In the just over a year that I’ve been on the Wizards beat, more words and time than I would have imagined coming in have been spent looking at, examining and re-hashing the past seasons and past players of this franchise. Nearly all of those words weren’t mine, as it really hasn’t been my place to try and weigh in on seasons that I didn’t cover and in many ways I’m still learning about and trying understand. Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood, Ricky Rubio, DeJuan Blair, Mike Miller and Randy Foye will all continue to nice subplots throughout the upcoming season. But their relevance to the day-in, day-out improvement and performance of the Wizards, as the team is now built, diminishes with every practice and every game. I also believe the context of the roster decisions that have been made over the last two seasons are well understood, even if it is easy to second-guess them and many fans and members of the media don’t necessarily agree with them. All is pretext, and little more, for the season that begins October 28 at Orlando.
So when I wrote in today’s print edition about the return of Gilbert Arenas looming over the opening of Wizards training camp next week, it wasn’t with an eye toward digging up all the already well-sifted dirt from what went on in the Wizards locker room last December or even the multitude of other things that went wrong last season.
Rather, it is impossible to begin the year, regardless of the sky’s-the-limit potential of John Wall or JaVale McGee or Andray Blatche, without asking Arenas about what has changed for him since March when he was last seen and spoke in public. The perspective, knowledge and health that he’s gained over the last nine months away from the NBA is the starting point for the Wizards entering this season, whether the franchise wants it to be or not. He is by far Washington’s most accomplished player, its most intriguing personality, and lest anyone forget, its highest-paid player, earning well more than double or triple the salary (around $18 million) of nearly all of his teammates.
When Ted Leonsis officially took over the team in June, he said it was important that fans re-embrace Arenas and for Arenas himself to show atonement. It is odd that the team didn’t do anything to facilitate that process during the offseason, preferring to let Arenas rehab in private and focus on his on-court performance this season as the way to get fans back on his side. Arenas himself may be on board, which would make sense, given the trouble he had staying silent last year once the season began. It also might be the best course of action, but it seems out of character given the way the team has welcomed Wall to Washington and the level of detail at which Leonsis has driven down in his aim to revitalize the franchise and its reputation in D.C.
Directly confronting the baggage that Arenas carries into this season is part of getting it out of the way. That’s not to say that Arenas’ image won’t rebuild itself if he simply shows up and plays up to his potential, proves himself a changed person and a better teammate. But to wait until the opening of camp, to approach camp as if Arenas is just another player, is a desperate hope for time, by itself, to heal all wounds.
