open up here to come up over for a block.
Tim Frazier makes the right pass to Ian Mahinmi, but the Bucks were abandoning the corners all game. Wall is a primary at baiting the defense force to motility early on with head fakes and working those same corners open up or making the await under the rim an easier i.
At that place'south no other histrion on the Wizards' roster, and very few in the league, who can brand plays similar that. And then having Wall certainly does non injure the Wizards, even if he is holding the ball on a possession.
And, yes, the Wizards' ball movement is upward without Wall. They're currently tied for quaternary in the league with 24.7 assists per game and are passing the ball 313 times per game — up from 281.nine per game with Wall.
But passing is more difficult when defenses are dialed in and the game slows down. And when it does, it helps to have a playmaker similar Wall.
This chat might actually be a good thing for the Wizards
Bradley Beal and Otto Porter aside, both Kelly Oubre and Tomas Satoransky take stepped up and played well in Wall's absenteeism. Mike Scott has been solid as a scorer off the bench all year and the team is well rounded both offensively and defensively.
Once Wall comes dorsum, he'll take to conform his game a flake and practice less, merely that's fine. Asking whether the team is better without Wall misses the marker. What's more than important hither is that this is the best team he's e'er played on, and that bodes well for the Wizards' firsthand and long-term hereafter.
Source: https://www.sbnation.com/2018/2/28/17060976/wizards-john-wall-winning-streak-better-without-wall
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