How are the Wizards making life easier for John Wall?
The Washington Wizards have the 19th best offense in the NBA right now, which is a far cry from where they expected John Wall to lead them before the season started.
But lately, the team has made a few subtle changes to their attack that have helped Wall be more effective than before.
Here's a closer look, per SB Nation's Bullets Forever:
Wall is averaging 19.6 points and 9.6 assists per game, and the Wizards are slightly better on offense with him on the floor than they are when he sits. But amid all the injuries and disappointing effort across the board, Wall hasn't carried the Wizards like many expected him to.
Hopefully these tactical changes will turn things around for the Eastern Conference's biggest underachiever.
You can going under as many screens as you want, have your big men zone him up by dropping into the lane, but over the course of 48 minutes, Wall will figure you out. The Raptors and Hawks tried and tried to bait him into jumpers, but there was no answer. And that was with John shooting just three-for-twelve from three! He wasn't even burning the Raptors and Hawks the traditional way -- by making them pay from distance -- he continued to throw the book right back at them by relentlessly probing the lane and forcing defenders to commit to him. Now, he's shooting at a league-average clip from three, and 41 percent in the month of December, yet the scouting report hasn't changed. And it won't. It's the lesser of the two evils, and Washington's coaching staff knows it too. This season they're not just relying on Wall to figure things out for himself. They have set plays built into their offense to counter this type of defense.
