Yes, he made a major mistake and he deserved to be scrutinized and punished appropriately for what he did. However, I was personally disgusted by how quickly and completely the organization seemed to turn on him. Yes, he hasn’t played for the majority of the past two years and this season hasn’t been going so hot either, but the fact remains that Gilbert was our franchise player and, by most accounts, a good guy. He deserved to be treated better. Imagine Lebron James or Kobe Bryant did what Gilbert did (or don’t even imagine, they’ve both had transgressions of their own). There is no WAY the Cavs or the Lakers would completely abandon their star so quickly or go to such great lengths to remove every piece of evidence that he ever existed from their arena. I was at the first home game after Gilbert was suspended and was frankly creeped out by how completely they had excised everything related to Gilbert Arenas. In my mind, there is no question that the Wizards overreacted and behaved very disrespectfully and inconsiderately towards Gilbert.

I’m not sure if you guys watched TNT tonight, but Barkely makes a good point. If this were to happen to LeBron James, the Cavs wouldn’t be trying to void his contract. That’s obvious, though. If the Wizards were in 1st place, they wouldn’t be turning their back on Arenas like this.

I’m not exactly sure why the Wizards turned their back on him. It could be a number of reasons. The media made this out to be a much bigger deal than it is. Nobody really knows that Stephen Jackson only gets 7 days for dangerously firing his gun in the parking lot of a Indy strip joint. Not many even know the name, Stephen Jackson. But Gilbert is the face of the franchise, and famously known for his quirky ‘gilbertology.’ Because the media blew it up, and Arenas becomes quite confused why this little thing is made out to be like he murdered someone, he makes light of the situation…. he turns to jokes and humor about a serious thing. It backfires big-time, and he gets suspended. The person close to Arenas mentioned in the article (who very well may BE Arenas) says he acted this way because he felt betrayed. That may be as well, but it seems to me that he got betrayed after his suspension. But I guess I don’t know what happened before all the public betrayal (banner, video intro, and Arenas merchandise).

Perhaps they turned their back on him for financial reasons. They saw this as an opportunity to void the contract. Perhaps they regretted signing him for that much. I’m not sure when that regret set in, but I felt like was playing some pretty good ball. Other than a few last-second bone-head plays and missed freethrows, the dude’s like 22 and 7, and despite maltreatment from refs (not getting calls he usually did), he could still get to the line most of the time he wanted.

Perhaps they turned their back on him for PR/image reasons. The media tarnished Gilbert. The NY Post story, the overreaction, and everything. He’s not the prankster everyone loved, but a gangster everyone should fear. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure, he brought guns cross borders, and into an NBA facility. Alright. But does that warrant a $80 million fine (which is kinda what it is if they void his contract), or the same punishment as Ron Artest? HELL NO. But, because guns are such a sensitive issue, and the image of NBA players with guns is one the League and franchises do everything in their power to avoid, perhaps the Wizards felt they needed to show how ‘principled’ they are by showing they’re intolerant of such bad judgment…

I don’t know. It’s probably a combination of those things, and more…

But still. I don’t see the way they treated Arenas as a good thing for the franchise. First, it seems from the article that they won’t get to void the contract. (And they sure as hell shouldn’t, in my opinion – this silly little joke doesn’t warrant a loss of 80 million dollars! – it’s a contract, it may be too much money, but that’s what the market was willing to pay for Gilbert Arenas – he puts people in seats, and he still could, despite the tarnished name.) Second, they seem more unprincipled than ever to turn their back on their franchise player, when they should have stuck behind him. Wait to see what happens with the charges, the eventual legal punishment, and even the NBA punishment. You don’t turn your back on him. He brought the Wizards franchise so much money, entertainment, and positive image. He’s got the most important name to ever lie on a Wizards uniform. (Ignore MJ, who I also think was pretty much betrayed by these losers). Think of what Gilbert has done to the Wizards franchise and the city of D.C. And all he does is break a little rule about bringing unloaded guns to an NBA facility. He knew it was wrong, and he took the risk. I’m sure many players have taken this risk before. But he got caught. A silly mistake. Poor judgment. But nobody was in danger. He meant no harm. And now you completely turn your back on him?

I’m sorry, but what franchise player would want to come play here after this treatment? You don’t turn your back on your franchise player, especially for such a stupid, little mistake. I’d say their behavior is worse than Stern’s. Stern had to suspend him at that point. Just for PR reasons. But the Wizards showed the world, and other potential franchise players, how they treat their own, their family. And it’s despicable. I’m so disappointed with this franchise right now, that I question my devotion to it. I feel I’m more devoted to Gilbert than I am to the Wizards.

But, you know what. I can’t turn my back on the name and team I’ve been following my whole life. And I couldn’t turn my back on a player that made me love that franchise that much more.

Wherever you go Gilbert, I’ll be watching you. I’ll be cheering you on. You may have gone from Zero (minutes projected) to Hero (superstar status on the Wizards) to Zero (2 year injury) to Hero (comeback year with good numbers and great potential) to Zero (indefinite suspension and betrayal by your sports family). But that’s why you’re called Agent Zero.

I see a pissed off Arenas coming back. I see a more motivated Arenas than we’ve seen before. And I see an Arenas who wants to make the Wizards organization regret their decision. (Remember the National Team snub? 54 points shoved in their face.) Arenas is one of the hardest-working, determined gym rats in the League. He’ll be more motivated than ever. And I’ll be cheering him on. I hope the Wizards regret how they treated him. It was despicable, and I only see such behavior pushing away potential superstars from playing here.

While many may call this the fall of Gilbert Arenas, I see him rising again. With a vengeance. It’s in his history.

I really hope this isn’t true. During this whole thing I have been frustrated with Gilbert for making a series of incredibly stupid mistakes. I have been of the opinion throughout, though, that what he did was not only stupid but wrong and he should take responsibility. That being said I have advocated him taking responsibility, doing his time, and then coming back as a Washington Wizard. I have said multiple times I am still keeping my 3 jerseys and don’t really think any differently about him. He played the fool too much and sometimes making that many mistakes in a row will cost you. Doesn’t make him a horrible person though. If he really did the finger gunz because he was trying to get back at the Wizards though I don’t think I want to have anything to do with this guy again. This is the first time I have achieved visceral disgust.

It has always bothered me even before this how all of Gilbert’s “Pranks” are against people who are pretty much the 10th-12th men on their team. It would sit alot better with me if that stuff was being done against people close to his own stature not people barely hanging onto their NBA careers and making 1/20th of his salary. I have always wondered if he pays for his pranks when he destroys jerseys or tears up suits. NBA players on the minimum rookie scale probably make alot more than most of us but they certainly don’t make enough to shrug off having their suits torn up nor should anyone regardless of income. I really hope he atleast paid them back. That being said having a little bit of the playground Bully doesn’t neccesarily make someone a bad guy and we all have flaws. It bothered me but I just took the same position I always take with practical jokers. Joke at your own risk. It might be hillarious but if that person doesn’t take it well and punches you in the face, never talks to you again, or comes back with something way worse; well that’s on you. I won’t flip out on the pranks but I won’t feel too bad when it bites you in the ass. Also I’m not sure this incident is so good natured. He was needling Critt and they got into it. So he lays out something designed to embarass this dude in front of his team mates and whoever wanted to walk into the locker room. By Wise’s account Critt walked into the room and was laughed at by his peers. There is kindof a dark edge to this that makes me feel uneasy. It’s not like he put a whoopee cushion on his seat. He was trying to embarass him in front of his peers and other wizards staff. Plus anytime you break a law commiting a prank in front of multiple people you might face repercussions. So while I didn’t really pity him I didn’t really feel as if he was a person I felt I didn’t want on my team or who shouldn’t come back and play for us after serving his suspension.

Now I felt that I had no problem with the Wizards actions on face value. When you are an executive for a multi million dollar corporation and someone tells you that a coworker brought guns in(which is illegal and against work policy) you have to act on it. Thats not to mention the fact that Gilbert admitted that he lied originally to Ernie. We can think it noble or stupid or both but imagine having to report on that incident to your boss and your highest paid employee lies to you putting your ass in the crossfire. To not act can leave you and your company liable to criminal and civil penalties and guys like Ernie are even more a slave to company(NBA) policy than the people that work under them. They reported it to the league and then post finger gunz pretty much eradicated him from the team. I thought the way they wen about it seemed pretty hamhanded and spiteful. Some of that is the natural clumsiness and excess that occurs when a company drops a brand or employee that has hurt their image. Some of that just seemed wrong. And while feel for them in certain ways(They were pulling his jerseys as we hammered them for selling them and then Mike Jones and other criticize them for pulling them), I think the whole void or bust strategy was ill concieved, short sighted and just plain asisine. Unless they know something we don’t there is no way that could happen or happen in time to benefit the team. Until arbitration and all this other stuff went down we would be in financial limbo. It’s like fishing for a straight draw on the river in poker.

Oh I almost forgot the Media. They’ve been great. First we get Vescey and the NY post throwing bombastic terms like “Heaters” and “Shocking Standoff” into the air like a drunken blind man playing darts. That inadvertently hits enough of the board and draws enough blood to create an echo chamber. Then a new cycle or 2 later you get the almost as repugnant apologist backlash. All of the sudden Gilbert is just a poor sad clown performing for our amusment who was exploited and forced into this. Please. Gilbert followed the Deon Sanders blue print and created a persona that brought him endorsement money and a bloated contract. No way he gets that contract if he wasn’t such a marketable commodity. He benefited more than anyone from his antics. Also as AJ expressed, one can laugh at humorous blog entries and mild clownish behavior and still be able to have a problem when that person crossed the line several times. Also the coddling excuse. Ridiculous. Clearly for his good as well as the teams they shouldn’t have indulged him so much. He is a 28 yo man. In the end only he is responsible for his several stupid decisions. The “Gilbert was never forced to take enough responsibilty for his actions therefor isn’t really all that responsible for his actions” is one of the most baldfaced illogical and twisted arguments that have gotten out in awhile. It is worthy of someone like Sarah Palin. I can’t believe journalists would put their name to that. It appears the team tried to get him some sort of therapy but what can they really do to Arenas. He has an “F—- You” contract. Whatever they ask him to do, he can say that if he wants and they can’t do anything. If they had gotten tough with him and he pouted and tried to force a trade everyone would be all over them for driving him out.

Let’s not forget Stern. He also get’s the dammed if you do dammned if you don’t treatment. He’s a hanging judge but also apparently doesn’t judge quickly enough according to some people. I think the fact that he waits out the legal process and apparently was inclined to do so here is one of his only redeeming qualities. He has every right and should really be expected to enforce a policy that doesn’t allow weapons at work. Before Gilbert could get his megamillions he had to sign a contract longer than a Muhresan Tweed Suit and he gave Stern that right. I really have no problem with there being a no weapons policy so I can’t criticize it. But where Stern is really at fault is this whole shitstorm that followed this story is pretty much his fault IMO. No one rational would disagree with Stern having a anti gun policy in place. No one had a problem while it has been in the CBA for years. So all Stern has to do is put a policy down during an offseason. Make it 20,30,50,82 it doesn’t matter there would be a few days of discussion about the new policy and it would sit there as a unambiguous deterrent. Then when this happened the story would be Arenas is the first person to run afoul of a set policy and gets slapped with a punishment. There would be some talk but it wouldn’t be the clusterf—- it now is. People would be like “He’s not a thug but he did run afoul of the rule and is out”. Since Stern set him up as the sole arbiter and didn’t have a set policy now the whole story is “what is Stern gonna do? How bad is this really? What does he deserve? What precedent are we gonna set?” Now Stern has to ste a tough ongoing policy while balancing the facts of an unique situation. Total clusterf—- and thats where he really deserves the blame IMO.

Sorry this got so long but I’m trying to figure out how I got to this point. Up until reading that article I had been willing to have him back and just wanted a punishment announced so we could move on slightly and then welcome him back. This is his second gun charge but I’m only a couple weeks older and have been known to make some stupid decisions. I kinda felt there was a ridiculous amount of blame to go around but wasn’t gonna treat him any differently after he got back. If that article and timeline is correct I don’t think I can go there anymore. So basically because they reported him to the NBA like they are required to and did nothing more so even letting him play. He felt so betrayed even after lying to Ernie’s face completely screwing him over that he decided to pull all that BS to spite them? Are you serious? That’s some punk shit. So all the stuff we criticize the Wizards for doing after finger gunz happened AFTER AND WAS CAUSED BY him feeling betrayed? They hadn’t done anything to him yet. Obviously Stern had told them to wait and they could have already threatened to void him(I think they did but not sure). But I can’t feel sorry for someone who brought guns into work(breaking work policy and commiting a felony) and then got his feelings hurt when they threatened to fire him. I can’t. And to then pull that BS? Disgusting. Maybe what I saw as irrationality from the Wiz was really desperation to get this guy away. Maybe they are completely right to feel this way. Maybe I should give the Wiz more respect than I have been. Maybe I should rethink those jerseys. I’m not gonna decide anything until I know for sure that this version is the truth cuz this worm doesn’t seem to stop turning but I have questions I never did before. This could not suck more!!

This could really get ugly if the Wizards can’t void Arenas’s contract now. They’ve been playing this whole thing out as if they were going to do that, and if they can’t, it’s going to get uglier.

Honestly, I understand what Arenas is trying to say. He’s allowed to feel that way, especially since, from his perspective, the whole thing was just a joke anyway that just went awry. Still, he had to know that something like this would happen, considering Abe Pollin’s reputation on guns and crime — not to mention the way the whole thing blew up after the NY Post report.

I didn’t agree with the way the Wizards tried to remove Arenas from everything associated with the organization. Saying they would comply with the NBA is one thing, but to try to pretend that Arenas never existed in Washington in the first place was a questionable move at best.

The Wizards are probably going to trade some big pieces away, and they’re going to try to rebuild. And I agree with that decision. But if they can’t void Arenas’s contract now, they’re going to be in big trouble.

all along that the “crime” Arenas committed didn’t deserve the punishment (i.e. jail time, NBA ban) people were talking about. And I also believe that the organization went a little over board with the erasure of Arenas. (I heard that you can’t even make a CUSTOM jersey with his name and number on it off the website) I was also on the fence about voiding his contract. But Brian Mitchell made a point this morning that I hadn’t thought of. He basically said that the while Wizards may have “buyers remorse” (Smokin Al’s words), they would have never had the option to void the contract if Gilbert hadn’t done this. So he really has no one to blame but himself. Now, what REALLY stood out to me about B Mitch’s comments, what I hadn’t really thought of, is the fact that, counting this year, which is pretty much a wash, Arenas will basically have missed 3 of the 6 years of his contract. With all the struggles they’ve had since he first got hurt, he should be excited to get his career back on track. Now HE does this, so why wouldn’t they want out of the deal? They’ve basically paid him $50 million (give or take) so far for NOT playing. So I don’t blame them at all for trying to get out of it, and he shouldn’t either. In fact (and I KNOW this would never happen), I think he should ask to have the contract voided, then sign back for a year to prove himself.