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Why Gerald Wallace is better than you think


I'm writing this postin response to all the pessimistic views members have of Gerald Wallace. The trade for Wallace may have not been a great trade especially as it seems that BK could have gotten the pick top 10 protected but I think for the next 2 years Wallace will be better than the number 6 pick. The thing I don't get is how we degrade Wallace ? Did we not watch the teams transformation we he arrived ? How he made everyone accountable and gained everyone's respect and admiration while only being with us a short time ? He may be just as important to our team as Deron or Brook and here is why:

Wallace is our only real leader. Leaders aren't always necessarily the best player on the team. For example Haslem is Miami's leader even James and Wade has acknowledged that. Usually this is the best way for it to happen since superstars aren't always great at motivating or relating to their lesser skilled teammates. Deron proved last year he isn't a great leader. He showed a lot of negative emotion that he should have kept on the inside. Although I understand it has to be infuriating playing with Petro and Sheldan Williams. Wallace is the type of player everyone looks up to. If you need proof of this just read what Gerald Green and MarShon have to say about Wallace. To change this losing culture you need a guy like this to rally the troops. Our last good leader was Kidd and its no coincidence this was the last time we have been good.

While Wallace's leadership qualities are great lets not overshadow what is stats are. Wallace averaged 15 ppg 7 rpg and 3 assists. Those are pretty good numbers. His points rank as 7th best in a position that includes Durant Lebron and Melo. His rebound numbers are 4th. I mean really how much better are we going to get ? It actually seems like we are the one getting the better end of the deal. If you factor in the defense he's arguably top 5 in a stacked SF position. For the people that worry about his durability here are some more stats for you. In 08-09 Wallace played in 71/82 games,in 09-10 Wallace played in 76/82, in 10-11 he played in 71/82, and last year 58/66. That doesn't seem like an injury prone guy to me. Actually he seems pretty durable especially with the way he plays.

Here is my last point with the guys saying that Wallace contract is too expensive. All of the SF ahead of Wallace last year make no less than 15 million. Wallace at the highest estimates will make 10. It doesn't seem like he's all that overpaid. We could do a lot worse than paying a top 5 SF 10 mil a year. Even if he starts to decline its not likely he will just drop off a cliff. His skills will deteriorate slowly still giving us double digit points and nice rebounding numbers. Wallace is a good pick up and is better than what everybody is giving him credit for. I just think everyone is overreacting on how bad Wallace contract will be and honestly I think getting him at 10 seems fair price and anything under is a bargain.

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