via www.nba.com

If so, I'm glad he did.

Of course this is all ancient history now, but if he had gotten seriously hurt, the chances of a Bobcats repeat playoff appearance would have been virtually non-existent and any momentum from last season would have gone out of the door with his injury.

So the question is, Did Gerald understand his importance to the Bobcats and, possibly anticipating another grueling 3000+ minutes played this upcoming season, purposely take the night off during the team USA scrimmage that eventually got him cut from the final team?

It was one of those rare, nonchalant performances that we see from Wallace any time "the stakes" are low, with notable examples being last year's Dunk Contest and All-Star game.

It's almost impossible to imagine that a guy who plays as hard as Gerald does night in and night out can just flip the switch and become this indifferent player who just goes through the motions, but his mouth-guard seemed to hang a little looser than normal that night. He didn't attempt to play to his strengths at all. Not to mention his comments days before the match about how he couldn't control the international ball "for anything in the world" because it felt too "slippery" and "small". Was it all a front to cover for what he knew would be a sub-par performace? Does the feel of a basketball have any effect on your energy level? For the game he grabbed 0 rebounds, 0 steals, and rarely attacked the rim, instead opting to shoot shady 3-pointers (one of the most important shots in the international game) on which he went 0 of 4.

So what do you think? Did Gerald intentionally hold back and change his game in order to avoid making the team and stay healthy for the sake of the Bobcats? Or was it just an off night?

Mind you, this is all just speculation of a Bobcats basketball deprived mind, and isn't meant to be taken too seriously. Just something else to think about for a bit before the new season gets underway.