Gil needs to go, eventually he's going to be packing heat on the floor. No wonder why the refs always give him calls in his favor...
Bit of bad taste on this comment, but anywho. This had to be expected. Now I assume the next course of action for the Wiz will be to find a way to void his contract, which I imagine is feasible, especially if criminal charges get assessed. I wouldn't be shocked if the Wiz clean house either. There were already rumors of them shopping Butler, so I wouldn't doubt that those heat up over the course of the next few weeks. I also foresee Foye taking over as the starting PG and getting a more prominent role on this team. While I don't think he can completely replace Arenas, he's definitely a more than adequate replacement. If the Wiz don't clean house, don't be shocked if these guys become a stronger team. They'll be without the distraction of Arenas now, and maybe the offense will have a better flow to it since far too often, Arenas killed the offense with early three point shots, a lot of them ill advised. He also shot a very poor percentage (was only around 41% on the year from the floor). Jamison and Butler are going to step up their game in the manner they did a few years ago when Arenas was down, and again, don't be shocked if Foye comes in and averages 17/6 or so.
Well, seeing as how he had a firearm in the DC area, which is illegal, they've got a very good case against him there. The thing that could be his saving grace is the fact that it wasn't loaded.
is there a precedent for voiding a contract with this many years and money left on it? i know the wiz will try it but the union and possibly other teams will challenge any move like that because that free's up a ton of cap room for the wiz to be players in the 2010 free agent frenzy. that space coupled with a high lottery pick could transform the wiz into legit contenders in a couple of years. as for foye- he's has had a disastrous year thus far. nick young and earl boykins are ahead of him on the depth chart. i watched a game earlier this year where foye was a healthy scratch so i think flip may have lost confidence in the kid.
If there are federal charges against him that put him jail for a couple of years, I think they're going to have a good case. Why should they be responsible for his contract and taking the cap hit when he was a moron a pulled an illegal firearm out in his place of work? They shouldn't, it wouldn't be fair. If he gets put in jail for a couple of years, which is very possible, I think they should be able to void his contract at no penalty, regardless of the fact that there's no NBA precedent for this.
i was just listening to a writer for cbs sportsline who hypothesized that it was almost impossible for the wiz to void his contract. he believes that because the CBA has kind of a double jeopardy clause where a player cannot be penalized twice by two separate parties (i.e. the league and the franchise he plays for) and the league has already acted. although, it does have a narrow loophole and that is when a player inflicts physical harm or something to that effect on team personnel. apparently, the warriors tried to void spreewel's contract ( i was way too young to remember that) after he choked out his coach but an arbitrator overruled them and they were on hook for his entire salary.
Yeah, it's a pretty complicated process. I'm not sure if it's even in Washington's best interests to void his contract. I know he's getting paid a lot of money, but if they plan on voiding his contract, the players union should be behind Gilbert 100%. Washington could be blackballed as a potential free agent destination. I know this issue came up a couple of years ago when Radmanovic hurt himself snowboarding. The Lakers had a choice to void his contract but chose not to. Probably a smart decision, I don't believe this has ever happened before, has it?
in toronto many years ago we signed a player named nate huffman who's american but played overseas and actually made a good living over there. so the raps brought him on board as a free agent one summer- he played here for a few months until it was discovered that he deliberately withheld info about an preexisting injury to the raptor medical staff. the raps tried to void his contract and i think they were successful but huffman took them to court, although, i dont remember how the court ruled. nevertheless, the important detail from a basketball perspective- is that the league made them assume the cap hit in spite of the illegality of the contract. huffman's contract was probably a couple of million at most but arenas' contract is a massive burden on their cap and that could mean the difference between them signing mle players for the next few years or signing joe johnson this summer.
They should go back to being the Washington Bullets now. I think Stern and the league are going to make an example out of Arenas. Not only did he bring a weapon into the locker room he also didn't show any remorse for doing it. He made light of the situation and had a nonchalant attitude about the ordeal.
