FanPost

What's up with John Wall's reluctance to attack the paint?

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

We have seen the many faces of John Wall.

In his first few years as a pro, he was a reckless paint attacker, using his speed to get to the rim as fast as he could. He attacked the rim in a Russell Westbrook like way, knowing that was his greatest skill.

A few years later he learned to hone that skill, he became a better finisher, learned to control his speed, started working on his mid-range game, rounding out his floor general skills.

After that came the thing that took everything he learned and shoved it right out the window, the three point shot. He started slowly, taking one every few games if he was hot maybe two or three. He was already working that elbow extended mid-range jumper; things were in equilibrium.

Now look at him. He is the 39th ranked PG in TS% so far this year (a small sample size I know), a good indicator of a player's overall offensive ability. From my count, there are 16 starting PG ahead of him, and almost as many backup PG, including his backup, Ramon Sessions. As of the start of this year, he is .001% better than Michael Carter-Williams whom some believe is one of the worst shooters in the NBA.

Now I'm certainly not going to sit here and say Ramon Sessions should be starting. However, a lot of things go into what makes a point guard great. Wall's a tremendous defender when active, and the points he creates off turnovers and assists should be taken into account. But that's not what this post is about.

This post is about one question:

What happened to the skills Wall showed as a rookie?

He no longer seeks to get to the basket, when he does he prefers to pass out of the situation, which teams are starting to hone in on. He's becoming predictable, the floater he had last year is gone, he only attacks in transition (where he has shown himself as a spectacular finisher).

The only thing that everyone in the world knows is that John shouldn't be a spot up shooter. Unfortunately, he has become one more often than not. Wall is simply watching and standing when the ball isn't in his hand, ready to launch a 3 when the shot clock is about to go off.

This offense needs teams to respect John as an attacker. One reason why he had so many turnovers is that teams know he's going to pass. It's the same pass every time. They just don't fear him attacking the rim off a drive anymore.

We know he has the capability to attack and finish, and that's what he should be doing, but something has changed. What is it, though?

Has Randy Wittman changed him?

Is he trying to preserve his body?

Is he more worried about assists?

Is he trying to be something is isn't as opposed to accepting his strengths?

Is this new offense strangling him?

What are your thoughts?

*So that you know, here's a reference on where I'm getting my numbers from.

This represents the view of the user who wrote the FanPost, and not the entire Bullets Forever community. We're a place of many opinions, not just one.