The Sports Rumors

When Being Honest Isn’t the Best Thing

Before I get into this article, let me preface it with my top 10 players in the league, in order of who has the most impact on the game:

1. Kobe Bryant
2. Steve Nash (a very close second)
3. Tim Duncan
4. Lebron James
5. Dirk Nowitski
6. Gilbert Arenas
7. Dwayne Wade
8. Kevin Garnett
9. Amare Stoudemire
10. Dwight Howard

And before you Wade-lovers jump on me about him being ranked below Arenas, watch tape of Arenas and watch tape of Wade. Arenas has more versatility when it comes to scoring because he can shoot threes at opportune times like it’s nobody’s business, and his defense is just as bad (notice I said “bad”) as Wade’s. Considering Nash and Duncan’s age, if the current pattern continues, Arenas will be a top 5 player in the league for years to come.

Arenas has been the key factor in turning a morbid Washington franchise into one with excitement and playoff aspirations each of the past three years. They even won a series in 2004-05 before getting swept by the eventual NBA Champion Heat. Arenas has brought life to the city which has absolutely nothing to do when its not football season. Actually, the city has nothing to do even during the regular season because the Redskins like to eliminate themselves from playoff contention by Game 2, but that’s a topic for another day and another time. Point being, Arenas is an icon and a hero in Washington. I choose to use the word hero because he has done a ton of charity work and is seen in ghetto neighborhoods hooping it up with kids who can’t afford a basketball. His candidness and openness has been embraced by the community as he as seen as one of everyone else. He frequently updates his blog and for five minutes or so, takes the average person out of their element and lets them experience life as a superstar through him and his writings. He is as honest and upfront as it gets. But sometimes, there are certain topics where being upfront can actually hurt your image and your trust.

After next season, Arenas has the opportunity to opt out of his contract and test the free agent market (If you didn’t know this, go to ESPN.com. John Hollinger will make sure you know. Main page, it’s blinking there. NBA page, oh it’s there too. You can even leave espn’s site and go to cnn.com or something and Hollinger will pop up in a window telling you that Arenas is going to opt out next year).

Wizards fans fear this and hope that he doesn’t get tempted by another team and leave. Lord knows, every team in the league will be salivating over the opportunity to acquire his services. Arenas made it public a few weeks ago that he will opt out of his contract and test the market. To paraphrase, he said that he will see what he’s worth, and he wants to stay in Washington but will look at other teams because that it is all business. He later retracted from those comments a bit and softened the terms by offering an explanation on his blog. He wrote that he is just trying to do what’s best for him and his career. He even got into the specific terms of the deal stating:

“So at the end of the day, it will be a six-year deal instead of a four-year deal and instead of starting at 12.5 or 13 million, I’ll be starting at 14 or 15 million and I’ll be a max player.”

I have absolutely no problem with Gilbert opting out. None whatsoever. You as a player earned the chance to make more money and get more years so by all means, do what you gotta do. But you can’t make a statement throwing numbers like 13 million and 15 million around to people who will never see that much money in their life. I read his blog regularly and I have a nice salary. I’m sure many others who read it have better salaries than mine as well as worse. I’m sure there are some fairly rich and some fairly poor who read his blog. However, I doubt very many multimillionaires are regular readers of his blog. That’s where the problem lies. Most of us work 8 hours a day, put up with about 2 hours of ridiculous traffic extending our days to 10 hours and repeat it 52 weeks a year until we grow old and gray. It’s hard for the average fan to understand why it’s so important for you to possibly think about, even consider, “testing the market” and losing their trust when you are already making such huge sums of money. The way fans look at this is, “We put our hard earned money and trust into buying tickets to come see you guys, even when you were a joke. Now you’re getting to be respectable (not even ‘good’ yet), and you consider leaving for another city for a few extra zeroes? Doesn’t our support count for anything?”

This is why you can’t make this sort of stuff public. I don’t go to my friends who aren’t doing as well and tell them, “Yeah I’m going to look at this other company because I feel they can pay me an extra $10,000 a year, and I want to see where else I can get more” when I know that the guy I’m talking to barely has enough to put food on his table. There are certain things you just keep private. I appreciate everything Gilbert has done for the city and the fans but by throwing out figures like that, it just rubbed me the wrong way and after talking to my friends who are also Wizards fans, I found that I wasn’t alone in feeling this way.

Again, I don’t blame Gilbert for trying to get his money because he earned it. But the best thing to do would have been to keep quiet about it, and when the season ended, make a statement saying you are opting out so that you can sign a new deal with more years with the Wizards. Just don’t say things like, or similar to, “test the market”. That’s like telling your wife after you’ve been married for four years, have a three year old child together, and she’s put on a little weight, “Hey honey, I really want to stay with you but I’m still looking good so I’m going to hit up some clubs, see what kind of girls I can get. You know…test the market. But I’ll try to come back to you.” How do you think that conversation would go over?

(By the way, for my slow friends reading, let me break down the analogy:

The Aging Wife: Wizards Fans

Husband: Gilbert Arenas

3 year old baby: Our playoff experiences of the past 3 years

Other Girls: Other teams.

Just wanted to clear that up.. for Adam specifically.)

Had he put out a better worded statement, no one would be rubbed the wrong way, our loyalty to Arenas would be stronger than ever, John Hollinger wouldn’t be getting his jollies off of the thought of Arenas on the market, and Gil would get his money and years. Even if management was reluctant to give him what he asked for, the public would be on his side and the public pressure on management could help Arenas get his deal. That is how I would have gone about it and I wish, for Arenas’ sake and for the city of Washington’s, he had gone about it the same way.

Right now, all signs are pointing to Arenas resigning with Washington and everything should be fine. However, if he leaves (Orlando and Dallas will come calling among MANY others), Arenas will instantly go from the most beloved player in the city to one of the most hated because nothing stings worse than betrayal. (You think the treatment Juwan Howard got after leaving, and then awkwardly coming back from Miami a few years ago was bad? That was Juwan Howard. The biggest scrub alive. Bigger than Michael Olawakandi. Okay probably not as bad as him, but on the Eric Dampier level).

Fans in Washington had no reason to buy into the hype that Arenas and management were starting, but they did. They blindly fell in love with Arenas and if Arenas betrays that trust, I can’t even imagine the anger and resentment he would face.

You know that crazy astronaut chick who wore diapers on her way to confronting her lover? Well, imagine angry Wizards fans turning into that woman… times ten.

Choose your words wisely Champ.