Arenas: Last place not so bad.

[wdleehi]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3715803

"I don't want to see them struggle," Arenas said Thursday at Madame Tussauds, where his wax figure was unveiled, "but if this is one of those years where we don't make the playoffs or we finish in last place ... that's what happened to San Antonio and that's how they got Tim Duncan and look at them now ... and that's for the better."

[celticmaestro]

In theory, he's right. Problem is there's only one certified star in this draft and he's another PG (Ricky Rubio). Doesn't really bode well for Gilbert. There is no other Tim Duncan.

Having said all that, I still expect the Wizards to improve and Gilbert to give it his all when he gets back.

[nickagneta]

Reality to Arenas, come in Gilbert. There's no Tim Duncan in this year's draft. There's no Greg Oden in this draft. There may not be an Andrea Bargnani in this draft. Also, please call Celtic fans and ask them about the realities of banking on getting the first overall pick in the draft lottery. I'm not sure you are going to like what you hear.

[housecall]

Gilbert by the time the player reaches the potential to help the Wizards get to the top of the east,you might not be around to be a recipient of it.Remember Duncan started out with a superstar  David Robinson(big) to groom him, it takes several years or longer to get your 1st rounder ready.You would probably be on the downside of your career,if not already gone.

[Schupac]

I think Celticsblog as a whole should move past giving a crap about what Gilbert Arenas says.  The guy (intentionally I'm sure) doesn't filter what he says.... so he says anything.

[Fafnir]

I think Celticsblog as a whole should move past giving a crap about what Gilbert Arenas says.  The guy (intentionally I'm sure) doesn't filter what he says.... so he says anything.

I can't believe he got $116 million dollars......

[moiso]

This team won't be very good even with Arenas.  I think the loss of Haywood was fairly significant for them.

[greg683x]

I know lots of people like Gilbert, but I think I'm in the minority when it comes to him.  What hes done over the past couple years has really rubbed me the wrong way.  The guy had two surgeries on his knee, and hadnt been able to come back and stay back.  So what does he do?  He decides to opt out of his contract and threaten to leave if hes not paid max money, this on top of the fact that the Wizards already had Jamisons new deal to worry about.  It put his team in a horrible position IMO, and it was a very selfish and immature move.  Imagine being out of work for over a year, but your company is still paying you through workers comp, and just when you think your ready to come back to work, you decide to demand a raise, or else you quit.  It's absurd.

All the talking he done on his blogs, shooting his team into a loss b/c hes trying to make good on his 50 point prediction, all that stuff I just thought was annoying up until this stunt he pulled for his contract last year.  I know its still early, but its not looking like a good investment for the Wiz so far.

It also wouldnt suprise me a bit to know that theres a part of him that is happy the Wizards are playing so badly without him.  Im not saying hes rooting for his team to lose, but you could tell last year he was irritated with all the talk that the Wizards were playing better without him in the lineup.

[Redz]

More Arenas nuggets from the Washington Post

"Me and Brendan [Haywood], we talk about it," Arenas said. "If I come back in January -- that's about 20, 25 games we counted -- when do we say it's okay? If we're 15 games out, how hard is it to come back from that? It might depend on who is in the eighth spot at the time and what our record is."

"It's like last season," Arenas said. "If it's the playoffs, I could play, but since it's not, I'm still taking it slow. I wouldn't be able to play back-to-backs and if we had four games in five nights, I'd only be able to play two of them. We don't want to go through that the whole season, so we're just going to wait until it's fully ready to go so we can go and just not even worry about it."

[indeedproceed]

Reality to Arenas, come in Gilbert. There's no Tim Duncan in this year's draft. There's no Greg Oden in this draft. There may not be an Andrea Bargnani in this draft. Also, please call Celtic fans and ask them about the realities of banking on getting the first overall pick in the draft lottery. I'm not sure you are going to like what you hear.

Yes please call this Celtic fan. 1-800-No-Oden-But-we-won-the-whole-freakin-chip-anyway.

[KCattheStripe]

Reality to Arenas, come in Gilbert. There's no Tim Duncan in this year's draft. There's no Greg Oden in this draft. There may not be an Andrea Bargnani in this draft. Also, please call Celtic fans and ask them about the realities of banking on getting the first overall pick in the draft lottery. I'm not sure you are going to like what you hear.

Didn't we bank on getting the number one pick and then win the championship the next year? WHAT A TURNAROUND! TANKING FOR EVERYONE! IT WORKS!

[Chris]

In theory, he's right. Problem is there's only one certified star in this draft and he's another PG (Ricky Rubio). Doesn't really bode well for Gilbert. There is no other Tim Duncan.

Having said all that, I still expect the Wizards to improve and Gilbert to give it his all when he gets back.

Well, I actually think Rubio would be the perfect backcourt-mate for Arenas.  He is big enough to guard the 2, but is a true PG, which compliments Arenas, who is a 2 in a 1's body perfectly.

Anyways, you have to be impressed with Arena's optimism.

[makaveli]

Right or wrong, you don't talk about lottery 10 games in the season. He disappointed me a bit.
I think he's pretty amusing guy, and he should stay that, this statement dose nothing but provoke stupid questions.