Arenas Claims Wizards Management Ratted Him Out

[montestewart]

Gil is not even in the same room as MJ. That is all part of the problem. Gil way overplayed his hand. He did it with the max contract. He did it with the rehab. He did it when he showed up at halftime to play without telling his coach. He did it by prediction 50 in the playoffs.

Well stated. I was a big Arenas fan, but it's not like there weren't any negatives. And really, it's nice if you can deal with issues in house, but what happens when one player shoots another? No evidence the Arenas situation ever came close, but some people act like gun play is no big deal, even when mixed with anger. Why not throw in some liquor while we're at it? What's the harm? If one of these "in-house" situations ever explodes into actual shooting, everyone will ask why more was not done to stop it. The whole Arenas-Wizards situation seems filled with grey areas and mistakes on both sides.

I said all along, give could be an AI type or maybe he grows past that. So far, he isn't even an AI. All he did was put up pts on a bad team in a weak division for a few years. Lots of players have done that.

Don't sell him short. With all his defensive shortcomings, at his peak, Arenas was a great scorer, not merely a good scorer on a bad team, and on the offensive side, he helped other players have career years. He deserved his all-star status.

[Induveca]

Maybe if I say this slowly, people will get it this time. If... the... Wiz ownership and management were motivated only by money in the Arenas situation, the LAST thing they would have done is turn him in. You don't intentionally devalue an asset if your primary motivation is money.

This is complete nonsense. Grunfeld stated directly that they were looking into voiding the contract when asked point blank January 28, 2010 (weeks after the incident, in a carefully planned PR statement, obviously with the goal of saving money....coinciding with completely removing Arenas identity from the franchise in all forms, completely devaluing Arenas as an asset).

The misguided logic?
- No one steering the ship, Abe passed........Irene/her son running the show in January.
- Pollin family likely viewed this as a heinous crime worthy of jailtime, conveniently saving them millions in the form of a voided contract. In addition? Their profits in the sale to Leonsis rise significantly.
- Leak this to the press, let them research the possibility for us......demonize Arenas and it increases the likelihood of NBA HQ voiding the contract. Costs us no money, just a PR statement.

Magically two months later after the press had widely concluded after much DD and research that Arenas contract could not be voided........Grunfeld states on March 28th they won't void the contract, and Arenas would be a member of the team in 2010-2011. Another carefully planned PR moment and possibly an attempt by Leonsis to clean up the mess.

It was a boneheaded move by a franchise in the midst of an ownership change, and no one steering the ship. I put this 100% on the Pollins and Grunfeld. The Pollins had begun their unexpected tough negotiations with Leonsis, he was not part of any decision making process in January 2010.

Grunfeld Stating They'd Consider Voiding....
http://nationalsportsreview.com/sports/ ... lpability/

The backtrack two months later
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03426.html

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Maybe if I say this slowly, people will get it this time. If... the... Wiz ownership and management were motivated only by money in the Arenas situation, the LAST thing they would have done is turn him in. You don't intentionally devalue an asset if your primary motivation is money.

Slow-as-molasses condescension notwithstanding, you may not be getting it: some people here don't have enough confidence in Wizards management to necessarily credit them with fully thinking it through, regardless of motivation.

If financially motivated schemes and acts always succeeded, what would the jail industry do?

I tend toward conspiracies of incompetence over other competing theories, but it doesn't seem such a big deal at this point. I still remember Arenas fondly, he's still on a big contract, he's another team's problem, and the Wizards have (hopefully) moved on. They snitched, they didn't snitch, who knows? It's like some sort of Wizards fan litmus test.

On top of that, Gil's getting suspended the rest of that season saved the Wizards from the luxury tax. It began the Wizards moving into full-tank mode, when they made some really good moves. (Trading Jamison freed up Blatche and other youth. Kirk Hinrich was turned into Singleton and Jordan Crawford; and Bibby walked away from money to Miami). Gil got to go to a contending team with a GM that's like a father figure to him. The Wizards got a solid citizen (who may have tapped Lebron's woman) in Rashard Lewis.

Everybody moved on quite nicely. Gil is back to being Gil with the media, which is nice to see.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Maybe if I say this slowly, people will get it this time. If... the... Wiz ownership and management were motivated only by money in the Arenas situation, the LAST thing they would have done is turn him in. You don't intentionally devalue an asset if your primary motivation is money.

This is complete nonsense. Grunfeld stated directly that they were looking into voiding the contract when asked point blank January 28, 2010 (weeks after the incident, in a carefully planned PR statement, obviously with the goal of saving money....coinciding with completely removing Arenas identity from the franchise in all forms, completely devaluing Arenas as an asset).

The misguided logic?
- No one steering the ship, Abe passed........Irene/her son running the show in January.
- Pollin family likely viewed this as a heinous crime worthy of jailtime, conveniently saving them millions in the form of a voided contract. In addition? Their profits in the sale to Leonsis rise significantly.
- Leak this to the press, let them research the possibility for us......demonize Arenas and it increases the likelihood of NBA HQ voiding the contract. Costs us no money, just a PR statement.

Magically two months later after the press had widely concluded after much DD and research that Arenas contract could not be voided........Grunfeld states on March 28th they won't void the contract, and Arenas would be a member of the team in 2010-2011. Another carefully planned PR moment and possibly an attempt by Leonsis to clean up the mess.

It was a boneheaded move by a franchise in the midst of an ownership change, and no one steering the ship. I put this 100% on the Pollins and Grunfeld. The Pollins had begun their unexpected tough negotiations with Leonsis, he was not part of any decision making process in January 2010.

Grunfeld Stating They'd Consider Voiding....
http://nationalsportsreview.com/sports/ ... lpability/

The backtrack two months later
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03426.html

Thanks, Induveca, for connecting the dots.

[Nivek]

Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I think the simplest explanation for everything that happened in this incident is the most likely. Simplest being, the story got to Vecsey the way rumors do. Witnesses (or participants) told people they "knew" they could trust, those people told other people they "knew" they could trust, and eventually in the chain, someone told Vecsey. Vecsey wrote about it in the most sensationalized way possible and Wizards management had to react. And they reacted badly.

To me, all these theories about the Wizards brass scheming to "get" Arenas are silly.

[HotelVitale]

I think Gil's point maybe doesn't concern what exactly happened, but the facts of life in the NBA. I imagine him reflecting back on what happened and thinking, 'this wouldn't have happened if I was putting up 27/7 on a playoff-bound team, right?' And I think he's totally right-on about that. Even if management wasn't motivated by $--though Induveca's timeline makes a good case they still could have been--Gil's point is that he became vulnerable once he stopped being an elite player. That doesn't sound like conspiracy to me, just everyday logic of corporations or any institution that need to manage groups of people--stop being a superstar and the company/university/political party/rock band stops indulging your eccentricities.

And Ruzious, you should really make sure you've thought through the possibilities of the topic exhaustively before resorting to that sort of dismissiveness.

[dandridge 10]

I think Gil's point maybe doesn't concern what exactly happened, but the facts of life in the NBA. I imagine him reflecting back on what happened and thinking, 'this wouldn't have happened if I was putting up 27/7 on a playoff-bound team, right?' And I think he's totally right-on about that. Even if management wasn't motivated by $--though Induveca's timeline makes a good case they still could have been--Gil's point is that he became vulnerable once he stopped being an elite player. That doesn't sound like conspiracy to me, just everyday logic of corporations or any institution that need to manage groups of people--stop being a superstar and the company/university/political party/rock band stops indulging your eccentricities.

And Ruzious, you should really make sure you've thought through the possibilities of the topic exhaustively before resorting to that sort of dismissiveness.

Not that I really care anymore, but I think both you and Nivek have some valid points. I think the story got out from witnesses who saw the incident and told a few people in confidence, which then got to Vecsey. Once the story was out, I think the Wizards handled the situation poorly because of a few factors: (1) no leadership with Abe gone, (2) the fact that the infraction involved guns and Arenas' poor handling of the situation infuriated Irene and her sons who were still reeling from the death of Abe, and (4) Gil was no longer as much of a protected asset. But, like I said, who really cares. It worked out for both parties and we are now under new ownership.

[Ruzious]

Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I think the simplest explanation for everything that happened in this incident is the most likely. Simplest being, the story got to Vecsey the way rumors do. Witnesses (or participants) told people they "knew" they could trust, those people told other people they "knew" they could trust, and eventually in the chain, someone told Vecsey. Vecsey wrote about it in the most sensationalized way possible and Wizards management had to react. And they reacted badly.

To me, all these theories about the Wizards brass scheming to "get" Arenas are silly.

The problem is you're using common sense on a board that often isn'y capable of using it when it comes to anything related to Arenas.

[LyricalRico]

[Zonkerbl]

Common sense is BORING.

[closg00]

Maybe if I say this slowly, people will get it this time. If... the... Wiz ownership and management were motivated only by money in the Arenas situation, the LAST thing they would have done is turn him in. You don't intentionally devalue an asset if your primary motivation is money.

This is complete nonsense. Grunfeld stated directly that they were looking into voiding the contract when asked point blank January 28, 2010 (weeks after the incident, in a carefully planned PR statement, obviously with the goal of saving money....coinciding with completely removing Arenas identity from the franchise in all forms, completely devaluing Arenas as an asset).

The misguided logic?
- No one steering the ship, Abe passed........Irene/her son running the show in January.
- Pollin family likely viewed this as a heinous crime worthy of jailtime, conveniently saving them millions in the form of a voided contract. In addition? Their profits in the sale to Leonsis rise significantly.
- Leak this to the press, let them research the possibility for us......demonize Arenas and it increases the likelihood of NBA HQ voiding the contract. Costs us no money, just a PR statement.

Magically two months later after the press had widely concluded after much DD and research that Arenas contract could not be voided........Grunfeld states on March 28th they won't void the contract, and Arenas would be a member of the team in 2010-2011. Another carefully planned PR moment and possibly an attempt by Leonsis to clean up the mess.

It was a boneheaded move by a franchise in the midst of an ownership change, and no one steering the ship. I put this 100% on the Pollins and Grunfeld. The Pollins had begun their unexpected tough negotiations with Leonsis, he was not part of any decision making process in January 2010.

Grunfeld Stating They'd Consider Voiding....
http://nationalsportsreview.com/sports/ ... lpability/

The backtrack two months later
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03426.html

I think your re-cap of the past events has been the most factual and accurate Induveca, thanks!

[Ruzious]

I think Gil's point maybe doesn't concern what exactly happened, but the facts of life in the NBA. I imagine him reflecting back on what happened and thinking, 'this wouldn't have happened if I was putting up 27/7 on a playoff-bound team, right?' And I think he's totally right-on about that. Even if management wasn't motivated by $--though Induveca's timeline makes a good case they still could have been--Gil's point is that he became vulnerable once he stopped being an elite player. That doesn't sound like conspiracy to me, just everyday logic of corporations or any institution that need to manage groups of people--stop being a superstar and the company/university/political party/rock band stops indulging your eccentricities.

And Ruzious, you should really make sure you've thought through the possibilities of the topic exhaustively before resorting to that sort of dismissiveness.

I laughed.

[montestewart]

Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I think the simplest explanation for everything that happened in this incident is the most likely. Simplest being, the story got to Vecsey the way rumors do. Witnesses (or participants) told people they "knew" they could trust, those people told other people they "knew" they could trust, and eventually in the chain, someone told Vecsey. Vecsey wrote about it in the most sensationalized way possible and Wizards management had to react. And they reacted badly.

To me, all these theories about the Wizards brass scheming to "get" Arenas are silly.

The problem is you're using common sense on a board that often isn'y capable of using it when it comes to anything related to Arenas.

Based on your own posts, I laughed.