Washington Wizards star point guard John Wall will look to silence his critics this season. The five-time All-Star says that he wants to shed any perception of being just a stat-padder.

Chase Hughes of NBC Sports wrote a column on Wall's mission to show that his play is more than just for himself.

“Some people mistake me that all I care about is individual stats but that's never been my game,” he said. “I don't think a lot of people really get that.”

“I love to get assists. I love to get 10 assists before I score 30 points. It's just that I have the ability to do both. A lot of guys never had the ability to be able to do both. It's great to do that, but I feel like if I ain't winning then it don't mean s*** to me.”

Wall missed a huge chunk of the season last year due to a knee injury. His situation worsened when reports circulated that his teammates actually liked it better when he's not playing. Wizards' players like Kelly Oubre Jr emphasized that the ball was moving better while winning games without Wall's playmaking.

While those conclusions were not directly confirmed by the players, it was still bewildering to hear those statements, considering that Wall has been consistently ranking in the Top 5 in assists average for several years now.

These criticisms could be traced to Wall's failure to lead the Wizards to a deeper postseason run during his eight-year stint in the league. Wall never really had a solid supporting cast in those years, and their fortunes could change with how the team has injected more depth and talent to the roster this season.