that he can have a concealed handgun license in Texas! lol... I looked to see if this was posted, but couldn't find it. If so, please lock. This will definitely have an affect on the Rockets...since we all know that the Knicks are in need of a point guard, that he's going to be heavily recruited, and will probably come at a cheap price (buyout). He would attract more free agents, and the Knicks would immediately become contenders...pushing our draft picks further and further back. Still 1st rounders...but less fun. Question is....If he is bought out, would Morey pursue him? I feel that if we were going to trade one of those NY picks, Morey would probably want to do it before the Knicks start building their team via free agency...without knowing or being able to assume their record for next season...thoughts? http://www.thegrio.com/sports/will-the-washington-wizards-axe-arenas.php Why The Washington Wizards Will Axe Arenas The Washington Wizards are going to use their number one draft pick to select John Wall, the freshman point guard out of the University of Kentucky. They see Wall as the cornerstone of the franchise for at least "the next decade", which is why they are going to do everything in their power to prevent the player from ever sharing a locker room with controversial guard Gilbert Arenas, according to two league sources with knowledge of the team's future plans. According to one source with intimate knowledge of the team's plans, the Wizards front office, headed up by President Ernie Grunfeld, doesn't want Arenas - released earlier this month from a Washington DC halfway house after serving 30 days for a felony gun conviction - anywhere near Wall, whom the team has already decided it will select with the top pick in the June draft. After Arenas was convicted Grunfeld traded away four starters. One source tagged Arenas as "the reason why a core of players that reached the playoffs" on multiple occasions had to be broken up, "and it was entirely due to what he did. He poisoned the team. He is a cancer." The Wizards' options include trying to trade Arenas, who has four years and more than $80 million in salary remaining on his contract. But that is not the only option. According to a source the team will "definitely consider buying out" Arenas' contract. This flies in the face of the public position the Wizards have taken with Arenas. On a radio show Wednesday in Washington, Grunfeld told ESPN 980's Kevin Sheehan and Thom Loverro that the Wizards were moving forward with Arenas and willing to put the past behind them. "Gilbert is part of our team. He has been a very good player for us. He's back working out, he's in our facility and we expect him to be with us," Grunfeld said. "We plan on having him with us and being a very good contributor for us. Nobody feels good about what happened but we are going to try to move forward." Don't be fooled by this. Grunfeld will continue to speak highly of Arenas because as a rule no general manager speaks negatively about a player he is trying to move for fear of looking as though he is about to conduct a fire sale. Secondly, although Arenas is a three-time All Star, he has undergone three knee surgeries and appeared in just 47 games over the last three seasons. When support for Arenas among the team's fan base began to wane as the surgeries mounted and the antics never abated -- Grunfeld remained steadfast in his belief in Arenas. He originally signed Arenas to a six-year, $65 million deal in 2003 before giving him a new $111 million deal in 2008. Grunfeld looked past Arenas' suggestion that it was former coach Eddie Jordan's fault that Arenas suffered the initial knee injury in 2007 because he was on the floor at the end of the first quarter, when the starters are out. What Arenas failed to mention was that didn't start in that game because he was being disciplined by Jordan for breaking team rules the day before. The Wizards and Grunfeld looked the other way and did not punish or discipline Arenas when he defecated in the shoe of Andray Blatche during his rookie season. Blatche, incidentally, became the best player on the team last season after Arenas was suspended by the league for the guns he brought to the locker room. Grunfeld continued to support Arenas even though there were multiple reports that the relationship between the two had deteriorated beyond repair. Back in January, Sports Illustrated reported that "league sources said Grunfeld was shopping Arenas before the December incident. And Arenas has told confidants that he has no desire to play for Washington again. His relationship with Grunfeld, which was once considered one of the strongest player-executive relationships in the NBA, has eroded to the point that the two have barely spoken over the last two months." This just further corroborates what my highly placed sources told me Wednesday. Those same sources told me that the Wizards will take Wall and not Evan Turner, and that the team is not even considering a backcourt of Arenas at the point and Turner, a 6-7 shooting guard still being debated as a possible pick in Washington. Grunfeld's job was clearly in jeopardy after the gun incident. However, he has survived what Arenas has wrought in Washington and has been told by new majority owner Ted Leonsis that he will stay on in his position. His trust bucket, as far as Arenas concerned, has been emptied. This will be Leonsis' first real step into the sometimes quagmire that is running an NBA franchise. Grunfeld, on the other hand, is an NBA lifer as a player and a front office executive. He knows that the Wizards are in full-fledged rebuilding mode after trading away players such as Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson, players that Grunfeld surrounded around Arenas, once the team's crown jewel. And this is why this quote from Grunfeld is so telling. "Obviously the situation that happened last year, nobody feels good about that. We're going to try to put that behind us, give everybody a clean slate and move forward. We're in rebuilding mode. There is a lot of information that we have to let Ted know about what we are doing in the draft. We're looking for someone who is committed to team and to winning and to doing whatever it takes to accomplish that." Grunfeld knows this rebuilding process will not be successful with Arenas as part of the mortar.
I disagree with this article. The rule of thumb is true, but not applicable here. There is nobody else left for the Wizards to fire sale because they did it last year. Also, Arenas is not some premium commodity. His value is terrible now. This does not improve his trade value. Thus, no other team will trade for Arenas and his $80million. The sky is blue. You don't need sources to tell you that. And wtf is thegrio.com? First and last time I will read crap from there for sports news. I would tipjar wager anyone that Arenas will NOT BE bought out. He has $80million gauranteed. There has never been a buy-out in the NBA close to that scale.
ok so there's not team that will trade for him and that amount of money left on his contract....there's a slight chance that he could get hurt again...also a chance that he wouldn't give his team 100% every time out on the floor. If you're the GM, what would you do? Do you risk paying him the rest of his "guaranteed" salary with a chance of him being injured missing most of the season (BTW already missing most of the last 2 seasons and having to pay him his "guaranteed salary") Risk doing something else that will further embarrass your team? Or do you buy him out and eventually save money in the long run? Morey collects assets....and you can't tell me that Arenas wouldn't be a great trade chip if he didn't work out in Houston. If I'm wrong, lock it...throw away the key, but I feel it's worth the debate.
I love me some Gilbert Arenas, but it just seems to me like he's a rich mans Aaron Brooks. And if we have Brooks on the salary for 3 million... seems like a waste and a risk to go after Gilbert at much more money.
According to New York Daily News....which yall have heard of, the Wizards are getting inquiries about Arenas and his $ 80 mil left on his contract... So teams not willing to deal for him isn't exactly accurate. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...-05-22_prokhorovs_plan_begins_with_avery.html
The team is sort of stuck with Arenas. You can't buy him out just because it's good for the team. He has to agree to it. Do you agree that it's very difficult for Arenas to agree to give up his $80 million? The Daily news is also not the greatest source, but even if teams inquire, it doesn't mean his value is high. The best thing for the Wizards is that they work with him to get his value up. The more he plays and the better he behaves, his value will improve with time. If it meshes with the team, then it's a win-win because the team can then stick with him (which they have stated) or move him at a better value and more easily. And this is what the daily news stated That means nothing, or possible, trade us Gilbert for our worthless crap and salary. It's just a terrible basketball decision to trade him now imo. And are you willing to tipjar bet me? It's win-win. If Arenas gets bought out, then I'll donate $50 to the site. If not, then you donate $50 to the site. Deal?
I agree with you....or they could take a chance, something bad ends up happening. Then their plans on building his value up wouldn't be realized. The choice of accepting a buyout is more of a 50/50 choice...not 80/20. When you're accepting a lump sum...like the lotto for example...A lot of people accept the lump sum instead of annual payments because they want all their money now, instead of having to wait once a year for a check. If it came down to the Wizards negotiating a buy out with Arenas...if you're Arenas you have to strongly consider taking a lump some of $70 million plus, or waiting 4 years to receive all your money in full. He could actually sign a one year deal...try to prove his worth...and then he could hope to sign another extension, maybe making up for the money he lost.
If that happens, then I will reverse my criticism of the grio and give them all the praise for their sources. For the position the article says the Wizards will take is that Gilbert Arenas is a complete cancer and cannot even be in the same room as John Wall, let alone play bball with him. And because of that, the Wizards would even be willing to give Gilbert Arenas what $60 million or $70 million just to walk away. And still, his salary will count towards the salary cap, limiting the Wizards future flexibility of ever making a trade or deal if Arenas becomes a more valuable commodity. Now, I just can't see that scenario reasonably happening. It's too extreme and bad management. But I guess it's in the realm of possibility.
#1 Not going to happen: He has what... 3 years left on his deal? Maybe more? I don't think a player has ever gotten bought out with that much on the table. Might as well play him, or trade him (someone would trade for him). #2 If Arenas gets bought out, he still has the talent to get paid. Perhaps not max money with all of his baggage, but he'd get paid more than the MLE. The dude was putting up 20+ ppg before the gun charges hit him.
lol you wouldn't have to do all that... I wouldn't call it bad management though. According to the salary cap rules...if a player gets bought out with the years Arenas has left...whatever the buyout amount is, can be spread throughout the remainder of his contract. Wizards are going to have to pay Arenas regardless...the big question is though, would Arenas staying on that team do more bad than good? Let's just say he was bought out for $65mil rather than $80mil. That's almost $4mil/year less than what they would be paying him....AND...the rules suggest that if a team signs him after a player has been bought out from a guaranteed contract, then additional money can be taken off the original teams' books. Say Arenas stays, then gets injured....while the owner is saving money, the team still suffers because regardless if insurance pays his salary, the money still counts against the salary cap. Versus if he gets bought out it would be considerably less money counting against the salary cap. What I was speaking about when posting this is....before Arenas even steps on the court to prove he could still be a beast in this league...hypothetically speaking if he would sign for very cheap after being bought out, would Morey consider signing him...whether it's for just having an extra body or asset in a possible trade to get who he really wanted. Even though Arenas' value isn't as high as it was...every GM knows the he's still capable of being a great player in this league
We're talking about billionaire owners...if Francis got paid 30mil to get bought out, I wouldn't be surprised if Arenas was bought out for 65mil if it means the organization would save money. #2....if Arenas gets paid $65mil to sign with another team, only teams with money to blow will pay him the MLE or higher after the gun chargers AND two consecutive years off after knee surgeries.
