Houston Rockets: Is John Wall right about John Wall?

Houston Rockets: Is John Wall right about John Wall?

John Wall believes if he can stay healthy, that he’s still a top-tier player and All-Star in the league. Unfortunately, Wall’s injury history has continued to grow and his days of playing 75 plus games and averaging 30 plus minutes might be a thing of the past.

It’s incredibly difficult to be an All-Star if you can’t stay on the court and the Rockets would be within their right to limit his exposure to ensure that he can stay healthy for a full season. Now, let’s pretend that Wall figures out his body and is able to play a full starter’s level of minutes over a full season.

As documented before, for Wall to be an All-Star he’ll need to improve his shot and his playmaking next season. Health could go a long way in helping to solve some of Wall’s woes.

His field-goal percentage at the rim is a career-low 56.8-percent, which has coincided with the lowest dunk rate (1.5-percent) of his career. It’s likely with an improvement in his physical condition he’ll be able to finish at the rim with more efficiency and an improved rate of dunks would portend that he has reclaimed some of his lost burst.

John Wall’s self-belief is what made him one of the best players in the league. His ability to take over games with his athleticism, passing and acrobatic finishing was the basis for his All-Star selections.

Unfortunately, athleticism was the pillar of his game, and barring a serious improvement from his shooting it will have to be for him to be effective once again. Wall is right, that when healthy he is an All-Star, but his days of being 100-percent over a full season are likely gone.

Players don’t get healthier as they age and Wall hasn’t played more than 41 games since 2016-17. If he wants to stay healthy he’ll have to scale back his workload, take the All-Star team off the table, and be a per-minute All-Star. Fortunately, there is an award for the best bench player in the league.

Wall shouldn’t get caught up in what he once was and should look to be the best version of his current self. John Wall isn’t a top-tier player anymore, but if he’s honest with himself and his body he could add a few Sixth Man of the Year awards to his resume.