$16m in Cap Space, are we gonna spend it?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Dunerdr

If Willie had shown any and I mean ANY improvement mentally over the last two seasons he would be here instead of Tranquil. But he's basically been the exact same player since midway through year two. He's physically really damn impressive and sometimes just has days where that's enough to take over a quarter or two but just lost other times.

I think Spags sometimes overvalues smarts over athleticism, though.

Easy for us to love him up now (as well we should) but this is still the guy who had Sorensen, Niemann and Hitchens out there because "they're steady...."

I think he sees the only way to mitigate risk as being a reliable decisionmaker. If a guy like Tranquill is where he's supposed to be, he'll keep a play from being TOO bad, even if he gets beat. Whereas if someone completely blows coverage, it's a big play waiting to happen.

There's some truth there, but I don't think it gives credit to how often someone like Gay could just use ungodly freak athleticism to make up for a mental mistake. And he did it OFTEN. Nor does it acknowledge that sometimes knowing where to be means precisely ****-all if you can't be there on time. And that happened with Hitchens and Sorensen OFTEN.

Given his druthers, he'll take smart and slower over dumb and faster every time. And I think that's a little dogmatic. I think it becomes something of a balancing act and I think Gay is a guy who's athleticism can paper over some of the mental mistakes and make some splash plays that most guys in this league just can't make.