Kanyewest wrote:. Perhaps it was too good to be true for Arenas to become a pass first point guard (I believe his assist to turnover ratio in his final two games in 20082009 was 20-1
In a system he had captained for 7 years, and spent large parts of 2 years watching from the sidelines from the coaching perspective, with players he had run with for thousands of game minutes, live and in practice. Whereas Gil's first year with the Wiz squad posted his worst asst/to record in his career. (Contrast with his numbers last year which was his 2nd best ast/to ratio of his career at close to 2:1, equivalent to DWade).
Continuity leads to chemistry. Gilbert may not be an instinctive pass-first PG, but he's a bright guy who lives and breathes basketball, he figures to improve in Flip's system when running the sets from the ball side. There's a learning curve when entering any new system, and Flip expects a great deal from his Points. John Wall will look good from the jump, but all the players will begin to improve by leaps and bounds. You saw things begin to iron out over the course of the year, once Flip got over his depression after realizing that his veterans wouldn't instinctively immediately pick up his system after running a radically different skill set for 4-7 years. Once Flip had young new high energy guys trying hard to learn the sets he actually began to coach instead of sulking -- and the team picked up, improved, looked more crisp.
Last year they implemented the Dynamic Four sets, funneling offense through Dray. These are the KG sets. This year they'll start with the guard sets that no one was willing or able to pick up: Mike Miller wouldn't shoot, Nick Young still likes to dribble into traffic before taking a shot since playground ball is where he has honed his skill set, all their other PG options were gunners without desire to make patient reads until Shawn came along. Shawn's non-threat from outside meant only that Flip could institute the Cassell package Guard Post-up game, but that's an add-on not a core concept.
Gil and Johnny Balls should pick up the motion attack pretty quickly now. Kirk Hinrich has a decent catch-and-shoot game as a back-up, Nick Young seemed to have good chemistry with Wall in summercamp, Cartier also gets the concepts. If you tell Gil his only job when off the ball is to get open then score, yeah, he can do that all game long. And to prevent the rookie Wall from impacting on the rookie wall Gilbert can carry the team from the alpha dribbler spot. Whomever is nearest the rebound gets the ball, the other gets to get out and go. Both Gil and Wall have proven able to share with another attack guard ballhandler. Our guard attack should develop quite nicely before we have opportunity to sinter a 'rehapilitated' Dray back into the meld. It will be good for the swift growth of a guy like JWall.
Dray's potential early absence means that we also get a chance to test and feature Big Kev with his gluetrap hands. I know John Wall will find him an enticing target down low. His game is far more similar to Big Cuz than JaVale's is, and he should prove to have good synergy with the returning Dray since their games each leave space for the other to do their thing. Until then JaVale may actually get to try on Dray's pants as the finesse Big (where he and his mom clearly see him totally becoming an absolute star, maybe they're right, he clearly has an aversion to the bang and grind). Eventually maybe we get interplay between the two like Dice next to Sheed, a two-man zone on defense, on offense interchangeable on-the-floor, not redundant.
But future to the side last year was a 'less than the sum of the parts' year. Caron and Jamison are an ill-fit for Flip's system. Caron is best with the ball in his hands and room to work, but having lost weight he can't overpower opponents in the post, and he's never been deft with the catch and shoot. Jamison's best role in Flip's offense should have been in the small forward/guard spot: running past screens ready to catch and shoot on first touch. He can't play the Garnett mid-post role because he never passes. Gilbert was steadily improving under the system, especially when running offball next to Boinkings where his role is similar to the EJ sets (score when the ball hits you), but defensively the system completely broke down as usual since Flip was trying to fit EJ's tweeners into roles poorly suited for what they do best. And longstanding habits tended to reassert themselves.
This year, key youngsters get continuity (Nick Young most importantly since his learning curve tends to be shallower than most, needs a long run-up). And John Wall enters a situation with fresh eyes ready to learn. I suspect we'll see better chemistry this year even with lesser accomplishment on the resume. Fact is it helps young players a ton to have veterans on the roster to show how the game is played, where the shortcuts are, how hard you have to work. For the sake of JaVale in particular (and Seraphin/N'Diaye) I just wish we had the equivalent of an Alonzo Mourning to exemplify the blowtorch intensity needed for success in the rebound moshpit.
