Gilbert Arenas: Why Washington Wizards Will Ship Him After Latest Quote
Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas has managed to make himself the center of a firestorm once again. This time, he revealed after the Wizards' Tuesday preseason game that he faked a knee injury to get third-year player Nick Young more playing time.
Arenas has been in hot water for some time now in Washington, and this latest revelation does little to help cool it off.
In fact, Arenas' stunt could wind up being the straw that breaks the camel's back. Here are 10 reasons why Agent Zero just bought himself a one-way ticket out of our nation's capital.
10. He Can't Have It Both Ways
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Gilbert Arenas is trying to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to be a professional, but he also wants to be Agent Zero, the goofy, charismatic character that helped Arenas gain fame. Tuesday's antics, while nobly intentioned, indicate that Arenas still wants to be Agent Zero.
But what he fails to realize is that he cannot have both. Arenas cannot be Agent Zero sometimes, and be serious Gilbert other times.
The fact that he's trying to be both increases the likelihood that the Wizards are going to deal their superstar before the season is over.
9. Nothing's Changed
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While I don't think Arenas' latest incident is necessarily all that harmful, what it does show us is that the Wizards' star hasn't changed. He's still as juvenile as ever. While it's fun and harmless sometimes, it can be dangerous at others (like last season).
While Arenas has been saying all the right things during the preseason, his actions show us that he really hasn't grown up all that much.
8. The Fans
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Regardless of his standing in the rest of the country, Arenas has been a fan favorite in Washington D.C. for years now. Through thick and thin, Agent Zero's jerseys have sold well in the nation's capital.
Now? The fans, who paid hard earned cash to see Arenas play on Tuesday, got to see Nick Young instead. Don't think they're pleased by this at all. Fans are fickle, and the fact that Arenas faked an injury in a home preseason game means that he clearly doesn't care about them. Why should they care about him?
When Agent Zero loses the fanbase, it's time to move on.
7. Management Looks Bad
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Arenas is a star, whether you think he deserves to be or not. The Wizards brass have been using him to help drum up ticket sales for a long time, as people come to watch him play.
Now? Suddenly, management has egg on their face, after Arenas decided he was going to fake an injury to give a no-name playing time. How do you think they feel about that?
If he was trying to get traded, this is a great way to do it.
6. Deshawn Stevenson and Javaris Crittenton
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Stevenson and Crittenton are the other two knuckleheads who both got shipped out of D.C. last season.
Crittenton was the other player involved in Arenas' gun play incident, while Stevenson got into a war of words with LeBron James. Both of those guys are gone now.
The message was loud and clear "Keep your nose clean, or else."
While Arenas was well-intentioned, he still fired a shot at the rule with his antics. Expect him to pay a price for it this time.
5. Arenas' Percieved Attitude
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I'm not saying Gilbert Arenas has a bad attitude. But after this incident, it looks an awful lot like the guard was trying to get out of having to play a preseason game.
That's the kind of stuff we expect from that big baby Vince Carter, not Arenas. But suddenly, Gilbert's name is mentioned in the same breath as Carter's. Perhaps, the next time Gilbert goes down, questions will arise whether he was faking it.
Once you plant a seed like that in someone's head, the only way to come close to getting it out is to switch teams, much like Carter has done.
4. Flip Saunders
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Arenas' antics don't just make management look bad, but they also make head coach Flip Saunders look bad. Why?
By not just going to Saunders and saying that he wanted Young to start, Arenas faked an injury. That implies that the coach doesn't listen to his players, unless it's about an injury.
If Saunders winds up on the chopping block in Washington this year, expect that to come up. Saunders knows this, and probably isn't too happy with Gilbert right now.
And when management and the coach are mad at you, you might as well punch your ticket out of town.
3. He Faked an Injury
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So Arenas faked an injury. Big deal, right? Wrong!
By pretending to be hurt, Arenas has set a dangerous precedent for the young players on the team. If they don't feel like playing tonight, suddenly their ankle hurts, or their wrist is sore.
The only way to keep the precedent from being set is to ship Arenas out of D.C, and show the youngsters that there's a price for faking being hurt.
2. He's Really Not That Good
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Gilbert Arenas is not the kind of player many people think he is. He's an awful defender (we called a guy on our intramural basketball team Gilbert because he didn't play any defense), and is a shoot first point guard, which make's it tough to run an offense because all they want to do is shoot.
But Arenas isn't all that good of a shooter, either. He's a 42 percent shooter for his career, a 35 percent three-point shooter, and he hasn't hit his average in any of the last four seasons. He's constantly injured, and has a 5-to-3 career assists-to-turnovers ratio, which is awful for a point guard. He is lacking for a shooting guard, too.
In short, he's not the player he once was, and the Wizards would be better off with him gone.
1. He Can Be Replaced
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By letting Young start on Tuesday, Arenas showed the Wizards that they don't need him anymore. Young is a better shooter, and turns the ball over less than Arenas does.
And forget about playing the point in D.C, with John Wall in town. In other words, Washington no longer has any need to keep Gilbert Arenas. When you combine everything, it becomes painfully clear that perhaps Arenas' days in Washington are even more numbered than we previously thought.
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