Almost all gifted young people relish improving in their area of talent and respect those who demand the most from them. Wall seems to fit that pattern. But he had only one year of college basketball, and that was at Kentucky, renowned for recruiting more than instructing. The second-worst effective shooting percentage in the NBA belongs to Wall’s teammate at Kentucky, big DeMarcus Cousins, drafted just four spots after Wall.
The Wizards need to show that they have more candor and concern for their employees than Kentucky. Team President Ernie Grunfeld and Saunders, after all their NBA years, must know, or at least intuit, what the numbers scream so loudly about Wall. Look at Wednesday’s Wizards loss in Orlando. It was typical.
Wall converted a flashy one-on-five fast break and hit three pretty in-rhythm jumpers, but, overall, he shot 6 for 16. In the first quarter, he was 0 for 6, including two hurried misses from four feet as the Wizards began 0 for 12 from the floor and trailed 31-14. Game over.
For now, Wall probably needs to emulate great bricklaying playmakers like Rajon Rondo, Mark Jackson and Jason Kidd, who only took 10, 10 and 11 shots per 36 minutes in their careers yet were stars despite poor shooting.
If Wall’s marksmanship improves, shoot more. Some arrive in the NBA raw and then improve amazingly. Teenage rookie LeBron James had a .438 eFG percentage and a merely good PER of 18.3. By his last year in Cleveland, those numbers skyrocketed to .545 and 31.1. Wall’s bad team impacts his poor stats, but you don’t need to be surrounded by Heat players to improve your game.
Unfortunately, most No. 1 overall picks either can’t or won’t improve a great deal over their rookie years. Since the Magic Johnson draft, only four top picks have taken their PERs from the teens as rookies to the true-star 20s for their careers: Patrick Ewing, Allen Iverson, James and Dwight Howard.
Some wonder whether Wall will want to stay a Wizard when his rookie contract runs out in ’14. That’s not the main issue now. Wall’s game needs a lot of work before it matters greatly where he plays or in what uniform.
Over the decades, about a third of all NBA top picks have managed to significantly improve their play after their rookie year. Wall can do it. But he needs the adults around him to do their part, too. Face the facts. Coach him up. School him. Great students respect hard teachers. He’ll probably love it.
Loading...
Comments