Gilbert Arenas says he'll work out with renowned trainer this summer

Guard Gilbert Arenas said he plans to spend much of this upcoming summer in Chicago working out with renowned trainer Tim Grover in an attempt to strengthen his troublesome left leg.

Those plans must be a huge relief to Orlando Magic officials.

A lockout after June 30 would prevent teams' strength and conditioning coaches from supervising their own players, so the Magic almost certainly would be delighted if Arenas follows through on his pledge. President of Basketball Operations Otis Smith has said for weeks that the upcoming summer will be critical for Arenas as he continues his recovery from a major left-knee injury suffered in April 2007 and three subsequent surgeries.

For now, though, Arenas sounds as if he's accepted that he'll be limited for the rest of this season. Indeed, he rarely shows any explosion or quickness on either end of the floor.

"Now when you're out there playing it's like you want to go into the lane and jump like I know I can jump," Arenas said. "But when I go in there I just don't jump because I'm scared to jump. I have no idea why. I guess I'm scared to go in and jump off my left leg, but I know I can. I can see whenever I go up for a rebound I'm at the rim. But if I try to make a layup, I don't even try to explode for some reason.

I know that's one of my problems. I'm not jumping the way I should be, so it kind of gets me scared a little bit of driving into the lane and going to explode. I don't know why I'm nervous about that. I know there's nothing wrong with me. It's just mentally. It's just a mental thing."