On Sunday Ernie Grunfeld announced that Gilbert Arenas would be back with the Wizards next year. Although a lot of people may not agree with me, I think this is great news. Grunfeld's announcement might not mean much, however, as the new owner, Ted Leonsis, might decide to replace Grunfeld with one of his own guys. When Leonsis takes over, he will have four options with Gilbert Arenas. He could try to void his contract, which really isn't possible due to the fact that a player can't be punished by both the league and the team for any one action (the NBA already suspended Arenas for the rest of the season) and because a player needs to commit a "violent felony" for a contract to be voided. Arenas' felony was clearly not violent, as he didn't physically attack Crittenton.
Leonsis could also try to trade Arenas. But due to his legal trouble, any deal the Wizards would get for him would be far, far worse than his actual value (I'm talking a Gilbert Arenas for Devin Harris swap as a best case scenario). If the Wizards want to trade Arenas, they need to hold onto him at least until next year's trade deadline so that he could recover some of his value.
Another option the Wizards would have is to buy out Arenas' contract for around $40 million. That is a ridiculous sum of money and would cancel out the benefits getting rid of Arenas would provide- financial flexibility, because it would greatly reduce Leonsis' budget for signing a free agent (he doesn't have unlimited money you know). Also, without Arenas no free agent would want to come to Washington. Who would want to join a team whose best players are Andray Blatche and whatever rookie the Wizards draft next year? No amount of money would lure any big name free agent to a team in such desperate straits.
So that leaves only one real option for the Wizards: keeping Arenas and playing him next year. But, I propose the Wizards go even further than just keeping Arenas for another year: I think they should rebuild around him as one of the cornerstones of their franchise. Overlooked in the Wizards awful season this year is that Arenas actually played pretty well, especially in December. Over the year he averaged 22.6 points and 7.2 assists, which would make him the 11th and 9th best scorer and passer in the NBA, respectively. But remember, he was coming back from pretty much two years of inactivity. It took him about a month to knock off the rust, so if we look at his December stats, when he averaged 25.2 points and 7.6 assists, he would rank 7th and 9th in the NBA in points and assists respectively. That is a player who you can build your team around, at least stat-wise.
Arenas wouldn't be the only scoring option on the team or perhaps even the best one. Imagine this as the Wizards starting lineup next year: PG: Arenas, SG: Evan Turner, SF: Chris Bosh, PF: Andray Blatche, C: Javale McGee. That's a pretty good lineup right there. While getting Bosh might be a bit of a stretch, the Wizards do have a very good chance of landing Turner and at least some high-caliber free agent (maybe Stoudamire?). Yes their bench would probably suck, but if the Wizards keep Arenas they could be only two years away from seriously competing in the playoffs again.
So am I misrepresenting Arenas' skills in some way? Do you think any of the other options the Wizards have in regards to Arenas makes more sense than the one I advocate? Comments would be appreciated.
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