Wizards At Least Look Competent Since Wall's Return

Am I completely crazy, or are the Wizards actually half-decent when John Wall and Nene are healthy and in the lineup? The 2012-13 Washington Wizards still have to be considered truly awful to this point, as they opened the season with 12 consecutive losses and hold the league’s worst record at 9-31. And maybe the time to bring this up isn’t after a loss in Utah, but that loss capped a 2-3 West coast road trip that smelled a lot like 0-5 before they left. And yes, moral victories are for losers, but Wizards’ fans can at least take a little bit of solace in the fact that those 3 losses came by an average of only 4 points…that’s at least a step in the right direction for a team that looked like the Washington Generals for most of the 1st half of this season.

But if you really are looking for actual numbers to hold on to (not fake, moral victory stats like the ones above), the Wizards have won 4 out of 7 games since Wall’s return and 5 out of their last 8 overall. And while Wall continues to come off the bench to this point, he’s managed to average 14 points and 7 dimes a night in those 7 games…not bad production considering he’s working himself back into game shape and playing only about 25 minutes a night...

...and other Wizards have looked more comfortable since Wall's return as well.

I still consider Wall unpolished, but 1 thing he does seem to have done is give the Wizards someone opposing defenses actually have to shade towards and pay a little bit of attention to, whereas teams could basically play straight-up/not need to help on anybody earlier in the year. Rookie shooting guard Bradley Beal, who Wall seems to have good chemistry with, has benefited from the pressure Wall has taken off of everyone else the most. Some of Beal’s numbers for the season: 13.6 ppg, 39% from the field, and 36% from the 3-point line...not great. However, over the last 5 games those numbers have jumped to a more efficient 15.2, 50%, and 58%. Now, is that all a result of Wall, or is Beal finally starting to get his sea legs under him during his rookie campaign? 5 games is a relatively small sample size, but let’s see if the trend continues. And let’s see if the team’s trend continues as a whole, as it’s been fairly common over the years for this franchise to follow up a promising stretch by losing 8 out of 10.