Gilbert Arenas goes off

[slaterbug]

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/11/22/wiza ... index.html

Gilbert Arenas said players on the team had "hidden agendas," noting that eight players on the team are free agents following the season.

"I guess when you start losing everyone wants to start pointing fingers everywhere else," Arenas said. "I converted my game to try to get people involved, but at the end of the day, to be honest, this is the same team since three years ago. We added a couple of pieces, but everybody else is basically the same player.

"I'm sitting here thinking 'Do I have to go in attack mode like I was two years ago to get us over this hump?' I hope not. I hope we're strong enough mentally that we can get over this."

Arenas leads the team in total points and assists. But heading into Saturday's game he had taken 55 more shots than the next player.

When asked about sacrificing his game in order for the team to win, Arenas replied, "I think the only person who actually had to sacrifice is me. Everybody else can just play their game."

[kcruz]

Please Flip, read this thread!

Starting lineup should be:
PG: Arenas
SG: Butler
SF: D-Mac
PF: Blatche
C: Haywood

Bentch:
1) Jamison
2) Foye
3) McGee
4) Young
5) Miller

The others should go to vacation...

[miller31time]

Arenas hasn't really sacrificed much. He's just tweaked his game for the worse - including more mid-range contested jumpers and less drives to the basket. He also forces more unnecessary passes and bumped up his turnovers while his free throw shooting percentage has plummeted.

Gilbert is to blame just as much as anyone else as far as I'm concerned. I'd be more sympathetic (regarding the injury) if I didn't already see that he can turn it on and off whenever he so chooses.

And exactly who is he calling out regarding the players playing for new contracts?

Haywood? - he's been our best player this season, almost undeniably

Mike Miller? - he's been one of the most unselfish, positive factors on our team

Randy Foye? - does he even get enough time to warrant being the target of a Gilbert tirade?

Oberto? - he's everything our GM thought he was going to be

Mike James? - lol

So exactly who is Gilbert talking about?

[LyricalRico]

Gil with zero leadership. At least Jamison's tirade was behind closed doors. Gil's body language during games has also been horrible.

[jerold182]

Gil doesnt want to get injured again that is why he is playing it safe...cant blame him though...the biggest reason why wizards is losing is caron butler in my opinion... he isnt the same caron from the previous seasons...

[DaRealHibachi]

Oh well... one step closer to blowing it up...

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Miller, you're 100% correct. Gilbert's sacrificed little and is as much to blame as anyone.

Fact: Gilbert's taking as many shots as he EVER has.

His 19.0 FGAs per-36 is about the same as he took in 2006-2007, when he took 18.9 He's definitely NOT sacrificing shots.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... agi01.html

Fact: He's taken less three pointers, and has gone inside more than before.

His 7.1 per-36 3PT FGAs in 2006-2007 being down to 5.1 this season is very significant. Gil's definitely passing up threes, (but he shouldn't be because his percentage is the same as before), in favor of twos. And since he's shooting as often if not slightly more, that mean's hes driving the lane much more than before. Maybe that's what he means by sacrificing.

Fact: Gilbert IS PASSING FOR MORE ASSISTS than ever before, relative to his teammates.

His AST% of .33 is noticeably higher than his career average and any other season averages. Gil has attempted to change his game to be a playmaker.

AST%
Assist Percentage (available since the 1964-65 season in the NBA); the formula is 100 * AST / (((MP / (Tm MP / 5)) * Tm FG) - FG). Assist percentage is an estimate of the percentage of teammate field goals a player assisted while he was on on the floor.

Gilbert's changed the way he plays. But the main problem with his game is he's far less efficient.

THIS IS WHAT GILBERT NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND:

1. He's working harder now and simply needs to become more efficient.

He's NOT MAKING FREE THROWS with near the same efficiency as before. The single biggest dropoff in Arenas' game this season is he's shooting .736 on FTs. It's costing him 2 points a game from 2006-2007, when he got to the line 2.5 times more a game and hit .844. I think it's conditioning and mental. Maybe Gil's tired from playing harder on both ends, or it's a function of his time away/injuries. His FTs are way off. Instead of being a 74% FT shooter he needs to get back to over 84%, like he was three years ago. The Wizards will score around one more point a game if he does.

2. The second way Gilbert can help the team is to GO AHEAD AND SHOOT THE THREE AS OFTEN AS YOU ALWAYS HAVE.

He's a volume scorer and he's hitting 37% on threes. That's still the strength of his offensive game. Don't let Saunders or Cassell or anybody else get him twisted. Arenas is better suited taking two more threes a game. Where Gilbert has struggled a bit is in trying to score inside. Right now he's getting fouled a lot and not getting to the line like he once did (officiating IMO) and he's missing FTs like never before. (see 1 above). Makes sense to just play HIS GAME.

If Gil just doesn't point fingers and makes his FTs and takes his threes, he's going to come out of his funk.

[spudwebb]

39% shooting and 4 turnovers per game and Gilbert is pointing fingers at his teammates. True leadership

[P'Oed]

who in the blue hell is this kook talking about

[no D in Hibachi]

For better or for worse the Wiz are stuck with Arenas and he's becoming an unbearable player to watch and root for. When he talks about the team being mentally weak he should be explicitly talking about himself. Gils whole game is a detriment to the team. He's the biggest shot jacker in the league now that Iverson's been cut by the Grizz. He has single-handedly lost several games for the Wiz, most notably the Heat game where he himself accounted for all the Wiz's TO's in the 3rd period, which was something like 9 or 10. He's become either lazy or incapable of beating his man off the dribble and has now been relegated to a mid-range shooting puss. Basically the Wiz are payinhg 100+ million for an extremely less efficient Rip Hamilton.

The Wiz can dump Butler, Jamison, Stevenson and whoever else they want but the trouble is that Gil is the culture of the Wiz and unless they signs someone or drafts someone with an even stronger personality than Gil the team will be mentally weak and play without chemistry. Essentially we've had it wrong guys, Jamison hasn't been the player making the Wiz mediocre, it's been Gil.

[mohammed10]

For better or for worse the Wiz are stuck with Arenas and he's becoming an unbearable player to watch and root for. When he talks about the team being mentally weak he should be explicitly talking about himself. Gils whole game is a detriment to the team. He's the biggest shot jacker in the league now that Iverson's been cut by the Grizz. He has single-handedly lost several games for the Wiz, most notably the Heat game where he himself accounted for all the Wiz's TO's in the 3rd period, which was something like 9 or 10. He's become either lazy or incapable of beating his man off the dribble and has now been relegated to a mid-range shooting puss. Basically the Wiz are payinhg 100+ million for an extremely less efficient Rip Hamilton.

The Wiz can dump Butler, Jamison, Stevenson and whoever else they want but the trouble is that Gil is the culture of the Wiz and unless they signs someone or drafts someone with an even stronger personality than Gil the team will be mentally weak and play without chemistry. Essentially we've had it wrong guys, Jamison hasn't been the player making the Wiz mediocre, it's been Gil.

Well stated, D....totally agree

[nate33]

The only free agents are Foye, Haywood and Miller. Clearly, he can't be accusing Miller of being selfish. Arenas never plays with Foye. So that leaves Haywood. Haywood had 4 shot attempts last night.

Haywood's response to Arenas' comments:

That's not sitting well with at least one player. Wizards center Brendan Haywood said players need to "check their ego at the door."

"It's very frustrating because out talent isn't winning over our egos," Haywood said. "If you normally score 20 and you don't get your 20 but the team wins, who cares? Let's try and win.

"That's what the Celtics do. Paul Pierce can have 12 in the fourth quarter. [But] if they're up, he don't care. That's what we gotta do. Check your ego at the door. Move the ball. Play some defense."

Haywood was a bit shot happy over the first 5 games or so, but he has settled down lately.

To get an idea of Haywood selfishness, let's look at shot attempts minus offensive rebounds. The idea here is that shooting after an offensive rebound is generally the right thing to do, so I wouldn't classify those attempts as "selfish shots".

Over the first five games, Haywood averaged 7.8 shots - offensive rebounds
Over the last seven games, Haywood averaged 1.6 shots - offensive rebounds

1.6 shot attempts per game hardly sounds like a selfish player with an agenda.

[Ruzious]

Gilbert couldn't possibly have come up with a better statement to get himself hated by his *former* fans and his current teammates. I'm at a loss for how he came up with the chutspa (sp?) to spew that bullspit. He's the one who said Antawn has to come back for me to come back. He said - We just need the veterans to be healthy. Now, he's **** on all those veterans and all the new guys - not to mention his GM. Guys like Haywood and Blatche have made tremendous improvements... so what - f em. Mike Miller has been outstanding here - but f him. Haywood and Miller are free agents with their own agenda. But since I have a 100 plus million dollar contract, I'm the good guy trying to win, and f them - All they care about is money. I'm Gilbert Arenas, dammit.

I hope he gets a standing boo at MCI until he apologizes and takes the blame for his lousy play this season.

[DallasShalDune]

I agree that Gil isn't performing, but I think he spoke out of emotion, so we shouldn't read to much into it. It is wrong to point fingers in frustrating situations, but most of us do it. People rarely put the burden of blame on their own shoulders. Gil did with the 10 TO's he had in the 3rd quarter of the Heat game, but this tirade is Gil just getting pissed because the Wizards have been just as bad as last year with a ton more talent. He's in the wrong, but I can see why he's not thinking clearly through his pissyness.

[Ruzious]

Glen Consor had a good point the other day - players expend more energy when they play defense. When Gil comes down court - no passing - and fires up a 3, it means the opponent doesn't have to work on defense. Then, they have more energy to expend on offense - meanwhile making the Wiz expend more energy on defense. It becomes literally a vicious circle - making it a simple formula to get a significant advantage over the Wiz.

[closg00]

For better or for worse the Wiz are stuck with Arenas and he's becoming an unbearable player to watch and root for. When he talks about the team being mentally weak he should be explicitly talking about himself. Gils whole game is a detriment to the team. He's the biggest shot jacker in the league now that Iverson's been cut by the Grizz. He has single-handedly lost several games for the Wiz, most notably the Heat game where he himself accounted for all the Wiz's TO's in the 3rd period, which was something like 9 or 10. He's become either lazy or incapable of beating his man off the dribble and has now been relegated to a mid-range shooting puss. Basically the Wiz are payinhg 100+ million for an extremely less efficient Rip Hamilton.

The Wiz can dump Butler, Jamison, Stevenson and whoever else they want but the trouble is that Gil is the culture of the Wiz and unless they signs someone or drafts someone with an even stronger personality than Gil the team will be mentally weak and play without chemistry. Essentially we've had it wrong guys, Jamison hasn't been the player making the Wiz mediocre, it's been Gil.

Another + 1

[omegatronic3]

yea he is obviously grasping at straws....obviously Arenas is nowhere close to what he used to be....what made him effective was his fearlessness in the lane and his first step.....hes lost both of those things.

Hes kind of like Iverson in my opinion because hes just not a pure pg because A. hes not a leader and B. he makes bad decisions. I think Arenas can only be Arenas..so he needs to go back into attack mode.

the sooner saunders realizes this the better so that he can adjust his offense. The princeton was effective for us because we didnt need a pure PG. saunders offense needs a floor general and good decision maker like a Chauncy Billups. Granted he did have Cassell and Marbury but I dont think Arenas is the right guy. cassell should help him and saunders figure it out.

Either we just arent gettin the offense or there is no rhyme or reason to it. To me it just looks like there is no purpose to it.

I dont expect us to beat the Spurs on the road but we player terrible....guys were getting decent looks but nobody is getting easy looks...can we run a play or something?

[Shanghai Kid]

Gilbert should check himself at the door. The way he's been playing wouldn't fit in any offense in the NBA. A guy who goes into modes where he purposely passes up open shots to 'try to get the team involved' only to later in the quarter switch into being a complete gunner. Gilbert this season has been a confused player with no identity. He's had like two good games this season.

I also don't see any of the passion or effort from Gilbert I used to see. I remember him being a guy who would dive for loose balls, and even get the ball and run up the court immediately. Gil used to be a ball of energy. Now he sucks the energy out of his teammates with stupid turnovers. He makes turnovers that you would expect from a power forward or a center, not from a guard.

All this "attack mode" bs is just that. Gilbert is trying to score at will, he just can't anymore. Hopefully it will come back to him, but if it doesn't the Wizards are completely screwed. You would than have a starting point guard whose not good enough to be an elite point guard, but also somebody who isn't good enough to be an elite scorer.

I DO believe that Gilbert Arenas was on the verge of being an elite player in 06-07. He was going to be an elite 'scorer' that could be a franchise player. If he doesn't get that back, he's not even an All-Star. The rest of his game is not strong enough to make up for it.

I would suggest Flip move Gilbert to SG ASAP. Let him try to be an elite scorer, it's his only shot at being great again.

[Bickerstaff]

I agree that Gil isn't performing, but I think he spoke out of emotion, so we shouldn't read to much into it. It is wrong to point fingers in frustrating situations, but most of us do it. People rarely put the burden of blame on their own shoulders. Gil did with the 10 TO's he had in the 3rd quarter of the Heat game, but this tirade is Gil just getting pissed because the Wizards have been just as bad as last year with a ton more talent. He's in the wrong, but I can see why he's not thinking clearly through his pissyness.

I agree. I think the guy's unbelievably frustrated right now. It can definitely turn into a real problem, and I would say it's cause for concern, but not alarm. We'll see. I'll trust Flip to figure out who's playing the right way and who's playing the wrong way.

[daSwami]

this is the type of talk i can do without, gil needs to stfu. I have always enjoyed Gil's candor and quirky off-cort behavior. However, with comments like these, he's verging on becoming a locker room cancer. When you start throwing your team mates under the bus, it creates a dangerous atmosphere of resentment. T.O. does this everywhere he goes and the teams he plays on suffer for it..