Gal Mekel

[wxkid23]

Sure he does need support but he needs to start playing smarter too. It's not just turnovers (only 1 last night) but shot selection too... the one at the top of the arc was horrible. Gal is what he is... and we'll have to live with him at PG the rest of the year if MB is out. Im afraid people just need to start realizing he was likely a bit overrated coming in and expectations need to be scaled back.

[ShockerFever]

I guess some have forgotten that Gal was on record pace for setting the NCAA record for most palming violations in a season. Thankfully, that has calmed since.

I guess some have forgotten the numerous times Gal has tried to fastbreak and take on 3 defenders, put up a crazy shot, and ultimately leads to a wasted possession. He has since relaxed and pulled back on this too which is good.

I guess some have forgotten the multiple times Gal has tried some fancy behind the back pass that had bad news written all over it. Even the simple passes that just aren't there and are so predictable that lead to opponent steals.

Again, I don't mean to just pull stuff all out on Gal. But what I've said is true. If you deny anything above, you're really full of it. I don't mean to constantly harp on the kid, because I know the pressure is there. But it's a fact that he's contributing to some bad on our team. I repeat some of this mostly because some of you for some reason think Gal has and can do no wrong..

[SpanglerFan316]

I'm still waiting for an answer to a question I raised earlier. Why do you dislike Gal?

I don't dislike Gal or any Shocker player.. at least not personally.

I don't think there is much point in conversing with you because I don't believe you are being honest. If SN had an "ignore" option, I would use it on you.

I would respect a fan who came here and posted "I don't like Gal because ..." and offered his/her reasons. I can think of some of these reasons.

1. Matt is very popular. Some posters said Gal would replace Matt as pg. The reasons for predicting this were either (a) Gal is better or (b) Matt plays in a manner which might cause him to get hurt. (Ding, ding, ding - Matt got hurt and Gal is the pg. I wish Matt was OK because he is our best pg, a steady shooter and the heart of the team. However, in ten years I don't want to see a slap-happy Matt walking around because he played for us when this was very dangerous to his health.) Matt's supporters may have decided to hate Gal in response to "criticism" of Matt. (Note: Do Gal and Matt dislike one another? Not that I have seen. Gal has assisted on some nice back door layups by Matt and they seem to work together very well.)

2. Gal came here with many props and NBA predictions. While this brought good PR to WSU, some fans might have felt that it slighted current Shocker players.

3. Some fans seem to dislike Gal's style of play. Phil has hands of butter (e.g. losing passes and rebounds because he can't hold onto the ball) but fans who dislike Gal blame him even when he makes a difficult but good pass which Phil can't hold onto. Gal dribbles between his legs or behind his back? OMG!! Let's send him to jail. I'm sure good players never do this!!! (Do you understand how petty these complaints are?)

4. Whatever I missed. ;-)

One thread here was titled "Screw all the Haters!!!" That's how I feel about those fans who dislike Gal. When Phil screws up, I might comment on this. (How many turnovers and bad passes did Phil make last night?) If Phil has a good game, I'll give him props. When Gal makes a dumb turnover (e.g. palming the ball), it drives me crazy. When Matt passes to a Drake player (twice), should we rip him here? If Gal had done this, would you criticize him on SN? What about Matt? If you would not treat them equally, then you need to explain why.

[Maggie]

Sure he does need support but he needs to start playing smarter too. It's not just turnovers (only 1 last night) but shot selection too... the one at the top of the arc was horrible. Gal is what he is... and we'll have to live with him at PG the rest of the year if MB is out. Im afraid people just need to start realizing he was likely a bit overrated coming in and expectations need to be scaled back.

I never said Mekel does not have things to work on but "freaking out" every time he touches the ball is not going to help matters.

Out of necessity, he is going to be asked lead the team as the PG and that is a lot more responsibility. Encourage him a little. In reality, he is all you have right now.

[ShockerFever]

I'm still waiting for an answer to a question I raised earlier. Why do you dislike Gal?

I don't dislike Gal or any Shocker player.. at least not personally.

I don't think there is much point in conversing with you because I don't believe you are being honest. If SN had an "ignore" option, I would use it on you.

Ok.. now I'm starting to get pissed. You don't know me. When I say it's nothing personal, I mean it. Why would I dislike him personally? Honestly? What do you think I personally don't like about him? What are you implying since you think you know everything inside my head?

I don't need you telling me things I'm not thinking.

Here's a simple thought. Since there's no ignore button, when you see my name appear, just skim right on past my post and don't read it. How's that for ya?

It's sad that you've lost so much credibility for yourself all because you think I have some 'personal issue' with Gal, because I haven't listed any basketball-related reasons on why I don't like some of the things he does... yaaa. okkk..

I suppose you're the kind of guy that has <3'ed Rick Conn and Patrice Scott and K.C. Hunt and Phil Mendelsen all because you're blind and they can do no wrong because they wear the yellow and black.

I honestly can say I've lost respect for you as a poster.

[boyshocker]

Wow, finally a topic with some fire to it. My two cents...
Gal is not a true point guard, he faced a true one last night and struggled at times. The ten second violation happened because he dribbled it off his foot and had to chase it.
He has kept his turnovers down but his poor shot selection at times, could be counted as a turnover.
Gal is a great passer in the open court, but I believe he misses chances to feed the ball into our big guys at times.

Does anyone else think his 3-pt shot form has changed in the last several games. Would love to see a tape from the first of the year to compare.

Can WP bring the ball down?

[t7017s]

I'm still waiting for an answer to a question I raised earlier. Why do you dislike Gal?

I don't dislike Gal or any Shocker player.. at least not personally.

I don't think there is much point in conversing with you because I don't believe you are being honest. If SN had an "ignore" option, I would use it on you.

Ok.. now I'm starting to get pissed. You don't know me. When I say it's nothing personal, I mean it. Why would I dislike him personally? Honestly? What do you think I personally don't like about him? What are you implying since you think you know everything inside my head?

I don't need you telling me things I'm not thinking.

Here's a simple thought. Since there's no ignore button, when you see my name appear, just skim right on past my post and don't read it. How's that for ya?

It's sad that you've lost so much credibility for yourself all because you think I have some 'personal issue' with Gal, because I haven't listed any basketball-related reasons on why I don't like some of the things he does... yaaa. okkk..

I suppose you're the kind of guy that has <3'ed Rick Conn and Patrice Scott and K.C. Hunt and Phil Mendelsen all because you're blind and they can do no wrong because they wear the yellow and black.

I honestly can say I've lost respect for you as a poster.

I dont think the issue is you having any sort of personal feelings about gal at all. But you did start this topic to essentially argue with anyone that wanted to argue about gal. That comes off as having a personal agenda which in turn can seem as if you do have something personal with gal. Now i dont know or care what your intent with this thread is I'm just pointing out how it comes off to me. I have no interest in argueing this subject or even talking about it with anyone on here because we all have our feelings and opinions and not one of us is going to change anothers feelings or opinions so... I guess id just share how it comes across to me and maybe others as well for the sake of everyone just calming down.

[newshock1234]

I'm still waiting for an answer to a question I raised earlier. Why do you dislike Gal?

I don't dislike Gal or any Shocker player.. at least not personally.

I don't think there is much point in conversing with you because I don't believe you are being honest. If SN had an "ignore" option, I would use it on you.

I would respect a fan who came here and posted "I don't like Gal because ..." and offered his/her reasons. I can think of some of these reasons.

1. Matt is very popular. Some posters said Gal would replace Matt as pg. The reasons for predicting this were either (a) Gal is better or (b) Matt plays in a manner which might cause him to get hurt. (Ding, ding, ding - Matt got hurt and Gal is the pg. I wish Matt was OK because he is our best pg, a steady shooter and the heart of the team. However, in ten years I don't want to see a slap-happy Matt walking around because he played for us when this was very dangerous to his health.) Matt's supporters may have decided to hate Gal in response to "criticism" of Matt. (Note: Do Gal and Matt dislike one another? Not that I have seen. Gal has assisted on some nice back door layups by Matt and they seem to work together very well.)

2. Gal came here with many props and NBA predictions. While this brought good PR to WSU, some fans might have felt that it slighted current Shocker players.

3. Some fans seem to dislike Gal's style of play. Phil has hands of butter (e.g. losing passes and rebounds because he can't hold onto the ball) but fans who dislike Gal blame him even when he makes a difficult but good pass which Phil can't hold onto. Gal dribbles between his legs or behind his back? OMG!! Let's send him to jail. I'm sure good players never do this!!! (Do you understand how petty these complaints are?)

4. Whatever I missed. ;-)

One thread here was titled "Screw all the Haters!!!" That's how I feel about those fans who dislike Gal. When Phil screws up, I might comment on this. (How many turnovers and bad passes did Phil make last night?) If Phil has a good game, I'll give him props. When Gal makes a dumb turnover (e.g. palming the ball), it drives me crazy. When Matt passes to a Drake player (twice), should we rip him here? If Gal had done this, would you criticize him on SN? What about Matt? If you would not treat them equally, then you need to explain why.

I agree 100 percent, the ignore button would surely be on Shockerfever even before Cold

[ShockerFever]

Wow, finally a topic with some fire to it. My two cents...
Gal is not a true point guard, he faced a true one last night and struggled at times. The ten second violation happened because he dribbled it off his foot and had to chase it.
He has kept his turnovers down but his poor shot selection at times, could be counted as a turnover.
Gal is a great passer in the open court, but I believe he misses chances to feed the ball into our big guys at times.

Does anyone else think his 3-pt shot form has changed in the last several games. Would love to see a tape from the first of the year to compare.

Can WP bring the ball down?

Very good points.

[ShockerFever]

I'm still waiting for an answer to a question I raised earlier. Why do you dislike Gal?

I don't dislike Gal or any Shocker player.. at least not personally.

I don't think there is much point in conversing with you because I don't believe you are being honest. If SN had an "ignore" option, I would use it on you.

Ok.. now I'm starting to get flucking pissed. You don't know me. When I say it's nothing personal, I mean it. Why would I dislike him personally? Honestly? What do you think I personally don't like about him? What are you implying since you think you know everything inside my head?

I don't need you telling me things I'm not thinking.

Here's a simple thought. Since there's no ignore button, when you see my name appear, just skim right on past my post and don't flucking read it. How's that for ya?

It's sad that you've lost so much credibility for yourself all because you think I have some 'personal issue' with Gal, because I haven't listed any basketball-related reasons on why I don't like some of the things he does... yaaa. okkk..

I suppose you're the kind of guy that has <3'ed Rick Conn and Patrice Scott and K.C. Hunt and Phil Mendelsen all because you're blind and they can do no wrong because they wear the yellow and black.

I honestly can say I've lost respect for you as a poster.

I dont think the issue is you having any sort of personal feelings about gal at all. But you did start this topic to essentially argue with anyone that wanted to argue about gal. That comes off as having a personal agenda which in turn can seem as if you do have something personal with gal. Now i dont know or care what your intent with this thread is I'm just pointing out how it comes off to me. I have no interest in argueing this subject or even talking about it with anyone on here because we all have our feelings and opinions and not one of us is going to change anothers feelings or opinions so... I guess id just share how it comes across to me and maybe others as well for the sake of everyone just calming down.

This thread's sole purpose was to inquire about the views of the fans who constantly defend Gal for everything he does wrong and who bashed me before last night's game because I pointed out how badly Gal has been struggling. Last night, proved some of my points to some extent. Gal did keep his TO's down, but as boyshocker mentioned, his bad shot selection at times cancels it out and is just like a TO.

People have thus been pissed because they're getting proved wrong and have no counter other than to call me out for things that are not true. That's satisfaction for them. I personally think they've lost some screws in the head.

[ShockerFever]

I agree 100 percent, the ignore button would surely be on Shockerfever even before Cold

Yay! I feel like my points are getting to people finally. They're making so much sense that people like you can only counter by ignoring them! Sweeeet!

You don't exactly have a stellar rep here too so the choice of you ignoring me doesn't hurt much.

[ShockerFever]

nm

[Snapshot9]

LOL .... I like Cold. His brand of real sarcasm is refreshing at times, especially when some posters won't take off the rose colored glasses.

I like Gal, but I expected him to be just a little more solid at this point, and like I said we need his shooting, and I think he fills that role better as a shooting guard rather than a point guard. I think he 'fools around' too much in bringing the ball over the line, and really think Preadom would be better at that, but to have Gal there to pass to. Gal, simply, seems better to be a go to man, than the one bringing the ball up all the time, gives him time to think of what to do when he does get the ball, and to create something once he does get the ball. His free throw shooting is excellent, 96.3% so far, no one has mentioned that on here before. Phil is at 75%, for comparisons sake.

Of course, PJ would have to be a 3rd guard, or the 3 spot, which I think complements his skills better anyway.

Some guys can wear many hats, others are born to just one hat.

[RoyalShock]

Does anyone else think his 3-pt shot form has changed in the last several games. Would love to see a tape from the first of the year to compare.

It has looked to me like he is elevating a little more or has quickened his release (or both). Last year that was a problem and perhaps he is working to correct it. If so, that could explain his cold shooting.

Last night I only recall one shot I would classify as being poor - the one where he was the only one to touch the ball that posession.

Gal looks to me like a kid that really wants to be helping his team either by scoring or assisting, the latter of which I think may be the reason he dribbles so much. He's looking to make that assist instead of moving the ball and letting the motion work.

My biggest concern with Gal is his coachability. Some of his recent comments like "that's just how I play" (paraphrased) give me pause.

[shox7]

Royal, I was at a meeting prior to the LSU game where CGM was the guest speaker for about 100 people. He talked at length about Gal. To quote him he said Gal is not a point guard. He said Gal is not a 2 guard. He said Gal was a "fullback" in basketball shorts. He said currently he is our best backup to Matt. He said repeatedly that he is on Gal very hard about his poor decison making, shot selection and overall lack of playing in the system. He urged everyone to "to be patient" and that we will have very good group of guards come in next year.

He spoke in glowing terms about Matt! His comments about Gal were more about his frustration with Gal not following his coaching direction.