All things About Gil's Return (edited thread title)

[nate33]

I'm curious, why would the wizards possibly contemplate anything besides signing Arenas to the max? under what scenarios could they possibly get anything of equal value in return?

Because history has shown that 6-3 combo guards don't win championships as the best player on their team (unless it's a very good team with nearly every other starter an all-star caliber player like Detroit or the Bad Boys Detroit).

Arenas simply isn't on the same tier as Duncan, Garnett, Howard, Paul, Lebron or Kobe. He's arguably not even on the same tier as Nash, Wade, TMac, Bosh, Melo, Pierce, Boozer, D.Williams, Yao, Stoudemire, or Dirk. When teams sign guys who are roughly the 15th (or so) best player in the league at the time, and pay them a max contract, they usually end up regretting it. Think about Odom, Jermaine O'Neal, Iverson, Francis, Marbury, Marion, Ben Wallace, Redd, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Bibby.

Arenas is a great player, but I don't think he is quite worth the max. I think he is worth about $12-13M a year. That's considerably more than Kevin Martin, Caron Butler and Josh Howard; and a little more than Steve Nash and Carlos Boozer. It's just less than Stoudamire and Gasol. I think it's a fair deal, especially in this market.

[ImissJordan]

You and I have different definitions of "extremely well." The Celtics this season have played "extremely well." The Wiz have done well considering they were missing their best player most of the year, but that's not the same thing.

As for Gil, he's going to opt out, and the Wizards will re-sign him.

I had figured that the Wiz would be struggling to earn a playoff spot; I suppose I meant, "they've played extremely well, considering they lost their best player."

I didn't say the Wizards have been playing freaking incredible basketball, or anything.

[omegatronic3]

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Because history has shown that 6-3 combo guards don't win championships as the best player on their team (unless it's a very good team with nearly every other starter an all-star caliber player like Detroit or the Bad Boys Detroit).

well i would say DWade was the best player on the Miami team. Shaq was hardly in his prime and outside of Shaq miami didnt have that much. I agree that a dominant big man is generally what it takes but you have to take what you can get. It's not like we can trade Arenas for Howard or Amare. I would say its about 50/50 on Arenas coming back because the bottom line is no matter if he says he'll take less $$ to stay here money talks and he'll go where the money is. Being that Abe will let hell freeze over before going over the cap and the fact that we have Jamison and Arenas to be signed it'll be tough.

I wouldn't be too surprised to see both of em walk and letting them go for nothing is the worst case scenario.

I think our best bet is to use Detroit as a model...and i don't think we're too far off talent wise and the chemistry is there. We need another big man cos if anything happens to wood we're toast!

[hands11]

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Because history has shown that 6-3 combo guards don't win championships as the best player on their team (unless it's a very good team with nearly every other starter an all-star caliber player like Detroit or the Bad Boys Detroit).

Arenas simply isn't on the same tier as Duncan, Garnett, Howard, Paul, Lebron or Kobe. He's arguably not even on the same tier as Nash, Wade, TMac, Bosh, Melo, Pierce, Boozer, D.Williams, Yao, Stoudemire, or Dirk. When teams sign guys who are roughly the 15th (or so) best player in the league at the time, and pay them a max contract, they usually end up regretting it. Think about Odom, Jermaine O'Neal, Iverson, Francis, Marbury, Marion, Ben Wallace, Redd, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Bibby.

Arenas is a great player, but I don't think he is quite worth the max. I think he is worth about $12-13M a year. That's considerably more than Kevin Martin, Caron Butler and Josh Howard; and a little more than Steve Nash and Carlos Boozer. It's just less than Stoudamire and Gasol. I think it's a fair deal, especially in this market.

This is what I've been saying all along. Only I put in the twist about what kind of player he can be. I think he is more valuable if he expands his game to take greater advantage of his amazing court vision as a CP type player. Some don't think he can do it. I not only think he can, I think it would make us an amazingly powerful top tier team and I would support the team paying more for that kind of player.

[hands11]

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well i would say DWade was the best player on the Miami team. Shaq was hardly in his prime and outside of Shaq miami didnt have that much. I agree that a dominant big man is generally what it takes but you have to take what you can get. It's not like we can trade Arenas for Howard or Amare. I would say its about 50/50 on Arenas coming back because the bottom line is no matter if he says he'll take less $$ to stay here money talks and he'll go where the money is. Being that Abe will let hell freeze over before going over the cap and the fact that we have Jamison and Arenas to be signed it'll be tough.

I wouldn't be too surprised to see both of em walk and letting them go for nothing is the worst case scenario.

I think our best bet is to use Detroit as a model...and i don't think we're too far off talent wise and the chemistry is there. We need another big man cos if anything happens to wood we're toast!

Your missing the fact the Abe has already communicated to EG and EG to us that he has been given the OK to go over the cap if he believes he needs to this summer.

So I guess hell has in deed frozen over.

[miller31time]

When will Gilbert be able to play more than 20-25 minutes per game?

I mean, he hasn't shown minute improvement since he returned.

Can't imagine us playing him 20-25 minutes per game in the post-season, so we better start building him up now.

[LyricalRico]

Making half court, stand still 3's = Gil is officially back.

[dobrojim]

Making half court, stand still 3's = Gil is officially back.

got that right

with his performance in the 4th tonight, not just the 35 ft 3 but
all the other shots and assists and energy, he's back.
Also this was the second night of a b2b.

[hands11]

When will Gilbert be able to play more than 20-25 minutes per game?

I mean, he hasn't shown minute improvement since he returned.

Can't imagine us playing him 20-25 minutes per game in the post-season, so we better start building him up now.

Easy there EJ.

Have some patience. That's the attitude that got GA in this mess to begin with. Both by GA and by EJ.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/g ... ayerId=974

See all those zeros. They are games not played. 2 injuries. A team that was playing well that he has to mix back in with. EJ is doing fine with him.

It's most likely going to be what you see until playoff time hits.

Then he will get up to 30 mins in select games.

Anyway, I thought 20 was the cap and he is already over that twice and played in a back to back. Patience my good man.

[miller31time]

I'm not saying we need to start playing him 40mpg now. I'm just saying that he hasn't had increased minutes practically since he's returned.

We're not getting far in the playoffs without Gilbert playing around 32-35 minutes per game.

To think that he's going to go from 20-25 to 32-35 in 2 games just doesn't seem right.

Which is why I posed the question - why hasn't he been given (slowly) increased minutes?

[hands11]

I'm not saying we need to start playing him 40mpg now. I'm just saying that he hasn't had increased minutes practically since he's returned.

We're not getting far in the playoffs without Gilbert playing around 32-35 minutes per game.

To think that he's going to go from 20-25 to 32-35 in 2 games just doesn't seem right.

Which is why I posed the question - why hasn't he been given (slowly) increased minutes?

I see what your saying but I consider playing him in back to backs the same as increased minutes.

This is a day to day thing and we have very little time so every move like that is huge. They will see how he responds. If he handled it well, I would guess that means they would be more willing to play him up to 30 in a single game as the next move. My guess is the ORL game.

[Wizards2Lottery]

Hes one of the most well conditioned athletes in the league. It shouldn't be a problem for him to quickly get a boost in minutes.

[miller31time]

I see what your saying but I consider playing him in back to backs the same as increased minutes.

That's a great point. I hadn't thought about it.

[miller31time]

So when should/will Arenas be put in the starting lineup? Are we going to go with Gil's 6th man role for the playoffs?

[mhd]

I'd keep Gil in the 6th man role. With Jamison and Butler, we really don't need more scoring from the starters. However, with Arenas, the bench is now a weapon. AD also is playing well as a starter.

[hands11]

So when should/will Arenas be put in the starting lineup? Are we going to go with Gil's 6th man role for the playoffs?

The official word form EJ has been GA will remain the 6th man.

GA has blogged that he is all about the team and he only wants to help. If 6th man does it, that's great.

I don't think it's worth changing the rotations. It's really about mins.

As long as he is in the game when needed in crunch time, it's not really worth it to change the rotations. He is a huge advantage coming in as the 6th man right now. I wouldn't change that. Every team that we will face is trying to figure out what to do to deal with GA at 6th man. This is a huge physical and mental advantage for us.

AD, DS, CB, AJ, BH have a rhythm and know how to start the game.
AD controls the tempo and they feed BH early. That gets the post game established. CB comes down and hits a 15 ftr from the left side. AJ does a baby hook on the right post. DS plays D then nails a 3. Other plays that get thrown in are: AD drive off screens. AJ for 3. CB dunk. BH put back dunk. By the time all this happens we are down to 6 mins or so and it's time for GA to come in. I love it. I wouldn't change a thing.

GA comes in with AB and they start running. Songaila does a few layups of nice cuts and assists. GA to AB. GA from 3. GA drive. RM comes in. Nails a few 3s. CB goes out for rest. This is a dream having him off the bench.

[hands11]

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That's a great point. I hadn't thought about it.

Hey, it happens to all of us. No one see everything 100% of the time.

But thanks for the compliment anyway.

[Wizards2Lottery]

He needs to take on the Manu Ginobli role for this year even though I don't think we will ever see him be the defensive pest Ginobli is. Still he can be that spark plug of the bench than can come in and light the other teams inferior bench up.

[Soup's Uncle]

He's not playing tonight...precautionary...