This is pretty typical of our luck. 

Hopefully it's nothing serious.

An update on Jamison and Stevenson's injuries from IC:

A serious injury to Jamison kills us.  By nearly every measure, the dude has been our MVP, contributing defensively and on the glass with a zeal never before seen from him.  Oh, and he can score too.  

Back to paper writing, which has been increasingly delayed as I've dealt with this sucker punch loss.

At least AD and CB3 will likely play tonight.

Game thread is coming soon, though it'll probably be much shorter than usual, not only because it's Milwaukee, but also because I have a paper to write.  I've been delaying its start because of the Arenas situation.

For more on Arenas, scroll down.  I only posted this so we can separate the threads.

Y'know, Ivan, April Fools jokes are much funnier when they aren't true.

What the hell changed since last Sunday, Gil?  Please don't make me assume it all had to do with the fact that the Detroit game was on ESPN.  Because I'm getting dangerously close to making that assumption, which would mean I'd become everything I hate in a blogger/citizen journalist/analyst whatnot.  

I'll stop now.  It seems there are a lot of holes left to fill in this story, and it seems like the reason those holes weren't filled wasn't negligence, but rather a lack of time.  Once the information becomes more clear, I'll pipe up again.

For now, though, I'm not a happy camper.

Update [2008-4-2 14:8:34 by Pradamaster]: Let's see if we can make sense of this.

Ivan has an update from shootaround, and maintains that Gilbert is not going to play. I'm still not sure exactly who told him that, but he has an unnamed team source quoted in some fashion.

For the record, the Wizards.com blog says Arenas is not playing tonight, though I wouldn't trust an official team media outlet with my life. Either way, it's looking like he's not going to play tonight, which means we get to opine a little bit more.

One of my favorite sports books is Sam Smith's The Jordan Rules, which details the Chicago Bulls' run to their first NBA title in 1990/91. One of the subplots is GM Jerry Krause's pursuit of Toni Kukoc. Krause's zeal was not shared by the rest of the organization. In one memorable passage, Phil Jackson, persuaded by Krause to call Kukoc, got fed up with Kukoc's mixed messages and told Kukoc the following: "Listen kid. Either shit or get off the pot."

That line describes my feelings toward Arenas right now. I'm really not so concerned about whether he comes back or not, because I don't see him making a major difference this late in the season. My guess is that he increases our chances of advancing in the playoffs from about 20 percent to 25 percent (and that's being really generous). I would ideally love for him to come back and play, but if he doesn't, I don't think it'll make a big difference this year, provided everyone else is healthy.

Obviously, not having Arenas in the lineup changes how the front office approaches his contract in the offseason, but at this point, I'm inclined to cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now, the rest of the players, who have been doing an unbelievable job at managing the distraction, are involved in a tight playoff race, and need to focus to get the best playoff seed possible. If Gilbert is a part of that, great, but they need to know what his final decision is. Play or no play, it's time for Gilbert to stop hedging with his intentions.

Listen Gilbert. Either shit, or get off the pot.

Other takes:

• DC Pro Sports Report with a nice read.
• My Swog would keep him out for a little bit longer.
• Les Bullez apparently hasn't read Ivan Carter's reports.

Before we get into the obvious subject of the post, I realize one could substitute the word "play" for "blog" and apply it to me.  I disappeared on Thursday because I was traveling to report on Brandeis' D-III NCAA Tournament run for our student newspaper, for which I edit the sports section (all my bylines are here).  Brandeis' run ended last Saturday in Plattsburgh, New York with a 65-55 loss to Amherst in the Elite 8, but it was still an unbelievable season, because the team lost their star player to a seemingly minor injury that got worse (sound familiar) and still managed to advance further in the tournament than any other Brandeis squad.    

I probably should have told you I was gone, but truthfully, this place is just as good, if not better, with Jake and Truth doing all the posting.  So I left it be, did my reporting, and now can devote the type of time to BF that you all deserve.  

Ok, to the issue at hand, and that is the wavering Gilbert Arenas.

He originally targeted March 3 for a return date, but in typical Wizards fashion, that return was delayed.  Last Saturday (that's March 15), Gilbert said he was getting an MRI, and announced he could have played in tomorrow's game against the Magic (that's March 19).  He then had the MRI Monday (that's March 17), but didn't go through a full practice, instead insisting he was told to "ramp it up" in practice and play more of what he deemed an "assists game."  Now, according to Mike Jones (who!), Gilbert won't play tomorrow because practice was cancelled.

Of course, with Gilbert out, what better time to speculate as to his destination this summer, as Sam Amico of Pro Basketball News did Monday.

Well jeez, why not throw in a few more qualifiers?  This quote by fellow SB Nation comrade Steve from Clips Nation definitely applies.

Then, of course, there's the killer statement of the Amico article that is probably getting everyone all concerned.  

Wait, so he has an intimate knowledge of the Wizards too?  And since when is simply "staying in" the playoff race a reason to ditch Gilbert?  I don't think I need to say anymore, because Ivan covered it already, but this just strikes me as the first of several strange Arenas rumors to come.

But let's get back on point.  Separating all the rhetoric, Arenas' story seems pretty simple.  He just needs to go through a full practice, like Caron Butler did, and then he can play.  That right, Eddie?

So now, I guess we're back at square one, except with Gilbert, square one could lead to several different square twos, depending on what is going through his head at the time.  One minute, he'll assure Ivan Carter that he loves the game too much to not play, but a few hours later, when Mike Jones calls, Gilbert will open the question again.

So basically, I and most others probably don't know how to respond.  One approach would be to do what Gilbertology did and use a good news/bad news paradigm.  Another would be to take a stand, which I suppose I'll do right now.

If it were up to me, I'd have Gilbert go through one practice and then have him play, no matter the opponent.  He's scared about the injury, sure, but you can't play basketball scared, and somewhere in the back of his head, Gilbert knows this.  The only way to conquer that feat is to play.  Plus, what's the long-term risk, really?  Worse-case scenario, Gilbert re aggravates it, misses the rest of the season like he would have had he sat out, and is better with his rehab this summer.  Best-case scenario, he comes back, feels much better, returns to his Agent Zero ways, and leads the Wizards in an upset playoff victory.  The reality is probably somewhere in-between, but you have to think the best-case scenario stamps his financial future, and the worst-case scenario might do so anyway.  

This is the thing we always have to remember with Gilbert.  His transparency and little-kid sense of bravado have always been his two most endearing qualities, but it's times like these where it would be nice for him to just suck it up and make a decision.  We can't tell Gilbert not to be sensitive and worrying about his own career, because that same sense of insecurity has made him into the player he has become, but that sensitivity can be channeled more effectively so it only comes into play on the basketball court.

And what better way to eliminate his lingering mental fears than to give him a basketball, put him in a key game situation, and let Agent Zero take over.

Outstanding news on the injury front today.  As reported by both the Post and the Times, Caron Butler should be back in the lineup for tomorrow's game against the Cavaliers.

This also helps because Jamison (back) and AD (thumb) have been nursing minor injuries.  Any more help they get is a bonus, because even though Butler doesn't play their positions, we have enough multi-talented bench guys where one man's return increases the overall bench depth.

It'll be interesting to see whose minutes suffer the most with Butler's return.  Andray Blatche and Darius Songaila have been splitting the starting time with Butler sidelined, but after a nice stretch earlier, Songaila hasn't played all that amazingly.  He was pretty terrible against the Bucks yesterday, while Blatche was outstanding.  I'm hoping that Eddie elevates Blatche over Songaila, even though Songaila was the one starting most recently.  

The other interesting element is Pech, in the sense that Butler's return might mean that Blatche will go back to being the backup center, so that he and Songaila can both be on the floor.  That would drop Pech from the rotation, and while I'm not going to lose sleep over that prospect, I would like to see Pech continue to get some regular playing time.

But the rotation questions are all minor problems.  The most important thing is that our best player this season is finally coming back.

Tuff Juice is practicing again, and it sounds like he looked good.

No word on his return, but this is a good start.

Per usual, a minor injury turns into something a lot worse.

There's no update on a possible return date, and they'll reevaluate him next week after he misses the Chicago and New Orleans games Friday and Sunday, but my guess is the news won't be very good.  How bad, I don't know, but while I'm not a doctor, I'm usually pretty good at preparing for bad news.  This seems like one of those times.

I'll stop distressing now, because we really don't know, but I'm not a happy camper right now, to say the least.

Update [2008-2-28 14:46:16 by Pradamaster]: Ivan checks in again, and though he doesn't have an update, he does preach the need for caution.

Honestly, I really wish the Wizards wouldn't have released this information until they knew how long he would be sidelined. What exactly does this press release tell anyone that they don't already know? And though I understand why Ivan decided to blog this story before he spoke with Caron, because of the 24-hour news cycle, I wonder whether it was really necessary to do so and subject so many readers to baseless speculation. It's a tough call, no doubt, but I probably would have waited to write anything until I knew Caron's timetable.

All this is a roundabout way in saying that I hope we'll get good news soon.

Update [2008-2-28 16:14:18 by JakeTheSnake] You can find out more about hip labrum tears here if you can keep up with all the big, fancy, medical words. If you're a little behind on your anatomy classes you can just take Shakira's advice. Whatever suits you best.

Caron Butler: Not on the road trip, apparently resting instead of rehabbing.

Gilbert Arenas: Coming on the road trip, but not returning on the planned March 2 date.

Etan Thomas: Not on the trip.

Eddie Jordan: Channeling Rick Pitino.

I'm so tired of this crap.

If nobody else is going to call out the Wizards' training staff, then I think I might have to do it.