Butler or Arenas?

[XTC]

Who would you guys rather have? Butler has been nothing short of AMAZING this season. He seems to have really stepped up without Arenas.

This team looks alot better with Butler as the franchise player than Arenas, but this is your team.

If you had to pick right now who would you rather trade off Butler or Arenas not considering injuries.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Nope, not taking the bait.

[XTC]

How is this bait?

If this will lead to a flame war, I would like the mods to close this...

I just wanted to know from fans of the team who watched them both, and have a comparision between two fantastic basketball players.

[Patterns]

I am a Lakers fan and I'd say no question it is Arenas. Arenas has a chance to become a superstar while Butler will always be borderline 2nd tier.

[spaceman_E]

I think this year we are showing that Gil's off nights hurt us more than we think. We are just above .500 even without Gil. We can beat anyone with Arenas when he is hot, what we need is for him to mature his game a bit and then we can be an elite team even with the current makeup. GA loves to just keep shooting all game long even when cold and that hurts us, QUICKNESS never goes cold and that's what we need from Gil. When his shooting is off, he needs to drive and dump or kick out to open 3 ball shooters. When CB is off, he still grabs 10 boards or like 6 assists from the SF. Those are the type of contributions we need from GA when he isn't on (but more like 4 steals, 9 assists) THEN we can be the best team in the East

[wermolwermol777]

The beautiful thing is...

We have both, and hopefully will have for years to come.

[Wiz99]

They're both great talents, with Gil perhaps capable of more "how did he do that?!?!" feats of physical prowess. But I think its the mental aspect that will ultimately determine which one is more valuable.

Gil is... mercurial... inscrutable... Those are nice ways of saying he does whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Unfortunately, that means he's shrugged off the role of leader on the Wiz, and does not always give 100% on defense. He also throws out these challenges like "I'm going to drop 50 on Portland because their coach was one of the Team USA coaches that cut me." For Gil, it still seems like the game is "all about me."

I have much less of a handle on Caron on those topics of leadership and giving effort in a team endeavor like defense always is. BUT, I will say I am impressed with the vast improvement in his shooting touch, clearly the product of a lot of hard work. He is now a legit threat all the way out to the tri-line and a much more dangerous offensive player than the slasher who could be defended by sagging off. That kind of improvement takes a willingness to admit one's weaknesses and the discipline to put the hard work in to change it. That's mental.

In other words, I see Caron in a mental state willing to improve what needs to improve, but I don't see the same thing with Gil working to improve his defense. The mental side might determine how good these two become. Remember, Jordan kept growing as a player all the way through the Bulls first threepeat (particularly his three point shooting and defense).

If you put a gun to my head and said I have to play a game tomorrow, I'd pick a healthy Gil. Dude can hang 50 on ya if he wants to. But if you're talking about who I'd have to pick to be the center of a franchise for years to come, that gets a lot less clear for me.

[FreeBalling]

We have both. I'd keep both.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

This would be a less ignorant sounding question if you had just asked "so who is more important to your team, arenas or butler?" I would have taken it more seriously if you had asked it that way. The way you phrased it is pretty ignorant because we don't have to choose them, we have them both and have the option of keeping both so it's a pointless question.

Having said that, Butler is making a run at showing he is more valuable than Arenas. We'll see when Arenas gets back if the defense reverts back to form, then we'll know that his scoring punch is fool's gold.

[Wiz99]

Give the guy a break. It seemed like a straightforward Q to me.

I think people just don't want to compare Gil and Caron. I admit, it's pretty hard to do. I took a stab at it, though.

[dandridge 10]

I am a Lakers fan and I'd say no question it is Arenas. Arenas has a chance to become a superstar while Butler will always be borderline 2nd tier.

Butler has pretty much the same stats as Kobe this year. The last time I checked, Butler is averaging maybe 5 points less than Kobe, but he was beating Kobe in Rebounds, Steals and Assists. I guess Kobe is a borderline 2nd tier player too.

[daSwami]

it's like asking, who would you keep: jordan or pippen?(meant as analogy)

[nate33]

Butler's production has been dropping lately because teams are loading up on him. I love Butler but the difference between Arenas and Butler is that Arenas truly can't be stopped whereas Butler can.

I agree with Zonker's point that this would be a tough question if it were: "Who is more important to your team?". I don't know the answer to that question. But if the question is: "Who is better?", then the answer is Arenas.

[Spence]

No Bullets fans should answer this question. What's the point of it? Both players are in Washington. They're both staying in Washington. Butler became a great player next to Gil and without Gil, he's improved again. When Gil returns, the rest of the conference will tremble.

I'm not choosing. I don't have to.

[Spence]

I agree with Zonker's point that this would be a tough question if it were: "Who is more important to your team?". I don't know the answer to that question. But if the question is: "Who is better?", then the answer is Arenas.

Neither of those questions are relevant to this thread. The question asked is which player would you keep? No answer is necessary because the Bullets are keeping both.

[XTC]

Jeez some of you are really uptight about this thread...

It's not like I'm forcing it down your throat or even bashing a player. Infact I've defended both players on the general board. I love Gilbert, he's an amazing player, and Caron is also amazing, he's like a prime Grant Hill out there, just doing it all.

Listen if some of you do think this quesion is bashing your players, or being stupid, I apologize. I really didn't mean too. I think the mod should just close it, if I offended anyone. I didn't mean for this thread to turn out like this.

But it is a dicussion board where discussions happen. I didn't once bash your team, or players in this thread. I love the Wiz they're an improving young team, who are very exciting to watch, because of the big 3 they have.

Well thanks bye,

XTC.

[nate33]

No problem XTC. I understood what you were saying. "Player A or Player B" is a common convention for naming player comparison threads. You weren't implying that they can't coexist.

Some guys on our board are a bit too sensitive.

[Induveca]

Give the guy a break. It seemed like a straightforward Q to me.

I think people just don't want to compare Gil and Caron. I admit, it's pretty hard to do. I took a stab at it, though.

Legit question, and relevant considering the situation we're in.........

If I *HAD* to choose, of course I'm going with Arenas. I love Butler, and cringed when we missed him by one pick back in his draft class (and ended up with Jeffries I believe...ugh).

But if someone put a gun to my head, told me to pick one of the two players.....and they were both playing to the best of their abilties, I go with Arenas. If someone did it TODAY, I pick Butler........purely because Arenas' injuries make him a question mark.

That being said, we'll resign Arenas this offseason without issue now.

[Wiz99]

Seriously, people are being too hard on this thread.

Just answer the man's question, which however it's worded just boils down to if you had to only have one of Gil and Butler, which would you take? Or don't answer, but do lighten up a bit, eh?

[hands11]

Butler's production has been dropping lately because teams are loading up on him. I love Butler but the difference between Arenas and Butler is that Arenas truly can't be stopped whereas Butler can.

I agree with Zonker's point that this would be a tough question if it were: "Who is more important to your team?". I don't know the answer to that question. But if the question is: "Who is better?", then the answer is Arenas.

Lets remember that GA didn't just show up with the game he has. It took years of him being the number one option and taking those last second game ending shots. First year here I believe GA shot under 40% but jacked a ton of shots.

CB worked on his game this off-season to add the 3 ball because that is what the team needed from him. Had he known GA wouldn't be here he may have worked on a different part of this game.

I have no doubt that if he went into this off-season working on this on his one-on-one game and ball handling, he would come back improved in that those area.