Don’t bring guns to ARENAS

Gilbert Arenas was making his way to the court room to essentially find out his future and on the way, was a little girl in a pink jacket who tapped him in the back, as he felt the tap; he turned around and to Arenas surprise, the little girl asked for an autograph, and he obliged and signed the young girl’s bag pack.  This was the scene before he even stepped a foot into the door and this showed the heart of the player formerly known as Agent 0.  He is now Agent 6 I guess. Comcast Sports net’s Mike (Who?) Jones reported on The LaVar Arrington show with Chad Dukes on 106.7 The Fan, which Arenas paid for Javaris Crittenton’s mother neck surgery which cost a whopping $30k.  Gilbert has done so much for this community with his, “Scores for Schools,” programs, where for every point he scored, he would donate $100 dollars to a particular school that was chosen for that game.  So whatever school was chosen during his 60 point performance against Kobe and the Los Angeles Lakers must have chick fillet for lunch. People, who have hated on the fact that Arenas got a “slap” on the hand for his sentencing, were the same people who were cheering for him when he made all those game winners and crazy layups. 

Gilbert used to give away his game jerseys after every game and brought a buzz to the DMV area that hasn’t seen anything like this since Chris Webber and Juan Howard were running this team.  People are fickle, and this country will always forgive for what a man does. Will they forget? That will be determined later on but like they always say, winning cures everything. Agent 6 was averaging 22.6 points per game and averaged a career high 7.2 assist per game. (With 32 games played)  Arenas showed flashes of getting his legs back as he was running a brand new offense under Phil “Flip” Saunders. If the Wizards go back to the playoffs, people will even forget that Arenas went to court.  With the Wizards “rebuilding,” Arenas coming back with a new nucleus could be beneficial to the Wizards and to himself.  Sometimes people just need fresh start, see Brandon Haywood and Caron Butler in Dallas. As I went on Overtime with Holden Kushner and Liz Drabick’s show on 106.7 The Fan, they both made me realize that the kids were copying and imitating Gilbert Arenas and his finger guns in school.  Holden and Liz had a point, but my rebuttal would be, it all starts with the parents. 

I can’t argue the fact that what Gilbert did was wrong, but parenting is lacking if someone’s kid is doing the finger gun in school and even being suspended for it.  Should Gilbert have done that, NO, but he is human, and mistakes were made.  If Mike Vick can get a 2nd chance at it, then Gilbert should be allowed too as well.  Courtesy of Mr. Michael Lee of The Washington Post and his twitter account; Antawn Jamison on Gilbert: "He's too good of a guy to get any kind of jail time. He just made a dumb decision and wasn't thinking clearly."  I couldn’t say it any better than that. Gilbert Arenas will pay his debt to the community soon enough.  If you really think about it, this situation has brought a positive light if you will.  A blessing in disguise, because If Arenas was not suspended, who would think that Caron Butler, Brandon Haywood, and Deshawn Stevenson would be traded to the Dallas Mavericks? Who could have guessed Antawn Jamison would have been gone to Cleveland.  The Wizards created cap space and got under the luxury tax.  Not only did they financially set themselves to be a player in free agency this summer but the Wizards found out that Andray Blatche is the truth when given the chance.

I honestly believe the Wizards would have no idea what they would have if this Arenas incident would not have occurred.   Now that they do, they ride the wave of destiny. Wizards Release Statement: “We believe today’s sentencing of Gilbert Arenas can help bring closure to the unfortunate situation that has played out over the last three months.   Gilbert has admitted his mistakes and will now pay his debt to our community.  We are confident that he has learned something significant from the experience and we now look forward to moving on and focusing on building this team into the contender that our outstanding fans deserve.” Ernie Grunfeld, President, Washington Wizards Irene Pollin, Principal Owner, Washington Sports and Entertainment (WSE) Robert Pollin, Chief Executive Officer, WSE James Pollin, President, WSE "The whole world has watched as a man who brought four unloaded guns into the District of Columbia was required to accept a felony plea, suffer great personal and professional collateral consequences, register as a 'gun offender,' submit to court supervision, and face public scorn. This sad saga has sent a strong message to any and all who might consider bringing guns into the District." -- Statement by Gilbert Arenas' Lawyers

Here is a look at what other Wizards Blog/Writers are saying:

Michael Lee of the Washington Post: Mike Prada of Bullets Forever: http://www.bulletsforever.com/2010/3/26/1391969/gilbert-arenas-avoids-jail-gets
Kyle of TruthAboutIt.net: http://www.truthaboutit.net/2010/03/gut-reaction-no-jail-for-gilbert-arenas.html
Mike (WHO?) Jones of Comcast:  http://www.csnwashington.com/pages/landing_wizards/?blockID=205004&feedID=2994
George Panagakos from the Washington Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/x-601-Washington-Wizards-Examiner~y2010m3d26-Washington-Wizards-star-Gilbert-Arenas-to-be-sentenced-today

Asad Naqvi

Wizards Extreme Correspondent