Post#44 » by rockymac52 » Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:05 am
Gortat's best talent is his ability in the pick and roll. However, that's going completely to waste with us this year.
Wall and Beal are both straight up bad at running the pick and roll, both as the shooter and the passer. We gave Beal a pass on this last season because he was a rookie and a SG, so it was understandable that he wouldn't be good in the pick and roll, at least in the short-term.
Wall has no excuses though. In the past he's been awful at running the pick and roll, but on the bright side, he didn't have any big men on the team that were actually good in the pick and roll. However, Gortat is truly one of the best big men in the pick and roll, so that excuse no longer applies for Wall. To be fair, they didn't have an opportunity to play together during training camp, so you could argue that it's hard for them to mesh this quickly. Also, Wittman probably wasn't running many pick and roll plays in practice all training camp because until we got Gortat, there wasn't any big man worth running pick and roll plays with. Nevertheless, this is a problem, and it needs to change.
Gortat is a solid all-around player, but there's no doubt that his biggest strength is in the pick and roll. If we don't try and get him more looks in the pick and roll, then we're doing a huge disservice to Gortat, Wall, and pretty much everyone with any semblance of a rooting interest in the team. Imagine having Rip Hamilton and not running any plays for him coming off screens. It's illogical, and a complete waste of talent. The fact that we'd do this after trading a fairly valuable asset for him, as well as the fact that he's expiring and this could very well end up being his only year in DC, only makes it worse.
Gortat has still managed to be pretty efficient in the pick and roll when he gets the opportunity, despite Wall, Beal, and Maynor's ineffectiveness in the pick and roll. However, he can be even better with a decent pick and roll PG. At the very least, we need to get him MORE looks, even if Wall and Beal never become good in the pick and roll (although that does make me wonder if it's even possible for a team to be a championship contender without having at least one guard who is even average in the pick and roll - especially when your best two players are your PG and SG).
I'll also add that having Eric Maynor who is truly awful in the pick and roll instead of AJ Price who was very good in the pick and roll last season really rubs salt in the wound. Even if Wall struggles in the pick and roll, it would've been nice to pair up Price and Gortat for stretches of the game and let them go to work in the pick and roll. They would've been a very good two man offense.
