Last Arenas Post?

Another great piece in The Post this morning, this time by Dean Smith biographer Sally Jenkins, about Gilbert Arenas.  She points out, among other things, how Gilbert failed to step up and is even disconnected from his own limbs; Arenas' tattoo of 'Black Rushmore' features two black leaders killed by guns: Martin Luther King and Malcolm X (the other leaders depicted are Nelson Mandela and Obama).  


I don't think Arenas is a thug or bad, just incredibly incredibly stupid.  And like many athletes/celebrities/etc. stupefyingly out of touch with the real world. But Jenkins goes farther to posit that not only is he cut off from the real world, for instance ignorant of things like DC's (appropriately) strict gun laws and insensitive to the  gun violence rampant here, Arenas is out of touch with himself.


Either way, like David Stern said he is unworthy of playing in the NBA.  


I also commend the Wizards of fining four of their younger players - Nick Young, Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee and Randy Foye (who should have known better, the other three seem pretty immature compared to him) - for clowning around with Arenas when he pretended to shoot them during intros in Philadelphia the other night.  Young players - and young people - need to get the message about guns, especially in DC.


The suspension could lead to Washington and the NBA voiding Arenas' contract, so he may have played his last game as a member of the Wizards, probably for this year at least.  


The Wizards starting turning the page last night, removing all Arenas-related merchandise from the Phone Booth and taking down the banner with his name and the caption "Character, Commitment, Connection."


Lucky for the Wizards, they have one player who does epitomize those values, the under appreciated Antawn Jamison.  The Star Heel addressed the crowd prior to last night's game and vowed to 'make this one of the most respected organizations in the league.'  He then backed it up by leading the Wizards to a stirring, 
come-from-behind win over the Orlando Magic, and finished with 28 and 11.  


NBA-favorite player Brendan Haywood also stepped up, playing Dwight Howard to a draw with 18 points (6 for 6 from the line AND the field) and 15 points and a block.


Jamison is Carolina class all the way, and the kind of stand-up brother who could actually lead the Wizards out of the wilderness.  As they did two years ago, when Arenas was out for the season but Haywood was healthy, one can easily see the Wizards come together and make a run to the playoffs.  Their staring five is now Foye, Mike Miller, Caron Butler, Jamison and Haywood, with Earl Boykins, Blatche, Young and Fabricio Oberto coming off the bench.  That's not a bad line up, perhaps one not good enough to scare Cleveland or Boston but certainly one good enough to finish in the top 8 of the weak Eastern Conference (how weak? The Charlotte Bobcats are currently the 7th seed). 


So with Jamison leading the way the Zards could - could - end up turning a horrible and embarrassing season into something positive.