The Amazingly Sucky Wizards Leadership Thread

[TheSecretWeapon]

Grinning and laughing at Gil behaving like a moron and probably ending his season are:

- Antawn Jamison
- Fabricio Oberto
- Andray Blatche
- Randy Foye
- Nick Young
- Dominic McGuire
- Javale McGee
- Deshawn Stevenson

Is that the back of Boykins head in the foreground?

I'd expect this kind of thing from the younger guys and Stevenson, but Jamison's big grin is disappointing. He's supposed to be a leader, and he is most definitely grown enough to know better.

And what the hell is Oberto thinking?

[Tirion]

cut Oberto some slack, he probably didn't even understand what was happening, he's got that "I must've missed the joke, but need to laugh to fit in" look going.

[DaRealHibachi]

Introducing...

YOUR WASHINGTON WIZAAAAAARDS!!!

[nate33]

I think that picture is a misrepresentation of what happened. Everybody is already laughing even though it looks like Gil just stuck out his fingers. My guess is that the joke happened before the gun pointing gesture. Or at the very least, the funny part about the joke had little or nothing to do with the gun gesture. I just don't think the entire team would laugh like that at a gun joke given the circumstances. We already know that several players have voiced disgust about the whole situation.

I'm not making judgements based on that photo unless I see some actual video to go with it.

[Donkey McDonkerton]

How dare they laugh...this whole thing is getting blown out of EPIC proportion.

[TheSecretWeapon]

nate: I'd also like to see video on it to get a fuller context. I wish I could agree with your other thoughts.

[20MexicanosIn1Van]

I think that picture is a misrepresentation of what happened. Everybody is already laughing even though it looks like Gil just stuck out his fingers. My guess is that the joke happened before the gun pointing gesture. Or at the very least, the funny part about the joke had little or nothing to do with the gun gesture. I just don't think the entire team would laugh like that at a gun joke given the circumstances. We already know that several players have voiced disgust about the whole situation.

I'm not making judgements based on that photo unless I see some actual video to go with it.

QFT.

[Tirion]

they are getting fined 20-25K apparently

[DCZards]

I've got mixed feelings about the photo but I'm probably closer to Nate in thinking that I'd like to see the video, if it's even available, before I pass judgement. Most of these guys are mature and smart enough to know that Gil was already in serious trouble--but I think they know better than any of us that what Gil did was a stupid prank gone terribly wrong. So I'm not surprised that those closest to the situation are not taking the "prank" as seriously as the rest of us.

The pre-game shoot 'em up was probably just GA's way of keeping the guys loose....and his teammates knew that. Stupid, absolutely. But they did win the game.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

A picture can deceive, no doubt. So, I'm not ready to implicate Jamison for this one... however, that doesn't mean that we can't be disappointed with his overall lack of leadership this year and his overrated virtues in general.

On balance, AJ has been a pretty good pro for this team. He has quietly gone about HIS business. He comports HIMSELF properly most of the time. He plays through most injuries.

However, I'm not at all ready to enshrine him in the pantheon of really good LEADERS. His reactions to being subbed out by Flip are borderline insubordinate; his comments after the Sixers' game that the team followed HIS lead on defense are self delusional at best; his anger at being sixth man (of the year) in Dallas don't suggest selflessness; and somewhere along the way, he has missed an opportunity to grab Gil by the collar and convince him to grow up... or, at least, he hasn't been successful if he has tried.

I feel sorry for Gil. His comments about being a "kid" playing jokes underline some serious, personal issues (Michael Jackson anyone?) that he will have to grapple with if he hopes to become a good father and live a long life.

I feel mostly disdain for Antawn.

[Ruzious]

I think that picture is a misrepresentation of what happened. Everybody is already laughing even though it looks like Gil just stuck out his fingers. My guess is that the joke happened before the gun pointing gesture. Or at the very least, the funny part about the joke had little or nothing to do with the gun gesture. I just don't think the entire team would laugh like that at a gun joke given the circumstances. We already know that several players have voiced disgust about the whole situation.

I'm not making judgements based on that photo unless I see some actual video to go with it.

That's a really big reach, but I guess anything's possible. My impression was that Gil staged it - with the help of those teammates.

[LyricalRico]

I think that picture is a misrepresentation of what happened. Everybody is already laughing even though it looks like Gil just stuck out his fingers. My guess is that the joke happened before the gun pointing gesture. Or at the very least, the funny part about the joke had little or nothing to do with the gun gesture. I just don't think the entire team would laugh like that at a gun joke given the circumstances. We already know that several players have voiced disgust about the whole situation.

I'm not making judgements based on that photo unless I see some actual video to go with it.

That's a really big reach, but I guess anything's possible. My impression was that Gil staged it - with the help of those teammates.

That thought has also crossed my mind, that this was something they got together and did as a misguided attempt to show support for Arenas. I would think that Jamison would know better, but maybe he doesn't. Maybe they are all so jaded by the prevalence of guns in the NBA that they really don't see it as a serious thing.

[MF23]

Yeah Kevin, Jamison's reaction surprised me as well. Maybe it was so stupid he busted out instinctively. I've done that before and then my conscious will make me think better.

To me it looks like Arenas is turning in a circle shooting all of his teammates and probably Boykins or someone else started pretending to be hit.

People are looking at him doing that with a smiles on their faces. There is no logical defense for that.

[DCZards]

A picture can deceive, no doubt. So, I'm not ready to implicate Jamison for this one... however, that doesn't mean that we can't be disappointed with his overall lack of leadership this year and his overrated virtues in general.

On balance, AJ has been a pretty good pro for this team. He has quietly gone about HIS business. He comports HIMSELF properly most of the time. He plays through most injuries.

However, I'm not at all ready to enshrine him in the pantheon of really good LEADERS. His reactions to being subbed out by Flip are borderline insubordinate; his comments after the Sixers' game that the team followed HIS lead on defense are self delusional at best; his anger at being sixth man (of the year) in Dallas don't suggest selflessness; and somewhere along the way, he has missed an opportunity to grab Gil by the collar and convince him to grow up... or, at least, he hasn't been successful if he has tried.

I feel sorry for Gil. His comments about being a "kid" playing jokes underline some serious, personal issues (Michael Jackson anyone?) that he will have to grapple with if he hopes to become a good father and live a long life.

I feel mostly disdain for Antawn.

"Disdain" for AJ? I think you're being extremely harsh.

I don't recall hearing that Jamison was angry at being the sixth man in Dallas...but you may be right. I do know that he was "Sixth Man of the Year" that one year he played for Dallas so he didn't let his "anger" affect his performance.

Last night, after the Zards were crushed by Cleve, AJ stood at or near the entrance of the tunnel as his teammates headed to the locker room. He gave each of them a light tap of the back of the head as they passed by...as if to say we're going to be alright. I think that anyone who saw that would recognize that what AJ was doing there was an act of "leadership."

It was a show of support (some might call it love) that Wizard players, especially the young guys, need very much at this time.

[TheSecretWeapon]

"Disdain" is too strong a word for Jamison. I'm disappointed to see him in the middle of that, but I still think he's a good guy. I don't think he's shown strong leadership through this, though. And he it would appear that he didn't show leadership in that "shoot 'em up" display by Arenas.

[daSwami]

To me, this is further evidence that the incident needs to be put in context of the "culture" in which it occured. Handguns and smack talk are as commonplace to them as blackberrys and handshakes are to the average fan. To the players, the Gil/Javaris tiff just didn't rise to the level of condemnation that the rest of us think it should. . Maybe it's polite laughter, the type reserved for awkward moments. I see this image and think: here's Gil trying real hard to re-ingratiate himself to his team mates by poking fun at the situation. His team mates are probably thinking they have to laugh lest they be seen as sticks in the mud.

Its like in "Goodfellas" when Tommy busts Ray Liotta's chops "Do I amuse you? Am I clown to you? How am I funny?" It's an intense scene for viewers because we aren't privy to mob culture. We think Tommy might stab Liotta in the neck with a pen. It isn't until Tommy breaks face and lets out a chuckle and everyone starts to laugh that the pressure releases and we see it was all just a joke that was maybe taken a bit too far.

[W. Unseld]

AJ's smiling but the rest of his body language seems semi-embarrassed/awkward. There are so many versions of this going around that I don't know what's true but I think jail time for unloaded guns in a locked, secure place is ludicrous and I'm not exactly Captain NRA.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

There's laughing at something being funny and there's laughing that something's totally f'd up.

I'm pretty sure I'd have been laughing the latter at Gil if I were a teammate. I bet what he said did lighten things up and make the team collectively smile.

I can see why the commissioner and the Pollins are mad as hell because just at face value he clearly appears to be mocking the whole gun charge deal.

However, viewing the players as INTELLIGENT, HARDWORKING MEN--they got to the NBA somehow when many others would like to be there--I'd be inclined to say MAYBE THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED BECAUSE THEY WERE THERE and maybe, just maybe they can laugh with their teammate.

If anything, his last game as a Wizard Gil made his teammates smile, passed out 14 assists and was player of the game, and he beat EJ.

I'm not going to rip Jamison at all. (Until I find out more.)

Personally, I think Gil could hve been mocking Crittenton's pointing a gun at him.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

On another note, every player that gets fined needs to appeal and consider their character has been assualted.

Since when is laughing in a huddle bad conduct?

[willbcocks]

The look on Gil's face, reading into it everything I want to read into it, is painful to see.

Jamison is gesturing at Gil's "guns," in a kinda of "oh no he didn't" way. He, and the rest, are clearly laughing at the guns, and given what they've said in the press, to suggest otherwise would be a stretch of...well, not epic proportions, since half the posts in the various gilbert threads are stretched even further, but at least "large proportions."