The World Games experience doesn’t bother him anymore. He stewed about it for a spell, worked it out and moved on.
That’s what Gilbert Arenas says.
Not that anyone’s buying it, least of all his teammates.
More than anyone, they know how much the two-time All Star guard loves to add chips to his shoulder. And they know he collected yet another one this summer when he didn’t make the U.S. National Team roster for the World Games.
Wizards forward Antawn Jamison said Arenas might have talked his way off the national team in the future.
“I keep telling him to keep it to himself,” Jamison said. “But I’m excited because I know how he’ll use it and we’ll benefit from it. He found a way to have [another] chip on his shoulder.”
Guard Antonio Daniels said, “I’ve talked to him a number of times [about it]. He’s very motivated.”
So Arenas, after averaging a career-high 29.3 points per game last season, can add this to his ever-growing list. Initially, Arenas told reporters at Monday’s media gathering at Verizon Center he had forgotten about the experience. And he apologized to the national team assistants, who also happened to be NBA coaches.
“That was the immature Gilbert,” he said.
But later, there was this: “I am more motivated this year and I’m always excited about the season and motivated to prove people wrong. After the Olympics it got a little heated and I wanted the season to start now. I was like, ‘I have to prove someone else wrong. It keeps me going every year.’ ”
Arenas isn’t sure how the missed free throws at the end of the Cleveland series will affect him this season. But he has made peace with the fact that he missed.
“It just wasn’t our time,” he said.
And, for the second straight season, said he wants to be better defensively.
“I’ll be a harass player,” he said. “I’ll still score, that’s my nature. But the best Kobe Bryant games I’ve seen is when he scores 40 and holds [Tracy McGrady] to 10 or 15. That’s what I want to be like. If I have to pick up Tracy or Kobe at 40 feet, that’s what I’ll do. I want to become a defensive presence.”
Mile-high house?
Arenas is getting his house converted so it has similar altitude to Colorado and he’ll always feel above sea level — and he’ll have a portable tent which he can take on the road that regulates the air pressure, allowing him, he hopes, to stay fresh for entire games.
