Washington Wizards: Gilbert Arenas Scoring Marred By Inconsistency

Gilbert Arenas has made the most of his new role with the Wizards by putting on some great performances this season. With each night, his numbers reflect a return to the old Arenas who used to put up 25-30 every night like it was nothing. But one troubling statistic has kept him from making the right kind of impact on this young Wizards team: he is shooting just 39.1-percent from the field.

To be fair, Arenas has not played shooting guard since his first years in the NBA, but his career field goal percentage is well over 40-percent. He is getting plenty of open looks, as well as drives to the basket, but he is not hitting the shots he used to make routinely.

Even in his new role, he hasn't had the highlight reel shots that had defined his game before. Clearly, it is because he is missing a lot of shots.

On the season, he has two games where he has made just one shot. He compensated for his poor shooting from the field by cashing in at the free throw line, but it doesn't excuse his inefficient shooting otherwise.

The issue is that Arenas has always been a volume shooter who can switch it up to a dribble-drive game. From the shooting guard position, however, that isn't possible.

Arenas has had to pick his shots more than ever before with Wall running the show. His early season moping appears to be over, but his play has become frustratingly erratic now. Against the Lakers, he was 8-for-17 from the field. In the five games prior, he was 37-percent from the field.

It wouldn't matter if the Wizards were winning with any regularity, but his erratic play is reflected in the team's inability to win.

The Wizards are 6-14, with all six wins coming at home. Arenas is averaging 16.1 points per game at home and 18.2 points per game on the road. What does it say that Washington is 0-11 on the road, even though Arenas has fared better away from the Verizon Center?

It simply proves that he is still getting shaking off the rust and hasn't quite figured out how to get his without taking away from the rest of the team.

If anything, Arenas is digging a hole for himself with Nick Young playing exceptionally well off the bench. Young has scored in double figures in 10 of the Wizards last 12 games with six games by scoring 20 points or more. Against the Lakers, Young put in a career-high 30 points off the bench.

Perhaps Arenas isn't cut out to be anything but to top dog, and his fall from grace has forced him to play the type of game from which he can't excel.

The Wizards aren't going to win many games regardless of what Arenas does, but when the tenured veteran on the squad can't play with any consistency, how are the young guys supposed to? Washington has shown flashes of their future promise both with and without Arenas. It comes down to Arenas being the example for the team to follow until John Wall can assume a leadership role.

Until then, Arenas is going to have to step up his game and hope that he finds his stroke again. Without it, he may find himself seeing more bench duty than he has already.