Gilbert Arenas is still acting like a fool...

[JSD]

I thought it was going to go down like this:

- GA tells coach he's hurting and really is.

- Jokes with the reporter about wanting to hook up a teammate and faking the injury.

- Gets suspended by ignorant coach who didn't know he was kidding.

- GA explains to coach "I was just kidding with the guy"

Guess not. I was wrong.

[JSD]

Reaction from Flip Saunders, and Gilbert's apology:

That didn't sit well with the Wizards or Saunders, who said Arenas told him at the morning shootaround that he was sore and couldn't play. Saunders said he addressed the situation in meetings with Arenas and the team. "I told him, 'I'm most disappointed personally, because I believe in you. There has been a trust factor.' I told him, 'You have to be honest with me,' " Saunders said. "In my conversation with both him and in front of the team, was when you guys indicate to me that you're in a situation that you can't play, I can't judge when someone is hurt or not hurt. Only you can tell us that. When you indicate and say that to me, that's what I go by."

Arenas apologized for not being forthcoming with Saunders, but said he was only trying to help a teammate get more playing time. "I was trying to be a good teammate. Nick wanted to play, and since we are guard-loaded, I felt I'd take the day off, and I lied to coach and told him my knee was sore so he could start Nick," Arenas said. "Obviously, no one's taken it well. I was just trying to help out Nick, get some playing time under his belt because he's been working hard at practice. I screwed up again, so I just want to say, 'Sorry.' "

"I messed up again," he said. "I'll never do it again."

Arenas said he probably should've handled the situation differently. "In hindsight, yes, but I wasn't really thinking that this was going to be another media outburst. It's like everything I do now, someone tit for tat, try to blow it out of proportion. At the end of the day, Nick is happy. He got to play, got to show that he can play, and I'm out here taking all the heat again. I made my teammate happy."

He added, "Better way? If I wouldn't have made any comments, you guys wouldn't have known, right? Let's just say I blew it again."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wizardsinsider/2010/10/gilbert-arenas-i-screwed-up-ag.html

It's pretty clear from Arenas' words that he doesn't get it.  He thinks the thing that he did wrong was telling the media, rather than lying to his coach and faking an injury.  He undermined his coach and organization, but because he helped out a teammate, he thinks he did the right thing. Stupid. 

By the way, he absolutely wasn't kidding.  He's completely serious in his explanation, and his earlier statements.

You're right Roy, he's a complete fool.

[greg683x]

I understand that this is just a preseason game but I dont get how so many people can just dismiss this as nothing or just a stupid joke.

Yes it's nice that he wanted to get a teammate playing time to reward his hard work, but he undermined his coaches to do it.  Instead of going to Flip and saying that he wants Nick to start in his place, he lied to Flip, which basically tells Nick Young, yeah youve been working hard, these coaches are just jerks so let me lie so you can get your way.  I think its harmful to player/coach relationships on the team when players feel they dont have to respect what the coaching decisions are.

The guys supposed to be a vet leader on this team, and if I was the Wiz management, I'd be biting my fingernails thinking that this is the guy John Wall is learning from every day.

[moiso]

His contract looks worse and worse every year, even though it gets a year shorter each year.  Thank god he's not a Celtic.

[CelticHooligan3]

I think J.O. will be fine.  In this locker room, I don't think players would get away with taking games off.

Depends on KG's health in my opinion. If he's feeling good and the team stays pretty healthy I think you're right.

Injuries to KG or other players could easily push the C's to 50ish wins again as they coast in the regular season again.

Coasting, yes.  Milking an injury, I'm more skeptical of.  Maybe they're two sides of the same coin, but I think teammates would have an issue if J.O. or anybody else missed 30 to 40 games with an exaggerated issue.

I think they're pretty similar, I dunno it depends also on how they approach injuries this year.

Just curious fafnir as to where your getting the assumption that J. Oneal milks injuries. Guy definatley didn't look 100% in last years playoffs but he played good soldier and suited up anyway. From what he's said as well he's willing to play through the pain. Why not take him at his word? I'm just a little skeptical that he would milk an injury number one on this veteran heavy team and two just in general because I've never heard of him doing it before. But lemme know if you've heard differently I'm interested to know.

[Fafnir]

I think J.O. will be fine.  In this locker room, I don't think players would get away with taking games off.

Depends on KG's health in my opinion. If he's feeling good and the team stays pretty healthy I think you're right.

Injuries to KG or other players could easily push the C's to 50ish wins again as they coast in the regular season again.

Coasting, yes.  Milking an injury, I'm more skeptical of.  Maybe they're two sides of the same coin, but I think teammates would have an issue if J.O. or anybody else missed 30 to 40 games with an exaggerated issue.

I think they're pretty similar, I dunno it depends also on how they approach injuries this year.

Just curious fafnir as to where your getting the assumption that J. Oneal milks injuries. Guy definatley didn't look 100% in last years playoffs but he played good soldier and suited up anyway. From what he's said as well he's willing to play through the pain. Why not take him at his word? I'm just a little skeptical that he would milk an injury number one on this veteran heavy team and two just in general because I've never heard of him doing it before. But lemme know if you've heard differently I'm interested to know.

I never said anything about Jermaine milking injuries. Rather I was concerned about him taking it easy during some games. Especially if KG is injured and isn't able to play at a high level, then his leadership as far as effort is going to have less of an effect.

Plus the team clearly coasted at times last year, I think they could do the same this year.

[CelticHooligan3]

I think J.O. will be fine.  In this locker room, I don't think players would get away with taking games off.

Depends on KG's health in my opinion. If he's feeling good and the team stays pretty healthy I think you're right.

Injuries to KG or other players could easily push the C's to 50ish wins again as they coast in the regular season again.

Coasting, yes.  Milking an injury, I'm more skeptical of.  Maybe they're two sides of the same coin, but I think teammates would have an issue if J.O. or anybody else missed 30 to 40 games with an exaggerated issue.

I think they're pretty similar, I dunno it depends also on how they approach injuries this year.

Just curious fafnir as to where your getting the assumption that J. Oneal milks injuries. Guy definatley didn't look 100% in last years playoffs but he played good soldier and suited up anyway. From what he's said as well he's willing to play through the pain. Why not take him at his word? I'm just a little skeptical that he would milk an injury number one on this veteran heavy team and two just in general because I've never heard of him doing it before. But lemme know if you've heard differently I'm interested to know.

I never said anything about Jermaine milking injuries. Rather I was concerned about him taking it easy during some games. Especially if KG is injured and isn't able to play at a high level, then his leadership as far as effort is going to have less of an effect.

Plus the team clearly coasted at times last year, I think they could do the same this year.

Ya I hear ya. I think that's a very realistic assumption. We may get a few more wins just purely off the strength of our bench though. So I see us surpassing last years win column. We'll see soon enough. I'm betting on less cruising this year. That could be wishful thinking. I like to see the players play hard every night. But on the other hand my main concern is just health of the players for the playoffs so if a little coasting brings good health so be it.

[cornbreadsmart]

     Wow. I think Arenas just became my least favorite player in the league. I can't believe his explanation. It's even worse. "Nick is happy." I'd say it's time to stop, Gilbert. Keep telling everyone how generous you are and making Nick Young look bad ,too.
     If I'm Nick Young I'd be furious right now. I'd wanna corner him and tell him to shut his big mouth.He's making Young look bad. If I was him I'd be telling people that I don't need anybody faking injuries for me. I'm good enough, thank you very much.
      Since you really should'nt fight(that would be hard to resist i'm sure)I'd want to play Arenas one on one and swat his crap into the ground and give him hell. Can't tick him off though. He may brandish a gun because that's how much of a man he is.
     It's too bad. If Young says anything Gilbert will surely have a comeback and Young will have helped escalate the situation.  

[Papatrichs]

Gilbert Arenas is still acting like he wants to be traded...

[Greenbean]

Gilbert has zero common sense. I dont think he is necessarily a bad natured person, just not too bright!

Guys sit all the time in the preseason,. Why couldnt he just go to Flip and say listen, give me the night off. I want Nick to get some burn. He's been busting his tail.

Why would he think he had to lie to his coach? The fact that he admitted it to the media (!!!!!) and thought nothing of it is absolutely hilarious.

I guess the same reason he thought it would be funny to bring guns into the locker room. Or to mock the situation during a game (again!!!!!!)

[Bankshot]

I thought it was going to go down like this:

- GA tells coach he's hurting and really is.

- Jokes with the reporter about wanting to hook up a teammate and faking the injury.

- Gets suspended by ignorant coach who didn't know he was kidding.

- GA explains to coach "I was just kidding with the guy"

Guess not. I was wrong.

This is exactly what I thought.  I thought that if he was joking, it shouldn't be a big deal.

[moiso]

I think J.O. will be fine.  In this locker room, I don't think players would get away with taking games off.

Depends on KG's health in my opinion. If he's feeling good and the team stays pretty healthy I think you're right.

Injuries to KG or other players could easily push the C's to 50ish wins again as they coast in the regular season again.

Coasting, yes.  Milking an injury, I'm more skeptical of.  Maybe they're two sides of the same coin, but I think teammates would have an issue if J.O. or anybody else missed 30 to 40 games with an exaggerated issue.

I think they're pretty similar, I dunno it depends also on how they approach injuries this year.

Just curious fafnir as to where your getting the assumption that J. Oneal milks injuries. Guy definatley didn't look 100% in last years playoffs but he played good soldier and suited up anyway. From what he's said as well he's willing to play through the pain. Why not take him at his word? I'm just a little skeptical that he would milk an injury number one on this veteran heavy team and two just in general because I've never heard of him doing it before. But lemme know if you've heard differently I'm interested to know.

I never said anything about Jermaine milking injuries. Rather I was concerned about him taking it easy during some games. Especially if KG is injured and isn't able to play at a high level, then his leadership as far as effort is going to have less of an effect.

Plus the team clearly coasted at times last year, I think they could do the same this year.

Yeah, because JO and Shaq aren't exactly type A personalities.  Hopefully the energy of Nate and Delonte makes up for that.