Arenas looks shot
How ghastly is Gilbert Arenas' play in general -- in particular against the Knicks the other night, filling in for Jameer Nelson? He actually had me feeling sorry for Stan Van Gundy.
Those scanning the boxscore might be fooled into thinking Arenas didn't play half bad -- 10 rebounds, nine points, five assists, five turnovers -- but eyewitnesses know better. He was bumbling around like a college rookie redshirt, misfiring eight straight shots -- before mercifully downing two in a row late in the fourth quadrant -- and committing blunders you don't read about in the Bible.
Van Gundy could not hide his sheer stupefaction. At the alarming sight of successive second segment fast breaks astoundingly mishandled by Arenas, twice the Magic coach bowed his head in prayer to ask for David Stern's forgiveness . . . and for the reappearance of Anthony Johnson, Rafer Alston or Penny Hardaway to hold down Nelson while Chris Duhon recovers from a thumb injury.
That's how far Arenas has tumbled to the bottom of the NBA's talent chain; the obscenely overpaid ($14.25 million guaranteed for four years), substandard Duhon is considered a step-stool up.
If only Arenas' stroke was as shot as his confidence. In five previous games to dry-heaving 9-for-11 in New York, he was 8-for-37 and followed that up by going 0-for-2 from deep Wednesday evening in 20 minutes against the victorious Hawks. That makes him 10-for-50 in his last seven.
I almost feel as sorry for him as I do for stray animals and Van Gundy. The $62M Arenas has coming to him over the next three seasons somewhat subverts that sentiment.
That puckering sound you hear is Magic GM Otis Smith doin' the Tighten Up, not Archie Bell and the Drells. Based on Smith's relationship (he was the Warriors' den mother) with Arenas when he joined the NBA in 2001, he rolled loaded dice with owner Rich DeVos' millions by assuming that burden -- despite Wild Gil's locker room gun play with Wizards' teammate Javaris Crittenton, jail time, dependably creepy behavior and a trio of left-knee operations.
September will mark three years since Arenas' third left-knee operation. Admittedly, the 29-year-old doesn't vaguely appear to have regained his old quickness or lateral movement.
If you're wondering, the Arenas-Rashard Lewis swap saved Wizards owner Ted Leonsis roughly $30M. Lewis is on the books for two seasons, not three, next year's $21.1M and $22.7M in 2012-13. However, sources say "just" $13.6M of that is guaranteed.
You'd think Leonsis would be grateful to team president Ernie Grunfeld for the found funds. Think again. When Leonsis bought out the Pollin family and became the Wizards' majority owner, I'm told he thought about changing leadership but couldn't find an appealing replacement.
"Everyone likes to hire their own people and Leonsis is no different," a league source said. "And it's not as if the team's record over the last few years or all the bozos Grunfeld brought in favor him staying." Meaning, look for some of Leonsis' savings to be used to pay off Grunfeld's final year and the two remaining years owed coach Flip Saunders.
