Ike never scored in single figures from the moment he stepped foot on the floor at Arizona St. He was a double-double machine, but also a BMOC at a huge party school, and I think being in the league just wasn’t that fun for him. Call it Leinart-itis.

Surely not for basketball skill.

=p

Dude has talent, he just isn’t consistent to save his life. And he can’t hit a friggin wide open jumper to save his Rambo collectibles. Sure he can make the fadeaway-behind-the-backboard-over-the-defender-when-two-other-guys-are-wide-open-shot.

But who’s bitter?

Belinelli was never much more than a “meh” player. He had holes in his game that were always obvious. The love for him seemed as much a pychology experiment as anything else. Fans tend not to have the most honest, objective opinions of players on their team. Without reason to hate a player, they tend to overvalue even marginal players.

So many people whined when he was given away, as if he was a valuable commodity that clearly everyone should want. This despite the fact that he was an average efficiency scoring off guard who may have looked like he could pass, but just didn’t do it often enough, making calls that he’d be a point guard seem absurd. He was also someone who was an extreme liability on the boards. He was a reason shooter, but not a great one and provided very little beyond that. This was more or less what his Euro league numbers should have suggested. It was true his two years here and his play in Toronto did absolutely nothing to change that. His game changed when he left our GSW only in that he got to the line a bit more and passed a bit less more or less balancing his rather pedestrian productivity.

He never got consistent minutes because his play rarely warranted it. It’s possible that he’ll somehow become a very good player. He’s about to enter his prime years, so it’s possible he’ll make a jump and play better than his so far consistent “meh”. Safe money, based on what he’s done so far suggests that this is not the case.