Gerald Wallace makes you wonder.

What makes him tick? Does his supply of non-stop energy ever run low? Why does he keep going full tilt, every game and every season, usually at great risk of bodily harm?

The NBA is liberally sprinkled with the super-charged and the super-talented. Yet few play the game quite the way Wallace does for the Bobcats, throwing his lean and oft-bruised body around the court like it’s always Game 7 of a playoff series.

“I just go out and play every night, play to win and play hard at it,” said Wallace, a 6-7, 220-pound forward who has spent most of his time in Charlotte playing out of position at power forward or center. “When I was young, the only way you had a chance to win was if you went out every night and played hard. So even if we lose, I want to know I’ve given it everything I have.”

That’s the “correct” answer, of course, one you might hear from a lot of players. But watch Wallace play over the long haul or listen to him talk and his response rings with sincerity.

That’s why as he nears the end of his third season in Charlotte and his sixth in the league, his game is taking flight.

His averages – 17.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists – tell only a small part of the story. More nights than not, his box-score line will be filled with versatility.

Take for example: In this week's two-game sweep of Washington, Wallace averaged 30.5 points, 13.0 rebounds, 4.00 steals and 1.00 block. In Friday’s win against Milwaukee he had 24 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, five steals and a blocked shot. Two nights earlier against Atlanta he scored 31 with 9 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and three assists.

In a recent 15-game span he averaged 21.5 points and was named NBA Eastern Conference player of the week last week.

Wallace’s game features quick hands, fleet feet and the ability to soar over bigger players. He was blessed with talent that took hold during his childhood years and was productive enough in high school to become a prep All-American and earn an athletic scholarship at the University of Alabama.

But questions about that all-out, all-the-time style concerned some when he reached the NBA. Sure, he can play. But can he stay healthy long enough to be reliable? Is he always going to wind up on the injured list?

Those were reportedly some of the things Sacramento wondered almost three years ago. With Wallace having spent three seasons playing behind veteran players on a Western Conference contending team, the Kings didn’t know the answers either.

They made Wallace available in the 2004 expansion draft and Charlotte snapped him up. The Bobcats liked his potential, but there was no consistent track record. And there were those nagging questions.

Today they have been answered. Wallace has been banged up. He has missed games due to injuries. But he’s never slowed down and now, with experience, his game is hitting a higher gear. He is playing with increasing confidence and a different level of peer respect for his game.

“Right now I feel like I belong,” Wallace said. “I feel like I can play here. I feel like I have the respect of the other guys in the NBA that, hey, this kid can play… I get it just from guys (on opposing teams) complimenting me after the games, telling me to keep playing hard and working hard…

“And I never thought I’d ever be double-teamed in the NBA. They run double teams on me when I catch the ball. They’re trying to front me to keep me from getting the ball. They don’t want the ball in my hands. So it’s just different ways teams are playing me now and that shows that not only do I have the respect of the players but of some of the coaches, too…

“Once you get that confidence and respect from other guys around the league, then the game is more relaxing to you,” he added. “It’s not a nervous thing. I mean, it’s nervous but not so much where you’re shaking and looking around (as a game begins). Sweat drops and it’s like a normal day. You just go out and play and have fun.”

Despite taking physical abuse from bigger players, Wallace was able to develop more of his game by spending time inside, filling in for injured teammates. He has worked hard off the court as well, trying to improve. He spent time last summer working on his medium-range jumper and his free throw shooting and has gotten better in both areas.

He plans to concentrate on both his ballhandling and shooting this summer, as well as anything else the coaches might suggest when he meets with them at season’s end.

Skeptics may say his improvement is no surprise since he’s in a contract year. Wallace said he lets his agent handle that part of the game and hints that his emergence may not have come at all were it not for that kamikaze style of play. And one of his teammates, veteran point guard Brevin Knight, agrees.

“If you just say, ‘Okay, it’s skill, next to the next person’s skill,’ they may be neck-and-neck,” Knight said. “But Gerald’s desire to be better than you is so much better than the next person’s.

“He just works harder than everybody on the court.”

Said Wallace: “My main thing is, I can’t shut it down,” he said. “I can’t take a night off. When I get out there to play, the will to win is what drives me. I don’t even think about business. It’s the only way I know how to play. I’ve been playing like this since I was in the rec league (in his hometown of Childersburg, Ala.).

“They wanted me to play rec league ball. My mom told them the only way I could play was if they put pads up behind the goal to keep me from running into the wall. I’ve been like this all my life so I don’t know how to change now.”

Leonard Laye covered the NBA, ABA and college basketball for more than three decades for the Charlotte Observer and the old Charlotte News until his retirement from writing sports fulltime. He will write a regular column throughout the season for BobcatsBasketball.com for his second straight year.