Alonzo Gee to be Signed by Washington Wizards for the Rest of the Season

Since we last checked in with Alonzo Gee (well, not last checked, but the time before that), a lot has happened to the Washington Wizards.  The team still hasn't won a game in March, the team signed point guard Shaun Livingston for the rest of the season, Andray Blatche and Flip Saunders got into a...let's call it a disagreement, then made up somehow, Ted Leonsis agreed on a price to purchase the team from the estate of the late Abe Pollin, Gilbert Arenas got sentenced for the Finga Gunz incident.  Whew.

Oh, and Alonzo Gee made his first NBA start last night.  Gee played a little under 33 minutes (starting in place of the injured Al Thornton) and led the Wizards with a career-high 19 points on nine shots (he was 7-10 from the free-throw line) along with two assists, two steals and only one turnover.  He finished as a -9 for the game, but that was the best mark among Washington starters.  I didn't see the game so I don't know how his defense looked, but he was likely covering Gerald Wallace or Stephen Jackson or both, tough covers for anyone.

After the game, Washington Post reporter Michael Lee tweeted this:

Flip Saunders said after the game that Wiz will sign Alonzo Gee for the rest of the season. Gee had career-high 19 pts in 1st career start

I knew Gee had been playing fairly well, but just how well is fairly well?  (The answer: fairly.  I know, I'm helpful.)  Looking at Knickerblogger's 2010 stat page to get more specific, Gee has an effective field goal percentage of 54.7, third on the current roster behind Mike Miller (no surprise there) and Fabricio Oberto (who rarely plays, so there might be some sample size issues with him).  Gee's 55.5 True Shooting percentage also is third, behind the same two players.  Gee is shooting an astronomical 83.3 percent on three-pointers, which is bound to come down, but it's nice to see him providing an outside threat for the team.  His PER of 16.8 is second among guys on the active roster behind Andray Blatche.  He has a higher rebound rate than both Blatche and JaVale McGee.  So basically he's, you know, good.

Flip Saunders's offense uses a lot of screens to free the shooting guard, and while Gee played small forward tonight, that kind of offense suits his game perfectly.  As I noted several months ago after watching Gee play against Tulsa, "I've implied before that Gee isn't a good shooter, and that's not entirely the case; he has a very nice shot when he spots up or when coming off of screens."  According to 82games.com, 63 percent of his jump shots for the Wizards have been assisted, which would imply a lot of screens and spot-ups, and his eFG on those shots is 61.8 percent.

During the game, Lee also tweeted this:

Wiz need to go ahead & lock up Alonzo Gee for the rest of the season. Gee has been making this crowd go "Ooh" often. He belongs in the NBA

We here at Ridiculous Upside agree, and so too, apparently, do the Washington Wizards.