<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Washington Post - Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas said last night that he will opt out of his contract after next season and become a free agent. Arenas, who signed a six-year, $65 million contract in the summer of 2003, said his decision is based on family and business concerns rather than feelings about the direction in which the Wizards are headed as an organization. "To me, it's just a smarter business decision to play next season, opt out and then be able to sign a long-term deal that is going to keep me in one place," said Arenas, who is recovering from left knee surgery and expects to be at full speed in time for training camp in October. "I'm not looking at anything else. It's just business. 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." Arenas also said he does not plan on hiring an agent. He parted ways with agent Dan Fegan last summer. "I don't need an agent," Arenas said. "I can do all of this research myself."</div> Source: RealGM via Washington Post Interesting...he's stated before that if the Wizards aren't committed to winning, he'll look to play elsewhere. He also said that he'd sign for whatever it takes to get him on a winning team. Any top level ball clubs going to have cap space next off season?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"To me, it's just a smarter business decision to play next season, opt out and then be able to sign a long-term deal that is going to keep me in one place"</div> What in the blue hell is stopping him from doing that with Washington? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">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."</div> Why would the Wizards be going in a different direction? They built this team around Gilbert Arenas and the princeton offense, how the hell would they say that they wouldn't want him anymore? Gilbert's an idiot if he thinks the Wizards won't become a serious contender in the next year or so. We definitely had a good chance of making the Eastern conference finals, if Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler didn't go down. We were matched up from the Nets, Heat, and Raptors when we were healthy, but things just went down with injuries, that's all. It's just an isolated incident. Remember, we were first place in the East for about a week until Jamison went down with an injury. I don't know, I think he may go Kobe and change his mind. Ernie will make something happen if history has repeated it's self and the Wizards can go deep in the playoffs next year, which can convince Gilbert to stay.
Ego is talking... lol he is old and he wont get paid the amount of money that is floating around in his mind right now... Maybe the Bobcats can afford him
<div class="quote_poster">kobe23 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Ego is talking... lol he is old and he wont get paid the amount of money that is floating around in his mind right now... Maybe the Bobcats can afford him</div> Research my friend, research. Arenas isn't close to being old. He's only 25...
I still think he is stupid for saying that now (with a whole season ahead of him), and with a knee injury that he does not know how much he will recover from (it could haunt him for the rest of his career, forcing his number of played games and his point average down).
And Kobe's not stupid with two season's ahead of him before he can opt out? There is nothing wrong with what Arenas' said, a lot of players do it. Like Kobe's comments, these kind of comments light a fire under management's ass to get championship pieces around their star player. If Amare came back, Arenas will be fine. His injury is no where as severe is Amare's was.
Didn't Arenas say a while back that if he could take a smaller salary he would but the CBA wouldn't allow it? He has his chance next year and it sounds like he'll go wherever they'll give him the biggest contract (just like he did with Golden State) instead of actually signing a smaller contract so that his team can be better. Sounds like history will repeat itself.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I still think he is stupid for saying that now (with a whole season ahead of him), and with a knee injury that he does not know how much he will recover from (it could haunt him for the rest of his career, forcing his number of played games and his point average down).</div> That's where the problem is, it's not actually news that he was going to opt out we all already knew this before, it's just the timing, Arenas is all about bad timing with everything. He does everything in times where it brings more attention to him. The knee injury isn't big, it's not going to do anything to hamper is career in any way, and if it was, then him opting out earlier WOULD be the good thing financially. Anyways, him opting out doesn't mean he's leaving Washington or anything like that, and it also doesn't mean he's necessarily looking for a $100 million contract. EDIT: I seriously don't understand the overreaction by some people though, Arenas is doing what he's supposed to do, he's doing what makes sense. He's trying to get a long term contract a year earlier, the reason you do that is because you never know what can happen in one year in terms of injuries. If he didn't do it, he would be an idiot and stupid. Like I said, the only problem here is him saying this a year before the time, not with him opting out, that was something everyone should've been expecting.
How about you trade him back to Golden State? If he's gonna opt out, why not swap him for a longer contracted player? I'm sure Golden State would entertain shipping off, say, Al Harrington, Jason Richardson, and maybe a future pick for Gil... ...then again, I'm supposed to be proposing a trade, not working on my standup routine, right?
<div class="quote_poster">Montaman Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">How about you trade him back to Golden State? If he's gonna opt out, why not swap him for a longer contracted player?</div> Because he was looking to see if he could get a longer and bigger contract. If you bother to read the article at all, since the 2 kids and the injury, he wants to capitalize on every opportunity he gets now. His intentions are to stay with the Wizards, but if he gets a big offer from somewhere else, then go big.
I did read the article. I just take pause at what Arenas says when it comes to contracts and money. He said things right before leaving here that weren't altogether earnest, or at worst got a lot of people's hopes up. One of the things Gil's agent said in the press release when he left Golden State was that he felt it'd be easier for him to rise to All Star status in the East. Now he's done that, and he's one of the NBA's most marketable stars, albeit in a less abrasive way than Kobe or LeBron. Given that he's been able to get some degree of leaguewide recognition (the very thing he always fights so hard for), I would be worried if I were the Wizards that this may be the prelude to Gil wanting out, to get back out West and set his sights on the championship. I'm not saying that to be rude or confrontational in any way. Apologies if it seemed so.
At this time I'm not worried about Gilbert leaving us. The East is wide open and the Wizards could very well take it. Gilbert has lived in DC for the past couple of years and has changed the franchise around. The Wizards can offer an attractive offer to Arenas which will benefit both the franchise and Gilbert. I think that Agent Zero just wants to see how much he's worth. I would be worried if he gets a good contract from a contendor however, then I could see him leaving. I doubt that a contendor could at this point afford Arenas though.
Like Run BMJ said, unless we can get him for cheap, there really isn't a reason to pursue for Arenas. For one thing, I have no idea how both Davis and Arenas can share the ball together when both love to message the ball for 15 seconds. Then, people criticize Richardson’s defense. But, Arenas’ defense make Richardson’s like Bowen’s. We can resign Monta cheaper instead of paying Arenas for 18 mils per year for next 6 years. And, it’s not like we have any room to take yet another max contract…
