Retired Players I Loved To Watch #8 (remember when he used to frost his hair?)

Kendall Gill

In college, he played on those exciting Flyin' Illini teams. When he was first drafted, he played on those dope Zo / Grandmama / Muggsy Bogues teams. Then later on, he played on some awful New Jersey Nets teams and bounced around the league his last couple of seasons.

But by the time he retired, I still appreciate him for being one of the most versatile players in the league throughout the 90s. He could essentially play 3 different positions: he had the ball-handling skills and court vision to play point guard; he had the athleticism and scoring ability to play shooting guard; and he had the size and strength to hold his ground at small forward.

When he was a Hornet and Sonic (and early on in his stay with the Nets) he was so much to watch in the open court. He was like a blur on the fastbreak; he had great foot speed from endcourt to endcourt, and he had the lift to dunk on anybody. And what really set him apart was the fact that he was a two-way player -- he defended just as well as he scored. He could lock down on the opposing team's best perimeter player one-on-one, and he was an ace when it came to playing the passing lane and picking off passes. I watched him terrorize the Heat one afternoon with 11 steals in a single game.

But what really surprised me about him was how fast (and how severely) his jumpshot fell off towards the end of his career. By about 2000 or so, he couldn't shoot straight. It was like he completely forgot how. Everything was wrong -- his footwork, release, follow-through, aim. I don't know if it was a mental block or something, but when it was at its worst, Gill had one of the butt-ugliest jumpers in the league. It was flat and heavy, with no rotation at all. For someone who used to be a 20 PPG scorer, all of a sudden he couldn't throw the ball into the ocean. And it really effected his overall game, because defenders started sagging off him and cutting off all his driving lanes to the basket.

Oh, and of course, he appeared in that one episode of "My Brother and Me." haha



Kendall Gill's career statistics