Gilbert Arenas has gone from franchise player to benchwarmer in a few short years. Multiple knee surgeries sapped his biggest strength — his quickness — and with that went his confidence. Now he’s an overpaid player trying to figure out his role with the Orlando Magic. Dwight Howard thinks the team didn’t use him properly last year. Neither does Gil. He went off on a twitter rant Saturday as IamaGM.com pointed out, and said the biggest problem was his lack of freedom on the court:
Imma do my part this summer And hopefully I do get a fair shot..don’t wanna feel or look like last year..
I like the ppl who use stats to argue..I played with 100 percent green light for entire career..last year I had 0 percent freedom
Now u hav a scorer who is scared to shot the ball becuz if he miss he starts lookin over his shoulder. No player can play like that
The 3 best games I had..was when I knew I couldn’t get pulled..so miss shots and mistakes wasn’t on my mind..just gettn buckets..
But I was a killer in practice tho…lmaoo omg I could shot any shot..I wanted..I was a practice all star..lol
The points he made are understandable and it’s fair to say he’s not a good fit in Orlando. Stan Van Gundy frequently complained that Gilbert wasn’t fitting the team’s system (on either end of the court). I’m not ready to write the rest of Gilbert’s career off, but it’s hard to envision him ever getting back to All-Star levels. One thing does look certain: if he does get back to his old scoring self, it probably will be with a team that has a looser structure.
