We know that Gilbert Arenas collects various basketball jerseys. Well, evidently he collects guns too. WTOP is reporting that Arenas has, at times, owned several hundred guns, including a ‘Dirty Harry Revolver’, which, of course, is in addition to his Austin Powers-esque gold-plated Desert Eagle. There’s always more to this story, isn’t there? When will it stop?

via WTOP:

As a grand jury continues to hear the details of the gun incident involving Gilbert Arenas, WTOP has learned the Washington Wizards’ star has — at times — owned several hundred guns.

Multiple sources tell WTOP that Arenas moved those weapons out of his Virginia home within the past year, long before the incident at the Verizon Center.

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Remember when this team just had to worry about Antawn Jamison’s injured shoulder and finding themselves in Flip Saunders’ offensive system? Seven wins to 10 losses seems like a pipe dream now. Wizards fans would probably even trade these times for the 2007-08 sans Agent Zero playoff season. At least hope still existed then.

Unforgiving circumstances don’t even begin to describe what has transpired around this basketball team. Saunders must employ assistant coaches just to field a 5-on-5 scouting report. Players have to leave the practice court to give testimony that could land their teammates, their friends in jail. And then to go out and perform under these circumstances? Can’t be easy. Yes, they are paid millions to play a game, but that doesn’t make it any easier to perform under such pressure.

Then again, the basketball court is supposed to be an escape, right? Most of the Wizards act like they’re stuck on Alcatraz with neither vessel nor the ability to swim. Well, with the exception of Jamision, who had 31 points (11-19 FGs) and 10 rebounds in a whopping 45 minutes. The Gentleman has been playing his 33-year old ass off and often is the only Wizard doing do. Flip Saunders feels bad for Jamison. I know because he said so. I feel bad for Jamison too, resigning myself that he, more so than Wizards fans, deserves something better.

When Mike Jones wrote, “The right thing for Wizards to do is move Jamison,” I didn’t want to accept the idea, even if in the back of my mind, I knew it was the honorable thing to do. Now I wholeheartedly agree. I would have liked to see Jamison retire in Washington and I’m sure he imagined himself doing the same. But the situation calls for both him and Wizards fans to swallow a large, bitter pill. Antawn has done as much as he could for this franchise and continues to play with unabashed pride. Of course, such mercy idealism doesn’t take away the unsettling nature of Jamison being an absolute “perfect” fit in Cleveland. Him helping the Cavs win a championship is worse than kissing your sister, it’s damn near the entire Aristocrats act.

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6:57:50 PM: Your inactives: Javaris Crittenton, Mike Miller & Andray Blatche (team suspension). Your ‘not-in-the-buildings’: Gilbert Arenas

6:59:04 PM: Poor Wiz radio guy Dave Johnson, he has to say things like, “You have every reason to be encouraged … esp. after the last two games.”

7:00:41 PM: Meanwhile, U have a player suspended 4 complaining about not getting shots & more players going 2 court everyday 2 speak on their teammates

7:03:20 PM: Washington Wizards: Where “Encouraging” Is A Fairy Tale

7:03:54 PM: Read the Wiz Insider pregame report from @MrMichaelLee http://bit.ly/88xsYE

7:06:11 PM: Guess the good news is that if this were the playoffs, Mike Miller would be playing, at least that’s what Flip Saunders said. #silly

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I don’t exactly want to say this podcast was “fun” to record, but it was therapeutic to talk about all aspects of this Gilbert Arenas situation with two well-thought and highly knowledgeable people, Mike Prada of Bullets Forever and Bethlehem Shoals of Free Darko and as of today, AOL’s NBA FanHouse.

Below is the run down of what we discussed, as ripped from what Mike wrote on Bullets Forever, and a link to play the podcast. Enjoy (I guess).

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Prada: We spent an hour plus talking to one of the leading NBA bloggers of all time, Bethlehem Shoals from Free Darko and (formerly) Sporting News. Shoals is also an author of The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats and Stars In Today’s Game. The forward to that book was written by none other than Gilbert Arenas.  Shoals has also written extensively about Arenas for Free Darko and The Baseline (you could say Arenas is the most “Free Darko” player in the NBA), so he feels the pain of this story as much, if not more, than us Wizards fans.

What did we end up talking about?  It was a long discussion, but we hit at several of the key issues, namely:

• The media coverage and how Peter Vescey’s original New York Post article shaped perceptions of the story.
• How the local reporters (Mike Wise, Michael Lee, Mike Jones) were the guys who took a more measured approach and got the story right.
• How stories like these just spiral out of control as people write before knowing all the facts.
• “Finger guns” and all of that.
• David Stern’s ultimate decision to suspend Arenas indefinitely, and whether the a) timing and b) language of that suspension was appropriate.
• The reaction by the Wizards to basically tear down all remnants of Arenas in the Verizon Center.  Is that appropriate?
• A discussion on why we hold athletes to such a high moral standard when politicians and musicians get in arguably more trouble.

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I’ve ripped on Andray Blatche a ton before. I’ve been dubbed a ‘Blatche hater’. Or rather, Blatche could be labeled as a ‘Kyle Frustrater’, and I’m not the only one this very naturally talented kid has baffled with his inability to truly succeed.

But this year, I started to come around. For one, toward the beginning of the season, Blatche actually showed some improvement, some maturity. Secondly, I’ve got to talk to him for the first time this year. A tad goofy, perhaps too much immaturity to truly take things seriously,yes … but also a decent guy who means well. Unfortunately, Andray doesn’t know how to convert that concept of meaning well into something meaningful.

Many have excused the actions of Blatche by citing his age while ignoring the higher maturity of those with just as many years and even less NBA experience. As recent as early 2009, when Blatche was hurt, he was partying. Hell, before last year’s 19-win season was even over, he was throwing an end-of-the season party . Not to say a guy can’t go out and have fun, but when other issues are prevalent, it doesn’t serve as a positive contribution to the overall equation.

Others have pointed the finger at Eddie Jordan, saying that perhaps Jordan’s tough love toward Andray was a hindrance. But now that Flip Saunders has arrived, a coach who, before the season, took the time to meticulously teach and encourage with positivity, who should serve as the scapegoat for Blatche’s recent woes? The recent woes coming in the form of a one-game suspension resulting from plain and simple selfishness. Also, check Andray’s January statistical splits. Despite almost four more minutes per game than in December, his average points and rebounds are down, and he’s shooting a horrid 38.9% from the field in 2010 … must be settling for too many jumpers.

Mike Jones (of Mike Jones Sports, naturally), has come out with a scathing profile of the latest from 7-Day-Dray, even going so far as to declare dead the full working-week persona Blatche created for himself in the off-season, the reason why he switched his jersey number from 32 to 7.

I’m not fully ready to kick Blatche to the curb like the franchise has done with Gilbert Arenas. But if Blatche were to go in a trade, I clearly wouldn’t lose any sleep. In fact, if Ernie Grunfeld is going to blow it up, he might as well send the unfulfilled expectations of Andray packing too. All the signs that this kid might not work out have been around for years and they continue to rear their ugly head.

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Well, the Wizards lost again on Sunday, nothing new. Thing is, they actually looked decent, as they did on Friday, but shot themselves in the foot, if you will, with 19 turnovers. By the way, go read this interesting piece on True Hoop regarding the NBA and gun-play analogies.

Stepping back, it’s still hard to fathom how surreal the deplorable state of the franchise is. Whether it’s Gun-Gate related or not, every day more of the shit show emerges from the sewers, literally. Tales of Gilbert Arenas taking a dump in the shoe of Andray Blatche … I mean Christ, how immature can you get?

Let’s see, what else? Caron Butler, while off games are okay, is still a quandary — hey, Caron wanted to be “the man” and then got all sad with his second fiddle when Arenas returned, but now that Arenas is gone again …

Of course, unfortunately it seems that Caron’s definition of being “the man” involves taking bad shots and halting ball movement. I don’t mean to unfairly pick on Butler, but again, for someone who all but rested his laurels on defensive improvement before the season, it was interesting, as pointed out to me by Mike Prada of Bullets Forever, that on Friday against the Magic, Butler was matched up against Matt Barnes while the just returning Mike Miller had to take on Orlando’s big gun, Vince Carter.

Ok, what else? Well, Mike Miller is turning into Mr. Glass, aggravating his calf muscle against New Orleans on Sunday. He’s supposed to get an MRI on it Monday … and the saga of woes with the Wizards’ training staff and team doctors continues. It also says a lot that the Wizards are seemingly so dependent on Miller for ball movement (see Brendan Haywood’s quote below).

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[Note: Obviously I would have liked to post this piece pertaining to Friday night's win against the Magic, the first home game after Gilbert Arenas' suspension, before Sunday's game against the Hornets ... but life happens and time is my enemy.]

Gilbert Arenas’ corner locker sat relatively empty. A couple pairs of shoes, straightened, likely by someone other than Arenas, a rubber training/physical therapy band, and an autographed basketball card of Sam Cassell taped to the back wall were all that remained. Lonely stood the area of the locker room where the media used to congregate, waiting and salivating for Gilbert to preach in his unfiltered, matter-of-fact, unguarded superstar kind of way. Not that night. Maybe not ever again.

Before the Wizards faced the Magic on Friday evening, those around the Verizon Center spoke of Gilbert in the past tense. Understandable since the banner outside of the arena featuring Arenas was removed, his jerseys taken off shelves of souvenir stands, and his image scrubbed from promotional videos and the WashingtonWizards.com website. A dramatic reaction from the franchise or a necessary message to Arenas and fans? It’s not like Gilbert’s image was completely purged. There’s still a framed photo of Arenas in the media lounge. Several pictures of him are still prevalent on a wall collage right outside of the locker room. But I can’t help but think the actions taken were more grandstanding in mind than reason, especially when a local news station was so conveniently there to film the banner removal.

Meanwhile, in the locker room before tip-off, the scene was business as usual. Antawn Jamison was getting himself hype by dancing and signing to his ipod like he usually does. When I asked Mike Miller about his new haircut, DeShawn Stevenson jokingly chimed in, “That’s Mike,” going on about how he’s known Miller since they were teenagers, when Miller had short hair and diamonds in each ear. Stevenson also spoke of a recruiting trip he took to the University of Florida when Miller was there. He said he knew right away he didn’t want to go there because Billy Donovan, whom he described as “strict as a [blank],” made him run suicide drills as a high school senior. One might chuckle, thinking Stevenson could have used some structure in his life back then, but that’s the past and I’m not here to judge … at least this time. Other Wizards were going through their usual routine, getting ready to do their job and play the game they love. The scene was less somber than what I expected, if at all.

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Brendan Haywood

On needing a win …

“We’ve dug a hole enough, one that seems like it’s too big, but it’s not because we’re going to keep fighting, we going to keep chipping away, and hopefully we’re going to make this playoff push.”

Mike Miller

On passing instead of shooting …

“Believe me, I hear the fans telling me to shoot more, whatever, but you know what? Passing the ball and getting the ball poppin’ is something that when you see gets going, it’s like a domino effect. Once it gets poppin’, if you saw tonight, we got it going early, and now everyone wants to do it. And it’s fun basketball. That’s how you’re supposed to play and it’s fun to win.”

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Ok, maybe “argue” is a strong word. Perhaps it was a disagreement … a contention … a discussion … a conversation. Whatever it was, Brendan Haywood and Antawn Jamison certainly weren’t on the same page regarding defense for a moment toward the end of the second quarter against the Cavs on Wednesday.

I couldn’t quite hear all of the audio that goes with the scene above, I just know it began with a quizzical point by Jamison followed by Haywood putting his hands in the air in a defense manner and saying “I don’t know,” several times before getting his ‘I DO know’ point across. The players then moved on with the basketball game.

Now, I don’t profess to know much about the scheming and assignments in Flip Saunders’ defense. So, let’s take a screen-shot look at the play in question.

The Wizards seem to be in a match-up containment zone looking thing. Boykins is playing in the passing lane, facing West, but not up on him. Haywood steps out, seemingly to contain West.

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Ok, so Washington, D.C. isn’t “hell”. I love this city. It is nice … but it’s also been really, really cold lately. Sports hell? Well, now you’re talking. The only saving grace these days comes in the form of some Russian dude leading a ‘Rock the Red’ revolution.

The Washington Bullets used to wear red. But now some are saying that that damn Gilbert Arenas fellow has ruined any chances of the franchise ever returning to the team name (and colors) of yore that so many true, dedicated fans are fond of. Bullets Forever y’all.

Back to this hell concept. Fabricio Oberto isn’t in the depths of Hades, but he can’t be in a good place. You gotta feel for Fab. He’s such a nice guy. Plus, he must deal with the current situation while his family is back home in Argentina. Then again, getting paid just under two million dollars for six months of basketball can’t be all that bad.

The 2009-10 Washington Wizards just might be the worst team Oberto has ever been on. I can’t confirm this 100%, but I did peruse his resume and the history of the teams he’s played for on usbasket.com, and it looks to be a valid claim.

I first introduced myself to Fabricio at media day, informing him that I used to date a girl from Argentina and had been down there twice. By the way, Argentina comes highly recommended as a travel destination. Beautiful people, awesome sights, diverse geography, great food (especially meat and Merlot wine), and Argentina is very, very affordable. For example, we had a dinner for four, including wine and dessert, at a very nice restaurant in Buenos Aires, one which was recommended in the fancy airplane magazine, and it only came to about $100 US dollars. The meal easily could have been in upwards of $500 stateside.

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I’m not sure of the exact time Gilbert Arenas’ Twitter account, @gilbertarenas, was removed from the Internet (sometime during the evening of January 7th, probably about the time Garrett Gilbert-Javier Arenas zingers were getting started Twitter), but I am sure it existed. I’m also sure that nothing can ever be completely removed from the web … such as a handy little RSS feed I had of Arenas’ tweets.

Over seven days Arenas shared 155 Tweets with the world (I don’t count the ‘non-Tweet’ videos he posted before he really got going on New Year’s Eve). He had some good ones, he had some interesting ones, he had some ‘I’m a silly little kid’ ones. I didn’t mind Arenas being on Twitter so much — it got blown out of proportion — but I doubt I would have done the same had I been in his position … or at least I would have been more apologetic/sensible (I’d like to think).

Then reader Sean Snider sent me a lesson for Gilbert that made perfect sense:

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story: Read more »

I’m still digesting this whirlwind story and will post an opinion piece on the matter sometime soon, hopefully tomorrow morning. But until then, why not commemorate Arenas’ last game with the Wizards?

Wait, “commemorate” doesn’t seem like the right word … memorialize? … nah. Screw it, let’s just look at the three stages of emotion that came across Arenas’ face in the waning seconds of the win in Philadelphia, likely his last game as a Washington Wizard.

And yes, we don’t actually know if Arenas has played his last game in DC, but I really, really wish I could go to Vegas and bet on it. The Cincinnati Bengals, currently at 75-1, probably have a much better chance of winning the Super Bowl than Arenas has of returning to the Wizards.

Hey, at least Gil went out a winner … even though right now, he’s a pretty big loser … especially of money.

Also, the Wizards franchise has removed the ‘Character, Commitment, Connection’ banner featuring Arenas from the 6th Street side of the Verizon Center. NBC 4 has the video.

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{Scenes from last night in Cleveland}

I couldn’t exactly get inside the brains of the Washington Wizards, but my imagination did.

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It’s a different world now.

In a way, I feel like Frank Sobotka from The Wire. Just like Sobotka was witnessing the port of Baltimore and its potential crumble around him in season two, I’m witnessing the same happen to the Washington Wizards.

And yes, I realize that it’s very ironic for me to use the word “witness” considering who the Wizards will play in about an hour.

By the way, while I’m making comparisons to The Wire, I might as well call Gilbert Arenas “Ziggy” (Sobotka’s son in the show, not the cartoon character) … both self-destructive in nature and ultimately brought down by gun-play.

Last night’s Sixers game seems like so long ago, obviously aided by Gilbert Arenas’ indefinite suspension, but also because, among other things, I’m rushed into thinking about tonight’s game against Cleveland.

So, even though that Philly game is a distant memory right now, might as well commemorate it … because it could be the last game we ever see Gilbert Arenas in a Wizards uniform. Read more »

Well, damn.

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Statement From Team:

“We fully endorse the decision of the NBA to indefinitely suspend Gilbert Arenas.  Strictly legal issues aside, Gilbert’s recent behavior and statements, including his actions and statements last night in Philadelphia, are unacceptable.  Some of our other players appeared to find Gilbert’s behavior in Philadelphia amusing.  This is also unacceptable.  Under Abe Pollin’s leadership, our organization never tolerated such behavior, and we have no intention of ever doing so.”

Ernie Grunfeld, President, Washington Wizards
Irene Pollin, Principal Owner, Washington Sports and Entertainment (WSE)
Robert Pollin, Chief Executive Officer, WSE
James Pollin, President, WSE

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