Arenas’ games with the media are a bit annoying. He’s partially silencing himself because he just wants to concentrate on basketball after being injured for so long. Perfectly reasonable. The other part seems like an attempt to be ‘cute’ since he feels he’s been tragically wronged by the media in the past. Uh, not so reasonable.
I’m not saying Arenas isn’t somewhat justified in being miffed toward previous coverage of him. But at the same time, his own words caused much of the strife. It’s not like Arenas was constantly misquoted or taken out of context with malicious intent. He was able to speak directly to fans via ‘Agent Zero: The Blog File’, which was how people became so attracted to his sincerity in the first place. Without blogging, he’s probably just another Ben Gordon.
I guess Gil just feels misunderstood. But the problem is that he doesn’t understand how he could contribute to the cause of him being misunderstood. If that makes any sense. Perhaps his ghost-writer/blogger should have used more emoticons and ‘LOLs’ so that we would ‘get it’.
A scene from glorious Grand Rapids, MI - {flickr/OZinOH}
Listening to basketball on the radio is hard … damn hard. Hard like drinking warm milk and eating boiled eggs in the hot July sun while getting bit by mosquitoes and suffering from a tequila and red wine hangover.
Ok, well maybe it’s not that bad. Wizards radio guys Glenn Consor and Dave Johnson do a helluva job keeping team faithful updated with developments.
Still, when I hear Consor officially declaring Gilbert Arenas to be “back”, indicating that he hasn’t felt this way about the guard’s preseason cameo appearances up until now, I feel pretty deprived from not being able to see the moving pictures.
But the Wizards’ second unit held on late to win 101-98, and Arenas scored 24 points in just under 28 minutes (along with 5 assists to 6 turnovers). This team is getting their ‘LA Looks’ on and starting to gel. And hey, looks like they figured out a way to play some okay defense without Brendan Haywood (Fab Oberto led the Wiz with a plus-13).
Even though we’re in a state of “this damn economy”, we can rest comfortably that there’s always an NBA player willing to implement his own mini-stimulus package to consumerism … such as Gilbert Arenas and his need to purchase a refrigerator and microwave for one day. And this took place in Michigan, which has recently fallen on hard times … so more kudos to Gil.
How do we know about all this? Why, the Twitter account of one @bigdaddywookieaka JaVale McGee.
{via @bigdaddywookie}
Now, some were calling it ‘rookie hazing’ … but JaVale will be the first to tell you, he ain’t no rook.
Caron Butler and a very tall clown {via WashingtonWizards.com}
Evidently on Sunday morning, Caron Butler was slated to co-chair the ‘Sister to Sister’s Bike For The Heart’ event with D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty at the Verizon Center in Washington. But the Wizards also had a preseason game in Toronto, Canada at 3 pm that afternoon. Event host Irene Pollin, Wizards co-owner, told Butler that he could attended that morning and just catch up with the team at their next stop in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The team’s other ‘co-owner’, Irene’s husband Abe, said “nope,” indicating he wanted Butler in Toronto, supporting his teammates. So Abe called up his private jet and whisked Butler, along with team president Ernie Grunfeld, to T-Dot after the event and in time for Butler to get in a workout before the Raptors game.
Caught the second half of the Wizards game via the Internet after shrugging my shoulders at yet another Redskins loss. Looking for Jim Zorn’s missing timeouts? The DC Sports Bog’s Dan Steinberg has some theories.
But what did I learn about the Wizards? Well, I can’t wait until Gilbert Arenas gets 100% comfortable with his offensive balance and ability to distribute … and is able to display it for a full game. He looked great in the third quarter. Made my day.
The turnovers, however, are a slight concern. So far this preseason, Arenas is averaging 6.3 turnovers per 36 minutes, which shatters his 3.2 TO/36 in 05-06 when he led the NBA in total turnovers with 297.
Yes, yes … again, “it’s the preseason” … and with increased passing (Arenas is averaging 13.6 assists per 36 this preseason BTW), and trying to gain familiarity with a new offense, an increased amount of turnovers is to be expected. But one thing I did notice against Memphis and Dallas was the nature of Gil’s turnovers … some seemed to be a bit careless/unintelligent (wasn’t able to gather much from Arenas’ four turnovers against Toronto).
Although to be fair, Rainn Wilson does most of the ‘entertaining’ in this TNT commercial. And ironically, Wilson’s cab driver character expresses his admiration of Arenas’ long distance, three-point raining, Hibachi ways … guess the spot was made before Mr. ‘Less Than 100 Treys’ made an appearance at Media Day.
{Gilbert Arenas in the now dead gold jersey - flickr/Keith Allison}
It was a tale of two quarters for Gilbert Arenas. In the first, he frustrated fans and probably his coaches and teammates alike because he didn’t even take a shot when opportunities were ample. Did he lose his offensive mojo and become the Agent Austin Powers instead of the one they call Zero? Arenas did have four assists to a sole turnover in the 9:12 he played first quarter, but that’s not exactly going to make the Wizards’ offense better.
Before the game, Flip Saunders said “I think with Gil, my thing is going in, playing in 10 minutes and that’s pretty much it. If he feels pretty good about where he’s at, then come back a little bit. If he doesn’t come back it doesn’t mean, ‘Oh somethings wrong with Gil.’”
With the ‘same’ passive Gil to start against Dallas, did Saunders really have a choice but to play him more?
“He needs to get that aggressiveness so other guys can get used to playing in that type of environment,” said Saunders after the game. When asked if he encouraged him at halftime, he said, “We all encouraged him. I told him, if he’s open and doesn’t shoot it, the next guy you pass it to is probably going to be covered.”
5:35:20 PM: Walking to the Phone Booth for the only Wizards preseason home game. #ipodcheck ‘All I Need’ Jay-Z, The Blueprint
5:41:46 PM: “Got fiends throwing up on themselves like Willie Beamon.” #jayz
6:57:54 PM: At the Verizon Center, nothing crazy. Missed Flip Saunders’ court interview. Not much to ask the players about in the locker room bf game.
7:08:24 PM: Seen in the Wiz crowd: a bald headed white dude with a Nick Young jersey, but it’s not Dan Steinberg.
7:09:43 PM: Tweet bf Wiz-Mavs start: Stevenson starting for the Wiz, Drew Gooden at C for Dallas .. hope Haywood abuses him.
7:16:25 PM: Haywood getting offensive rebound then fouled by Gooden then crumbling 2 floor holding his ankle sends moans & cuss words through crowd.
7:17:40 PM: But Haywood OK. Also, Wiz making the 3 white guys sit @ the end of the bench again. Tuff Juice scores 7 of Wiz 1st 11 points. Jumper = Wet.
The Wizards will play the second game of their preseason slate against the Dallas Mavericks tonight … the only home preseason game on the schedule. It will televised on Comcast SportsNet and can be heard on DC’s 106.7 The Fan.
Also, I’ll be reporting from the game, and likely doing another live Twitter post on Truth About It (of course, this time within the NBA guidelines of a three ‘Tweet’ limit during each quarter and one during each of the two quarter breaks (but no limit on pregame, halftime and postgame Tweets).
But in terms of the Mavs, fellow TrueHoop Network blogger, Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game, agreed to answer a couple questions about his team. Here that goes …
Tim Legler says he can once again wear his old Wizards jersey proudly … wonder if he ever did in the first place. Legs did have ninth best PER season in the franchise’s past 25 years … for a white dude.
In his preview video below, Legler pegs JaVale McGee for a breakout year (Epic Vale seems to have a way to go before earning significant ‘breakout’ time), and says thatAntawn Jamison could possibly play the five at times (seriously doubt that). But you can watch for yourself …
The Washington Post’s Michael Lee also makes a guest appearance to preview the Wiz for Fox Sports.
Mike Miller just wants to be apart of a winning team. This is clear from the selfless attitude he has taken. When asked about his role on Thursday, he said he knows he’s not going to get 15-16 looks on offense anymore … and he’s fine with that. Of course, some might contend that he didn’t shoot enough with the Timberwolves last year and that he needs to be more aggressive on offense this season. But increased offensive assertiveness doesn’t necessarily mean shooting the ball.
In comparing his two potential roles for this team, starting versus coming off the bench (which is looking more and more like what he’s going to do as Flip Saunders today said that DeShawn Stevenson will probably start at shooting guard tomorrow), Miller said, “The second unit has me more of playmaker … making other guys around me better. We have enough playmakers in that first unit, so I’m playing there, it’s going to be more of a shot maker and a guy who rebounds … still making plays for people, but not nearly as much as on the second unit.”
He went on to reiterate that he just wants to make his second unit teammates better, saying they will be playing a completely different style than the first unit. Dare I dub Miller as a ’6th Man of The Year’ candidate (which would be his second time receiving the award)?
We will see. But bringing a veteran playmaker with diverse skills off the bench, someone who Saunders can trust, might be the way to go.
Suggested Reading:Randy Foye gets “in the flow” when paired with another ball-handler [Bullets Forever]
Toward the end of training camp, Antawn Jamison said that with playing so many minutes last year (4th in the NBA with 3,096 … at age 32), his body didn’t break down as much as he thought it would. Guess he has this “feminine” thing called Yoga to thank.
Between this and his non-impact trick shot offensive ways, The Gentleman Jamison just might play until he’s 40.
I’m not sure how well my Twitter to blog post updates worked out … random tweets were posting double, triple, and quadruple times (I’ve since cleaned up on the post). So, we’ll see what happens in the future. In any case, below are some leftovers from Tuesday’s preseason game against Memphis that didn’t make my recap.
“Shoot it boy!!”
At around the 8:11 mark in the first quarter, Arenas could have taken his first shot. He didn’t. Left wide open at the top of the key, the ball was kicked out to Gil, and he turned it down. C’mon dude, is that what the team is paying you to do now?
Time and patience are the lessons to take from the first Wizards preseason game. They didn’t look bad on their way to a 101-92 win over Memphis, but they didn’t look particularly good either. But did anyone expect this team with so many newcomers, including a coach, to gel right away? Nope.
On the offensive end, where the Wizards are assumed to be amongst the NBA’s upper echelon, they appeared out of sync at times. Bad spacing and jumping to pass sloppiness reared their heads in spurts, but nothing disconcerting, and mostly occurring when the second unit guys were on the court.
After the game, Brendan Haywood gave the offense a C+, in terms of translating the instruction of training camp to a real game. Haywood said they weren’t smooth and were in the wrong place a lot of times, but that’s understandable because many guys on the team were in the Princeton for five years and they have a long way to go before mastering Flip’s offense.
The defensive end left the most to be desired (again, something to be expected), especially in the defensive rebounding department. Haywood called the effort “poor,” while Flip Saunders didn’t mince words by calling the Wizards’ rebounding “atrocious.”
5:26:20 PM: Live from the Siegel Center at VCU … press row front, opposite of the Grizzlies bench. Ready to get this Wizards preseason started!
5:32:43 PM: Heading to the Wiz locker room for some pre-game questions.
5:38:14 PM: Gil listening to Jay-Z’s ‘Already Home’ … Switched it to Biggie’s ‘One More Chance’ (remix) – head phones turned up loud enough to hear.
6:09:30 PM: Dom McGuire looks good hitting warmup shots from the top of the key, but something about his form is still off. Still got that hitch.
6:10:54 PM: Flip Saunders says that he’s seen less ‘silliness’ out of the younger players in the locker room so far.
6:17:22 PM: Fab Oberto will see action tonight, but his minutes will be monitored like Arenas’. Probably will be the first big off the bench 4 Haywood.
