John Wall Grades His Play Thus Far in 2022-23 a ‘low C’
Clippers point guard John Wall has played 34 games this season for the Los Angeles Clippers (23-22) and has not seemed like the right fit at point guard, averaging 11.4 points, 5.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game. Wall told The Los Angeles Times that he would grade his play thus far this season a “low C.”
When Wall’s contract was bought out so he could join the Clippers, many believed that the organization had finally found the playmaking point guard they’d been looking for. John Wall signed a mid-level after his buyout with the Clippers.
In bringing Wall to Los Angeles, the Clippers added a different level of pace at the position, one Reggie Jackson didn’t possess. Wall also loves to dump it off to his bigs, which is perfect for Ivica Zubac. It seemed like a match made in heaven.
With all this being said, Wall, like the other two Clippers stars in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, has struggled to play consecutive games. Wall’s absence at times this season has affected his rhythm, while also preventing the Clippers from establishing on-court familiarity between Leonard, George and Wall.
Following the move, one aspect that worried me about Wall’s game is that he relies heavily on his athleticism, though he is not as atrocious as Russell Westbrook can be.
Wall also doesn’t shoot well from deep — he’s shooting 30.3% from 3-point range on the season — and still tries to fight through the defense with the athletic talent he still has.
Furthermore, Wall has always turned the ball over a lot throughout his career, posting an average of 3.7 turnovers a game over 11 seasons. With the Clippers so far, he’s averaging 2.4 turnovers, which is alright for his standards. However, for comparison, the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson averaging 2.1 turnovers per game with way more minutes.
Predicting the Clippers’ next move is very hard to say as they have not been able to all be on the floor together that often this season.
According to Basketball Reference, the trio of Wall, Leonard and George is the team’s 13th most used five-man combination lineup. It’s also the trio’s first appearance on the 20-lineup list. This supposed-to-be starting lineup also featuring Zubac and Morris, has only played 19 minutes together this season.
At this time, it feels as though Wall joined a contending team too late to be the No. 3 guy.
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