I was never the leader of the Joe Girard fan club. But he made himself a good P5 basketball player, and I agree with the consensus that he was ill-served by team that was constructed around him. I wish for him that he had been able to play in a better situation.
He reminds me in that way of another upstate kid - Paul Harris. Harris, like Girard, was immensely frustrating, capable at times of incredible basketball feats, and just incredibly miscast as a late-Boeheim Orangeman. For both of them, I think the pressure and at times disappointment was greater because they were local(ish). But I have some great Paul Harris memories and will remember him fondly and the same is true of JG3. I'll root for him.