If you step back and look at how this team has performed since the start of the season there are have been games or stretches of games where they looked like a much deeper team than they did last season. We saw 9-10 players contribute and begin to discover their roles. This gives them the ability to wear teams down over the course of the game. Certainly the addition of Akok, Bouknight, and Gaffney have made a difference in terms of depth. We have also seen Whaley play at times as good or better than he ever has. Seeing Carlton get 8-10 rebounds or more and also score in the paint was also a great improvement, but what happened to that? In my opinion, Vital and Gilbert have not really improved which points to a core issue which is floor leadership, which I don't think is there as it should be. Polley's strength is obviously in his three-point shooting but he has also shown he can be a solid defender. As a whole we have seen this team defend well, better than last year, but these last couple of games they've gotten away from that. Their defense is not creating turnovers which result in points. The thing is the they seem to have the pieces to at the very least be competitive but they need to put them together and develop a WINNING mindset, which they are lacking at the present time.
