Evaluating the Wall/Gil Backcourt Duo
Posted: Wed Dec 8, 2010 1:43 pm
I thought I would wait a few more games before making this thread, but after reading tonight's game thread about LA and hearing others offering some first evaluations, I'll offer my own. Are Wall and Gil effective together? Right now, I think not.
Reading through the last few pages of comments, many people seemed to take the LA game as proof that Gil and Wall can play well together. I found this interesting because I had the exact opposite impression--this game made me believe even more that the two of them are not effective together.
The Wiz were pretty awful in the first half. Then they made their first run in the third when Wall came out. He replaced Gil with the wiz down 5. The lakers got the lead back up a bit, gil came back in and eventually the wiz made their second run. During that run, both were in the game, but it's not like they were playing off each other. Gil was playing like crap and Wall had gone into beast mode. Wall did hit gil for two assists, but one was a set play out of a timeout that was perfectly called by Flip--hardly an indication of how the two will fare in normal half court sets. The rest of the run was made possible by Wall's beasting, scoring himself and setting up Nick and Booker.
Both runs were made possible because one of the two took responsibility--Gil when Wall was out, then Wall when he was beasting. Wall has trouble deferring to Gil--if they are both in the game and Wall is not beasting, he will be standing around a lot and hurting the team. If Wall is beasting, the team will of course do well, since Wall can already play like an elite player at times, but Gil becomes fairly irrelevant. The team is probably most consistent when Wall is out and Gil is in, but we play at our highest level with beast Wall AND he is our future, so keeping him on the bench is not a good option.
These problems are particularly pronounced on the fast break. One would think that, despite our rebounding problems, we could do well pushing the ball with Gil and Wall in the game. The problem -- well, one problem, as turnovers in the form of Gil's crazy passes and Wall's out of controlitude is another problem -- is that both players push the ball with the ball in their hands. Both players go back to get the ball from the bigs. Both come back, and as a result there is no one to go down the court and create spacing. I watch Wall in particular get frustrated when he doesn't get the ball off rebounds. And it makes sense that Gil is the one to get down court and spot up as he has the better shot. But they have shown no ability to play off each other on the break.
Nor are they all that effective in the half court. Wall is not effective off the ball and Gil shoots best off the dribble. Neither is great moving without the ball. Gil, to be fair, tries, but he simply is not reggie miller running off of our half-assed screens. Wall does nothing.
On defense the two have worked well enough--at least they are not compounding each other's problems. But on offense? I'm not seeing it fellas.
Pray with me that Gil can be moved.
Reading through the last few pages of comments, many people seemed to take the LA game as proof that Gil and Wall can play well together. I found this interesting because I had the exact opposite impression--this game made me believe even more that the two of them are not effective together.
The Wiz were pretty awful in the first half. Then they made their first run in the third when Wall came out. He replaced Gil with the wiz down 5. The lakers got the lead back up a bit, gil came back in and eventually the wiz made their second run. During that run, both were in the game, but it's not like they were playing off each other. Gil was playing like crap and Wall had gone into beast mode. Wall did hit gil for two assists, but one was a set play out of a timeout that was perfectly called by Flip--hardly an indication of how the two will fare in normal half court sets. The rest of the run was made possible by Wall's beasting, scoring himself and setting up Nick and Booker.
Both runs were made possible because one of the two took responsibility--Gil when Wall was out, then Wall when he was beasting. Wall has trouble deferring to Gil--if they are both in the game and Wall is not beasting, he will be standing around a lot and hurting the team. If Wall is beasting, the team will of course do well, since Wall can already play like an elite player at times, but Gil becomes fairly irrelevant. The team is probably most consistent when Wall is out and Gil is in, but we play at our highest level with beast Wall AND he is our future, so keeping him on the bench is not a good option.
These problems are particularly pronounced on the fast break. One would think that, despite our rebounding problems, we could do well pushing the ball with Gil and Wall in the game. The problem -- well, one problem, as turnovers in the form of Gil's crazy passes and Wall's out of controlitude is another problem -- is that both players push the ball with the ball in their hands. Both players go back to get the ball from the bigs. Both come back, and as a result there is no one to go down the court and create spacing. I watch Wall in particular get frustrated when he doesn't get the ball off rebounds. And it makes sense that Gil is the one to get down court and spot up as he has the better shot. But they have shown no ability to play off each other on the break.
Nor are they all that effective in the half court. Wall is not effective off the ball and Gil shoots best off the dribble. Neither is great moving without the ball. Gil, to be fair, tries, but he simply is not reggie miller running off of our half-assed screens. Wall does nothing.
On defense the two have worked well enough--at least they are not compounding each other's problems. But on offense? I'm not seeing it fellas.
Pray with me that Gil can be moved.
