Washington Wizards: Is the team better without John Wall?

It’s a narrative that’s going to gain some traction over the next few days, but are the Washington Wizards really better without John Wall?

Among basketball nerds, it’s called the Ewing Theory – when a team gets better when a player is removed from the roster or the lineup. It’s an idea, or narrative, that was created by Bill Simmons.

It’s been loosely used whenever a team begins to perform better without its star or perceived best player. Question is, is the Ewing Theory coming into play as it relates to the Washington Wizards?

Over the last few weeks, with John Wall sidelined with a knee injury, the Wizards have been quite impressive. With Wall out of the lineup, the Wizards are 9-3 in their last 12 games. But does that have to do with Wall, or not?

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It’s not something that can really be proven either way, but it’s certainly a talking point that is going to gain more and more traction, especially if the Wizards continue to win without Wall.

And there is some merit to it.

For example, in games that Wall has played in this season, the Wizards are 21-16. Before being declared out with the recent knee injury, Wall missed a total of 11 games this season. In those games, the Wizards went 5-6. In actuality, the Wizards are 14-9 this season without Wall.

Interestingly, the team is both five games over .500 with or without Wall in the lineup.

But, what do the stats say?

Specifically, during the team’s last 12 games, the Wizards have 6th best offense and 14th best defense. They’re also a top 5 team in net rating. Washington is also the best assisting team in the league during the last 12 games, averaging 30 on nearly 43 made baskets per contest. That equates to a league-best 71 assist percentage.

Before this recent streak, the Wizards weren’t as absurd distributing the basketball as their league-best assist percentage, but they weren’t bad either.

In fact, they were 11th in the league, with a 58 assist percentage or roughly 23 assists per game.

Again, that’s less. But not bad.

And maybe that does have to do with Wall being a more ball-dominant point guard, compared to a player like Tomas Satoransky, who is filling in for Wall. After all, what star isn’t “ball dominant”? It’s natural.

Wall is averaging 16 shot attempts per game, and, yes, some of those come unassisted. In comparison, Satoransky isn’t even averaging eight attempts per game. Context.

Before Wall’s injury, the Wizards were 12th on offense and 14th on defense – again, just above average and exactly what the Wizards are. Just above average.

Sure, with Wall out, there’s certainly more opportunities for guys like Bradley Beal and Otto Porter. No question. In situations like these, you see other supporting players lift their games a bit more. They have to.

At the same time, that doesn’t mean it’s sustainable.

It’s easy to quickly jump to conclusions and wave around the Ewing Theory as the reason why the Wizards are performing better without Wall at the moment. And while some of the statistics could indicate that – if you try hard enough, you can make the numbers back up any point you’re trying to make – I think 12 games isn’t a great enough sample to run with that narrative.

It’s unfair. Not only to Wall, but also to the Wizards. But in today’s takitude culture, it’s not enough to call this an outlining 12 games. Nope. Can’t. We have to choose a side.

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Choose yours. But, something tells me that the Wizards could use an All-Star who can drop 40 points and hit the game-winner on the biggest stage on any given night. Give me that.

(Just ask the Miami Heat).

Let’s call it what it is. The Washington Wizards are on a hot streak.

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