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Washington Wizards point guard John Wall had difficulty processing the over-analysis that came stemming from his injury. The Wizards have picked up steam after he went to the shelf and have now won five straight games without him, now even making them the best passing team, incredibly enough without one of the elite dime maestros of today's game.
On an episode of ESPN's The Jump with Rachel Nichols, the perennial All-Star guard spoke his mind on the “shocking” comments surrounding the league.
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“It was funny to me at first, just to see some of the things that people were saying and certain type of comments. But I've seen these guys put in a lot of work every day, and we always say the motto is next man up no matter what. I think we moved the ball well early in the season, we just couldn't make shots. And we couldn't defend at all. I think now guys are stepping up and the first unit and second unit are playing very well.
“But it was kind of shocking to hear a couple people say the ball is moving a lot better, when that's what I pride myself off of, being more happy when my teammates are scoring than I am.”
The Wizards' backup combo of Tomas Satoransky and Tim Frazier make for a dynamically unselfish, ball-distributing backcourt — but to make the jump and say it makes them a better team than with Wall on the court, is just asinine to even fathom with such a small sample size.
Wall's ability to locate shooters, drive, finish, and make plays on defense at a high level are irreplaceable with the current people on the roster, and while they've done a solid job in his absence, analysts should revisit this very claim at the end of his 6-to-8 week timeline to see if it still holds true.
