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More Thoughts on Julian Wright

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Published: February 17, 2010

As Niall noted below, yesterday Julian Wright vented some of the frustration he must have been feeling all season via Twitter.

He then, unsurprisingly, spent the next 9 hours or so defending the series of tweets as various followers jumped on him.  He ended with this statement:

Ok, I apologize for venting and making anybody uncomfortable. I just worked hard these past two summers so that’s what I’ll do this summer!

The thing is . . . he’s right.  Julian’s primary talents are his rebounding, on the ball defense, and ability to finish (not handle) in transition.  For a brief time this season, when he was able to play with fast-break focused teammates like Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton, and Songaila he looked very good.   That second unit was something I looked forward to every game.

Unfortunately, with all the injuries and roster turnover, he’s once again stuck on a  unit with no one to handle the ball and no fleet-footed wingman to fill the opposite lane on the fast break.   That leaves him trapped in half-court offense, where he is forced to rely on his shaky handle, jumper and baseline cuts that are easily prevented by an alert defender.  Square peg.  Round hole.

So yes, he’d probably look better playing on another team, and its probably time for the Hornets to give him that chance.  Fast paced outfits like Golden State, Minnesota or Sacramento come to mind as teams that may be interested in his skill set. 

It saddens me, though.  What happened to that happy-go-lucky and confident rookie?  The one we affectionately referred to as “Giraffe Calf” and wondered at his clumsy yet effective defense.  The one that could actually knock down threes if his feet were set. (really!  Where did this skill go?)  Is this one more thing we can put on the growing pile of “Byron Scott was even Worse than we Thought” evidence?

What do you think?  Is it time for Julian to move on?

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