Arenas's Gift To The Wizards?

[FGump]

Mezo, you are lousy at reading comprehension, have a youngsters grasp on a few details here and there but erroneously lack the experience to recognize that more than those few details are in play in the application of law, and are over-reaching in your arguments and conclusions. All of them. Which is why pretty much everything you've offered here as a "possibility" remains utter nonsense.

If what you've offered as an option was really an option rather than sheer nonsense, the Wiz would have about $100M worth of reasons - 25-50% of the value of an entire franchise - to take that route, and for that amount of a windfall undoubtedly that's what would happen. They won't, of course, because it is NOT an option in the world in which we really live.

[FGump]

In fact, if anyone in the Washington front office is reading the ideas being proposed, I'm sure they're getting a good chuckle in the middle of an incredibly challenging circumstance.

"Hey Flip, come see what some junior flunky just out of law school is proposing on the internet as a solution to our Arenas dilemma."

"Oh my, Ernie, can you believe anyone thinks that's an option? I'm about to split a gut here. This is funny, I can't believe you found this. We just refuse to pay and it all just somehow magically goes away? Genius....Wait, on second thought, what if .... Ummm Ernie, did you run it by our legal guys?"

"Yeah, and they almost split a vein in their neck screaming at me for bringing them such a nutty idea. I thought the little one was gonna throw a shoe at me or something,"

"Rats. I'm bummed. For a minute there....." ~trailing off with a wistful look in his eyes~

"Yeah, me too. I felt like an idiot after they finished, but this Mezo guy acted like he knew something no one else does."

"Ernie, wouldn't it be a dream world if it was possible? Think of the possibilities - any time a player starts sucking or gets injured, we just don't pay them anymore, and then they have to let us buy them out for pennies on the dollar to ever play again."

"Heck yeah. Too bad we live in the real world, Flip."

" 'Real world'? Hey, wait, I just got a thought here. Where do you think that Mezo guy lives? Maybe they have odd laws there and we just need to move the franchise."

"Nah, Flip, I mentioned that too, and after they finished screaming at me that I was getting dumber by the minute and how pointless that would be, they called Pollan's kids on me. It was already rough around here, and this is gonna make it even worse. I may call in sick next week."

"Yeah, where do these guys dream up these solutions? Good grief."

"If we want to think like him, maybe we just need to smoke what he's smoking - that may do the trick."

"Mmmmmmmm. Crack. Yummmmm. Good Idea Ernie."

"Yeah, that reminds me. Where's my stash?" ~in a haze~ "Ain't the NBA a great life, Flip? All our problems went away, just like that."

"Mmmmmmm. Crack. A metric buttload of crack. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh........."

[Mezotarkus]

Mezo, you are lousy at reading comprehension, have a youngsters grasp on a few details here and there but erroneously lack the experience to recognize that more than those few details are in play in the application of law, and are over-reaching in your arguments and conclusions. All of them. Which is why pretty much everything you've offered here as a "possibility" remains utter nonsense.

If what you've offered as an option was really an option rather than sheer nonsense, the Wiz would have about $100M worth of reasons - 25-50% of the value of an entire franchise - to take that route, and for that amount of a windfall undoubtedly that's what would happen. They won't, of course, because it is NOT an option in the world in which we really live.

FGump, you strike me as someone who can't stand to be wrong on the internet and will dedicate significant time and text to protesting that you are not while never really offering anything of substance - all in an effort to distract others away from the fact that you are wrong. Your last two posts in this thread show that. I have asked you a simple question which you have yet to answer or even display the basic tools for being able to answer. Instead, you are throwing the internet equivalent of a fit. If you want to play lawyer in this forum thats up to you. But don't become so infantile when you are faced with an actual lawyer who actually practices contract law.

[FGump]

Haha good try skippy. I'm not going to be goaded into doing your homework for you in order to "prove" something, nor do I feel compelled to do research to put chapter and verse pertaining to general applications of law in front of you that you should already know (but maybe don't). As far as the specifics of the NBA's Constitution and ByLaws, which I feel would be very much at play here, I don't have access to them, but I have no doubts they'd kill such a nutty idea in a New York minute as well.

Besides, this is all a topic for one of your moot courts anyhow, because your idea will never be considered, much less tried. You know that quite well, whether you want to admit it or not.

[Mezotarkus]

Haha good try skippy. I'm not going to be goaded into doing your homework for you in order to "prove" something, nor do I feel compelled to do research to put chapter and verse pertaining to general applications of law in front of you that you should already know (but maybe don't). As far as the specifics of the NBA's Constitution and ByLaws, which I feel would be very much at play here, I don't have access to them, but I have no doubts they'd kill such a nutty idea in a New York minute as well.

Besides, this is all a topic for one of your moot courts anyhow, because your idea will never be considered, much less tried. You know that quite well, whether you want to admit it or not.

FGump, you strike me as someone who can't stand to be wrong on the internet and will dedicate significant time and text to protesting that you are not while never really offering anything of substance - all in an effort to distract others away from the fact that you are wrong. Your last two posts in this thread show that. I have asked you a simple question which you have yet to answer or even display the basic tools for being able to answer. Instead, you are throwing the internet equivalent of a fit. If you want to play lawyer in this forum thats up to you. But don't become so infantile when you are faced with an actual lawyer who actually practices contract law.

[Dunkenstein]

Gilbert Arenas has been suspended for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, according to a source that spoke with the Washington Post. Arenas asked commissioner David Stern for the suspension during their Wednesday meeting. According to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Arenas also told Stern that he would tell the players' union not to fight the suspension.

The same source said that during the meeting, Arenas asked Stern about the possibility of having the remaining four years of his six-year $111 million contract voided, to which Stern replied, "That would be left up to the team." According to a source, Arenas has intimated to friends, as well the NBA that he no longer wishes to play for Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld again.

I bet Grunfeld is calling his agent (oops, he doesn't have one) asking if Arenas would agree to a zero dollar buyout. It would serve the same purpose for Arenas as voiding his contract.

[Mezotarkus]

I bet Grunfeld is calling his agent (oops, he doesn't have one) asking if Arenas would agree to a zero dollar buyout. It would serve the same purpose for Arenas as voiding his contract.

Why would Arenas agree to that? Unless Arenas has to serve jail time after the start of the 2010-2011 season then there is zero chance his contract gets voided in arbitration. One upside of his suspension is if he serves jail time while suspended he can argue its the league suspension making him unable to play not the jail time. Arenas could try to salvage his reputation by agreeing to a buy out at a substantial discount in a "mea culpa" move and try to reinvigorate his career elsewhere while not screwing over the Wizards. But based on where the new CBA might end up Arenas contract might be a luxury he won't see again no matter how amazing he might perform elsewhere.

[FGump]

Arenas' own words on his current situation ... will this help repair some of the damage?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02524.html

By Gilbert Arenas
Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Post suggested on Dec. 31 that I send a message to young fans "about guns being neither glamorous nor desirable." I am grateful for the opportunity to do something good in the face of the very bad situation I created.

I have done a number of things wrong recently. I violated D.C. gun laws and the NBA's ban on firearms on league property, and I damaged the image of the NBA and its players. I reacted badly to the aftermath and made fun of inaccurate media reports, which looked as though I was making light of a serious situation. And I gave Commissioner David Stern good reason to suspend me from the game, which put my teammates in a tough position and let down our fans and Mrs. Irene Pollin, the widow of longtime Wizards owner Abe Pollin.

I understand the importance of teaching nonviolence to kids in today's world. Guns and violence are serious problems, not joking matters -- a lesson that's been brought home to me over the past few weeks. I thought about this when I pleaded guilty as charged in court and when I accepted my NBA suspension without challenge.

That message of nonviolence will be front and center as I try to rebuild my relationship with young people in the D.C. area. I know that won't happen overnight, and that it will happen only if I show through my actions that I am truly sorry and have learned from my mistakes. If I do that, then hopefully youngsters will learn from the serious mistakes I made with guns and not make any of their own.

I am trying hard to right my wrongs. The one that will be hardest to make right is the effect my actions have had on kids who see NBA players as role models. Professional athletes have a duty to act responsibly and to understand the influence we have on all those kids who look up to us. I failed to live up to that responsibility when I broke the law and set such a bad example. Washington's children, parents and fans all deserve better from me, especially after all the kindness they've shown me over the years.

While I regret a lot about this incident, letting the kids down is my biggest regret. I love the time I spend with the kids here in the District, and it means a lot to me whenever I can help lift their spirits or inspire them, especially kids who have difficult lives.

Last Tuesday, I wrote a letter to students in D.C. schools that was also about owning up to my mistakes. I said that I lost sight of the lesson I learned from Abe Pollin about how the responsibility to be a good role model comes along with the opportunity he gave me. I reiterate now the pledge I made to those students: that this is a responsibility I am not going to walk away from, that I will choose more wisely in the future and do my best to help guide children into brighter futures.

There have been few bright spots for me these past few weeks. But one came the night I played my last game this season at Verizon Center. I saw young fans were still showing up wearing my jersey. That meant more to me than I can say.

The relationship I have with young fans is very important to me. I realize now how easily I can damage it. I have to earn that respect and work to deserve it each and every day. I plan to do that work by partnering with public officials and community groups to teach kids to avoid trouble and learn from their mistakes, to strive for success by working hard and persevering, and to try to make the right choices.

Some people may not forgive me for what I've done. But if I help steer even just one young person away from violence and trouble, then I'll once again feel that I'm living up to Abe Pollin's legacy and to the responsibility I owe the kids of the District.

[ranger001]

I think its unlikely the contract gets voided since a firearm violation is not a crime involving moral turpitude according to the US dept of state.

Anyway assuming that his contract does not get voided, does anyone know if the Wizards buy him out if they will still have Bird Rights on Arenas? Lets say in 2010 someone is willing to offer him a max contract, can the Wizards offer him 20 million in a buyout then sign and trade him using his Bird rights?

[FGump]

no

[ranger001]

Thanks, so the only way out for the Wiz is to hope that he wants a buyout so he can move to a new team in 2010.

[johnbragg]

Assuming that the Wizards cannot successfully void Arenas' contract (and the Sprewell precedent says it's unlikely).

Can part of a buyout agreement be that a player voids years by using his ETO? Arenas gets his full salary for 2010-11 and 2011-12, and comes off the Wizards books in 2012?

Otherwise the buyout stays on the cap until 2014.

Can an ETO be used this way?

Or is this a question that only David Stern can answer by deciding whether it is circumvention or not?

[Mezotarkus]

Arenas' own words on his current situation ... will this help repair some of the damage?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02524.html

By Gilbert Arenas
Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Let me paraphrase this article.

"I have not yet been sentenced and a prison sentence is the only way my contract can be voided so I'm doing what I can so I can get by Benjamins."

[mayada]

TMZ obtained the dinner menus for the Montgomery County Pre-Release and Reentry Center in Maryland where Arenas' fine dining options include: scalloped chicken, chicken parmesan, spinach lasagna, steamed carrots, squash, and ... vanilla ice cream.
I'll give him unique gifts

[Three34]

and ... vanilla ice cream.

TMZ always with the scoops.