Forgive me the heavy Gilbert Arenas focus lately, but it has been a long time since good pieces of Arenas news came in bunches. Plus, I love me some Agent Zero. The NBA is a far more interesting place with Arenas in it. With training camp less than two weeks away, Arenas tells Mike Wise of the Washington Post that he’s focused on keeping his emotions in check:
“Eager? Naw. Eager is what hindered me the last two years,” he said.
But then he added that he went so hard during the first rehabilitation process because he didn’t know any better, and probably would do the same thing all over again.
“I got a lot of flack for working too hard, but I only know one way to work,” says Agent Zero. “That’s work hard. It’s funny, I got flack for working too hard, and there are plenty of players in the league who don’t work hard enough. But instead of giving those players flack, you’re gonna bash the guy who’s working hard and doing everything he can to come back.
“It’s just how I was always taught. My dad would go out for auditions, and he’d be working on lines. He didn’t get parts, but I would always hear him going over lines, even at 3 o clock in the morning, trying to get better. He always taught me if whenever you’re resting, someone else is getting better. So, If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it the same way. I’ll break every bone, tear every muscle to play this game.”
On the notion that he’s not a “pure” point guard:
“If I average 29 points and 12 assists am I a point guard then? What makes me a point guard or not? When Larry [Hughes] was here, we traded off bringing the ball up the court. D-Steve and I do that some times. So does that make me a point guard some times and not other times? What I always do is pick and choose. I try to get the ball to Antawn and Caron early to get them into a flow, then when it’s time, I take over.”
Arenas said he doesn’t know entirely what to expect when it comes to how his stats will shake out in Flip Saunders’ system, but isn’t worried about it. He said he’s been studying the play of Chris Paul, Deron Williams, who last season averaged 22.8 points and 11.0 assists and 19.4 points and 10.7 assists, respectively. He believes he can learn something from them on how they run the pick-and-roll and make decisions, distribute and also remain their team’s top scoring threats.
