<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The coal-black Ferrari pulled into Southeast Washington just short of 8:30 p.m. It was a humid, late-August night, and Gilbert Arenas was determined to leave his chaotic offseason behind for one memorable evening at the outdoor basketball courts known as Barry Farms. "Maybe I can get off the bench here," he said, his voice thick with sarcasm. On the night LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony -- Arenas's former teammates on the U.S. national team and the NBA's newly anointed torch-carriers -- were playing in the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Championships in Saitama, Japan, Arenas was playing in the quarterfinals, too: The quarterfinals of the Goodman League at Barry Farms. He pulled the Ferrari through an opening in the chain-link fence, parked and made his way through the crowd, which buzzed with anticipation and delight. "Gilbert Arenas is on the premises!" Miles Rawls, the commissioner of the Goodman League, announced. Arenas raised his hand to the man at the scorer's table, and Barry Farms' most prominent sixth man was getting a run again. His bizarre summer was almost over. * * * When the arresting officer put Arenas in the back of a patrol wagon May 28 in Miami, he asked the star of the Washington Wizards for his name. Arenas declined, demanding to know why he was being arrested. The officer grew impatient. "Then what's your street name?" he asked, oblivious to Arenas's profession or fame. "Street name?" Arenas said, chuckling under his breath. "Street name? "Zero to hero." From worthless to wunderkind -- and back. Seldom had the recurring theme in Arenas's life and career played out like this past offseason. After the most tumultuous summer of his adult life, his sixth NBA season begins on Wednesday. In May, he dueled James in a riveting Eastern Conference first-round playoff series, hitting an improbable 40-foot shot to send Game 6 into overtime before inexplicably missing two free throws in the final seconds that enabled the Cleveland Cavaliers to close out the Wizards at home.</div> Source
