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Has anybody noticed that outside of Wizards fans, the majority of opinion towards Gilbert has become so negative that not only do people think he's overpaid, but they actually think he's a horrible player on the court who would kill every teams chemistry and be a negative. All the talk about John Wall has produced many comments about Gilbert being a garbage player who the Wizards should rid themselves of at all costs. Gilbert on the court is literally looked at like he's Francis or Marbury, a washed up star with nothing left to offer. Some people suggested he should become a 6th man at this point in his career.

I did a little bit of research on Gilbert's play last season. There are no advanced stats here, strictly his core stats over the last 10 games that he played.

27.1ppg
7.8 apg
5.1 rpg
43% fg
38% 3-pt fg

This was coming off a 2 year lay off in an offense that had no chemistry. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with how he was coming back into form. I don't think he's washed up at all. And now if you think about it, he has the whole summer to get back into shape again. I'm very optimistic about Gil, and actually have to laugh at the league completely writing him off already.

Yeah and if he was traded to their favorite team, you would hear all the praises. They want the Wizards to trade him because they know if the Wiz keep him, the Wiz will be a team to be reckon with. All of this bashing on Arenas for playing the guns is REALLY RIDICULOUS! JERKS!! I'm not condoning what Gil did because it was wrong but there's no need to crucify him!

Gilbert has played 47 games in 3 years, he has no-where else to go but up.

im still gay for gilbert arenas

There is no reason to be down on GA. Before he stopped playing last season, the raw numbers he was putting up were quite good. With Wall in the backcourt, GA can be more of a SG. In Flip's offense, having 2 guards that can handle the ball and shoot will make it more successful. To me, this means greater success for GA.

My expectation is that he comes back a more mature person, accepting of his role as the veteran leader and happily relinquishes the "Face of the Franchise" designation to "The Great Wall".

From a basketball perspective, there's no reason to expect anything less that what he provided last season.

As I think about this a little bit more, I believe we may have a problem on our hands. I can't recall a team that has a Face already (like it or not, Gilbert is our face), landing the #1 pick in the draft and getting a guy who would be the Face. The only thing coming to mind is the Spurs with Duncan and Robinson. Even then, Robinson was an aging superstar and was on his way out. Wall should be the face and franchise player of this team but im not sure if that can happen with GIl here. And I love Gilbert, so dont take this the wrong way. It's not that I dont believe they can play together, cause i think they can. Its just who is and should take a backseat and be Pippen to whoever is playing Jordan?

MDStar wrote:As I think about this a little bit more, I believe we may have a problem on our hands. I can't recall a team that has a Face already (like it or not, Gilbert is our face), landing the #1 pick in the draft and getting a guy who would be the Face. The only thing coming to mind is the Spurs with Duncan and Robinson. Even then, Robinson was an aging superstar and was on his way out. Wall should be the face and franchise player of this team but im not sure if that can happen with GIl here. And I love Gilbert, so dont take this the wrong way. It's not that I dont believe they can play together, cause i think they can. Its just who is and should take a backseat and be Pippen to whoever is playing Jordan?

I talked about this in another thread. Cliff note version is that I seriously doubt you can consider Gil the face of any franchise after the media witch hunt. He's going to have maintain a low profile until the media decides to start liking him for all his great things he does on and off the court, something that they currently choose to ignore.

WizStorm wrote:

MDStar wrote:As I think about this a little bit more, I believe we may have a problem on our hands. I can't recall a team that has a Face already (like it or not, Gilbert is our face), landing the #1 pick in the draft and getting a guy who would be the Face. The only thing coming to mind is the Spurs with Duncan and Robinson. Even then, Robinson was an aging superstar and was on his way out. Wall should be the face and franchise player of this team but im not sure if that can happen with GIl here. And I love Gilbert, so dont take this the wrong way. It's not that I dont believe they can play together, cause i think they can. Its just who is and should take a backseat and be Pippen to whoever is playing Jordan?

I talked about this in another thread. Cliff note version is that I seriously doubt you can consider Gil the face of any franchise after the media witch hunt. He's going to have maintain a low profile until the media decides to start liking him for all his great things he does on and off the court, something that they currently choose to ignore.

Wiz - I don't think it's whether or not we consider Gil/Wall as the face...but whether Gil would be willing to keep a low profile. He obviously doesn't have a choice after last season but I maintain my concern of whether he'll decide to act out.

That was probably Gilbert's plan. Keep a low profile, play his game, be a leader behind the scenes to Blatche, Mcgee and whoever we drafted at #5 and take his place back at the top by the end of the year. See that's where getting John Wall changes everything. So it would be keep a low profile until the world was back to loving you. It's now "get in where you fit in" cause this is Wall's team now. Big difference!

I think what the Wizards are going to be asking of Gilbert at this point is akin to what was asked of him with Team USA. At the time, Gilbert was too imature to deal with not being the #1 option and having the ball in his hands at all times. I hope that Gilbert has matured since then, seeing as this was one of the first issues for him in the public spotlight and gave him a bad reputation across the league. I have to believe that this whole past year has put his career in perspective and I think Gilbert is going to be willing to do what it takes to win games here. If not, he will be traded. His value is definitely not getting any worse.

Liverbird wrote:Wiz - I don't think it's whether or not we consider Gil/Wall as the face...but whether Gil would be willing to keep a low profile. He obviously doesn't have a choice after last season but I maintain my concern of whether he'll decide to act out.

Maybe poor choice of words; of course it doesn't matter what we consider is the face. I'm saying no NBA team is going to promote Gil as the face and push him as a spokesman for the team. Sure, the media will hound Gil for interviews and opinions and he'll need to be lot less accessible and speak less freely until the media decides to make a new, more accurate narrative about Gil's life.

But really this is pure media manipulation and has no bearing on what Gil brings to the court. I see absolutely NO problems in that regard as Gil has always been a fabulous teammate. Not sure why anyone has any fears of ego clashing. Gil never was a leader and I believe would welcome someone taking over those reigns and take that weight off his shoulders.

Krizko Zero wrote:I think what the Wizards are going to be asking of Gilbert at this point is akin to what was asked of him with Team USA. At the time, Gilbert was too imature to deal with not being the #1 option and having the ball in his hands at all times. I hope that Gilbert has matured since then, seeing as this was one of the first issues for him in the public spotlight and gave him a bad reputation across the league. I have to believe that this whole past year has put his career in perspective and I think Gilbert is going to be willing to do what it takes to win games here. If not, he will be traded. His value is definitely not getting any worse.

Really? From everything I heard, he was doing everything he could to play team ball for Team USA. i was just under the impression that he just wanted to make the team and didn't really start acting out until it was obvious he wasn't in their plans for him to make the team. Hell, weren't all the reports about how much end-to-end, defensive pressure Gil put on the ball in the tryouts?

I meant more from his on court play with Team USA. He never really seemed to fit in, he couldn't find a way to be successful on the team because he never seemed to embrace playing off the ball. Similar to how he has never done well in All Star games, etc. It has seemed in the past Gilbert has trouble when he is not the unquestionable #1 option on the team. However I think he & Wall (with no other true #1 on this team, Blatche being more of the 1A type) can make it work as their strengths/weaknesses would seem to compliment each other perfectly.

All in all, I just don't see Gilbert as the jealous type. He's played with other "stars" (or self-perceived "stars" at least) for his whole career, Gilbert also is a really big basketball fan. I'm pretty sure he knows plenty about John Wall and has followed him this past year at least in some aspect. I can't see why he couldn't accept and embrace that a 19-year old with his sort of skills wouldn't be the future of this franchise.

Irrational hatred is the M.O of the General NBA Board. The posters there do it on every hot topic.

Understood that he's played 47 games the past three seasons and yes, that's absolutely horrendous and unacceptable. But looking at the reasons, one becomes more hopeful and confident he'll be just fine next season. As we here know, the injury is basically healed (not completely but more than enough to play extremely effective basketball). So I'm writing the injury off as a reason to think Gilbert will miss a substantial number of games throughout the remainder of his career. Next is legal trouble. Arenas made a really stupid decision. It was out of character considering the stupid things he normally does are not in such a grand scale. He was punished and I don't see why he would do anything else that would get him suspended for a prolonged period of time ever again.

After those two things, what do the detractors have?

I expect Gilbert back and healthy for 70+ games, possibly a full season. I won't predict numbers because it's impossible to gauge what they'll look like in the new system with Wall being such a primary ball-handler and focus of the other team. But I will say that he will be a positive contributor and an efficient scorer. His trade value will be greatly more than what it is currently.

expectations?

3p% of .400 +
defense
<2 to/game

he's the savvy vet. he's got a good backcourt partner. he's got a low post presence on offense, and a shotblocking presence on defense. it's as easy as it gets for a player like gil right now. wide open looks, zero expectations, and a young, eager-to-run team.

MDStar wrote:As I think about this a little bit more, I believe we may have a problem on our hands. I can't recall a team that has a Face already (like it or not, Gilbert is our face), landing the #1 pick in the draft and getting a guy who would be the Face. The only thing coming to mind is the Spurs with Duncan and Robinson. Even then, Robinson was an aging superstar and was on his way out. Wall should be the face and franchise player of this team but im not sure if that can happen with GIl here. And I love Gilbert, so dont take this the wrong way. It's not that I dont believe they can play together, cause i think they can. Its just who is and should take a backseat and be Pippen to whoever is playing Jordan?

While the C's didn't acquire the #1, they did trade for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in the same off-season. PP was the face of the franchise for the previous decade, but PP put his ego aside and really accepted his role as one of the big three. GA has to see the writing on the Wall (Pun intended) that he screwed over his teammates, his fans, and the franchise. He can't expect to be the face anylonger, however, he can still be the alpha-dog. It will only take a year and some winning for Gil to restore his reputation and elevate his status so that he is the dual face of the franchise.

I mean from a PR standpoint itd be great to have a revived Gil come out with Wall as the dynamic backcourt duo. The vet and the young pup. There's a ton of potential in that, but Gil needs to just restore his image.

i predict gil putting up 22 and 4 next to wall putting up 15 and 7. blatche 18 and 7. and i pray we resign miller as our 6th man

forget Hughes/Arenas. the backcourt we're trotting out there is a souped up version of eric snow and allen iverson from 2001.

anyway, one little bit of lotto success and the "experts" just go CRAZY.

Wall is good, but don't go thinking he's better than arenas. Gil is still going to be our best player for at least another two seasons. Wall is going to start from day 1, just because marketing is going to dictate that. He'll deserve to start on talent also. However, he's not going to take away shots from Gil. When the game's on the line, you bet your bottom dollar gil's going to be taking that shot and not some 20 year old rookie. that's fine. i wouldn't want to hand over the reigns of our team to a 20 year old anyway, even if it is john wall. i wouldn't want to hand it over to a 20 year old ANYONE (maybe magic).

all wall's responsible for is the stuff that gil didn't/doesn't want do anyway, namely: guard point guards, and feed entry passes.the bulk of the scoring is still going to be going through hibachi. but this is a good thing. a season doing miyagi-mandated "boring stuff" is going to make wall a better player in the long run.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 0052000049

"

I know him to be a great player and a really sweet kid," Leonsis said of Arenas. "Certainly, last year there was a lot of turmoil, not only in his personal life, but what it brought the team and the franchise. My style is to not have any opinions. I'm predisposed to really liking him. Hopefully, he'll like and respect me.

"