UPDATE #2 4:38 pm: Via Bullets Forever, here is Arenas’ statement to the media:
“In hindsight now I would say yes. I wasn’t thinking this would be another media outburst. Everything that I do now is someone tit for tat trying to blow it out of proportion. Y’now at the end of the day Nick is happy. He got to play, got to show that he can play. And I’m out here taking all the heat again.
“If I wouldn’t of made any comments, you guys wouldn’t have known. Let’s just say I blew it. It’s like you guys want somebody honest but you don’t want somebody honest. I screwed up again. I practice, I play hard”
Gilbert, you do not get to blame the media on this one. You lied to your coach. You said you had pain in your knee, the part of your body that has kept you on the sidelines much of the last three seasons (more than guns have). Glad Nick got to play, but Nick wasn’t playing as much because coach was trying to give his new three-guard lineup a chance to gel in game situations.
This one’s on you, nobody else.
UPDATE 1:58 pm: Gilbert Arenas has been fined for this action, according to Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post on twitter (quoting coach Flip Saunders from a radio interview). The amount has not been disclosed.
This pretty much rules out it was just Arenas messing with the media and that instead it was an immature prank. Not a great way to start the “win back the fans” season for Arenas.
9:28 am: It was the Washington Wizards first home preseason game, a chance for the fans to get an up-close look at John Wall and to see Gilbert Arenas on the court for the first time in 2010.
Except Arenas was not on the court, missing the game with what he later admitted was a faked injury.
When the Washington Post’s Michael Lee and other reporters approached Arenas after the game to ask about his sore knee that kept him out, he said he faked it to help get Nick Young some more playing time:
“I know he’s kind of frustrated he’s not getting a chance to crack the three position, especially since we’re going three guards, so I told him I’d go ahead and fake an injury or say something’s wrong with me so you can start,” a smiling Arenas said in the locker room.
When asked about the health of his knee, Arenas said, “I’m fine,” and indicated he would play on Thursday in the Wizards’ final home preseason game against Milwaukee.
In the team’s previous game Arenas got 24 minutes, Young 17. With a new three-guard lineup of Wall, Arenas and Kirk Hinrich that trio has gotten a little more run as coach Flip Saunders tries to get them used to one another. Young started Tuesday and got 31 minutes, something he took advantage of hitting 10 of 14 from the floor for 24 points.
You know Mr. Arenas, another way you might have gone about this would be to go to coach and say, “hey, can you get Young some more minutes tonight, he wants them I would like a little lighter night.” (Or maybe he did and Arenas was just having a little fun with the media.)
Saunders, like many coaches, will sit veterans during preseason games. And this will not be a big deal in the Wizards locker room as Saunders praised Arenas last night (before Arenas made his statement).
You get the feeling the Gilbert Arenas show will not end this season, even with all the changes on the team and allegedly to him.
