A blog and community website for the Washington Wizards and their fans.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Gilbert Arenas says...
Gilbert Arenas' blog is definetly one of my favorite reads, but I don't get a chance to check it out all the time because it doesn't have an RSS feed. But, in spirit of his 45 point game and Hype's hillareous post, let's take a look at the best from his latest entry.
On his Halo team:
My Halo team, the Halo team I sponsor, “Final Boss,” they play in Las Vegas on the 17th for the championship round. And they have their own television show on, what is it? USA Network, I think. I don’t even have my own TV show! But I’m on their show Dec. 9.
It’s just amazing. I’m just trying to get my hands into different things that people are interested in. You know, see how we can get the young video game minds into basketball courts and vice versa.
Of course, what invariably ends up happening is that it's a one-way street with Gilbert simply playing Halo with them. I'd love to see these Halo players come to Verizon Center and maybe shoot some shots at halftime. Maybe the crowd can watch the guys play Halo against each other on the big screen. The possibilities are endless.
On the stigma that he's a ball-hog.
To me, I don’t even pay attention to that anymore. Because, if I was a two, a 2-guard, you know, I’d just be a great scorer. But, since I’m playing the point position, you know, I’m a guy who shoots a lot. It’s easy to pick on me for some reason, but, every team I’ve played with I might average 29-28, but I’ll also have two players that average 20 and 20. So, for some guy who is jacking it up, how come I’m always with two other players that score that much? I’ve never seen anybody else in this league that have two players on their team that are scorers like mine.
Very true. I'm not sure where this comes from, honestly. How many people think Arenas is a ball hog? Raise your hand if you do.
On the Knicks.
If they decide to play basketball, they’ll be a dangerous team.
I guess Arenas should inform Isaiah Thomas that Stephon Marbury throws a wicked gyroball.
Finally, on the all-star ballot.
I know ballots are out. I know Puffy had the Vote or Die, you know, with them shirts. You know, I want to have, “If no one votes for me, I’m not going to do anymore blogs.”
I'm just going to refer you over to Hype's post for more on this. It's pure comedic gold.
It's true that Jermaine O'Neal was out of the lineup, but the Wizards win last night was still very impressive on all fronts. I didn't really expect Indiana to keep up with the Wizards' guards, but there were a number of other things the Wizards did well that I didn't expect at all.
For one, this was probably the Wizards' best defensive game that I can remember. Understandably, O'Neal was out, but the Wizards still held Indiana to 38 percent shooting and 4 for 19 from three-point range. Considering how poorly the Wizards usually defend the perimeter, this is an extremely encouraging sign. DeShawn Stevenson finally showed why the Wizards got him in the offseason, as he completely took Stephen Jackson out of the game. Granted, this is Stephen Jackson we're talking about, but Jackson's 5 point, 2 for 9 performance is still way below even his standards. The Pacers simply never got it going on the perimeter, and Stevenson deserves a lot of credit for that.
The other surprising development was the play of Brendan Haywood. Only two days after fighting with Etan Thomas and prompting this blogger to ask his readers for trade proposals, Haywood had easily his best game of the season with 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 24 minutes. Apparently, at least for the short term, Haywood has used that fight to motivate him to play better. As a 7 footer off the bench ,this is exactly the type of role Haywood can play when he's playing well. In past years, it felt like the team was hoping for Haywood to develop into a double-figure scorer in the post, but now that Thomas has beat him out, the focus has shifted for him. Hopefully, the adjustment will get Haywood to continue to play well.
With home games coming up against Milwaukee and New Jersey and a road game against the Knicks, the Wizards have a great chance to go into Detroit on a 4 game winning streak. At some point, you have to wonder why the Wizards play so much better at home than on the road, but it's still early and the Wizards are only a few points away from being undefeated.
I was planning on doing it last year, but I just thought the way this year was going, it’s just The Takeover. I’m trying be mentioned. If I came out in that robe and had a bad game, they was gonna make fun of me. That’s how I was getting pumped for the game. I want all of this to come back on me. A lady made it for me for my birthday two years ago. I used to use it when I used to beat Chucky Atkins in dominoes. I used to come out to the gym after I’d beat him and I’d say, “I’m the king!” and I’d hold the belt. And Chucky used to die laughing from it.
Again, Arenas is at the point where he can do whatever he wants as long as it works. There's nothing he could do that would surprise me at this point.
Finally, as a final reminder, keep sending in possible Brendan Haywood trades. So far, I've gotten a lot of interesting ideas, but keep thinking for the next week and I'll decide which one I like best.
Postgame thoughts? What are your impressions from yesterday's win?
I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here, but I wouldn't be a good Wizards blogger if I didn't mention this blog post by Michael Lee on Wizards Insider. Apparently, Gilbert Arenas does not like being called "quirky" and thinks his actions are normal.
"What is quirky?" Arenas asked me, seeking a definition. "Why do people always call me quirky?"
I told Gilbert that "quirky" is a nice way of saying he's special; that people call him quirky because, well, "you're a little different."
"What are you talking about?" Arenas said. "I'm not different!"
Brendan Haywood, sitting about 10 feet away, quickly lifted his head and said, "You are different, Gilbert."
"No I'm not. What makes me different?" he asked.
I tried to come up with all the reasons that I have labeled him quirky and eccentric in my time covering him. Arenas is often painted as a bit of a goofball by those of us in media. I know that I've helped contribute to the quirky label - but so has he. C'mon, Sports Illustrated dubbed him the 'Wizard of Odd' with good reason. I'm embarassed to admit that I never thought that I'd need to prepare myself to have a discussion with Arenas about what makes him weird. I figured some things are universally understood. Sky is to blue as Gilbert Arenas is to quirky.
I kind of covered my take in the comments section of Lee's blog entry, but I think Gilbert really doesn't feel the need to fall under any sort of classification. He's not concerned with his image like so many athletes are, but I also think that he legitimately does get tired of being labeled "quirky." In a perfect world, I think Gilbert Arenas just wants to be classified as "Gilbert Arenas." With that being said, I think that Arenas is a media members' dream, and that he, on some level, understands that.
Most of the complaints are mere frustration, but Arenas makes some interesting points at the end.
I told him that most competitiors don't break stuff in the locker room. Arenas then got defensive about how players get certain reputations in the league. He takes exception the labels that players around the league receive. He asked how certain players are called hotheads for being emotional when they lose, but others are called passionate and fiery - for doing the same things - if they win. I told him that winning is air freshener for you flaws in this league.
"That's not right," Arenas said. "My first few years in the league, I was called a 'hothead.' Now that I'm winning, I'm 'quirky.' I don't get it."
This complaint is definetly valid, but it's the type of thing that is never going to go away. As Lee says, in the eyes of the sports media world, winning cures all. I can understand Arenas' frustration, however. How would you like going from a "hothead" to being "quirky" or "wierd." It's definetly an odd jump to make.
Overall, I think we need to remember just how young Arenas is. He's going to have some instances where his immaturity shines through. This seems to be one of those instances. Deep down, I think Arenas is a little more insecure than most, considering that he's been doubted at every level of his basketball career. This just seems like another step in his maturity. I think we'll see a return of charismatic, unique Gilbert Arenas very soon.
How exactly would you characterize Gilbert Arenas? If "quirky" isn't the best word, what is?
Another day, another meaningless preseason loss for the Wizards, as they fell to the Chicago Bulls 87-86 on Tuesday. The Wiz were leading 86-81 with a minute and a half left until the Bulls put the clamps down defensively and eventually took the lead on an Andre Barrett jumper with 17 seconds left. Roger Mason missed the chance to give the Wizards the win, and the team dropped to 0-2 on the season.
This game was much less interesting and important for the Wizards, as they rested Caron Butler and played Gilbert Arenas and Antwan Jamison 14 and 15 minutes respectively. The Wizards team that was on the floor for the late-game collapse was mostly composed of deep reserves and guys that may not even make the team.
So what can we learn from this game?
-Jarvis Hayes continued his strong preseason with a solid 11 points in only 18 mintes. Ivan Carter obviously believes this is a big story, as he devoted much of his beat article today to Hayes.
-The story essentially was the same for the Bulls game as it was for the Raptors. When the first unit was in the game, the Wizards were a much better team. Once it got down to the reserves, it was a bit of a different story.
Donnell Taylor played a lot of minutes and scored 12 points, but Eddie Jordan was not too happy with his decision-making. This may become a slight problem, because I think Jordan was expecting Taylor to step in and be able to log some minutes this year as Arenas' backup. The Wizards kind of lack that pure point guard, and while Arenas, Antonio Daniels, and Taylor all have point-guard ability, none of them really are distributors. This makes you wonder whether taking Marcus Williams over Oleksey Pecherov may have been the right decision.
Andray Blatche showed more flashes of ability, but still was extremely inconsistent. He grabbed 5 rebounds on the defensive end, but shot only 2 for 9 from the field and somehow found a way to foul out. This isn't summer league, Andray. You don't get unlimited fouls. Ultimately, Blatche probably will take a while to become a real contributor this season. The Wizards should continue to bring him along slowly and hope he can make some noise late in the season.
The reserves as a whole shot 34 percent from the field against Chicago, which is not such a great sign. Mike Hall and Roger Mason struggled all game, shooting a combined 3 for 14. This is not a major concern, but one of the two will likely make the team, making their performances slightly troubling.
-Antonio Daniels hurt his ankle in practice and is listed as day-to-day. This doesn't sound too serious, but then again, Darius Songalia was also day-to-day early in camp and he's still out with the back injury. Daniels seemed to be playing really well in training camp this year, so let's hope this doesn't set him back anymore.
-The Washington Times is reporting that Peter John Ramos is "not in our plans," according to Ernie Grunfeld. This is pretty sad, actually, because PJM was the brunt of a lot of blogosphere jokes. As far as his playing ability, I trust Ernie Grunfeld, but how in the world can a 7 foot 3 guy on a team starving for physical play not make it? I guess Ramos has absolutely no basketball ability. The article also reports that James Lang is getting a real look for the third center's job, and judging from his playing time yesterday, that makes plenty of sense. Lang is smaller than Ramos, standing only 6'10,'' but he fits in better with the Wizards' scheme.
-Dan Steinberg has even more Gilbert Arenas stuff up today, with a post featuring 10 of the funniest Gilbert Arenas moments of all time. More stuff can be found at this article he linked in the entry. While I think we may be hyping up Arenas' quirkiness a little too early in the season, I loved hearing most of these stories. However, this is by far the best line.
I'm now willing to argue that our humble little market has either the best, most famous or weirdest young star in virtually every pro team sport: from Ovie (best) to Adu (most famous) to Gil and Portis (weirdest). Bloggers go to sleep happy at night with a foursome like that. Thanks, Stealth. Seriously, thanks. And thanks, Esquire.
Truer words have never been spoken. Thank you Dan for putting all our thoughts into words.
-In case you haven't noticed already, Dan and I were both linked on Deadspin today in this post.
-YaySports' Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Blog Preview is up now. Go over to see the Cavaliers fan drink the Queen James coolaid. I like Cleveland this year, but 58 wins? That's pretty bold, if you ask me. Still, I agree that Cleveland could easily be the best team in the league...until they get the Wiz in Round 2 and fall for real this time.
-While the Wizards-Bulls tilt last night may have been a close game, it was not nearly as competitive and nasty as this old clip from a couple years ago. Enjoy this brawl from the 2005 preseason.
What are your thoughts on the Bulls preseason result? By the way, in case you were wondering, the guy in the picture up at the top is not me.
It was media day today for the Washington Wizards, and if you know the Wizards well, you knew that Gilbert Arenas was going to find a way to amuse and entertain. Sure enough, according to this ESPN.com article, Gilbert surprised us all once again, announcing that he is planning on hiring a company to install a tent that will simulate a high-altitude setting.
You heard that right. Instead of going to train in high altitude, Gilbert has decided to bring the high altitude to his own home. Not only that, but he's also having the company install a portable high-altitude tent for him to bring on the road.
WASHINGTON -- Take a deep breath, and get ready for the latest in Gilbertology: Washington Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas is thinning the air in his house.
"I had my house converted to the Colorado altitude, so I am always above sea level," Arenas said Monday at the Wizards annual pre-training camp media day.
Say what? He's going to live at high altitude in the nation's capital?
"You know, that's kind of weird," Arenas said.
He'll get plenty of nods with that statement, but, yep, he's really doing it. Instead of going to the mountains to train -- as some endurance athletes do -- Arenas has hired a company to simulate those conditions in a home environment.
"I had to put a tent in one room, and then they are going to come during training camp and fix the whole house," Arenas said. "Then I have a portable tent I'm taking on the road."
Arenas hopes the living arrangement will give him more energy in the fourth quarter of NBA games, when everyone else is getting tired from breathing the same old heavy air.
"How I start the game is how I finish the game," he said.
Gilbert also took the time on media day to apologize for his Team USA rant earlier in the summer.
Shortly afterward, Arenas vented his frustration, telling The Washington Post that he was going to exact revenge on Team USA assistant coaches Nate McMillan and Mike D'Antoni by scoring 100 points each on their respective teams, Portland and Phoenix.
On Monday, Arenas apologized -- not a bad idea if he wants to make the Olympic team in two years.
"I said some things, and I vented out against Phoenix and Portland, but those teams actually had nothing to do with anything," Arenas said. "That was wrong of me. I really want to say sorry for it and I want to say sorry to Mike D'Antoni. That was the immature Gilbert two months ago. I'm growing as a person, and I'm ready to be a leader for the Washington Wizards."
Even so, Arenas said the snub means he will be more motivated this year.
"There always someone out there who keeps me going," he said, "and I like it."
I wouldn't read too much into the apology. It seems that Gilbert still has his head focused and I wouldn't be shocked to see him actually score 50 against Portand or Phoenix, considering that both teams aren't exactly defensive juggernauts.
Most of the time, strange actions like these can be a bit of a distraction to the team. The difference, however, between a Gilbert Arenas and a Terrell Owens or Keyshawn Johnson is that Gilbert always reminds us that he's not bigger than the team. In some way, Gilbert brings some attention to the team itself or the importance of him becoming a true leader. Today, it was his apology, which ended with the comment that he is becoming a better person and is ready to be a true leader for this Wizards team.
I think it's safe to say that no athlete is as simultaneously amusing and serious in sports than Gilbert Arenas. He's able to joke around and be completely ridiculous, but he is able to also take his job very seriously. Anyone who criticizes Arenas as being a distraction and a jerk are completely short-sighted. Until we see Arenas engage in behavior detrimental to the Wizards, he has the right to say and do whatever he wants, whether it be installing high altitude in his house, switch his jersey at will, or play online poker at halftime.
What other star athletes historically have been as goofy as Gilbert Arenas? Do you think the act is getting old, or can we simply allow Gilbert to be Gilbert?
I've been a Bullets/Wizards fan for practically my entire life. This site is not affiliated with the Washington Wizards in any way, it's simply a community outlet for me to share commentary on basketball's coolest team.
Gilbert Arenas' blog is definetly one of my favorite reads, but I don't get a chance to check it out all the time because it doesn't have an RSS feed. But, in spirit of his 45 point game and Hype's hillareous post, let's take a look at the best from his latest entry.
