Gil’s latest blog entry includes his thoughts on the Cavaliers series, his latest tattoos, why he attempted a comeback late in the season, and pending free agency.
I want to be back in Washington, but weird things happen in free agency. If Antawn is not back, then there’s no point in me coming back because he’s part of my success, too. When you’re doing pick and roll with a player like him, they can’t double you, they can’t trap you because you have a pick and pop guy who can shoot the three at your four position. My success is because of him too. If he doesn’t come back, I’m not coming back.
I know everybody is focusing on whether I’m coming back, but I’m focusing on what he’s doing. If he doesn’t come back, then I’m not coming back.
In general, I think it is better to keep such things out of the public square, but Gil is Gil and he will do as he pleases. He’s correct that he and AJ complement each other. Obviously, Gil is also fond of AJ and probably likes the fact that the Captawn takes on leadership roles that he, Gil, would prefer to avoid.
Gil also has a few thoughts for his critics:
I never tripped or never got really mad about the whole sentiment that, “The Wizards are better with Gilbert on the bench.” That’s one of those things that somebody throws out there and everyone else just jumps aboard. The same people said that are the same people that said when Cleveland won a couple games last year when LeBron was out, that the ball moves more without LeBron. And they’re the same people who ripped Kobe when he was out. And the same people also said that the Rockets are better without Yao Ming because they won 22 straight games. But, as a superstar, you got to take the good with the bad. Last year, at the end of our season, we won 1 out of 10 games with me out of the lineup and the same people were saying, “Oh, the Wizards can’t win without Gilbert.” I take the good with the bad. You hear the good compliments; you deal with the bad ones. I’m a three-time All-Leaguer, I think you put that on anybody’s team and you automatically make them better.
When I hear I’m a ball stopper, I just laugh. I dare any of those critics to take a look at tape from the five years that I’ve been in Washington, I guarantee you can’t find 30 clips with me in halfcourt offense dribbling the ball more than 10 times. I’m not a pounder. I’m a quick shot. If they say, “Gilbert’s a quick shot,” hey, OK, that’s me. But if they say that the ball don’t move with me in there, hey, hey, that’s not me. I do two things with it, either I’m gonna shoot it, or I’m going to get it out of my hands to set up a teammate. I was never the pounding type to sit there and take 263 dribbles to get a move done. If you look at my game, I’m not flashy. I’m either going to shoot it, drive, or pass. So, if you can find me 30 clips of me dribbling the ball more than 10 times from the five years I’ve been here, I’ll do 300 pushups. You can’t count the end of the game either, where I’m dribbling down the clock just so we can have the last shot. It has to be throughout the game where you see me dribble the ball more than 10 times in the halfcourt offense.
Look, obviously, I’m on record as supporting Gil’s return and laughing at the notion that the Bullets are better off without a healthy Gilbert Arenas. I don’t think Gil hurts the offense in any way. That’s preposterous. The Bullets were a better team offensively with Gil than without him. Without him, the Bullets are a good, but not great offense. With Gil, Washington is an elite offensive team, one of the best in the NBA.
Where Gil hurts Washington is with his defense — or lack thereof. He was playing better defense, I thought, during the first 8 games of this past season, but that’s such a small statistical sample that I don’t think we can take much from it. The Bullets probably won’t be a good defensive team until Gil works hard at his defense. Not only is fighting through screens and preventing dribble penetration pretty damn important work for a point guard, a team always plays better defense when it’s best player works hard on that end of the floor. No player scoring 25+ points per game is going to allow his teammates to slack off on defense if he’s working hard on both ends. Washington will become a good defensive team when Gil becomes a conscientious defensive player. Not before.
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