John Wall Is Providing A Spark For The LA Clippers’ Offense

Despite starting the season with the second-worst offensive rating in basketball, ahead of only their rival across the hall, the LA Clippers have illustrated what could make them dangerous threats in the Western Conference.

The plethora of wings and historically great Kawhi Leonard returning to action is only part of the equation.

Within the first week of the season, the biggest takeaway for the Clippers is how fantastic John Wall looks on both ends of the floor — and how ready he is to put his fingerprints on their offense.

After three games, the Clippers are 2-1 with two critical pieces of their team on a minutes restriction, including Wall.

Leonard is capped at roughly 22 minutes, which has thrown a wrench into Ty Lue’s rotations and lineup configurations. In order to have Leonard available to close games without making him sit for extended stretches, they have opted to bring him off the bench — a plan Leonard is confident will help with his reintegration.

Wall, the team’s only free agency acquisition from the summer, is being held to 25 or fewer minutes. He’s also not appearing in back-to-backs. This restriction isn’t injury related, but instead a way to ease him back into regular season competition after being off nearly 18 months. The Houston Rockets elected not to play him last season as they focused on a youth movement, so this is Wall’s first stretch of competitive basketball dating back to April 2021.

Winning two of the first three games while dealing with lackluster perimeter shooting and inconsistent lineups should give the Clippers optimism moving forward. Although the Suns were more prepared and cohesive than LA in Sunday’s game, the Clippers still made a charge in the third quarter that gave Phoenix a few glimpses of what challenges they can present with small-ball weapons.

Wall, in particular, has proven to be a monumental addition to the team’s offensive identity. From being more deliberate attacking the rim in the halfcourt to pushing in transition more often, Wall completely understood the assignment when LA recruited him. That’s the underrated part of the acquisition that nobody seems to be talking about: Both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George – two methodical, halfcourt operators who don’t usually play in a fast offense – have openly said the Clippers need to diversify their pace and increase the tempo in certain moments.

For the two leaders of the team to encourage an offensive tweak, especially as they get older and more likely to value halfcourt possessions, it highlights their evolving leadership and ability to focus on the bigger picture.

During Wall’s 46 minutes, the Clippers haven’t even scratched the surface of what they can be. In this tiny sample size, the offense hasn’t been too impressive. The team’s outside shooting looks to be in preseason form, and Leonard is unable to get the typical usage we’d expect from a tier one superstar.

But it’s all about process over results in the early weeks of a season.

Wall’s presence on the floor has lifted the energy and enthusiasm of the Clippers’ offense, even without them converting at times. His passion as a driver and leader on the floor is bringing a different element that we haven’t seen next to Leonard and George.

For Wall individually, he’s 12-of-19 from two (63.2%) while shooting just 2-of-8 from three and the free throw line (25.0%).

As you can imagine for a point guard, it goes beyond his scoring output. Wall wasn’t brought in to be the third scorer. The front office viewed him as an ideal playmaker with the competitive fire that would fit well with everyone they retained.

George praised the veteran guard’s skill-set after Sunday’s loss to Phoenix, a game in which Wall attacked with a purpose during his minutes.

“I think just being a floor general and taking the pressure off of myself and Kawhi,” George said when asked about Wall’s aggressiveness. “Being able to put us in good spots, being able to direct traffic and tell us where to go, what play we’re in. Also, I think defensively – he’s a big body, strong, and can guard multiple positions, and he rebounds well. I think having another player like John’s caliber, aside from his speed and downhill attacks, I think he does a lot for us in so many categories.”

The impact might not be tangible right now through the numbers, but you can sense it. Wall’s speed and paint-attacking nature jump off the screen compared to what the Clippers have been used to in the Kawhi-PG era. When they brought in Rajon Rondo during the 2021 season, it was mostly a failed experiment due to Rondo’s lack of finishing ability.

Wall is different. His burst often comes out of nowhere. Sometimes, it’s less about the speed and more about how he catches defenders off guard with his shiftiness.

It doesn’t matter if a taller defender is switched onto him, as the 6’8” Cam Johnson is on the possession below. Wall is able to use his eyes and manipulative tactics to catch his defender flat-footed, anticipating a handoff on the opposite wing. Notice how much room Johnson is giving him, which allows a good recovery. However, after executing this drive thousands of times in his career, Wall knows when to pick up the ball and change directions:

His right-to-left crossover is a thing of beauty. It immediately puts the defender at a disadvantage. If Wall is charging down the lane with a full head of steam, the typical reaction is to use your body (or longer arms if you’re a taller defender) to be physical with him.

The only issue is, Wall has become such a better foul-drawing guard. He doesn’t shy away from the contact and heavy blows. Although he’s been in a funk when it comes to making free throws, that’s never going to be a huge concern for him.

Where he’ll excel the most is having a keen eye for when to reject ball-screens and attack his defender one-on-one. Opposing defenses will be used to the Clippers running a ton of guard-guard or guard-wing screening actions, whether it’s to hunt for switches or hope the defense puts two guys on the ball.

With defenders expecting wings to come up and screen, Wall can use his exquisite handle to reject it and start his downhill push:

From there, it’s only going to create chaos on the floor. Notice how the help defender at the nail (Juan Toscano-Anderson) only stunted at Wall, and LeBron made a half-hearted attempt to slide over from the weakside.

One play against the Suns demonstrated the clear difference between Wall and current starting point guard, Reggie Jackson:

Wall’s first instinct on any possession is to get two feet in the paint at any cost. He will rarely settle for threes unless it’s a late-clock situation or he’s spotted up and catching in rhythm. Wall reads the situation above and attacks the Suns’ interior defense, knowing Jock Landale will rotate over and protect the rim. His propensity to finish through contact will unlock a lot of trips to the foul line, something else the Clippers have needed for years.

In his first two games, Wall is 8-of-11 from inside eight feet (72.7%). It’s too early to definitively say his finishing ability is back, but it’s certainly looking more like the old John Wall versus the 155-of-300 (51.7% efficiency) we saw in his last season on the floor.

Showing Wall’s strength as a finisher is not to prove Wall is better than Jackson. At their best, they are equally effective players that bring two entirely different skill-sets to their team. When the Clippers hit their stride later in the season, as the playoffs approach, it just makes sense Leonard and George will want the more explosive talent on the floor when it matters.

Ty Lue has noticed the team lacking an energizer bunny since he took over the job. Last year, without Leonard (and even George for 60% of the season), the Clippers collectively gave opponents problems with their shooting and movement. Now, with both stars back in the fold, it’s time to add a new dimension and avenue to shot creation.

“I think his pace is something we need – badly,” Lue said when discussing Wall. “Especially with all the shooting we have. He is one of the guys that can go coast to coast, get into the paint, and make a play for somebody else. We need that and we need that spunk.”

It’s evident how the Clippers are letting Wall get comfortable with the ball in his hands again, spacing for him on the weakside and encouraging him to get into his sweet spots. Most of the time, that will mean breaking his man down off the dribble and collapsing the defense.

His most valuable trait for the Clippers will be his transition attacks, and we’re already seeing them reap the benefits of his north-to-south style. After this defensive rebound by Marcus Morris, the Clippers scored in less than five seconds after Wall called for the ball and pushed it directly at a backpedaling Devin Booker:

Considering the Clippers ranked near the bottom of the league in transition points per possession last season, with nobody that was competent with the ball in those situations, this will feel like a different monster once the minutes restrictions are lifted. Leonard has shown flashes of wanting to run on the break, so it’s not hard to envision him stripping the ball loose from his man, hitting Wall with a go-ahead pass, and following behind to give the defense another terrifying threat.

Following his second game of the season, Wall was asked postgame how he’s holding up physically and fitting in with the team.

“I feel great, other than me shooting free throws like Shaq,” Wall said after the loss to Phoenix. “That’s pissing me off. But other than that, I feel good. I got my speed and got my rhythm. I’m just coming in and trying to play the right way and push the pace with these guys. Just trying to get us fastbreak points and keep the flow going in our game. I think a lot of times, we start off kind of slow and get stagnant, and get to playing one-on-one. Which, we try to get away from and keep the ball moving from side to side.

Another way to mitigate the stagnation will be to attack against defenses that aren’t fully set. It doesn’t have to be a full transition opportunity. Sometimes, there will be windows for him to beat everyone down the floor and get into the middle before rim protection gets in position:

As long as Wall’s efficiency inside the paint doesn’t tail off the same way it did in Houston, those are the type of buckets LA is looking to implement into their offense. They still want to dissect you in the halfcourt — but not for 10 possessions in a row. Bringing in Wall was strictly about decreasing the predictability and increasing the dynamism.

“That’s just what I’m trying to do,” Wall said. “That’s my game and it’s always been my game, is to push pace and get to the basket. Creating shots for myself if they don’t help. Which, they haven’t been helping as much because of the three-point shooting we have. But the times they do help, I try to find our shooters and hopefully they make shots.”

The threat of his pick-and-roll scoring and playmaking is still going to be at the forefront, though. That’s where he’ll be faced with decisions based on how the defense is treating him.

In his first game, he didn’t hesitate to pull up in the mid-range once defenders went under the ball-screen set by Zubac:

That shot will be arguably the most significant look he’ll get throughout the season. In Washington, he was a respectable mid-range shooter and could make teams pay for treating him like Rondo or Russell Westbrook. If he’s showing this type of confidence and precision, it may influence teams to go over the screen, which could open the door for Zubac to be a perfect roll-man finisher.

The Clippers are hoping Wall’s increased minutes will help lift them from a bottom-10 team in rim attempts (over the last two seasons) to league average or better.

This was a unit that ranked 26th last year in lane drives with 39.8 per game. It’s up to 42.3 in the first three games, so you can expect that to rise even more once Lue has the full rotation unleashed.

It hasn’t materialized yet for numerous reasons, and the Clippers’ poor outside shooting hasn’t helped.

They are only shooting 16.7% on corner threes and 34.8% above-the-break. Once both of those stabilize, Wall is going to find more driving lanes to create the type of chaos Lue is looking for.

The blueprint has been laid out. We’ll see how long it takes the Clippers to build the offense they’ve had in mind all summer.