NBA
Why John Wall Continues To Be Overlooked By Fans And The Media
For John Wall, the NBA point guard rankings are hard to swallow. We know that Wall knows this too well. Over the last four years, the Wizards point guard has battled injuries, critics and inconsistency and the doubters are still there. Even though he earned a supermax contract, Wall isn’t content. He’s still trying to show why he’s an elite floor general. He knows that the doubters are still there and he’s trying to prove them all wrong.
Don’t get anyone wrong, Wall is an elite point guard, but the question is where you rank him. Is he top 5? Top 10 maybe? We know of other point guards better than him, but not all of them have a good all-around game. For example, Damian Lillard is a monster and can score the ball as well as creating his own shot. However, he’s not as good of a passer like Wall and he also hasn’t taken his team past the second round. This is something Wall has done three times in his career, but no one takes notice.
The true Point Guard is Dying
One thing people haven’t noticed in today’s NBA is that the “true” point guard is starting to die out. True point guards usually do everything. They spread the floor, score when needed, jump into the passing lanes and make their presence known while on the court. There aren’t many left in today’s NBA. The only other point guard besides Wall that plays like this is Chris Paul. Many members of the media had overlooked Paul early on in his career. As a result, he was never able to get a good team around him. Eventually, when he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, people started to take notice of “Lob City” and he started to gain attention from the media. Does the same apply to Wall? Maybe but Wall hasn’t had as solid of a team around him as Paul has had in his career.
John Wall Doesn’t play on a Winning Basketball team
Wall is overlooked is because he doesn’t play on a winning basketball team. The Wizards are usually a playoff team, but they haven’t made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. The point guards that we usually say are better than John Wall are Paul, Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving, and Stephen Curry. What do all of those point guards have in common? They have all made it to the Conference Finals at least once in their career. Sure, winning isn’t everything to a player’s success, but it helps more than it hurts. In order for Wall to separate himself from the best, he’s going to have to win when it counts.
The Wizards are Overlooked
Lastly, the NBA just always seems to overlook the Wizards. Even when they were one win away from the Eastern Conference Finals, NBA analysts said that the season they had was probably the best they could do. It’s not just in the John Wall era, it’s been happening way before that as well. There are only two ways to earn respect in this league; you either win with a small-market team or you join forces with another All-Star and try to compete for a championship. Overall, the reasons why Wall is overlooked are that his play style doesn’t exist in today’s NBA. He doesn’t play on a winning basketball team and that the national media chooses to hype up younger players.
