Upper Decker wrote:Additional veteran leadership is overrated especially when the team has Nene, Ariza (whose won a championship), and Gortat. All of those guys are veteran leaders and Wall has become a great leader as well. Any additional support Al provides as an "off the court leader" is mitigated in spades by the fact he's 1) not playing, and 2) preventing the team from making additional roster moves.
Wall has not been a GREAT leader. But he is coming along. He is trying. He is getting there. If he can bring that D like the 2nd half of last game, every game, he will get their faster.
Putting the franchise on his back as a rookie while it was still getting blown up was a rough way to come into the league. They still had Gil here and that wasn't cleaned up. McGee and Nick were here. Dray was here. Kind of like he moved into a new home and the people getting evicted hadn't been removed by the sheriff yet. Not ideal. Uncomfortable. And hard to lead when you are a rookie with players that aren't about the team because they know they are moving on.
Then last year, with all them gone, then there were new vets. TA, Webster, Nene, Okafor. Injuries to himself and others. Lots of losing. Lots of line up changes. And Beal as the shinny new toy. Still not very ideal.
This year, he is getting a pretty clean shot at being what he was intended to be and I think he is growing into it. But I wouldn't call his leadership GREAT just yet. Webster is the real leader of the team. Nene is another leader. Wall is one of the leaders and he is the future. But right now, the team doesn't need one clear leader. I think it needs all three of those players to lead. With TA, Gortat and Beal as first Lt's. That's how I see the team gelling and that's better then just one young player as the leader.
The team is ready to take the next step. Its up to Randy and their leaders to get them there.