Larry Brown Sports

Now that Gilbert Arenas is a third-string guard who plays for the Grizzlies, he’s probably not having as much fun as he used to. He was already heading downhill in Washington before the gun incident, but that became the final straw for his career with the Wizards. However, when Arenas was one of the highest-paid players in the NBA, he was known as a prankster. That could be why Andray Blatche once falsely accused him of cutting up his suit.

In an interview with the USA Today, Arenas told a story about Blatche once throwing all of his clothes in the jacuzzi because he thought Gilbert cut up his suit. Arenas insists he was not the culprit, but he was forced to get back at Blatche for throwing his clothes in the hot tub. He decided to take aim at Blatche’s sneakers

“It was just dog doo-doo in it,” Arenas recalled. “It was really dog doo-doo. … I took his sole out, threw it under there, put the sole back on and threw the baby powder on there so he couldn’t smell it.”

Advantage: Arenas. Based on the way he went about the prank, this sounds like a man who has pulled the dog s*** in the sneaker prank before. Under the sole and baby powder to mask the smell? That kind of expertise doesn’t just come to you one morning when you wake up. Either Gilbert did a lot of Google research ahead of time, or Andre wasn’t the first person to feel the squish at the hands of Agent Zero.

Photo credit: Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE

Javaris Crittenton is currently out on bail and awaiting trial after being slapped with murder charges last summer in the shooting death of a 22-year-old Atlanta mother. But Crittenton is perhaps better known for a previous gun-related incident — when he and Gilbert Arenas infamously pulled guns on each other in the Wizards locker room in December 2009.

Arenas, who signed with the Grizzlies last month, says he’s finally at peace with his life after going through what he called “dark years” following his incident with Crittenton. But in retrospect, he feels that he unfairly bore the brunt of the backlash from the locker room ordeal and that Crittenton didn’t receive as much scrutiny as he should have. Arenas hopes Crittenton’s latest troubles vindicate his belief.

“Hey, when it was supposed to have been both of us going through the same thing, I didn’t hear his name,’’ Arenas told Fox Sports Florida’s Chris Tomasson. “It was Gilbert and a teammate. Now, everyone finds out who was the real problem. Hopefully, he gets through it, and God bless him. But that’s none of my concern.

“Like people say, the light eventually turns on the good one. At first, I was supposed to have been the bad seed, but I’m back doing something I love and that’s all I can think about. I can’t think about what he’s going through. He has his own problems and, hopefully, I just wish him the best.’’

I think Crittenton has more pressing matters than worrying about what Arenas has to say about their Wild West re-enactment from over two years ago. It’s probably time for Gil to move on, too.

Photo credit: Spruce Derden-US PRESSWIRE

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace admitted he got the idea to sign free agent Gilbert Arenas after reading a blog post on a Grizzlies fan site.

“[The idea] came up a couple weeks ago and we gradually worked towards it,” Wallace said on The Chris Vernon Show.

Host Chris Vernon pressed Wallace about the issue, and the GM caved.

“I’m going to admit this, I’m going to come clean. I’ll be honest about it, okay? … I’m in the office of [President of Business Operations] Greg Campbell, he says, ‘You outta read this thing that’s on a blog today.’ And I don’t read the blogs, but this guy wrote this case for Gilbert Arenas, and I read the thing and said ‘Greg, you know something? This guy makes some sense.’

“I thought about it and said, you know, we gotta look into it a little further.

“So I called his agent up. I’m willing to admit it — I pride myself on being open-minded — and you look at the finances involved, and the group of players involved, and why not?”

Wallace said he didn’t even know what blog it was or who wrote the post. The honesty from Wallace gave Vernon a hearty laugh, but the GM justified the move.

“I don’t see this as a gamble. It’s a very nominal investment, and he has every incentive to make this work,” Wallace said of Arenas.

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Gilbert Arenas worked out for the Grizzlies Monday and is reportedly preparing to sign with the team. The Memphis Commercial Appeal says Arenas appeared slender and shot the ball well in his workout. They say he is taking a physical and that he will likely sign as long as he is cleared.

Arenas would be signed to a contract for the veteran’s minimum and could join the team for its Thursday game at Portland.

Gilbert is 30 years old, recovering from knee issues, and underwent a plasma therapy treatment to improve his knees. He hasn’t played pro basketball since ending last season with the Magic. He admitted in a recent interview that his mind wasn’t right with Orlando, so Memphis is hoping that he’ll be in a proper frame of mind.

The Grizzlies are 25-18, fifth in the Western Conference standings and probably figure they need to make a move to compete with some of the teams ahead of them. It’s a risky play for Memphis given how ineffective Arenas has been lately, and how much of a distraction he can be. I really hope he signs and that this works out well for both sides.

Gilbert Arenas’ rise and fall is one of the saddest stories we’ve covered at LBS. Back when the site began in 2007, Gil was around the peak of his popularity and one of the personalities that drove the site. He was the first professional athlete to embrace new media and his NBA.com blog was immensely popular. He talked wildly, made boastful predictions, and he made the NBA fun.

Arenas hurt his knee at the end of the ’06-’07 season, re-injured it trying to come back too quickly, and then missed almost the entire season after having his third knee surgery in two years. The knee surgeries took away his quickness, which was his greatest asset as a player. When he did come back, he played 32 games before getting busted for bringing guns into the Wizards’ locker room and ended up suspended the rest of the season. Gil went from being one of the most beloved players in the league to one of the most notorious.

In a lengthy interview with SI’s Sam Amick, Gil said he doesn’t want the gun incident to define him, and he doesn’t think it should.

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There are few things in life that are more puzzling than seeing Bill Belichick dress up as a pirate and enjoy Halloween.  Shaq dressing up as a woman and looking frighteningly feminine is one of them.  However, both instances have one important thing in common: Halloween.  Why Gilbert Arenas decided to dress up as a naughty female police officer in early October is quite the mystery.

We all know Agent Zero loves guns, so maybe he wanted to know what it would feel like to wear a police officer’s uniform.  Actually, that wouldn’t explain the skimpy aspect of it.  Along with the above picture which she posted on Twitter, Arenas’ wife wrote that he was “singing ‘Mrs. Officer, Mrs’ Officer!”  Unfortunately that’s all the information we have at this time.

Chest bump to The Big Lead for passing the picture along.

Gilbert Arenas gave his twitter followers an introspective look at his personality Thursday night. He claimed he wasn’t a role model, but rather a regular person who does nice things and some dumb things. One of those dumb things was bringing guns into the locker room when he played for the Washington Wizards.

Arenas was initially suspended indefinitely for the incident, but his suspension was extended for the season after he mocked it with this pre-game gesture. The suspension essentially ended Arenas’ career with the Wizards, and on Thursday he intimated that the team leaked the story.

Here’s what he said in a series of tweets as shared by IamaGM.com [edited for grammar and spelling]:

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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.

While many NFL players and teams have turned to MMA training in the offseason, the Orlando Magic are recommending its players take up boxing. The team’s strength and conditioning coach Joe Rogowski “endorses the boxing workouts because they improve the players’ stamina, balance and mental toughness.” To see the type of workouts the players are put through, check out this video of Ryan Anderson training with Todd Drespling at Gym Rat Boxing and Fitness:

In addition to Anderson, Gilbert Arenas, Brandon Bass, Earl Clark and Chris Duhon have incorporated boxing into their training regimen. Earlier this month, Arenas posted a nearly 15-minute long video of him training. Check it out:

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We’ve made it a point to try and get both sides of the Gilbert Arenas-Laura Govan relationship out because we feel like Arenas has been publicly embarrassed and wrongfully depicted as a deadbeat by a vengeful woman. Think about how vindictive Govan is — she had Arenas served with court papers during halftime of one of his recent games. She also had a public relations person pitch a story to different news outlets in an effort to make Gilbert look like a horrible father. Because of the juicy nature of her claims, the story was widely published.

All the while Gil has been playing for the Magic, trying to adjust with his new team. He’s kept his mouth shut for the most part, but we did get a few more details about his side of their story on Sunday.

Deadspin published quotes that supposedly came directly from Arenas, explaining what really went on with him and his ex-fiance. For instance, Arenas says Govan, despite her pleas that she and the children have been abandoned “gets 20 grand a month. She got $8,000 allowance.”

He says she is living in a three bedroom townhouse in San Ramon, California. He also adds that “All I hear is, ‘I left the kids.’ She won’t let the kids see me.”

“All I hear is, ‘Gilbert took everything.’ Sure I did. She took a SL600. She took the Range Rover, which I don’t mind because she has to drive the kids around. Oh, all my furniture and all my clothes, about $4 million worth of stuff? Gone.”

Like I said, there are two sides to every story, and Govan’s side is looking weaker and weaker by the day, and her claims are coming across as more preposterous every time. Now that we have their relationship saga straightened out, we just need to do something about fixing Gilbert’s game.