Ivan Carter reports that Gilbert Arenas is doing well with his recovery.

Such information first surfaced in Ian Thomsen's weekly Around the NBA column, in which he said that Arenas could be back by March 1.  

Here's what Arenas himself said about his injury:

So long as Arenas himself isn't rushing his recovery (which doesn't seem to be the case), this is good news.  Assuming he returns around March, that gives us enough time to evaluate this team without him in the lineup, and when he returns, not only will we have him for the playoff push, but we also have enough time to see whether he'll actually give us the lift we need.  Enough people have speculated that we almost might be better off without Arenas, and while I don't subscribe to that theory, it has become clear that Caron Butler has emerged as a star with Arenas out, and that may not have happened in another circumstance.    

Of course, the most interesting thing about Arenas' recent blog entry was his Arenas-like rant about player contracts.  He chastised guys for turning down big money because they feel a comparable player is making more money, citing many members of the 2004 draft class (Emeka Okafor, Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala), and even going back to guys like Joe Smith and Samaki Walker as examples of players who turned down big money, only to find themselves broke by NBA standards.  If that's his major point, I think he's right on, but it's a lot easier to say that once you've made your 12 million.  Here's the most interesting line, though, at least as it pertains to his situation this summer (emphasis mine).

Either Arenas is completely delusional, or he's essentially admitting he made a mistake in announcing his intention to opt-out while he was recovering from knee surgery.  I'm leaning towards the second, just because Gilbert tends to opine in a very personal way, both explicitly and implicitly.  Could that mean he won't actually opt-out this summer?  I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

I mentioned this in passing in yesterday's game thread, but it's worth expounding on now, because I'm so tired of stuff like this.

Sports Illustrated ran one of those photo montage things they like to do featuring one player "on the spot" for each of the 15 Eastern Conference teams.  The odd thing here isn't that Gilbert Arenas was selected (I mean, who else would you pick?), but rather the accompanying caption.  

The Washington Post article, by the way, refers to this Mike Wise column from the first day of training camp.  It would have been nice if SI could have made that clear, or at the very least, made clear that it was a column, and not a beat story.  But I digress.

Do we really have to beat this speculative storyline down any more?  I'll admit that as much as I would like to say that Gilbert and Eddie Jordan are fine, even I have to admit that there could easily be tension if things go wrong.  But why are we even talking about this?  We have no idea what's going to happen between now and next summer, and we have no idea what's really going through Gilbert's head, so why is anyone speculating that he will sabotage the team's efforts to get better scoring numbers?  

The fact that this is Gilbert enhances my frustration.  If there's one thing that we know about him, it's that he contradicts himself in speech.  I'd argue that's a good thing, because it shows transparency, and it shows that Gilbert, like any other person, doesn't really know what he wants and won't lie and say he does.  But it also means that we can't ever take what he says at face value.  If you read that Wise column, the whole point is that Gilbert was upset over the summer, but is ready to start fresh.  He was changing his stance, and likely will change it again.  

It's not like Gilbert hasn't changed his mind before.  Remember, he initially said he wouldn't push for a max contract, because he didn't want to handicap the team.  Then, after he got hurt, he changed his mind, and opted out for financial reasons.  A cynic would say Gilbert was being hypocritical, but a realist (like me) would say that the man is allowed to change his mind if he wants.  That's why I'm not concerned that Arenas didn't list DC as one of his five preferred cities to play in during an interview with Complex Magazine.  It's probably just what he was thinking at that time.

I'm rambling, but I guess my main point is that it's dishonest to assume Gilbert has one frame of mind and will act upon it.  The SI caption implies that he will act upon his resentment with selfish play, but I don't think you can say definitively that Gilbert has resentment right now in the first place.  Just because he said so to one person doesn't make it so.

Especially for Gilbert Arenas.

[By the way, Gilbert isn't getting traded for Kobe anytime soon.  Why would LA want that package anyway.]

Shaun Suisham's swag is also phenomenal.  Although I'm pretty sure we'll see Gilbert hit a 39 yard field goal before we see Suisham sink a 3 in Deron Williams' face.

Just to give you an idea of how weird my week has been, I've now posted 3 entries between here and Gilbertology before noticing the Gilbert had a new blog out.  Gilbertology did a far better job of covering it than I could so I'm just going to cut through the details and get right to the heart of the matter in this blog.

In his latest entry, he explains what really happened with "losing his passport" and not being able to attend an EA Sports event in Canada:

Continue reading this post »

Have you ever wanted a court tricked out by Gilbert Arenas? Awesome. Here's your chance to get it, as he reveals in his new blog:

Speaking of Spalding, Gilbert also mentions that he shot a commercial for them along with fellow Titans QB Vince Young (you think they'd be doing something with EA Sports wouldn't you?) and said he was so cool that he added him to his "Fab 5". I guess Jimmy King has to ride the bench now or something.

In his latest blog, Gilbert also talks more about his new shoe, the Gil 20 and the different versions that will be released nationwide, including a Halo 3 version made by Microsoft. Better yet, this still isn't the "big thing" that he talked about in a previous entry, so stay tuned for that. He also touches on some other things like his ongoing rivalry with Arizona alum Richard Jefferson, Dave Hopla, Eddie Griffin, his quest for 100,000 shots in 73 days, a peaceful resolution to the shark joke fiasco, and precipi"TAY"tion.

I'd tell you that it's a must-read, but you already knew that.

RANDOM ASIDE: Are the Wizards an illegitimate team or what?

Just when it looked like there would be nothing of news for the Wizards, Gilbert Arenas saves the day with a new blog.   In this entry, Gilbert tackles the newfound epidemic of 90's players coming out retirement, specifically Penny Hardaway and Reggie Miller.  Apparently, Arenas is a huge fan of Penny and has loads of pictures and jerseys of the former All-Star.

Wait, is that a Chick Hearn jersey?

Also in this blog, Gil covers:

• The leasing of his house to Nick Young.  Apparently it wasn't sold as had been reported earlier.  But don't think that Nick is getting off easy on the rent, Arenas has already dubbed himself "The Landlord" and by collecting rent, Arenas says that "he'll help me pay off what I owe!"  So apparently Gilbert is in debt to someone, let's hope it's not from poker.
  
• An update on his quest for 100,000 shots in 73 days.
  
• He gives out congratulations to Dominic McGuire and Awvee Storey for their contract deals.
  
• Gilbert hands out a Hibachi award to Stephon Marbury for "Best Interview of the Century"
  
• He talks about Jason Gardner's wedding which he paid for.  A nice gesture, but I don't anyone should be paying for anything if they were together for 14 years before they tied the knot.
  
• Finally, Arenas talks about meeting Beyonce at the Verizon Center recently and getting a Beyonce #1 Wizards jersey for the occasion, which he got her to sign.  No word on if, they're going to force Nick Young to wear the jersey during a game this season.

As you all know, Gilbert Arenas updated his blog yesterday.  The argument could be made that this is Gilbert's best entry to date (which is really saying something when you consider how many great entries he's had), among the highlights in the blog:

• An update on his 100,000 shots in 73 days quest.  He's ahead of schedule!
  
• His thoughts on the Garnett trade.
  
• Being caught between a rock and a hard place.
  
• How to deal with women once you get to the NBA.

Gilbert came out with a new blog out last night, for some reason my reader didn't pick it up so I didn't notice it until Gilbertology wrote about it.  In this entry Gil talks about:

• His desire to buy an island.
  
• The whole Kobe saga, he's as confused as everyone else is.
  
• Haircuts. Silly, silly haircuts.
  
• Next year has changed from The Sequel to The Takeover Reloaded.
  
• More stuff about NBA Live '08.
  
• Being a top Latino athlete.
  
• Finally, he also gives his take on the new guy in town:
  

In a related note, props to D.C. Pro Sports Report for getting linked to in Gil's blog.

Finally, Transformers is coming out today, make sure to check out the trailer before you head out to see the movie:

For the first time in three weeks, Gilbert Arenas has updated his blog.  The primary topic of concern was of course his decision to opt-out of his contract.  He reassures fans that the move is strictly financial and is not an attempt to leave town:

As usual, he also gave an update on his rehab progess:

While doing that, he also takes a subtle jab at Chad Johnson, or maybe he's making a joke about the horse, I'm not quite sure.  Speaking of things you ride, he also talks about his bike, which was brought to attention recently after being brought up at D.C. Sports Bog.

At least we know that Caron does wear a helmet.  Finally, Gilbert gives out some thoughts on the Finals, practice apparel, his Halo team, and shows off a really goofy looking picture of himself from back in his Golden State days.  

Like I said at the start, it's been a while since he's updated so it's loaded with a lot of good stuff so go and check it out.  Then again, if you read this site and don't read Gil's blog there may be something wrong with you.

LeBron may have his "Witnesses", but does he have this?

If you click on the picture it directs you to the flickr page, where you can click on large and it will provides this picture in its original resolution for use as a wallpaper or whatever.  It's also helpful in pointing out the edges that still need to be cleaned up.

Oh, and widescreen monitor users, I didn't forget you:

In Gilbert Arenas's latest blog, he updates his recovery progress like always.  Arenas also talks about his new shoe, the Gil 20.  You might be wondering why he's jumping all the way from the Gil 0 to the Gil 20.  Well apparently, there's going to be 20 different versions of the shoe with different versions being released in the different cities he plays in.

The most interesting part of his latest blog is when he starts talking about the draft, he talks about what he thinks Portland should do now that they have the top pick, he then goes on and talks about who he thinks the Wizards should draft:

Also, make sure to check out Dan Steinberg's recap of Caron Butler's birthday party crashing.