Gee Wiz

Alonzo Gee, Washington Wizards - Photo credit: Joe Glorioso WizardsExtreme

 I often find myself grasping for positives after watching games in a season full of bad losses, bad play, and bad decisions. Some of these positives include such things as not losing by 20 points, not missing 10 free throws, and coming away from a game without a new injury. This season has given us multiple injuries, uninspired play from our former “big three”, and a ton of bad decisions not only on the court, but off the court as well. We have seen our core guys fail to get the job done, resulting in a majority of them living in new zip codes. We have seen our new guys show us flashes of brilliance, only to fail to get the job done down the stretch.

The negatives outweigh the positives by about as many guns as Gilbert Arenas kept stored in his house. So it is really easy to talk about them, so let’s try and search through the disaster and see what we can pick out of it that could possibly be looked at as a positive….. Needs The lack of veteran players has allowed playing time to quite a few players who would have been shelved on the bench in many other situations. The good thing here is that our organization will have a nice sample of game to do their evaluating.

 For a team that only has 6 players under contract next year (and one of them is Quinton Ross), evaluating our talent and deciding what we need and where we want to go is going to be a huge task for our off season. Targets through the draft and free agency should be PG and C, and also a slashing forward who can play some defense. Emergence of Blatche We have a rising star on our hands who is still 23 years old and is on a very favorable contract, making $6.7 million over the next two years. Without the disaster season and blowing up the core, would we ever get the opportunity to watch Blatche show us what he can do? Since the trade, Blatche has been averaging 24.5 points and 9.6 rebounds in 15 games. Not only is this great for Dray’s development, but it might also help us attract a free agent in the off season. Geeee!!!

 And this brings me to the latest part of the story. Alonzo Gee. Over the last 3 games, Gee has received some decent playing time and has been able to show us why exactly he was called up from the Austin Torros. This guy averaged 21 pts, 6.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.5 steals in 36 games in the D League. On Saturday against the Magic, Gee came in and played 12 high energy minutes and had 7 points and 5 rebounds. On Monday vs. the Jazz, he made an impact in his 15 minutes of playing time. Gee had 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal while flying around the court and attacking the boards on both ends. And tonight vs. the Nuggets, Gee received his most extensive playing time as a pro yet, and he did not let down. Alonzo played in 26 minutes and seemed to be in on every rebound, extremely active on defense, and played within the offense.

He recorded his first NBA double double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and added in 2 steals. What is not to like about the guy. He plays hard every time he is on the floor, and never seems to run out of energy. I wouldn’t mind seeing the guy get 25 minutes a game the rest of the way and then evaluate him and offer him a contract. He would be a very solid SG for us. Who wouldn’t like a guy who plays with high energy, can score and rebound the ball, and play defense as well???

So in a season where the negatives make it seem like we are rooting for a D League team, let’s try and take some of the positives that we can and look towards the near future. We will have a very busy off season ahead of us with 4 draft picks, and free agency. Let’s just hope that guys that seem like they are willing to give us solid effort like Singleton and Gee are around to continue giving us something to look forward to.

- LooseCannon13 WizardsExtreme.com