1) His shooting has been absolutely atrocious.
In fact, since his 51-point surge against Utah Jan. 15, Gilbert has shot 92-for-234, which is a 39.3 shooting percentage. Not even par for the NBA course. He's scored 30 or more points just four times in the last 11 games. He's had only two games during which he's shot better than 45 percent in the same span. This is for a couple of reasons. One, he's become a volume shooter, a chucker in a lot of instances. He dribbles down the court and heaves up a long 3-pointer after just four seconds has elapsed from the shot clock. Other times, he takes heavily contested, ill-advised shots because, it seems, he wants to get his points. Also of importance, his size. He doesn't have the height to shoot over people like a Kobe Bryant or LeTravel James. If he doesn't come off screens properly, he creates little separation, and that affects his jumper. Unfortunately, it seems, the Wizards success is predicated on the team, especially Gilbert, being hot. (See Gilbert dunking in the above picture? That's called a high-percentage shot.)2) Arenas plays no defense. Not even a semblance of it. His stance is terrible. He's so upright, he might as well be standing and waiting for his team to inbound the ball. He doesn't fight through screens. He doesn't stay between his man and the basket -- a basketball defensive precept you learn as a kid -- because he's so focused only on where the ball is. He sags too far, particularly into the post, where he attempts to thwart the attempts of second rate big men from scoring. His attitude is such that he doesn't care about defense, which he's said, not necessarily explicitly. He's certainly intimated that defense is unimportant in this age of NBA basketball, though. And until he demonstrates a renwed vigor on the defensive end, his teammates will also shed themselves of defensive responbilities. The other players will think, "If the star player doesn't have to do it, neither do I."
3) Gilbert must stop buying into his own hype. He's worked so hard to build his reputation, and now that he has one, he's focusing too much on his public persona. It's time to play basketball.
The three previous points are all fixable. He's not in dire straits, by any means. He can improve his offensive game, most notably his shooting, by getting shots naturally otu of the offense, rather than forcing the action. (Maybe he should have a true PG play beside him.) He could also learn to buckle down defensively and make stops. Hell, just keeping his man in front of him would be a major achievement. For as quick as he is, he sure does let a lot point guards run right by him. I know you've all heard of matador defense. And what's that old saying about there being a picture in the dictionary next to a defition of a word? Gilbert = matador.
(Notice how the matador's stance mirrors closely Gilbert's defensive position.)I still have faith, but I also don't buy into this whole Gilbert-is-untouchable nonsense I run into on Wizards boards. Until he repairs his game, this team will struggle. When the playoffs come around, the Wizards can't afford 10-for-27 nights from Gilbert. They need 10-for-18 nights. Gilbert also needs to realize that 25 points and 10 assists is just as good as 35 points and four assists.
Jamison can't come back soon enough.
In other news ...
I hope people are slowly realizing that the Duke men's basketball team is just not very good this year. (Of course, you'll never hear that from Mike Patrick and Dookie V, the two biggest Duke backers.) The Blue Devils have no legitimate scorer. Josh McRoberts has been one of the biggest busts in college basketball. Greg Paulus' skills are limited. And then who else is on that team? Just not much there.
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