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John Wall and Kemba Walker could be out of the lineup as All-Star starters
There is a very good chance, despite two very good years, that point guards John Wall and Kemba Walker won’t hear their names called loudly enough on Thursday night.
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At the right time, at least. Wall’s Washington Wizards will appear on TNT against the New York Knicks in the network’s early game, the first time all season that the Wizards will have made the move to Turner’s nationally-televised broadcast, but there is sound footing in place for Wall to be passed over for a spot on the Western and (especially) Eastern starting All-Star teams when the initial fives are announced prior to the Wizards game on the channel.
Kemba Walker’s Charlotte Hornets will only appear on TNT once this season, in a March contest against the Indiana Pacers, so the utterance of his name usually is only relegated to nights when the Hornets play one of the “other” NBA games on Thursday night that evening. In comparison to the exposure that the often similarly-styled Kyrie Irving receives, one could deduce that Walker’s All-Star candidacy potential is lacking.
Both were left on the outside looking in when the league released its last batch of All-Star voting records (with the players and media now co-opting a share of the vote) last week, the final release before things became official. Well aware of this, following a particularly satisfying wire-to-wire 107-85 home win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday evening, Walker took the “aw, shucks” approach when discussing his starting prospects, and whether or not “he has done enough this year to make the All-Star game.”
”Not really, if you ask me,” Walker said. ”Especially because of where my team is. But like I said, I really don’t care honestly.”
Mindful of the fact that the Trail Blazers win marked the end of a five-game losing streak for the Hornets, Walker went on:
‘We haven’t been doing a great job of winning consistently (so) the All-Star game is the last thing I’m going to think about right now,” Walker said.
That appears to be the case for Wall, who once again was the driving force behind yet another Washington home win on Wednesday, adding 25 points, 13 assists and a pair of steals in the Wizards’ impressive 104-101 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Earlier in the week he discussed what has easily been his best year as a pro with Jeff Zillgitt at USA Today:
“I wanted to get back to being healthy,” Wall told USA TODAY Sports. “In my first six years I was never healthy. I battled through so much just to prove I could play. For me to have a decent six years was great. But now I’m back to where I can be myself and be the player I always wanted to be.”
[…]
This is the healthiest Wall, 26, has been in his NBA career. “By far,” he said. “Not even close.”
It shows. Not only is he averaging 22.9 points, 10.2 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 steals (just a percentage point behind the idle Chris Paul for the league lead), but Wall’s Wizards have somehow overcome a 6-12 start to the season to right out at 22-19 so far through 2016-17, with Washington having won 13 straight at home.
Kemba Walker is shooting over 41 percent from long range on the season and averaging 23 points per game as well for the .500 Hornets, marking yet another season of strong improvement for the 26-year old, Connecticut product.
However, when the penultimate starting tallies were released, Wall ranked No. 7 in fan voting amongst Eastern guards, while Walker dipped to No. 9 behind Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin, who has played all of 12 games this season.
With any combination of Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas also meriting inclusion not only as reserves, but as starters (Irving more so for his top-ranked fan vote than his play this season), this leaves a rather thin line for Eastern guards to edge their way into. Even with Jimmy Butler, twice already an All-Star as a guard, moving up to the frontcourt this year in the wake of the Bulls’ acquisition of guard Dwyane Wade.
Wade, at No. 2 in the fan voting the last time out, may even have an outside chance to make the team despite an off year at age 35. Further limiting room on the train.
Walker has never been part of that All-Star train (I should stop calling it that) in six seasons, while Wall has made the East team three times – even starting in 2015. Neither are having as good a year as either member of Toronto’s Lowry/DeRozan backcourt, or Boston’s Isaiah Thomas, but that needn’t take away from the image of two deserving starters possibly on the bench or even missing the damn thing.
The issue ‘ere, is, well, they don’t appear to be bugged by it.
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Kemba Walker is one of those annoying game-to-game types, murder for opponents that would just like a night off.
A coach on the court who probably burns a little too deep when it comes to committing to his craft. He’s exactly what you would hope for in a prospect-turned-pro, with the pluck and humor that marked his collegiate craft carrying over into the NBA, all while adding the necessary major upgrades defensively, in point guard timing, and in outside shooting.
Just over four years ago, it seemed as if John Wall would be set for a career’s worth of struggles due to a series of ambiguous knee injuries. Paired with either front office-birthed detritus (Jan Vesely, the perpetually terrible Washington bench) or merits (Otto Porter, Bradley Beal) in equal amounts (some would argue this to be too kind), he’s turned into one of the league’s more consistently breathtaking two-way players, and he’s carried the Wizards to three games over .500 at 2016-17’s midpoint in what could have easily been a 28-win season.
In a year that has seen Eric Gordon, Jrue Holiday, and Stephen Curry (in perhaps the season’s least talked-about story) bounce back wonderfully from health concerns, Wall has been a slow page-turner, making most of his advancements year-to-year after notching 82 games in 2013-14. Still, he’s happy to be healthy, ahead of the loss of a starting spot that didn’t exactly bring him the sun and the moon in 2015 (he contributed 19 points and seven assists in the East’s 163-158 loss).
The picks – the fans, the press, the players – probably won’t reveal enough on Thursday night.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
