2012 Wizards' Player Evaluations: John Wall

It is the end of the season, which marks the point where the Bullets Forever community get to weigh in on how well they think each Wizards player did over the course of the the abbreviated 2011-12 season. Each player is rated on the 1-10 scale. Next up: John Wall

If other players scores were easier to parse out during the course of this season (Andray Blatche bad, Nene good) that John Wall remains an enigma. The centerpiece of the franchise has to be held to higher expectations that the rest of the team and at several points during the season, I at the very least, was left to question whether we had more of a "Joe Johnson" quality superstar on our hands rather than a Wade or a James.

Several things helped clarify this perspective as the season wore on. The first was the introduction of Mike's "missed assist" stat tracker, which demonstrated that Wall was executing well, but his teammates were simply not finishing. The second was the introduction of Nene following the trade, which appeared to reinvigorate Wall's play and his overall demeanor. "Here at last," his play seemed to indicate, "I have a player I can finally trust."

So while none of us got the expected Derrick Rose "leap" that many of us (and several notable pundits) predicted at the beginning of the season, it is also obvious that Wall is a player of immense talents who had an incredibly poor (say it again with me) roster constructed around him. The acquisition of Nene and the reintroduction of solid vets like Cartier Martin and James Singleton did much to alleviate the questions regarding Wall's play, but still did not eliminate every lingering concern. When is his jump shot going to become more consistent? When will he commit on the defensive ends at all times? Why does he continually get lit up by opposing point guards?

The hope is that these questions will be answered after a regular summer league and preseason. Wall's barnstorming tour during the lockout certainly did not seem to help his play during the regular season and there is cause to believe that the bad habits he accumulated during those glorified scrimmages will be gone for good going into next season.

My hope is that John Wall turns out to be exactly what many of us think he is, a transcendent basketball talent who has the ability to lead a team to great things now that the more laissez-faire elements have been removed. It would be a shame if we were stuck with Joe Johnson, but I for one do not think that is what the future holds.