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#1
11-09-2006, 10:38 PM
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Gilbert Arenas
http://www.sportsline.com/nba/story/9790054/1
[ QUOTE ] What's eating Gilbert Arenas? For starters, one specific question Nov. 9, 2006 By Tony Mejia CBS SportsLine.com Staff Writer A special spark lights up in Gilbert Arenas' eyes, precisely the reaction you knew your question would elicit. It's equal parts exasperation, determination, agitation, confidence and agony. Where do you rank among guards, Gilbert? "There's no one, pound-for-pound, that is above me," says Arenas, who averaged 29.3 points and 6.1 assists for the Wizards last season. "No one can do the things I do. Anyone does something, and I can do it better." Gilbert Arenas knows what he has to do this season: Help the Wizards advance past the first round of the playoffs. Let's stop it right here before you get the wrong idea. Oh, Arenas is brash, cocky, outspoken, all of that. He's one of the more engaging personalities in the game, the Chad Johnson of the NBA. He can get away with saying things primarily because he means no harm, but just as important, because he can back them up. "Who out there can score like me? If I shot 50 times like Kobe does, I could score what he does, too. Name anybody else that can score like me," Arenas demands, then continues before you even think to answer. "I've got two 20-point scorers on my team and I still do what I do. If I didn't have Antawn (Jamison) and Caron (Butler) out here with me I would average 40." Yes, Arenas is serious. He might be right, too. He has been right about everything else. To understand the two-time All-Star and his deep-rooted desire to be embraced as one of the best, you have to know a little about him. At 3, his pop rescued him from Overtown in Miami and a young mother who had succumbed to drugs. Father and son formed a unique bond that can only be brought about by the adventure they shared. Gilbert Arenas Sr., an aspiring actor, and his young son went off to California with little more than the car in which they traveled. Over the years, they persevered, savoring small victories and chasing dreams. Young Gilbert was 5-feet-nothing in his early teens, but ultimately blossomed into a late-signing-period steal. You should correctly surmise that people doubted Arenas even back then, and he ultimately landed at Arizona as Lute Olson's last recruit in 1999. Arenas was just 17 and chose the number 0 to represent the minutes everyone expected him to play. Even then, he was having fun with people's underestimation of him. Arenas was superb right off the bat and declared for the pros after his sophomore season, although that too was a maligned decision. Clearly, he wasn't ready, right? I must admit that at the time, I questioned his choice, too. Arenas was assured that he'd be a first-round pick and wound up shedding tears on draft day. Unfortunately for him, they weren't the kind associated with joy. Teams that said they would select Arenas went in other directions. His slide ended with the second pick of the second round, when Golden State made him their choice. With apologies to former deputy commissioner Russ Granik, he's not the guy these players dream about when they envision hearing their name called. Not that Arenas heard it; he was on the phone crying and asking an assistant coach if there was any way to get back into Arizona. Once he heard he had been selected, he decreed he'd be starting by midseason and immediately went to the gym. He was starting by midseason as a rookie. In Year 2, he was the league's most improved player. Before Year 3, he was negotiating a six-year, $65 million dollar contract to become the new face of the Wizards. At 21, he was joining new coach Eddie Jordan in ushering in a new era of D.C. basketball. Anything would be better than the previous run, which by the end had regressed into the Michael Jordan farewell tour. Yet Eddie Jordan knew ultimate success likely hinged on Arenas, and that was disconcerting. Asked whether he would've envisioned four years ago that he'd be sitting here today with Arenas running his team the coach gives the kind of pained, knowing smile that screams Hell no, but I'm pleasantly surprised. "I knew he'd have to mature to be a leader. Early on, he was so worried about status, and he needed to show people how good he was, that he was worth all the money," Jordan says. "He'd come out and do these behind-the-back passes and all this flashy stuff. I challenged him to be efficient. Take out all the frills and come back as a 'straight-line assassin.' That's what he is now. He just gets in there and kills you quickly. No frills." That's how Arenas became known as the "Assassin." He found another way to show people they were wrong, and it didn't need to be anything fancy. He's too good for that. Too quick, too fast, too strong, too accurate. No room for fancy. It got in the way. "Straight line," Jordan repeats, bending his elbow and pointing outward. Arenas' scoring average has improved every year he has been in the league, and that has everything to do with his increased emphasis on efficiency. It's why he's in a position to brag about doing things that nobody else does. Arenas has honed his game by spending countless hours in gyms at odd hours of the night. He's known for never leaving his hotel room on the road and for showing up at the Verizon Center for impromptu midnight workouts. He's gotten this far on the strength of his character. In his mind, no one can ever put limits on him, and yet, he still hasn't arrived. Arenas holds grudges. He was shocked to have been originally left off the Eastern Conference All-Star roster last February despite being among the league's top five in scoring. He was finally included when Jermaine O'Neal had to miss the game with an injury. The initial sting of having been left off still hurt. Over the summer, he was left off the U.S. World Championship squad that won the bronze medal in Japan. When he was sent home in the final week of cuts, a strained groin was the reason given. In truth, Arenas doesn't feel he would've made the team anyway, because Mike Krzyzewski was more comfortable with Kirk Hinrich as a point guard and saw Arenas as strictly a shooter. That was a poorly kept secret. "That's what drives him," Jordan says. "He was brought up hearing what people said about him and being told he couldn't do something. So now he plays these little games in his head to keep him motivated. He's out to prove everyone wrong." Want to get Arenas especially heated? Ask him where he ranks among point guards. Go ahead, do it. It will be fun. "I get irritated when anyone says I'm not a true point guard," he says. "There are only two or three guys in the league that are 'pure' point guards. Everyone else is a playmaker. People just want to make a distinction. "Who said Isiah Thomas was a true point guard? I saw him create his own shot and get his. People want to say you're a point guard because you get a lot of assists. Stephon Marbury had that year where he had over nine assists. Is he a point guard? Gary Payton averaged over 20 points per game and posted people up all those years. Was he a point guard?" By the dictionary definition of it, yes, he was. Handle the ball, run the offense, and you're the point guard, regardless of whether your first inclination is to score. Arenas' interpretation is clearly something a little different, but then again, consider the source. Whether he wants to be labeled one or not, he is Jordan's point guard, and it should be noted that his assists have gone up each of the last three seasons. "Gilbert is 'Captain Quirk.' He does have a quirky disposition. Nothing bad, it's just the way he operates. He sees things differently," Jordan says. "He's done a complete 180, though. He's gone from a guard who used to look for his shot first, pass second and run the offense third. Now he runs the offense first, looks to pass second, and shoots last, and that's the truth." Arenas is only 24, and yet he's in his sixth year in the league. Asked what it's like to be a veteran, his face lights up with a big grin, as if pleased with the distinction. Veteran. Sounds like a strange term for a big kid, and as with everything else, he's growing into it. He brags about being able to dispense knowledge from all angles because of all the roles he's played, from second-rounder trying to make the team to superstar and face of the franchise. He has made it, and yet he hasn't. He's at peace enough with where he's come from that he's faced up to it. He came up hard and wanted his story to come out to inspire others. "What I'm trying to do is make a difference," says Arenas, who has only seen his mother once since his father came and got him more than two decades ago. "No matter where you're coming from, or what happened in your past, you can always make good with it." After the initial anger of being left off the U.S. team subsided, he relented on a decision not to try out again and is actually looking forward to the upcoming trials. He says he has discarded what happened this summer and looks it as a dream that went away. But deep down, it's just another gnawing vehicle to drive him. Where do you rank among guards, Gilbert? The question brings such a rush of reactions to his face, you can see all the emotions. Exasperation: How can you even ask me that? Determination: It's me. How can it not be, as hard as I've worked? Agitation: How can it not be me? Confidence: It's me. How can it not be? Agony: How can you not believe it's me? It's the playoffs isn't it? "I'm going to have to prove it in the playoffs," Arenas finally says. "Once they see me get my team deep into there, there will be no denying me." [/ QUOTE ] 
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#6
11-10-2006, 02:44 AM
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Re: Gilbert Arenas
Arenas is a crazy, cocky mofo. Perfect personality for a SG.
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#7
11-10-2006, 08:15 AM
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Re: Gilbert Arenas
Arenas is one of my favorite players in the league. Watching him leave the warriors was awful, but I'm happy he's become such a star. I love how he uses every perceived slight to motivate himself
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#8
11-10-2006, 07:05 PM
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Re: Gilbert Arenas
I love the guy, but he's a choker. He thinks too much. Go wiz anyway, I guess.
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#9
11-10-2006, 08:59 PM
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Re: Gilbert Arenas
Hes only 24...yes, he missed 2 free throws in a key spot in the playoffs last year, but he also hit a huge clutch 3 from several feet behind the line last year too. I'd give him a few more years before we label him a choker just yet. With that said, the Wiz will go nowhere until they improve on D and get more consistent post scoring.
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