I'm witholding judgement on how much Wallace is playing until the trade deadline. If the goal is to rebuild his value a bit and ship him out, then I think it's a pretty wise move. I think whether he's playing fairly well or not, he's clearly not going to last if he continues on this pace, and we're not a good enough team otherwise that we should pass up the savings and a potentially younger and more useful asset if we can get those things. And if we can't, at some point they need to ease up the throttle on him and Smith or they're gonna fall apart and we'll be in a free fall. If they're simply playing the dude 40mpg and aren't going to make a real effort to move him, that'll be counterproductive in the end. Another question I've got: Skiles wasn't regularly putting Wallace on the bench in the 4th last year. I know we were down more this year, but it seemed like a pretty big about face from how he was used last year.
"To get in the playoff race" is the best answer to the first question. "He's a $60M man, he should play" is a better answer, IMO. He's also the only bull to get all-star votes, and rightly so. Similarly, the better answer to the 2nd question is "Because he made it into Skiles' doghouse" but that wasn't an option. So Gabriel it is. If I were the coach, he'd be playing until he dropped, each game. If he begged for a night off, I'd play him 36 instead of 40 minutes that night. If you're behind by a bunch, getting stops is important, or you just trade baskets and never catch up.
I don't know the GM's mindset, but if I were the Bulls I would showcase him and try to trade him for the first deal that gives me capspace and a crappy center with some potential.
You only have to say it once. I think Gabriel is coming with his trumpet of righteousness to set you straight
