Gilbert Arenas

Gilbert Arenas

Gilbert Arenas in Washington Wizards uniform.
Washington Wizards
Position	Point guard/Shooting guard
Personal information
Born	(1982-01-06) January 6, 1982 Tampa, Florida
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school	Grant, Van Nuys, California
College	Arizona
NBA draft	2001: 2nd round, 31st overall
Selected by the Golden State Warriors
Playing career	2002–present
Career highlights and awards
2002-03 NBA Most Improved Player
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Gilbert Jay Arenas Jr. (born January 6 1982, in Tampa, Florida) is an American professional basketball player. As of January 2008, he plays for the NBA's Washington Wizards. Arenas overcame his modest NBA debut, including being a second-round draft pick, to establish himself as one of the most dominant and clutch players in the NBA.

From the time of his entry into the league, Arenas's popularity soared. He transformed himself from being a relative unknown to being voted by fans as an All-Star starter for the Eastern Conference in 2007. Arenas overcame a 213,000 vote deficit at one point to edge out Vince Carter by just over 3,000 votes for the second of the two starting guard spots, the other spot going to Dwyane Wade. Arenas was most often nicknamed "Agent Zero," but has increasingly been referred to as "Hibachi." Both names have quickly become fan favorites in the Washington area.

Rise to prominence

While going into the 2001 NBA Draft out of the University of Arizona, Gilbert did not seem much of a prospect. Teams in the first round passed on Arenas because he lacked the size needed at the shooting guard position in the NBA and lacked the awareness and ball handling skills of a point guard. With no position solidified and a shaky prospect at best, he went the entire 1st round without being drafted. The Golden State Warriors finally drafted him in the second round (31st overall). Although the Warriors did not enjoy much team success during Arenas' tenure with them, he quickly established himself as one of the league's bright young talents. In 2003, his second year in the league, Arenas received the NBA Most Improved Player Award. After that season, he was one of the most sought-after free agents of the NBA. He signed with the Washington Wizards, reportedly after flipping a coin to decide among several teams, including the Wizards, Warriors, and Los Angeles Clippers.

Arenas had a disappointing first season with the Wizards, battling a strained abdominal muscle injury all season. However, Arenas enjoyed great success in his second season in Washington. He teamed up with shooting guard Larry Hughes (22.0 points per game) in 2004-05 to give the Wizards the highest scoring backcourt duo in the NBA and was selected to his first NBA All-Star Game. He guided the team to a 45-win season and its first playoff berth since 1997. Arenas led the team in scoring with 25.5 ppg, and finished seventh in the league in that category. He also finished sixth in the league in steals per game in 2004-05 with 1.74 (Hughes led the league with 2.89 steals per game).

Known for his fierce competitiveness and somewhat unusual behavior, Arenas quickly became a fan favorite in Washington. In the fifth game of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2005, Arenas hit a 16-foot fadeaway as time expired to give the Wizards a 112-110 win over the Chicago Bulls. The Wizards eventually won the series, the franchise's first such victory in more than a decade.

2005-06 season

Arenas had a career year during the 2005-06 season in which he averaged 29.3 points, which ranked fourth among the scoring leaders, two steals (also fourth), and 6.1 assists per game. Despite his accomplishments, neither fans nor coaches would select Arenas to the 2006 All-Star Game. He was able to get in due to the injury to Indiana Pacers forward/center Jermaine O'Neal. He was also able to get in to the Three-point Shootout because Phoenix Suns guard Raja Bell was excused due to a family illness. Arenas was the runner up to Dirk Nowitzki in the contest.

On February 25, 2006, Arenas scored 46 points in less than 30 minutes, setting the NBA record for the most points scored in 30 minutes or fewer of playing time since the 24-second shot clock was implemented in 1954. He put up twelve 40-point games and forty three 30-point games in the 2005-06 NBA season.

During the offseason, Arenas said that he was willing to take a pay cut in order to give the Wizards additional money with which to sign available free agents. He has expressed a desire to win a championship with the Wizards.

2006-07 season

It was during this season that Arenas established himself as one of the greatest clutch players in the NBA. On January 3 of the season, Arenas hit a 32-foot buzzer beater to win the game against the Milwaukee Bucks, 108-105. Two weeks later on Martin Luther King Day he hit yet another buzzer-beating three pointer to beat the Utah Jazz, 114-111, in a thriller at the Verizon Center. He also hit a game-winning layup as time expired to beat the Seattle Supersonics on March 22, 2007.

In an overtime game versus the Los Angeles Lakers on December 17, 2006 at the Staples Center, Arenas scored a career high 60 points, adding 8 rebounds and 8 assists in helping lead the Wizards over the Lakers 147-141. Arenas now holds the Wizards' franchise record for most points scored in a game by an individual. The previous record was held by Earl Monroe with 56 points, achieved in 1968 which was also an overtime game against the Lakers. His 16 points in the extra period also set an NBA record for most points in one overtime period, surpassing Earl Boykins' record by one point.

Gilbert became noted during the season for his anger with his snub by Team USA for the 2006 FIBA World Championship. Although Team USA Managing Director Jerry Colangelo and Assistant Coach Mike D'Antoni blamed Arenas's not making the team because of injury, there is evidence that he would not have been chosen anyway due to his scant playing time during preliminaries.

Arenas himself has noted that he withdrew from the United States national team for the 2006 FIBA World Championship because he felt that assistant coaches Mike D'Antoni and Nate McMillan had pre-determined the roster even prior to tryouts. Afterward, he stated that he planned on averaging 50 points against their respective teams (Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers). He succeeded at his goal versus power house Phoenix (reportedly eyeing in the direction of Suns' Chairman Colangelo and Suns' coach Mike D'Antoni after making backbreaking shots, including a miraculous scoop shot to send the game into overtime as specifically detailed by the Washington Post on December 23). However, he was held to a lowly nine points in a loss versus Portland.

On January 26th, 2007, Gilbert was voted as a first-time starter for the 2007 NBA All-Star game for the Eastern Conference, edging out Vince Carter by a slight margin.

Towards the end of the season, Arenas tore his MCL during a game against the Charlotte Bobcats when Gerald Wallace fell into his leg. The Wizards struggled to finish the season with Arenas and teammate Caron Butler both being injured. Washington earned a playoff berth, but was swept in the first round in a rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

During the offseason, Arenas told the Washington Post that he would "opt out" of his contract after the 2007-08 season, making him a free agent. He stated, "…if something happens where they don't want me or they're going in a different direction, I can look elsewhere. But my intentions are not to leave."

Player profile

Arenas is a prototype "shoot-first pass-second" point guard. He is a highly skilled scorer who currently scores at a rate of almost 30 points per game (2005-06 regular season average: 29.3), often using his trademark slashing drives to the basket as well as his long-range jumpshot. He is also one of the best ball thieves in the NBA, currently 2nd in the steals category with 63 and 2.0 steals per game (as of January 4, 2007).

However, his assists per game lifetime average is an unremarkable 5.4, and moreover, he is very turnover-prone, as his lifetime TO rate of 3.35 per game proves (he also "leads" the 2006 TO statistics with 3.71 and the previous three years in the top ten). In addition, his on-ball defensive game is still considered below average.

In spite of his critics, he is currently lauded as one of the best guards in the game, as his 2006 Eastern Conference All-Star call-up indicates.

"Gilbertology"

In the Washington, D.C. area, "Gilbertology" is the name given to Arenas's unorthodox behavior on and off the court, first coined by Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan. After being criticized for shooting too much as a point guard, Arenas would play games nearly without shooting at all, and then score at will the next game. Arenas admits that he thrives under criticism, using jersey number "0" because he was told in high school that he would get 0 minutes at Arizona.

While with the Warriors, he once took a shower at half time in full uniform. Before every game he would take a teammate's jersey and hide it in the locker room to make them look for it. Warriors teammate Adonal Foyle called him a "lunatic," and Troy Murphy said he used to lick or put baby powder on donuts he was forced to deliver to the team as a prank.

Arenas has been said to play online poker during the halftime of games, instead of resting or preparing for the second half. He disputes the accuracy of these stories, saying he was misquoted. Arenas says he does not play for money nor does he play online; instead, he plays on a DVD game of poker. On road trips, he will often eschew team outings on the town in favor of sitting in his room, ordering products from infomercials, such as a colon cleanser. In the same interview he said he preferred sleeping on the couch than on his bed, and that he once ate 12 cheeseburgers while on a road trip with the Wizards in Canada.

At the end of each game, regardless of whether it is a home loss or a road win, Arenas takes off his jersey and tosses it to the crowd. He originally tossed his shoes into the crowd, explaining that jerseys were too expensive for him to pay for every game. After he signed a lucrative contract with Washington, he began to throw his jerseys out. Arenas agreed to become a team captain for the 2005-06 season after declining the previous year because he said that many times he didn't even believe the things he was saying to his teammates. He has recently been given the nickname "The Black President", and calls himself the "East Coast Assassin", in reference to his quest to prove his abilities to those who did not vote for him to be a 2006 Eastern All Star reserve. Arenas has also begun to refer to himself as "Agent Zero", a reference to his jersey number originally coined by sports blog The Wizznutzz.

He also described his ideal shoe commercial like this:

You know how I always throw my jersey into the stands after a game? In Washington, they just go crazy for it. So in this commercial, that's what I'm gonna do with my shoes. I've just hit a game winner, and I throw these shoes. Everyone starts to react, and you see everything in slow motion. Everyone's pushing, shoving, doing whatever it takes to try to get to these shoes. People from the 400 level, they're jumping off the ledge, they're missing the pile, hitting nothing but chairs, and you can just see in people's faces like, Ooooh, that hurt. While all this stuff's going on, one of the shoes pops out of the crowd, and a little girl gets it and she takes off. A couple of people see she has it, and they start chasing her, and she's looking back running—and then she gets clotheslined by a kid in a wheelchair. So he picks the shoe up and says—he's gonna have the only line in there—"They said I couldn't get it. Heh. Impossible is nothing." And then he rolls off.

During the 2003-04 season, Arenas tried to vote himself into the All-Star game, trading a pair of shoes and a jersey for a box of ballots.

In October 2006, an ESPN.com story stated that Arenas was converting his Washington, D.C. home to simulate high-altitude conditions, stating that he hoped the arrangement would help him have more energy, especially late in games.

When shooting free throws, Arenas is known to spin the ball around his waist and dribble the ball three times before shooting to help him be more relaxed at the foul line. He began this after seeing kids copying Richard Hamilton's free throw technique. In his words "kids always want to see something then copy it. Kids started to copy Richard Hamilton when he made it to the playoffs for the first time. So I said, I might as well make my own up."

At the Wizards' first home game of the 2006-07 season (November 4, 2006), during the introductions, Arenas came out wearing a blue robe with a hood, looking like a boxer. He was supposed to resemble a "wizard."

Arenas does not wear size 13 sneakers on the court even though his feet are size 14½, as popularly believed. This was a misquote from an interview. He actually wears shoes a half size larger.

During the 2006 NBA season, he began to shout the word hibachi as he took field goal attempts in games, explaining, "You know, a hibachi grill gets real hot. That's what my shot's like, so I've been calling it that: 'Welcome to the hibachi'." He has also stated that while he is scoring on opponents, he is "cooking chicken and shrimp" in reference to his "Hibachi grill," and that if his opponent wanted to double team him, he would "cook fillet mignon" as well.

On December 23, 2006, Arenas told The Washington Post he had begun replacing "hibachi" with the phrase "quality shot," a direct reference to Kobe Bryant who had felt Arenas' shot selection was questionable and that he seemingly lacked a conscience. "Out of that whole game I probably took two bad shots," Arenas would respond. "And for me not to have a conscience? You're right. When you're an assassin, you don't have a conscience." Nonetheless, Kobe stated that Gilbert Arenas is one of the most difficult players to guard in the NBA.

On January 3, 2007, Arenas hit a very long game-winning three-point shot to beat the Milwaukee Bucks. In a post-game interview, Arenas stated that he did not shout "hibachi" or "quality shot." Rather, he told reporters that "My swag was phenomenal."

On January 15, 2007, Arenas hit yet another game-winning three-point shot to defeat the Utah Jazz. When observing both video clips of the game winning shots, one can see that Arenas throws his hands up signaling a basket before the ball actually falls through the net. Upon leaving the court to chants of "M-V-P!" Arenas said, "MVP? That trophy is given out at the end of the year. This is (37) games into the season so you can't do too much about it."

According to Gilbert Arenas's blog, he predicted that he would hit the game winner against the Utah Jazz on January 15, 2007.

On January 23, 2007, when asked about Gilbert's remarks about predicting his next game against Portland, Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni jokingly said, "I can't wait to see what he does against Duke. He's gonna kill Duke." Gilbert then responded by saying that given their soft rims, he'd probably score 84 or 85 points at Duke, and that he'd be willing to give up playing an entire NBA season to play against them. He added, "I wouldn't pass the ball. I wouldn't even think about passing it. It would be like NBA Live or an NBA 2K7 game, you just shoot with one person." . While at Arizona, Arenas played against Duke in the 2001 NCAA National Championship game. He scored 10 points on 4-17 shooting.

After a team practice, Arenas made a $20,000 bet with fellow Washington Wizard DeShawn Stevenson. Arenas claimed he could make more shots from the college basketball three point distance (approximately 19.75 feet) with one hand than Stevenson could make professional level three-pointers (approximately 23.75 feet) using two hands. Out of 100 attempts, Arenas completed 73 shots. While Stevenson was taking his shots, Arenas attempted to distract him during nearly every shot attempt, including trying to do a street basketball trick involving falling on the floor, throwing another basketball in the air in front of Stevenson's path, throwing an invisible football, and mimicking shooting motions off to Stevenson's side, and break-dancing on the floor, among other acts. Stevenson needed to make his final ten shots just to tie, but only made his first five shots before missing his sixth (meaning Stevenson completed 68 of 96 attempts), leading to Arenas winning the bet and extravagantly celebrating. Arenas added "I hope this don't mess you up for tomorrow" as a parting shot while Stevenson left the court.

On February 18, 2007 during the All-Star game, Gilbert joined a line of dunking Elvis impersonators and completed a between-the legs dunk. According to his NBA.com blog, Shaquille O'Neal promised him $100,000 to his Zer0 2 Her0 charity if he did it.

Arenas supports Barack Obama for President in 2008, claiming: "Of course we’ll win the election. As long as he has me, we’re winning. We’ll be co-presidents. He can handle all the big stuff like the war in Iraq and all that, and I’ll keep everybody distracted off what he’s doing. I’ll be the entertainer. I’ll do the press conferences. I’ll play the Bush part. I’ll be the golfer, I’ll go golf for 14 hours. I’ll party for half a week. I’ll do that, I’ll have fun with that. And then Barack can handle all that important stuff."

According to his blog, Arenas has said that although he was going to try and go an entire season without making one of his famous predictions, he promised the fans of the new and improved Boston Celtics, that they would lose their season opener against the Wizards Boston went on to win that game.

Personal life

Arenas was raised by his single father in Florida and California after his mother, a drug addict, left him as a child. His paternal great-grandfather was originally from Cuba. He also has two children.

In the summer of 2006, Gilbert Arenas was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida for supposedly interfering with police when they were arresting his teammate Awvee Storey for blocking traffic. However, Arenas denies that he had been disobeying police orders, and claims that he was only sticking up for a friend. He was processed and released the following day. Charges against both players were later dropped.

On January 5, 2007, Arenas threw a million dollar 25th birthday party for himself which was dubbed "Arenas Express". The party, which was hosted by hip hop mogul P Diddy, was attended by many celebrities and drew national media attention. Arenas is a friend of rapper The Game and was listed in the booklet for The Game's second album The Doctor's Advocate. He also collects a synthetic basketball from each team they play and he collects jerseys of players, and has over 200, most of which are autographed. Arenas is an avid Halo player—his Gamertag is Agent Arenas—and officially sponsors Team Final Boss, a professional Halo 2 team. However to the chagrin of many gamers he exploits a glitch in Xbox Live, artificially boosting his Halo 3 rank through dummy accounts. In 2007, Arenas was chosen as the front cover model for video game NBA Live 08. "This is a dream come true," he said. "I'm a huge gamer and have been playing NBA LIVE since 1995. I never imagined that I would see my face on the cover of an EA Sports videogame."

Arenas donated $100 for every point he scored in each home game during the 2006-07 season to local D.C. area schools, while Wizards team owner Abe Pollin is matching that contribution for each away game. He also mentors a D.C. boy who lost his family in a fire at age 10. Arenas takes him shopping, bowling, got him a job as a ball boy for the Wizards, and acts as a brotherly figure towards him.

Arenas also has his own shoe, the Adidas Gil Zero.

Awards/honors

• 3-time NBA All-Star: 2005, 2006, 2007
• 3-time All-NBA:

• Second Team: 2007
• Third Team: 2005, 2006

• NBA Most Improved Player Award: 2003
• NBA All-Star Rookie/Sophomore Game MVP: 2003
• NBA All-Rookie First Team: 2002
• NBA regular-season leader, minutes played: 2006 (3,384)
• Holds Washington Wizards franchise record for most three-point field goals made, all-time with 734 (as of the 2006-07 NBA season).
• NBA Player of the Month for the month of December 2006. Averaged a league-high 34.1 points per game during December.
• NBA 3 time Player of the Week 06-07 season.
• Holds Washington Wizards franchise record for most points in a game (60 against the Los Angeles Lakers).
• Cover Player of NBA Live '08
• 2007 Weblog Award for Best Celebrity Blogger

Career records

• Career high scoring 60 points on December 17, 2006 vs. the Los Angeles Lakers (breaking Earl Monroe's franchise record of 56 on February 13, 1968).
• Career 50+ point games (regular season): 3
• Career 40+ point games (regular season): 26 (25 with Washington)
• Career triple-doubles (regular season): 3
• Career 40+ point games (Playoffs): 1

NBA records

• Most points (46) in 30 or fewer full minutes of playing time, since the implementation of the 24 second shot clock. Set on February 25, 2006 vs. the New York Knicks.
• Most points (16) in one overtime period. Set on December 17, 2006 against the Los Angeles Lakers.

See also

• List of Cuban Americans

External links

• Official Site: GilbertArenas.com
• Basketball-Reference.com: Gilbert Arenas
• DatabaseBasketball.com: Gilbert Arenas
• Gilbert Arenas' NBA.com Profile
• Gilbert Arenas' NBA.com Blog
• Arenas 25th Birthday Party
• Exclusive Interview to Complex magazine
• Washington Post Magazine profile, 28 October 2007

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