Trying to make sense of the Gilbert Arenas/Javaris Crittenton incident
As expected, there's a lot of information flying out about whatever happened between Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton. I'm having trouble making sense of it all, but here's my attempt to try:
What we know:
- Something happened between Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton on the WIzards' team plane on December 19 and it spilled over into the Wizards' December 21 practice.
- The argument was over some sort of gambling debt. David Aldridge reported that the sum was $25,000, but that seems like chump change for something this bad. Shelden Williams apparently had on his Twitter that the sum was actually $150,000, but he's since deleted that tweet.
- Gilbert Arenas turned in his guns to the Wizards on the day before Christmas, claiming that he wanted to keep them away from his kids.
- The NBA and Washington D.C. authorities are currently investigating what happened.
- Washington DC law requires that you register a gun with DC authorities. ESPN's video reported that Arenas' gun was registered in Virginia. If you are a drug addict or have been convicted for a felony or "certain misdemeanor charges" (according to Aldridge), you can't have a gun, period. It's illegal to have an unregistered gun or a gun that can be concealed. If the gun is possessed outside one's property or "business place," it is a felony where one is subjected to five years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.
- Gilbert Arenas plead no contest to a misdemeanor in 2003 for possessing a concealed weapon while still a member of the Warriors.
- The Wizards didn't mention anything to the league until Gilbert turned in his guns on December 24. Whether this means they "covered it up" or just didn't know remains unclear.
What remains unclear:
- Did they actually pull guns against each other? In other words, is the entire premise true? Yahoo, who broke the story, just says there was some dispute. The New York Post reported that Arenas reached for his gun first and Crittenton followed to defend himself. Comcast SportsNet simply says that neither party brandished a gun (but provides no proof). Aldridge reports that the two players "had a confrontation in which both players had guns in their hands." Marc Stein of ESPN reported that, after the dispute, Arenas simply took his three guns out to Crittenton's locker, told Crittenton to choose one, at which point Crittenton told Arenas he had his own gun. Michael Lee quotes "a person who has spoken with Arenas recently" saying that the two players were just horsing around and were arguing over who had the bigger gun. That's a wide, wide range of possibilities.
- Will the Wizards try to void Arenas' contract? Aldridge reports that most NBA contracts have clauses preventing players from engaging in prohibited offseason activities that are dangerous, pleading guilty or being convicted of a felony or engaging in acts of "moral turpitude." If Arenas is convicted of a felony, there's a clear violation of the contract, and I imagine the Wizards should be able to void it. If not, it's a little murkier, because it's more difficult to prove this incident comes under that clause. (Here's a copy of a standard NBA contract, if you're curious). The other thing is that the non-legal elements of voiding a contract are difficult to deal with, as Tom Ziller discusses here. There's the long legal battle that'll definitely follow once the Players Association gets involved, as well as the stigma that often results from these types of things. Recent history (Monta Ellis, Latrell Sprewell, Jamaal Tinsley) has indicated that teams don't usually succeed in voiding contracts for the "moral turpitude" violation.
- Did Crittenton also have his gun on Wizards property?
- Gilbert has denied the story, but what's his version of what happened? He's promised to clear it up in a couple days, but if you want to be cynical, he could be waiting only so he can confer with his PR representatives to present the cleanest version of the "truth."
- Did the Wizards know about this and cover it up, or did they not know? The New York Post reports the former, which could be true. However, it's worth noting that the locker room was empty when the incident allegedly happened. At the very least, it appears no player has come forward saying they were there. The New York Post found out what happened from Crittenton's childhood friend, who found out from Crittenton. I'm not sure how the other media outlets found out, but considering there's clearly a leak in the New York league office, it could easily have come from there. Lee probably got his information from people close to Arenas. Point is, we don't know if management even knew what happened until today. Is that bad? Sure. But it's not the same as a cover-up. (Also, the whole "Ernie Grunfeld is in trouble" is kind of dopey. Grunfeld was in trouble anyway before this happened. Everyone in the organization is in trouble because there's new ownership coming in, and most of the Wizards' employees are longtime Pollin people. Right now, there's not really anyone who could fire Grunfeld, because of the ownership flux. Eventually? If this situation is true, of course everyone's in trouble. This is embarrassing. But let's not pretend anything is imminent).
- What's Crittenton's role in all of this? Nobody's really been able to talk to him or anyone associated with him, other than the Post with Crittenton's childhood buddy.
What are the possible implications?
- Arenas and Crittenton get suspended, heavily. I imagine that David Stern is going to make an example of both and suspend them for the rest of the season. Anything less would be a huge shock to me.
- Arenas gets convicted of a felony, or at the very least a misdemeanor.
- Same with Crittenton.
- If it's the former, Arenas' contract gets voided, which would put the Wizards sort of into the 2010 sweepstakes, with a combined team salary around $38 million. (Crittenton's contract is up after this year, so the salary-cap implications of voiding his contract are irrelevant).
- People at the top lose their jobs.
- Crittenton's career essentially ends (again, potentially).
- Worst of all, this organization will receive a stigma that is going to be impossible to shake. General managers are going to circle the Wizards' players like vultures and try to nab them for nothing. Free agents are going to pause before signing here. Players are going to feel strange entering that locker room. Potential general managers are going to shy away from taking on this rebuilding project. Employees everywhere within the organization might lose their jobs once new ownership comes in hoping for a fresh start. Again, this is going to happen even if the Wizards void Arenas' contract. The benefits of doing that are to create long-term flexibility, but the stigma that results could make it difficult to capitalize on that flexibility for a long time.
The last point is the saddest for me, besides having to potentially completely reevaluate Gilbert Arenas' place in Wizards/Bullets history. If the incident ends up being embarrassing for Arenas, fine. Both parties will move on, either via a trade or a voiding of his contract. Since this is the NBA, where teams take chances on any type of character if they can play, he'll find another place to play in this league. But the long-term effects for this franchise could last for a while. The Wizards will recover, but now, in addition to a long rebuilding job on the roster, it looks like they'll need to commit themselves to a long rebuilding job on the image of the organization. That image has lasting effects, all the way from office professionalism to player acquisition.
2 recs |
29 comments
Comments
I'm confused
Is there a chance of Gilbert staying with the team? What are the probabilities of him staying?
by FNFWizardsFan on Jan 2, 2010 2:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Regret what has happened.
As an outsider, I just wanted to say that I feel sorry for you guys. I always thought of the Wizards as a good squad, with a legitimate superstar in Arenas. Apparently he’s not the guy I thought I was, ’cuz I thought of him as a smart and funny guy. What he has done here, however, is quite possibly the stupidest thing you can do as a superstar.
I hope your franchise doesn’t take too hard a hit, and gets a “replacement all-star”, somehow.
Good luck, the entire league will be watching you for at least a few days.
- Dirk van Boxtel, the wandering Celtic fan.
Twitter: @4Hoopz
by Kiorrik on Jan 2, 2010 2:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Image rebuilding-
I think can happen pretty fast, well faster than roster rebuilding. I guess I think of the Bengals as an example and Portland too. If you have the right ownership, GM and Coach – you can do it. Winning also helps though as well as some luck. I also think that Arenas is known as a knucklehead so there may be some people who see this as an Arenas problem rather than a Wizards problem. For the casual fan – from the comments I’ve been reading around the web – they think the league is a bunch of thugs anyway.
by ooba on Jan 2, 2010 3:04 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I'm worried more about image in terms of the players
Not in terms of the public. Like, how will other players and NBA people view the organization? I agree that the public is fickle and winning is all that matters (though I’d think it’d take a while to win again).
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
by Mike Prada on Jan 2, 2010 3:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Throw enough money at a player-
and he will come. But Arenas is also known as eccentric to say the least within the NBA. The problem is if the Wizards tried to cover it up which we don’t know yet. Plus – aren’t we already known as a laughingstock? For things like the training staff etc. , I’ve heard us called the Clippers of the east etc.
by ooba on Jan 2, 2010 3:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
chris bosh and dwyane wade!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laydODN6xVk
by hibachi on Jan 2, 2010 3:23 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs
it we get the number 1 pick
and get wall, getting two stars to come play here would be easy. New owner, new gm, bring back the bullets name, Wall plus two stars….whole new team
by Blatche4MVP on Jan 2, 2010 3:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Instead of playing for free agents and the #1
we should trade what we have for multiple first rounders. Look at teams who have rebuilt sucessfully (OKC/SAC/POR) all of these teams used multiple first rounders to build their teams. If we can trade both caron and jamison for first round picks, we wont need to worry about picking up a star in free agency. If you look at every NBA champion of the last decade, every team exept for the 2004 pistons are built around a player that the team drafted. Exept for the Lakers , no team has won a championship with a star acquired in free agency. If we draft well over the next 2-3 years, we will easily be a playoff contender, AND will be under the salary cap.
by Alpha_Snail on Jan 2, 2010 4:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I agree that getting picks is ideal
But you have to match contracts too.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
by Mike Prada on Jan 2, 2010 4:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
True
but as long as we decide to pull out of the 2010 sweepstakes, 2 or 3 bad wont hurt the team too much.
by Alpha_Snail on Jan 2, 2010 4:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
you've summed it up well
Though I think the long-term ramifications to the team’s reputation aren’t a major concern. Winning is kind of all that matters, and if this turns out to be a big deal, it’s on Gilbert, not the rest of the team (which I see ooba just posted). If Gilbert is suspended for the rest of the season (and I think it’s way too early to assume that’s the likeliest scenario, though I would definitely not be shocked if it happens), they need to get rid of him. If it’s a slap on the wrist, I think they’d be better off keeping him rather than giving him away.
My guess is that it will turn out to be closer to Michael Lee’s story, that Gilbert was trying to be funny by playing with guns, and he’ll get a 20 or so game suspension.
by Stanicek on Jan 2, 2010 3:11 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
if gilbert is suspended for the rest of the season
It’ll be two more wasted years. One sitting on the sidelines and another getting his rhythm back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laydODN6xVk
by hibachi on Jan 2, 2010 3:15 PM EST via mobile reply actions 0 recs
suspended? This is smelling like jail time
by Eschew Obfuscation on Jan 2, 2010 3:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
if burress goes to jail for accidently shooting himself
but not actually pulling a gun on anyone, and gil actually pulled a gun on someone, then yes he should go to jail. Especially because he already had a gun related charge in 2003.
Is it bad that I hope his contract gets voided and gil is convicted of a felony? I dont want him to go to jail, I just want the cap space
by Blatche4MVP on Jan 2, 2010 3:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
New York laws are different than DC laws
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
by Mike Prada on Jan 2, 2010 3:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Also, the 2003 charge wasn't a felony
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
by Mike Prada on Jan 2, 2010 3:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
It's just one dude's opinion
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
by Mike Prada on Jan 2, 2010 3:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Great time to have a right of first refusal
The value of the Wizard franchise is plummeting. Pretty soon, Prada and I will be able to chip in and give Leonsis a run for the club at basement bottom prices.
It also a great time to take over the franchise. Whoever knew and didn’t tell ought to go. The Big 3 also need to go – one way or another.
If you look at the remaining roster, you build around Blatche and McGee along with a superior point guard. The team will be competitive next year and the image will recover quickly after the house is cleaned out.
by Izman on Jan 2, 2010 3:58 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I want to know what the bet was…probably gil making free throws down the stretch
by les boulez bomber on Jan 2, 2010 4:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Latest from Mike Jones
http://www.mikejonessports.com/2010/01/ … ecome.html
by pk24 on Jan 2, 2010 4:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Sorry - Pased the Link Wrong
by pk24 on Jan 2, 2010 4:13 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
New fanshot on this
Thanks for the link.
You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.
by Mike Prada on Jan 2, 2010 4:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Stick it out with Arenas...
He’s a knucklehead, not an evil person. I’d trade Butler for a catch-and-shoot small forward.
by CVC on Jan 2, 2010 4:34 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
mike miller isn't the answer to everything...
But isn’t he a pretty good catch and shoot small forward?
by mdd1970 on Jan 2, 2010 4:45 PM EST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs
Yep. Forgot about Miller.
Okay then, keep Miller at SG and trade Caron for a younger, longer, more athletic defensive-minded catch and shoot small forward to replace Caron. I love Caron, unlike Gilbert, he’s a solid citizen and role model. But he doesn’t fit in Flip’s offense. When he gets the ball, his first instinct is to jab step, pump fake, dribble (usually further away from the basket), which gives the defense time to close in on him. Caron needs to go to a team were he is the first or second offensive option, not the third. Defensively, he is over-rated. Younger players like Durant are blowing right past him.
by CVC on Jan 2, 2010 5:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Wizards Partly Responsible
While Gil is responsible and needs to be accoutable for his actions the Wizards should have seen something coming and planned better.
Gil has been a talented loose cannon for years and the Wizards should have insisted on some sort of counselor or mentor as part of his contract. Gil set himself back by rehabilitating himself and has never understood his role as highest paid player and team leader. Thje Wizards should have insisted on some sort of professional guidance as a contract stipulation. Lettting Gil run wild with his mouth, actions and deeds was bound to cause problems either on the court or off.
Ernie needs to be accountable for some lack of oversight as well
by Buttgras on Jan 3, 2010 10:34 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
The Washington Wizards should fire both Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittendon, and any team that harbors players so stupid that they think playing with firearms is close to acceptable should do the same. If I were a fan, I wouldn’t waste any payday loans or any money whatsoever on merchandise, tickets or anything else on any team that does. It’s simply unacceptable, and it is high time that our pro sports teams, NBA, NFL, or otherwise, stop with the slap on the wrists that they think is acceptable and start firing people who obviously don’t deserve the life of privilege they’ve been given.
by milanp1 on Jan 8, 2010 4:04 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

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