As most of you already know, Gilbert Arenas, aka Agent Zero, has been on tilt ever since he was cut from the Team USA roster this past summer. He's been frequently quoted in the press blasting Coach K and his staff for the move.
The other night, Arenas predicted he would score 50 points against the Blazers, who are coached by Nate McMillan, an assistant coach for Team USA. He ended up scoring 9, and then got blasted by his own coach after the game. Eddie Jordan(the Wizards' head coach) was saying that no one on the team shows any leadership qualities, other than injured Antawn Jamison.
First of all, anyone who gives himself a nickname seems egomaniacal to me. Secondly, and more importantly, Arenas is just proving the Team USA coaches right by his childish behavior. Everyone knows that the revamped philosophy of USA basketball is to mold a cohesive, team-oriented group of players together into an effective unit. We've all seen what happens when you just throw a bunch of selfish, one-dimensional superstars on the floor. No matter how talented they are, they get beat by more disciplined, well-coached international teams with half the talent. With that in mind the Team USA staff has been trying to bring on players to fill specific roles, players that are willing to pass, defend, rebound, basically do anything that is required of them for the team to succeed. Not only that, they want players who will represent the country well, on and off the court.
Arenas, who also said he would give up a year of pro ball to play against and put up 80 on Duke, is exactly the kind of selfish player that is poisoning the game today. He may be a spectacular offensive talent, capable of averaging 30 pts/gm, but has he ever won a title? Does he make his teammates better?
With other options such as Carmelo, D. Wade, Kobe, and Lebron, it's no wonder there's no room on the Team USA roster for Arenas, or appropriately known as Agent Zero.
3 comments:
Thanks for posting Dr. Paik! I can get used to this. So after contemplating this whole Arenas predicting to drop "Fiddy" on the Blazers, it finally goes to show one thing...Players in the NBA can play good and solid defense when they are motivated. Why can't teams play like this on a consistent level? I understand players can get lazy on defense (Smush Parker) or don't play any defense at all (Smush Parker) or rely on their teamates to help them EVERY single time Smush..er, I mean every time a player gets beat. The point is, players are able to turn on and off turn defense intensity anytime they want too, when motivated. However, would we be criticizing Arenas if he dropped say, 25-30 points, instead of his predicted "50"? Probably not, and could it be that he had an off night? Sure. But I believe players in the NBA are good enough to shut down practically ANYONE playing team defense and more importantly, when they have something to prove.
FWIW... i'd give up a year of work too, if i could drop 80 on dook as well... :)
oh, and i think nicknames are retarded as well
i'm out,
"big china"
Interesting to know.
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