Gilbert Arenas was a great player, but he achieved superstar status because he was just so interesting. As part of Gilbert Arenas Tribute Day, we remember Gilbertology with our ten favorite Arenas quotes. We're sure we're missing plenty.
If there was a Quotability Hall of Fame, Gilbert Arenas would go in on the first ballot. Sometimes his quotes made us laugh, sometimes they made us shake our head, but they were never the same old, same old. In season and out of season, Arenas always found ways to give Wizards fans something to talk about.
As he moves on, let's take a look back at his ten best quotes from his time in Washington.
10. "Congratulations! You get to go into the mind of me, Gilbert Arenas, of the Washington Wizards. Good luck."
This was the first line from Arenas' first blog entry on NBA.com. Even at the beginning, he knew that anyone who dared to read his thoughts was in for a wild ride, and indeed we were.
9. "i wake up this morning and seen i was the new JOHN WAYNE..lmao media is too funny."
Arenas' first tweet after news broke about his gun scandal Like the first line from his blog, his first tweet after gun-gate gave us a pretty good idea that things were only going to go downhill from there.
8. "I told them to cut the leg off a couple times. You know, cut it off and then bring it back to me when it was all healed. Because, you know, Heather Mills on Dancing with the Stars, she had that leg. I was saying I could borrow one of those and finish out the season. But they wasn't going for that."
Arenas describing his somewhat ill-conceived plan on his blog to get back on the court after his first surgery.
7. "When coach said after we get the rebound to get the ball to me, from there I knew the shot I was going to take. I just feel so comfortable taking that shot because I practice it. It's not a rushed shot. You know, it's a great shot for me.
Like I said, I'm 8-for-8 for this year on anything behind the 30-foot line and I feel comfortable shooting that.
I mean, because I know I'm going to shoot it, he's still in retreat. You know, if I know I'm going to shoot it, I'm always more dangerous than the defender."
When Arenas was in full-attack mode, he knew how to put his defenders on retreat in almost any situation, even in final moments of the game. His description of how he created space for his game-winning shot on his blog gave us the best window into his attack mentality.
6. "Before, in Eddie's offense, because it was made for the 3s and the 4s, I took a lot of wild shots, fastbreak threes. But since I have the ball more, I probably don't need to do that," he said. "I plan on taking less than 100 threes. I'm not going to be a three-point shooter this year. I worked most of the year on mid-range jumpers."
Arenas on his new role in Flip Saunders' offense. He took 181 threes in 32 games that season.
5. "They read the funny stuff, like me taking a crap in [teammate] Andray Blatche's shoes. But nobody is going to ask what Andray did to deserve it. You read about it because that's when I'm at my goofiest, when I'm around my teammates. I don't get in trouble outside of this building. You are not going to catch me drinking and driving, or picking up prostitutes. People don't see what my teammates see, the guy who is in here three times a day working out. That's the guy they don't see."
The last great quote from Arenas. In fairness, we really didn't hear enough about his incredible work-ethic or how he avoided some of the pitfalls of the NBA nighlife. But seriously, how can we focus on that when he's talking about taking a crap in someone's shoe?
4. "They told me that I might have won. They was 95 percent sure that I won, but they still didn't know yet, they were still calculating the numbers.
They said, 'We're 95 percent sure that you overtook Vince Carter.'
So I woke my daughter up and we started dancing.
She was crying because she was still sleepy, but I considered it laughing."
Arenas on his blog, showing off his parenting skills after learning he had been named to the starting lineup for the 2007 All-Star Game.
3. "The hibachi is coming to a city near you. I'm cooking chicken and shrimp, but if you want to throw a double team my way, filet mignon gets cooked too."
Arenas on his blog, after his Hibachi nickname caught on with the public.
2. "i guess everyone wants me to act like the rest of the nba twitters players...(i bought a shirt today from the mall)(practice was tough 2 (coach said he likes my high socks lol lol)(we had a close game today) is that really who u wanna follow..sounds a little boring to me"
Gilbert Arenas summing up what makes him different and what endears him to fans better than any of us ever could on Twitter.
1. "My swag was phenomenal."
Arenas after draining a buzzer-beater to defeat the Bucks. If there were four words more apt at describing Arenas at the peak of his talents, I haven't heard them.