Gilbert Practices, Talks
Gilbert and the media.
The doors opened to the first Gilbert Arenas practice of 2008, and the media stormed in. At least 31 folks perched on the rail, watching the team run through five-on-five drills in which the losing side had to do full-court sprints. When Gilbert's team ran, Mr. First Day Back beat Darius Songaila to the finish line, which was kind of tragic, although sources indicated that Darius used to totally crush Gilbert when the latter was still on crutches.
Eventually, the players split off to shoot free throws, with Coach Eddie Jordan starring in the role of iron-willed middle school coach.
Gilbert, practicing.
"Too many misses," he said, stopping the shooting. "I see too many people not concentrating. You miss a free throw, take a jog."
DeShawn Stevenson had been excused from practice with a nagging injury; when he missed a free throw, his punishment was five push-ups. I figured any minute, Jordan would put away the basketballs and bring out the rings and the pommel horse, and everyone would be forced to do tumbling. Mr. Meniscus ran his punishment, and no ligaments or cartilage seemed to pop out of his knee cap.
Then it was on to the day's bigger drama: would the Meniscused One deign to speak to the media?
The odds seemed slimmer than a draft-day Slovakian; he had talked yesterday, and he rarely talks two days in a row, and the crush of reporters meant there would be plenty of cameras, and the man claims to hate talking into a camera. One bystander put the chances at 0.0003 percent.
Jordan emerged first; "how was practice?" he was asked. "It was great," he replied.
"Gil brings energy," Jordan later pointed out, "as you can tell by you guys being here."
At the same time, a different drama was playing out one hallway over, as the players helped decorate a Wiz-themed plane that will be part of the Crystal City BID's "Celebration of Flight." The designer, local artist (and elementary school teacher) Amy Marshall, offered guidance as the players accessorized the basketball silhouettes.
"Have you ever painted before?" she asked Stevenson, who aggressively grabbed a brush. "You're making me nervous."
DeShawn painted a large "2 Family" near the back of the plane. Antawn Jamison outfitted his silhouette with Adidas-striped sneaks, and painted a star on the front of the plane. (Well, Amy painted it, Jamison just filled it in.) Nick Young gave his silhouette an afro and smiley face. Songaila drew a picture of himself with spiked hair and encouraged Marshall to add shark's teeth to the plane; "that would take a while to paint," she said. Then Songaila added a stylized "9" near the fuselage; "who said Lithuanians are not artistic people?" he proclaimed.
And while the crafts project continued, Arenas emerged from the locker room to speak with the press, still wearing his practice jersey and looking about as happy as Hillary Clinton heading to the back of the plane. He answered 21 questions, shed no light on his return date, predicted that Caron Butler would return before he does, said the word "confidence" three times, and issued only two mild laugh lines. We attributed it to rust.
On whether Orlando and Washington both want to face each other in the playoffs: "Well, it's easy to say you would like to play someone," he said. "You know, I would like to play Michael Jordan one on one but that don't mean anything."
On how his one-on-one games with Nick Young have gone: "C'mon. It IS Nick, you know. I know [I'm injured], but it's still Nick. I just bully him. If I miss a shot, I'm gonna call a foul. I start making up rules--two fouls is one point. At the end of the day, I'm gonna win somehow."
When he finished, many of the media persons thanked Gilbert for his time, as he and Wiz PR guy Zack Bolno headed back toward the locker room. I asked Arenas why he had decided to address the media.
"I don't know," he said. "I don't know. I didn't want to blow off the media, and then you guys are [like], 'Oh, you put it on the blog, and you don't talk to us any more.' " He paused. "And actually," he said, "Zack made me."
DeShawn, painting.
By Dan Steinberg |
March 4, 2008; 3:01 PM ET
| Category:
Wizards
Previous: Local Hoops Week 16 Pith |
Next: Wiz Painting Skills
Get This Widget >>
Posted by: Ted | March 4, 2008 3:54 PM
"...Wiz PR guy Zack Bolno...."
Posted by: Arlington Pimp | March 4, 2008 4:09 PM
"The odds seemed slimmer than a draft-day Slovakian"
Ding!
Posted by: Jamie Mottram | March 4, 2008 4:18 PM
Of course Gil is "gonna win somehow" against Nick Young with all his made up rules--this is the same guy who cheats at Halo.
Posted by: mrlogical | March 4, 2008 4:35 PM
The Gilbert-Nick relationship has been funny to watch.
Posted by: JDP | March 4, 2008 5:20 PM
Zack Bolno must take antacids with every meal dealing with Gil and what he might say.
Posted by: ScottVanPeltStyle.com | March 4, 2008 10:03 PM
the model airplane that was being painted was actually a model built by father and son team andray blatche and daren jenkins. they will enter it in next weeks boy scouts father/son day contest.
Posted by: i got work | March 4, 2008 10:54 PM
I miss the Nick Young/McGuire vlogs. Will they ever come back? Those two together were and are hilarious. Can you find out if they will be able to vlog again.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 5, 2008 7:49 AM
Wizards equipment manager Rob Suller boycotted the plane painting because there was no food on the plane, which he is accustomed to on the Wizards team charter.
Posted by: Everybody Knows Him | March 5, 2008 10:43 AM
In case anybody was looking for Young/McGuire videos - here they are:
Young: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/12/05/VI2007120501763.html
McGuire:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/10/30/VI2007103001117.html
Posted by: post.com video guy | March 5, 2008 10:57 AM
wiz Pr child Daren Jenkins told team members yesterday that the model plane was #1 on his christmas list for next year, along with transformers, matchbox cars , and a sit-n-spin, jenkins is hoping andray blatche is a good father and gets him aal the gifts on his list.......
Posted by: i got work | March 5, 2008 11:29 AM
Zack Bolno is one of the most condescending, disrespectful people I've ever met.
Posted by: Johnny | March 5, 2008 2:26 PM
Zack Bolno is the best around. I have never met someone who is more professional in my life.
Posted by: Bob | May 11, 2008 9:56 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Who is Zack?