GILBERT: DON’T WORRY WIZARDS FANS
“I’m a loyal player.” - Gilbert Arenas
In the latest update to his NBA.com blog, Gilbert Arenas discussed the hot topic which started this past weekend as the three-time NBA all-star explains why it makes sense for him to become a free agent next summer.
Arenas also writes about the bike, the Finals, Larry and Wizards shorts, his summer plans, and who he recently saw in DC.
(Thanks for the heads up LilGil!)
Posted: June 14th, 2007 under Gilbert Arenas, Wizards.
Comments
Comment from styles
Time June 14, 2007 at 9:44 PM
What do you mean, “don’t worry?” By signing a max deal you are taking all the cap room needed to go from a playoff team to a contender. I love Arenas and I love the Wizards, but one thing I don’t love is First-Round exits. Signing a max deal does not fix that problem.
Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time June 14, 2007 at 9:52 PM
styles: read the part below from Gil’s blog and you’ll understand why you can still add players via free agency (next summer)
This is going to be the last thing I do. I know my history and I don’t want to make the same mistake that Miami almost made about seven years ago with the Juwan Howard thing when Miami decided to sign Howard before they signed their own player, Alonzo.
If the league would have let them sign Howard to the $100 million contract he was going to sign, they wasn’t going to be able to afford Alonzo. But if they would have signed Alonzo first and then signed Howard, they would have had them both.
My situation is flip-flopped.
I want to make sure that they get all the people they can get before I sign my deal because if I sign first and then eat up all the money, then we can’t get anybody.
Comment from WizDom
Time June 14, 2007 at 10:03 PM
Plus, if we are already over the cap, Gil having the max or not… we basically can only use our MLE.
Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time June 14, 2007 at 10:06 PM
Having Twan AND Gil’s salaries off the books (at least temporarily) will free up TONS of space. Remember, NBA teams are allowed to go over the cap to re-sign their own players.
Comment from WizDom
Time June 14, 2007 at 10:19 PM
Hmm.. But most likely we’ll be over the luxury tax then.. Would the organization be willing to do that?
Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time June 14, 2007 at 11:08 PM
WizDom - we’ll see. A lot will depend on how close the team is to the tax and what the FA market is like next year (there very well could be no one worth spending $$$ on). But the tax is definitely another thing that has to be kept in mind.
Just think if Jared’s NYK contract were on WAS’s books instead? Being a GM isn’t just planning for next season, but seasons down the line.
Comment from LilGil
Time June 15, 2007 at 12:31 AM
Wizards4life - Hell yeah!! I’ve been reading articles through the whole wide web for one week now trying to stay positiv, and you know, it’s good to read Gilbert, find him back, after ppl saying he was a strange guy who tried to manipulate the wizards, some other said this was a sent shoutout to the lakers, and finally the Gil I love, the Gil I watched all season, the crazy Gil who said “Watch out Prtland I’m coming” just says that. I still think he had fun these last days reading what ppl were saying, dont’ you?
(Queen Labron got swept lol)
Comment from GrifonRacing
Time June 15, 2007 at 3:02 AM
I’ve been silent a while now. I wanted to wait and see Gilbert’s explanation. You KNEW one had to be forthcoming… Again, he didn’t let me down. (I knew he wouldn’t). He doesn’t need an agent. He has things figured out a lot better than any agent I can think of… cept Agent 0.
Ok Eric…. gonna put you on the spot. I have no idea what the salary cap and luxury tax implications are of our current status. We resign Gil at the max and give Antawn an extension for 3….. next summer what are we going to look like financially? ( the Gil and Twan’s salaries off the books “temporarily” intrigues me)
Comment from HardCoreFan
Time June 15, 2007 at 8:35 AM
I was really glad to read what Gilbert had to say. I am encouraged and certain that he will remain in DC.
I had my broom ready last night but I didn’t need it because the Spurs swept the Cavs. Yes, they kept the Queen in place. (I really hate that King crap) I didn’t see any of that pimping and showing off from him. And yes, I was a witness!
Comment from wizkid034
Time June 15, 2007 at 8:57 AM
Bottom line is this…I trust Gil and, more importantly, I trust Ernie. This whole “Gil opting out” was something I definitely anticipated. After reading Gil’s blog, I trust him 100%. He really sounds like he knows what he is talking about, and he has given this a lot of thought. You have to respect the fact that the man wants to get paid appropriately for his skills, we all do! The fact that he had the foresight to read up and see what situations, historically, have worked and what has not tells me so much about the man. Gil is going to get paid for a reason…and he should! Ernie also gets paid for a reason. History shows the man is a genius who works absolute magic.
All that being said, here are the questions I have in my mind. I am eager to see how they are answered.
1. Will we re-sign DeShawn? (I think we should, but can we get cheaper talent in the draft)
2. Which NBA team will we fleece and get to take Brenda off our books? (I am still saying that he is traded, regardless of what EG might say publicly)
3. Is the draft going to compliment free agency, or visa versa? (If we get a big in FA, we can look guard in the draft. Otherwise, we have to look towards Smith or Splitter with #16)
Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time June 15, 2007 at 10:54 AM
Grifon - to be honest, I don’t really know. But knowing that over $25M will be mathematically off the books (based on Gil’s plan, although he never really mentioned Twan) has to take a good load off. You can probably get team salary info at HoopsHype or RealGM for team salary info. I really shouldn’t get into that stuff.
Comment from WizDom
Time June 15, 2007 at 11:11 AM
However, I’ve read that it works like this:
When he opts out, there’s going to be a hold for the value of the max contract placed on the Wizards cap until he either signs or the Wizards renounce him. He seems to think that if he opts out the Wizards will have additional cap room to sign other players. They won’t because the league changed the rules so that transaction order wouldn’t matter.
He also has things backward when he’s talking about the Juwan Howard to Miami thing. Back then, a team could sign free agents using cap space, then exceed the cap to re-sign their own free agents. Gil says Miami needed to sign Zo first, THEN sign Juwan. In fact, it was the opposite — they needed to sign Howard under the cap, then sign Mourning using the Bird exception.
Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time June 15, 2007 at 4:14 PM
WizDom - doh! You’re right. They DID change that rule to prevent what teams used to do in the late 90’s.
Comment from Wizards4Life
Time June 15, 2007 at 4:30 PM
lol cant some one tell me what your talking about in Dee dee dee please because i am lost on what the deal is with the cap and taking back your own players
Comment from LilGil
Time June 15, 2007 at 5:15 PM
Yeah I’m kind of lost too. I mean if I understood and if you’re right, Gil isn’t?? And it would mean that if Gil opts out and get a 6 years deal starting at 15 mil. the Wiz will be stuck with the cap??
Comment from doclinkin
Time June 15, 2007 at 6:47 PM
Check draftexpress’ nba market watch Wizards article. No idea how accurate the figures are, but that will give you an idea.
Comment from hbkbccsax
Time June 15, 2007 at 8:56 PM
I feel where he is coming from. I think he has attached to D.C. and we as fans have taken on his identity. If we can do this and keep Butler and jamison we should be in good shape. Because I belive if we had Gilbert and Caron in the playoffs LeBron and company wouldnt not have made it!
Comment from skinny4awiz
Time June 15, 2007 at 9:04 PM
why thanks gil for helping me out with that one it does make alot sense now
Comment from eccentric beethoven
Time June 15, 2007 at 9:35 PM
jamesion for o’neal is a good draft day trade and with o’neal post game that what the wizards really need.
Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time June 15, 2007 at 9:36 PM
A taste of my own medicine…
Everyone read this: it’ll all make more sense.
Comment from wizardsdotcom
Time June 15, 2007 at 9:41 PM
WizDom - you’re right, I just re-read Gil’s comments on the MIA deal in ‘96.
For those who don’t remember, MIA signed Howard to a $100M+ contract, then re-signed Mourning (going over the cap). The problem was that Zo was on TV saying that before they signed Juwan, he had a handshake/wink-wink deal in place already with MIA. A BIG no-no. So the league forfeited Howard’s contract and that’s how he ended up back in DC.
Comment from Wizards4Life
Time June 15, 2007 at 11:28 PM
“LARRY BIRD EXCEPTION — This is the best known one. Players who qualify for this exception are called “Qualifying Veteran Free Agents” in the CBA, and this exception is a component of the Veteran Free Agent exception. This exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents, up to the player’s maximum salary. The player must have played for three seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. This means a player can obtain “Bird rights” by playing under three one-year contracts, a single contract of at least three years, or any combination. It also means that when a player is traded, his Bird rights are traded with him, and his new team can use the Bird exception to re-sign him. These contracts can be up to six years in length. A player can receive raises up to 10.5% of the salary in the first season of the contract. This exception is known as the Larry Bird exception because the Celtics were the first team allowed to exceed the cap to keep their own free agent, and the player happened to be Bird.
There is one more limit to the maximum salary that can be given using the Larry Bird exception. If the player was a first round draft pick and just completed the third year of his rookie scale contract, but his team did not exercise their option to extend the contract for the fourth season (see question number 41), then this exception cannot be used to give him a salary greater than he would have received had the team exercised their fourth year option. In other words, teams can’t decline the option in order to get around the salary scale and give the player more money.”
from the site that wiz.com gave us^^
this looks like what Gil was saying and it seems to be on target but its very complicated in the fact that there are a dozen rules that could make it change and i don’t see how people take all this in and can quote stuff from it but i suggest you read it if you want to understand the cap it covers a lot
Comment from dwiz
Time June 15, 2007 at 11:29 PM
I don’t know y’all, I read this article on the Wash. Times earlier. I usually don’t like what they write about, but this one makes alot of sense all of a sudden. Gil was talking the exact opposite last year. Taking less money to get quality players, improving on D! and takeover. It was a good first half season. But after the all star break, when every team stepped their game the wiz, well look at the record. As for the D! every PG had a breakout game against the wiz. I’m a huge fan, but injury was by no means our only problem this year. And as for the “secure my kids financial future”, man please, I could secure my kids future with just 1/3 of what he’s making. He should’ve stopped at, “its just business”, cause we all know its about the money.
Comment from LilGil
Time June 16, 2007 at 12:52 PM
Just about this whole “kids” thing. Gil spoke about it on the first interviews made by the Wash. times and the Wash. post since then, nothing… (check out his bolg, he only says “kids” when he speaks about the kids in the bus). If you feel like asking for more money when you make 11 millions a year is absurd, well you can but don’t attack Gil for speaking about his kids, attack him for wanting more money while he’s rich… By the way he also says he does so to get a longer contract which is quiet important in sport…
Comment from elysia
Time June 16, 2007 at 1:55 PM
reading that blog post makes me feel so relieved and i would tune into a gilbert reality show everyday.
Comment from Wizards4Life
Time June 16, 2007 at 5:33 PM
i cant say that asking for more money will help the team at the same time i never heard any bulls fan say there paying MJ him too much!
Comment from Terry Tee
Time June 16, 2007 at 6:52 PM
Message to ‘Zards and to Gil - Tom Knott speaks truth. http://www.washingtontimes.com/sports/20070615-124443-6197r_page2.htm
“Gilbert Arenas culled from Latrell Sprewell’s tired material in saying his decision to opt out of his contract with the Wizards after next season is based on securing the financial future of his two children.
“To which can be said: Give me and all the other workaday lugs a break.
“Earth to Arenas: With your $64 million contract, you already are in a position to give your children advantages that you never had. It turned out fairly well for you. It gave you a deep hunger. The wealth of the Hiltons produced the opposite effect on Paris…
. . . .
” If Arenas opts out of his contract and leaves the Wizards next summer, what he really will be saying is, “I am not good enough to lead a team deep into the playoffs.”
“Otherwise, his recent pronouncement contradicts his past comments of wanting to spend the rest of his career here and one day seeing his jersey hanging from the rafters and claiming not to want a maximum contract because of the limitation it puts on a franchise in landing top-level personnel.
“Arenas either accepts the challenge of being the franchise player of the Wizards or doesn’t.
“If he goes elsewhere, it will be as a nice regular-season player who could not get it done in the postseason with the Wizards.”
Comment from doclinkin
Time June 16, 2007 at 7:34 PM
“Wizards4Life Says: I cant say that asking for more money will help the team at the same time i never heard any bulls fan say there paying MJ him too much!”
That’s because MJ was the most underpaid superstar in the league– as far as salary is concerned. It was a smart move on his part because he was making more money offcourt with endorsements, and he knew that as long as his team was winning, the endorsement deals would keep rolling in.
He took less money to make sure he could keep a team around him, and profitted more in the long-term (and as far as his legacy is concerned) because of it. Plus the dude hated to lose more than he needed the money. It was a pride issue with him.
Comment from doclinkin
Time June 16, 2007 at 7:43 PM
I guess my concern is:
If Gil opts out, the only way the Wiz receive any benefit from Tawn’s $16 million dollar expiring contract is if we trade him. I can’t imagine that’s what Gil wants to do: force out Jamison.
If Gil played out his contract or took an extension instead (and then another down the line) then we’d have a little relief to slot another player or two next to him. And re-sign Tawn at a decent price.
I understand he wants to do what’s right for his family. But I bet a guy like Gil would make even more dollars if the Wiz were winning and therefore getting more national TV time, etc. The endorsement dollars will be there for the People’s Champ.
But hey nobody is offeing me 16 million dollars, so whatever I can’t tell anybody else what to do. I’m just a fan of the team. I just want them to win, is all.
Comment from THEMAN09
Time June 16, 2007 at 7:43 PM
RESIGN PLEASE GIL PLEASE
Comment from Wizards4Life
Time June 16, 2007 at 8:12 PM
I’m with you i want them to win as well but making the star player unhappy by not giving him the money he is worth would put us in a bad place as far as the team goes and doc 35.5 mill a year is not chump change neither lol and yeah he has more money from shoes ect… than any one player could make in a 4 years salary so i would say he was a little easy when they offered him a little less
Comment from LilGil
Time June 16, 2007 at 8:36 PM
I’m with you too guys. My biggest concern in this story is that Gil said 2 entirely different things in one year, so you know… He can opt out to get 6 years but a “regular” price to keep the team in the game. He has contract with adidas, vitamin water, he has his talent agency and he’s about to start selling jeans so money might not be that much of a concern, now it’s the future which will tell us if his decision had any logic reagarding the team. Anyway if Gil’s salary raise lead us to a “Tawn problem” I think everybody’ll have to regret it…
Comment from aznzero
Time June 17, 2007 at 4:59 PM
man i havnt been here in the longest time. mainly becuz our season was done. but yea i had to get back and check on here when gil sed he was opting out. but yea the gil we all kno and luv is def stayin. i say we make him a franchise player. but yea i wann be on his reality show!!!
Comment from cpapanicolas
Time June 17, 2007 at 6:08 PM
I am not so sure that gilbert wants to leave Washington for two reasons. One, the Wizards is the best situation for him because Eddie runs an offense that allows gilbert to be flexible and do what ever he wants. I don’t think Gil will find a team that allows for much flexibility with the offense. Second, i think Gilbert has gotten attached to the city that he has no intention o f leaving. I think that a person of Gil’s stature deserves a raise, but we must also take into account that we are going to run into trouble trying to resign Antwan, which is one person the wizards might not want to do let alone loosing Gilbert. Anyway, time will tell what is the fate of this basketball team will be.
Comment from Telvis
Time June 19, 2007 at 8:56 PM
Gil….Please convince management to bring Kevin Garnett!
So anyways..lol
After watching the Spurs and Cleveland game, I’m thoroughly convinced that with a healthy Gil, Caron and of course Antwan we would have done a waaaayyyy better job than Cleveland..Even if they had a healthy Hughes. But you guys have to ask yourself, how do you beat a team like Spurs…We need a strong center bigtime! Bring Garnett, please!!!!! And bring in some veterans and trade Jarvis, Etan, Haywood! BTW, what happened to Deshawn? Why did he freeze up during the playoffs?
Comment from aznzero
Time June 20, 2007 at 2:26 PM
i agree telvis. judgin from this years finals, the wizards would have likely been in it if the big three (not the spurs big three) were in action
Comment from sixthman
Time June 25, 2007 at 5:43 PM
I could really care less if he goes or stays. If money is his issue, I am sure that he could find it somewhere. I guess with me, it is not about the money (it is not mine and some of you need a life outside of Gil’s pockets). It’s about missing clutch free throws in the playoffs. It’s about not allowing your ego to overshadow your game. Don’t get me wrong, Gil is a good player, however, I was happy when Caron Butler arrived so that I could cheer for a player with heart…a player that will play his game even when Lebron James is on the floor..oops!!!!!!!!
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Comment from Wizards4Life
Time June 14, 2007 at 9:20 PM
i dont know about u guys but Gil saying he is going to stay makes me feel alot better! cant wait till we get our off season over with and get on with next season