John Feinstein is a troll, in many ways. But one particular bit of trolling has most definitely led me to this place, and you to this here blog website, perhaps.
Okay Wiz fans: you are right. Without John Wall the Wiz couldn't possibly be the 11th best team in the NBA. http://t.co/RPGY5tmZ7v
— John Feinstein (@JFeinsteinBooks) February 11, 2015
#WellActually, the Wizards, currently at 33-20, are tied with Chicago Bulls (whom the Wizards beat in last year’s playoffs and two out of three times this season) for the 10th-best winning percentage in the NBA. (That could change after tonight’s Raptors game—the Wizards are still not trustworthy, but this isn’t about the Wizards, necessarily, this is about two guys named John.)
Let’s not delay this any further… And the award for the dumbest shit that’s ever been said in the history of Washington, D.C. (and DMV-area) pro basketball and perhaps for D.C. sports altogether goes to … none other than John Feinstein, a pretty good writer-cum-radio schlock jock reaching for relevancy.
It was less than 1,000 days ago when Feinstein said this, as transcribed by the Great Dan Steinberg:
“You guys have probably heard me say this before: I think Kendall Marshall’s gonna be a terrific NBA guard. I really do. He reminds me a lot of Jason Kidd. He’s not a great shooter, but he’ll become a better shooter as time goes along. He knows how to run a team, he’s smart, he plays defense.
“If I was the Wizards, I swear if I could pull off a deal, I would trade down. I would take John Wall, trade down, get a player or two, and use the first pick on Kendall Marshall. I swear to God I would do that, I think that highly of Kendall Marshall.
“They’re not gonna do that,” he continued, “because that’s thinking out of the box. And they’ve made such a big deal out of John Wall they can’t afford to trade him. But I think that would be a good move. I think Kendall Marshall, in terms of running a team, potentially is a lot better than John Wall.”
The kicker, as Steinberg also reported at the time, is that Feinstein would have drafted Michael Kidd-Gilchrist over Bradley Beal in 2012. Well, kiss my grits … somebody make him a GM for Michael Jordan.
Maybe Feinstein should stick to what he still doesn’t know best: the relatively miserable game of college basketball, where the midrange generally is frozen into philosophy like an unfrozen caveman lawyer might be set in his ways.
The debate amongst statistics and analytics rages on. For every Charles Barkley (or Randy Wittman), there is a Dave Berri (or whomever else insists on being arrogant with numbers in an ever-incomplete environment). From a purity standpoint, John Wall is currently the most passing-est of pass-first point guards in the NBA. Gosh, I bet traditionalists hate that.
- 10.2 assists per game: the best.
- 46.1 assist percentage: the best.
- 23.6 points created by assists per game: OK, second best, to the offensively offense-less Rajon Rondo.
One of the newer, evolutionary advanced statistics planting itself on the lawn of old men screaming about basketball creationism is ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus.
Wall is currently ranked seventh amongst all NBA players in RPM at 5.84. Justifiably, the RPM stat rates Stephen Curry first, then James Harden, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James—essentially your Top 4 MVP candidates.
Kawhi Leonard, last year’s NBA Finals MVP, ranks fifth, and to prove that no stat is perfect, Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton ranks sixth in RPM. (That said, Middleton is a pretty damn good player and the Bucks, despite injuries, are better than expected—so there is a fairly good reason.)
Wall also ranks first amongst point guards in Defensive Real Plus-Minus (26th amongst all NBA players in DRPM).
All of this is to say … what, exactly?
Well, not to knock Kendall Marshall, a good college point guard who, despite being on four NBA teams (including the Wizards, in transaction only), playing for three (excluding the Wizards), as well as appearing in the D-League, just might make a serviceable NBA backup one day. (Note: Marshall is currently out with a knee injury, and seems like a ‘cool bro’—sorry that Feinstein dragged his name into this.)
The point is: John Feinstein is doubling-down on his own idiocy, and he has successfully trolled me into writing about such. I’ll add: He needs to stay in his lane, right between floor-slapping college basketball and Gary Williams’ sweaty armpit. Feinstein is quite—pardon the expression—fucking clueless about NBA basketball.
So, to conclude reminding you of the dumbest thing said in the history of D.C. sports, I’ll let our good friends the WizzNutzz take it away.
RT @JFeinsteinBooks: OK Wiz fans: you are right. Without John Wall the Wiz couldn't possibly be the 11th best team pic.twitter.com/I7fuy3Guc5
— Ras BoboNutzz (@wzzntzz) February 11, 2015
RT @JFeinsteinBooks: OK Wiz fans: you are right. Without John Wall the Wiz couldn't possibly be the 11th best team pic.twitter.com/LPfKmpYv2T
— Ras BoboNutzz (@wzzntzz) February 11, 2015