Any word on Arenas returning?

[toughjuice03]

so, am I the only one who is convinced Gilbert will come back January 4th when the Cavs come to DC? I mean come on, it's gilbert. reports out that he's almost ready to come back, he says he's been ready to play all along, and its the CAVS... IN DC! i'll be in attendance and i will actually be surprised if gil is not on the court.

It would've been better if he came back on Christmas and beat Cleveland in Cleveland.

[hands11]

so, am I the only one who is convinced Gilbert will come back January 4th when the Cavs come to DC? I mean come on, it's gilbert. reports out that he's almost ready to come back, he says he's been ready to play all along, and its the CAVS... IN DC! i'll be in attendance and i will actually be surprised if gil is not on the court.

I'm going to guess no. EFJ isn't coach here anymore. GA isn't going to come out of the locker room the last second and play. That nonsense if over.

I have yet to hear of him going fully in practice yet so the report of him being close is still to vague.

It would be more likely he return against the easier teams which starts Wed, Jan 7

[lupin]

last i heard, Arenas hasn't even been cleared for full contact yet. You would think he would have to practice full-bore for AT LEAST a week after that. Which probably rules out a Jan 4th date.

[dobrojim]

Ernie says Gilbert is "close" to coming back according to the WaTimes.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/200 ... celebrate/

The possibility of him sitting out if he CAN play, no matter what the record, doesn't make sense to me. They need to know what % of the pre-injury Gilbert they are getting in order to decide how to build the team going forward.

+1

Everyone agrees that they need to be cautious but they also need to really
know what they have going into the offseason. He should play as soon as
he is really ready.

I would love for that to be the CLE game. But I don't see that happening.
Maybe for the PHX game at the end of the month. I'll be at both games.

[gimmick413]

Anybody else care to venture a guess as to Gil's return? There's still a lot of basketball left to be played. With Gil's flair for the dramatic and love for the limelight, you'd think he's salivating at the very thought of playing again.

There should be a "Mininum-Two-out-of-the-(so-called)-Big-Three" rule in place. Now that "Tough" Juice is on the shelf for some undetermined amount of time, perhaps it'll pave the way for the Wiz brass to plug in the Hibachi to help out Antawn.

(please?)

[ZonkertheBrainless]

When GA comes back I don't want him playing more than 10 minutes a game for the first two weeks at least. He needs to come back SLOWLY. Hear that Tapscott? None of this "first game back play 40 minutes, oh gee a week later he reinjures his knee how unexpected!" crap.

[hands11]

When GA comes back I don't want him playing more than 10 minutes a game for the first two weeks at least. He needs to come back SLOWLY. Hear that Tapscott? None of this "first game back play 40 minutes, oh gee a week later he reinjures his knee how unexpected!" crap.

We could really use his 3 ball which I'm sure he has been practicing. New range... HALF COURT.

Entering last night's games, the Wizards rank 28th in the league in three-point shooting (31 percent) after making only 1 of 9 attempts Tuesday night. The one make was Stevenson's buzzer-beater from 42 feet at the end of the first half.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02878.html

ItHis 3 ball is needed more then ever with RM gone, DS on a cold streak, no CB, AJ shooting his worst 3 ball in 7 years, and NY down from last year .400% to .250%.

Dixon is the only one doing a decent job from there right now .391%

So yeah, ease him back. His game should consist of running the offense and nailing open 3s until he gets his body used to the action.

[KingDong]

I'm afraid that Gilbret might be plagued with injuries like these for the rest of his career. This is becoming an endless injury bug that wont go away . Which sucks because we just gave him the mega massive contract , and now he might not even be the same player ever again. Horrible situation for us.

[sabonis]

Arenas says that he needs one and a half months of practice before he returns. Did he start practicing yet? I heard he was shooting, running etc.

[bballshinobi20]

I am pretty sure Gilbert was referring to full-contact practice, so he's probably still 2 months away since he hasn't cleared for full-contact yet.

[gimmick413]

I wasn't sure whether it was appropriate to post here or on the "Health Tracker" thread, but I wanted to share a couple of media tidbits:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/ ... ay-update/

"Another thing boosting the spirits of the Wizards was Gilbert Arenas out on the court looking better than he ever has. Three days after the mood over his chances for a comeback was rather glum, Arenas' teammates are encouraged, and that -- although they still don't know when it will be -- coupled with the development of the younger players, are cause for optimism.

"Caron Butler said he now definitely thinks Gilbert Arenas will be back from his knee injury at some point this season. Antwan Jamison believes so as well, but he won't get his hopes up too high right now.

"I have no idea. I see him when you guys see him," he said. "I guess he's been in the batcave, working with, what's the butler's name? Alfred? Yeah, Alfred-Koichi, but he looks good from what I've seen. I just don't know a timetable or whatever, just trying to concentrate on basketball."

And some sobering news from Wizards Insider's Ivan Carter (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/):

"I could throw up all of the quotes but it's easier to summarize: No one knows for sure when he's coming back; they do want him to come back as soon as possible; and they'll be better off if he comes back 100 percent this time.

Still no timetable and he has yet to practice, so stay tuned. I can say that he looks pretty good playing two-on-two. I don't see him favoring the left leg in any way, but he's also not going 100 percent full blast. Still, that's a positive sign. I think."

Anyway, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that the "mysterious one" is close to recovering well enough to set foot on an NBA court soon.

Tomorrow is Gil's 27th birthday. (Happy Birthday, Gil, if you're reading this! LOL)

Wouldn't it be quite the story if Gil laced up those Adidas Gil Zero sneakers and shocked the sports world with spearheading the most improbable 50-game sprint to the playoffs?

Shock the world, Gil... You know you want to!

[Deity Allah]

They should shut him down for the season as well as Haywood (who I was already under the assumptions was done for the year) and don't even toy with the prospect of playing either of them this year. If Gilbert still hasn't issues with the knee going into next season they it's officially a wrap.

I liken the contract they gave Arenas this past off-season to the one the Raiders gave Javon Walker before this season in Oakland. Both the Wizards and Raiders knew they were throwing money away yet they still went on ahead and did it anyway, smh.

If I was the Wiz, I would have offered him a 3 year deal at about 40 million and gave him the assurance of extension talks once he came back and proved he was healthy for an entire season. Since he and his his agent would have laughed in my face, he could have went on ahead and have been Golden State's problem along with all the other horrible contracts they already have.

[nate33]

They should shut him down for the season as well as Haywood (who I was already under the assumptions was done for the year) and don't even toy with the prospect of playing either of them this year. If Gilbert still hasn't issues with the knee going into next season they it's officially a wrap.

The implication is that his knee is no where near 100% and he'd risk re-injury if he returns now. I'm not sure that's the case. He said about a month ago that his knee is already as strong as it was when he played in the playoffs last year. In another month or two, it should be good to go.

And let's not forget, he isn't really recovering from the initial injury, he is merely recovering from follow-up surgery to clean up debris. His initially-injured tissue has had 18 months to heal.

My guess is he returns with about two months to go in the season. That'll give him time to shake off the rust so that he's back at 100% next year.

[rl25g]

Tomorrow is Gil's 27th birthday. (Happy Birthday, Gil, if you're reading this! LOL)

Hmmmmm
27th Birthday
Gilbert Suprises Us all????

A man can only Dream!

[greendale]

Channel 7 News was at the Wizards practice today. When they arrived, Gil was participating in 3-on-3's. But as soon as the TV lights went on, the games stopped. I don't know what to make of the secrecy but I bet he's back before the end of January. I think the recent good play by the team (good relatively speaking) is in anticipation of his return.

[BigA]

Just a bump since it's been a couple weeks. Also playing Gil's hometown team tonight.

Plus, if a couple of my recent conversations are any indication, a significant fraction of the Wizards' fanbase thinks Gil is finished. Like Penny 2.0 finished. FWIW.

I hope they're wrong. On the one hand we have these tantalizing occasional reports of workouts and Grunfeld's statement that he is "very close." The latter already three weeks ago I believe.

On the other hand we have another recovery/rehab that appears to be much longer than what's average for this surgery. And we have the experience of the last two years. Where "no news" generally ends up being "bad news."

[LyricalRico]

On the other hand we have another recovery/rehab that appears to be much longer than what's average for this surgery. And we have the experience of the last two years. Where "no news" generally ends up being "bad news."

Unfortunately, that has been the history with this team. I'm keeping my hopes in check but in this case I think he'll be back at some point. He won't be another Penny Hardaway IMO.

[JWizmentality]

If Gil didn't think he was coming back 100%, he definitely would have said so. I think he's reving to go, but just has to be patient.

[Dat2U]

Just a bump since it's been a couple weeks. Also playing Gil's hometown team tonight.

Plus, if a couple of my recent conversations are any indication, a significant fraction of the Wizards' fanbase thinks Gil is finished. Like Penny 2.0 finished. FWIW.

I hope they're wrong. On the one hand we have these tantalizing occasional reports of workouts and Grunfeld's statement that he is "very close." The latter already three weeks ago I believe.

On the other hand we have another recovery/rehab that appears to be much longer than what's average for this surgery. And we have the experience of the last two years. Where "no news" generally ends up being "bad news."

I think this whole experience goes to show the importance of a good medical staff. We ruin players careers, a staff like Phoenix or Detroit can extend a career. Just look at Shaq's rebirth in Phoenix.

Ernie is at fault as well as he seems infatuated with setting these overly optimistic recovery timetables. There appears to be a setback with nearly every injury suffered by a Wizards player. Why? Because they all come back to early. Even now, Caron just mentioned a few days ago that he may have come back to quickly from a sprained left ankle. Also, its like 50% of the time there's an initial mis-diagnosis where an injury becomes much more serious than originally reported.

With Gil, I'll remain optimistic about his return b/c it finally appears to me that he's serious about not returning with any pain and at 100%. Previously he and organization totally botched the recovery process on three different occassions. The worst thing that could have happened was Gil coming back at the end of last season. Most experts thought the severity of his injury & surgery last December meant he was done for the year. Yet Ernie refused to rule out his return which opened the door for the medical staff & Gil to find away to get him back on the court before he was even close to being ready.

Right now, I think the focus is on getting the knee strong enough for the pounding that an NBA player has to endure on a day-to-day basis. From everything that's been said, the knee is healthy & structurally sound, its just a matter of getting it to a point where it can take the abuse that an elite athlete will put on it. I think he'll be back this season, maybe after the all-star break and probably with alot of rust and not the same explosiveness he had before. It will take time, maybe up to a year, for Gil to be his old self, but I wouldn't be surprised if he really starts rounding into form at some point next season and we start seeing Mr. Hibachi again.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

Sure got a lot of votes for someone who hasnt played in forever
Gilbert Arenas (Wash) 635,540;