Homecoming Season: A Gilbert Arenas Story

The Wizards honored their past to bring good energy to their future

This is a blog. 

While I came into the writing game blogging for one of the best basketball websites ever (long live Truth About It), I’d like to very much consider myself a journalist. Going to games and talking to players, front office personnel, trainers, ushers, are all part of the job description of a local beat writer. Blogging and journalism are two words that seem to be synonymous in the eyes of most people who consume media and the lines between the two can be so blurred that at the end of the day… who the hell cares? Tell me what happened. The story is the story and over the last week the Washington Wizards beat has certainly had a vibrant pulse.

Normally I get to the arena for a 7 PM tipoff at Capital One Arena around 5 PM, just in enough time to make it to the home coaches pre-game press conference, which usually begins promptly at 5:15. I can’t help but to be a creature of habit, so on Friday November 18th, I walked through the media entrance shortly before five. My anxiety is heightened because I know that I’m late. 

This isn’t a normal game.

Putting it into perspective, it’s the pinnacle of the Washington Wizards 25 year anniversary celebration. That isn’t an official distinction, but trust me when I say that it’s true.

This was the Big 3 reunion, which is a great PR headline, but in actuality… This was the “official” return of one of the great players in the history of the Bullets/Wizards franchise. 

Gilbert Arenas is finally coming home.

The Wizards had advertised the game to their fans and did a fantastic job of incentivizing the people to come out to the game. There was a dope hat giveaway (ignore the FTX tag lol). The team would be wearing the classic uniform from their inception and the players who drove those jersey sales in the early days would be there to heighten the trip down memory lane. 

Miami Heat assistant coach, Caron Butler reconnected with a vast amount of arena auxiliary staff, and any other team personnel that you can think of before he fulfilled his coaching duties as a coach for the opposing team. Antawn Jamison did the same, but his politicking was more seamless. After all, he works for Wizards organization and still to this day receives admiration when he walks through the halls of the arena. 

Washington Wizards @WashWizards

some things never change 🥹

Of the Big Three, Gil clearly had the most to gain and absolutely nothing to lose, but for a guy who made his bones in the NBA by going toe-to-toe with the absolute best, being completely fearless, ‘Agent Zero’ surprisingly looked nervous. Definitely not fear. Just nervous energy.

During the pre-game press conference with the Big 3, Gilbert Arenas lamented the fact he didn’t know what to think when he initially got the call to come back to D.C., jokingly responding “Are you sure? Is Ted ok with this?” Well Ted was ok with it even though he was not present at the game due to a previously arranged trip out of town, Zach Leonsis was there to represent the Leonsis interests and sat next to Gilbert for the entire game as he chatted up the former NBA superstar. Gilbert was smooth with his interactions like an incumbent politician going up for re-election. 

There were lots of handshakes, many autographs signed, and even a few babies kissed. All the running around had Gilbert exhausted before the game even started. At one point Gilbert even snuck in the media room and took a seat just to get off of his feet. I walked in to grab a cup of coffee, saw him and asked him how he was feeling and he simply said “Tired boss.” Then Wizards Vice President of Player Development, Sashia Jones came in to whisk him away for more pre-game fraternizing.

I walked over to Chase Hughes from NBC Sports Washington and commented that Gilbert looked nervous and Chase agreed, but we both chalked it up to him simply being excited to be back. Afterall it had been more than a decade since he was in D.C.

The overall anxiety was palpable in the air and literally lasted until the final buzzer.

The Wizards beat the Miami Heat 107-106 in overtime in front of a sell out crowd of 19,000+ fans and for once in the history of Washington Wizards basketball, something went the home teams way. Max Strus missed a 3-point shot from the top of the key as the buzzer sounded and the Wizards’ current star Bradley Beal put both of his hands in the air in both a sigh of relief and a sign of victory. Gilbert did the same as he dapped and embraced Kyle Lowry shortly after the buzzer sounded.

We have to remember that after the dust settled on the Michael Jordan era Wizards, it was Gilbert Arenas who almost single handedly brought the Wizards back to relevance. Arenas was a pioneer who literally pushed the boundaries of how the game was played by extending the range in which players would comfortably shoot the 3-point shot from longer distances while maintaining the threat to masterfully maneuver the pick-and-roll. When Gil got it going, he certainly knew how to cook, and veteran Wizards fans know what ‘Hibachi’ means.

Gilbert Arenas got his well deserved flowers and the Wizards came from behind to win a much needed game against a depleted Miami Heat roster. This particular Wizards team has an energy around it that seems different from most years of Wizards basketball. By all accounts this group of players and coaches all seem to like each other and be on the same page, which cannot be said about teams of recent memory. After another close victory, 106-102 against the Charlotte Hornets, the Wizards improved their team record to 10-7 on the season and capped off an amazing six game home stretch in which the team went 5-1, with the lone loss coming to a buzzer beating 3-point shot by Shai Gilgeuous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Wizards boast a new Big 3 of sorts in counting former All-Stars, Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis, in addition to NBA champion Kyle Kuzma. The new Wizards trio is still developing their on-court chemistry as the team is still figuring out the proper spacing on offense and how to pass the ball around the court in a timely fashion without turning the ball over, but the initial yield is certainly promising for this team that fancies itself as a playoff team this season. Combine that talented trio with signs of development from recent first round draft picks; Rui Hachimura, Deni Avdija, and Corey Kispert and suddenly this Wizards team has the signs of a group that can achieve their goal of making a playoff run. Hachimura is showing signs of improvement with his feel for the game, while maintaining his scoring consistency. Avdija is developing into a fine defensive stopper and is even developing a left hand. Kispert has 50/40/90 shooting splits even after a slow start due to his pre-season ankle injury and is showing all the signs of an elite NBA shooting prospect.

If we’re being honest, the Wizards current supporting cast around their three best players is probably better than any group of role players that the original ‘Big 3’ had and that is more of an indictment on the lack of talent that the Wizards were able to put around their players in years past. Tommy Sheppard is the lone hold over from the multiple derivatives of Wizards basketball the last decade and deserves some credit for turning chicken shit into chicken salad with a slew of moves on the margin that have allowed head coach Wes Unseld Jr the depth and option to go 10 to 11 players deep in his rotations. That added depth will certainly be needed, as starting point guard Monte Morris and sixth man Rui Hachimura both missed Sunday's win against the Hornets with ankle injuries and Bradley Beal appeared to be hobbled as he left in the final seconds with a thigh injury.

It’s great to see the Wizards’ best player line of succession be passed down like a baton from Gilbert Arenas, to John Wall, and now to Bradley Beal who resigned in Washington for a massive contract extension that will hopefully keep him in D.C. for five more years.

As Gilbert so eloquently put it “We always regret our past, but our past usually lets us know who we are now,” and the Wizards/Bullets franchise is one that is obviously full of many past regrets as they have not been to a conference final or won 50 games in over four decades. Hopefully righting one of the most memorable eras in the history of D.C. basketball allows this current Wizards team to let go of the past and move into their goals of the future.

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