No More Agent Zero?

This past weekend the Washington Wizards signed guard Gary Payton II (not Jr.; his brother is Gary Payton Jr.) to a 10 day contract. It's common for teams to do that in the second half of the season. If Payton works out for the Wizards then that's great; maybe he'll get another 10 days with the team before the front office needs to make a decision if he sticks around the rest of the season. If he doesn't pan out, that's probably fine too.

Payton's basketball future is not why I'm writing about him. I'm writing about him because according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, Payton has favored two numbers in his playing career: 23 and zero. Figuring he wouldn't be able to follow Michael Jordan, he decided against 23 but he did make a request for the number zero and was told it was off limits. Of course, zero was the number worn by Gilbert Arenas from 2004 to 2010 (he wore number 9 in his last partial season in D.C.) and Gil's time in Washington, shall we say, ended in a manner that some folks would rather forget. Particularly ownership.

For me, the end of Gil's tenure in a Wizards uniform was devastating because his career was cut short by an injury that he just couldn't recover from. Sure, sure, I know there was the whole guns in the locker room thing with Javaris Crittenton and the subsequent felony conviction but the real end of Arenas' career happened the moment Gerald Wallace wrecked Gilbert's knee in the first quarter of a Wizards-Bobcats game. That injury and all the ill-advised behavior that followed it does not for me erase the fact that Gil was probably the most exciting player to ever don a Wizards jersey. 

Yep, you read that right.

There's never been anyone before or after on the Wizards that could score the way Gil did. I would argue during the 2006-2007 season he was one of the best five players in the league. People were talking about a Kobe-Gil trade and were saying the Wizards should say no. He still holds the franchise record for points in a single game and is the only Wizard (I said Wizard, not Bullet) to make multiple All-NBA teams. One second and two thirds, if you must know. He's also the inspiration for this blog and this blog's title. There has not been a player in Washington in my 19 years as a season ticket holder like Gilbert Arenas and I mean that in the best, most complimentary way towards Gil. 

So about that number thing...

Usually franchises refuse number requests from players because they intend to retire the number requested. The Wizards have not necessarily followed that pattern in the past (they allowed DeJuan Blair to wear Phil Chenier's number 45 for the 29 games he played for the Wizards) and I don't think it's what they are doing here. It's also not the first time the issue of someone wearing number zero has come up. When Drew Gooden joined the team for his second stint, he commented on his consideration of wearing zero, which was a number he had worn in prior stops, as follows:

"They said I got to let zero cool off for a second."

So, if the Wizards aren't getting ready to raise Agent Zero's number zero jersey to the rafters, they must be exiling him and his number (the zero one, not the 9 one) from the franchise books forever, right? Right? I can't see it any other way.

If this is true, this is not entirely a surprise to me. This past summer, Capital One Arena was closed for a significant remodel; part of that renovation involved installation of new signage outside the 100 and 400 level seating sections featuring photographs representing significant events in the building's history as well as milestones in Wizards, Bullets, Mystics and Capitals history (and Valor history, I guess). 

Think there is anything celebrating Gilbert Arenas' time in a Wizards uniform? Not a one. And it's not just Gil. There's no mention at all of the mid-aughts at all. In case you forgot, that's the Wiz team that made four consecutive playoff appearances and had the best record in the Conference at the All-Star break one year. It's like basketball history in Washington consisted of the Bullets and then the John Wall era Wizards and nothing else. And yes, there is plenty celebrating the Bullets despite the fact they never played in the building. 56 new signs celebrating the building; not one features Gilbert Arenas.

Gilbert is also, for some reason, not a member of the Bullets / Wizards Alumni, a group created to connect past players to the current team. It's a great idea implemented after Ted Leonsis took over the franchise in full. But it's missing some parts, notably three-time All-Star Gilbert Arenas. Not all the players who were on those 2004-2008 playoff teams that Gil was a part of (admittedly, he was not much of a part of the last one) are absent from the alumni roster. Antawn Jamison is on there. So is Caron Butler and Larry Hughes. Oh, and don't forget about Awvee Storey.

Yep, that's right, Awvee Storey, who played in 25 games in his Wizards career and who scored fewer points (42) than Gilbert scored against the Lakers in one game in December 2006, is in the Alumni Association. But Gilbert is not. Actually come to think of it, Storey scored fewer than Gil scored against Phoenix in December 2006 also. And against Utah on MLK Day in 2007. And...well maybe a few other times too. I'm not sure how you get into the Bullets / Wizards Alumni club but I'm sure it has to be with the consent of the team. Who knows, maybe the team has reached out to Gilbert and he said no. On the other hand, maybe not.

Awvee Storey's bio on the Bullets / Wizards Alumni page.

I still see plenty of Gilbert Arenas jerseys at Wizards home games, even with the team loaded up with max players John Wall, Bradley Beal and Otto Porter, none of whom brings what Gil brought to the team. Yes, a couple of years ago, I ranked John Wall as the greatest Wizard ever; part of that evaluation considers the length of time each served with the team. John's body of work is better but he was never (and likely will never be) the player Gilbert was at his best.

I also sense as time passes away from the end of Gil's time with the team, most fans remember the times Agent Zero had that hibachi lit on the court with nothing but fond memories. If the current team had managed to make an NBA Finals or even compete in the Eastern Conference Finals maybe it wouldn't be that way. But they haven't so I see more and more Wizards fans clinging to the Arenas years more and more. And I don't think it's inappropriate. When he was at his best, nobody could touch Gil.

I may be all wrong here but I don't think that I am. If the team is truly trying to erase Gilbert from the franchise books by denying anyone the use of his number zero, maybe they are actually doing the exact opposite. But if they are just being spiteful about what they see as embarrassing and counterproductive behavior, I think they should move on and embrace Gil's legacy and Gil as a person. Let someone wear the number. Or retire it. 

I can't imagine I'm ever going to see Gilbert at Capital One Arena ever again like we see past players some nights in the building. But if Gil's ever inclined to come back, he can sit next to me any night and we can talk about how good those years last decade were. He'll always be Agent Zero to me and his swag will always be phenomenal in those stories.

Jerseys In My Closet

I'm turning September into jersey month here at My Swag Was Phenomenal. Here's the first of three posts on that subject.

After Martell Webster decided to early retire in 2015, I had a conversation with my friend Mike about what jersey I was going to buy now that Martell was gone from the game. Yes, I bought a Martell Webster jersey. And wore it to games. Mike's response was classic, something to the effect of "Why don't you buy a jersey of someone who's good?"

Sound advice, no doubt. I've always had an admiration for the contributing role player on the Wizards and so time after time, it seemed (with the exception of my Arenas gold jersey), I had to that point in my Wizards fandom been clad in a no-way-is-this-guy-ever-making-an-All-Star-game player's jersey every so often at Verizon Center. A couple of months later I took Mike's advice and bought my first John Wall Wizards jersey.

Over my 17 year tenure as a Wizards fan, I've owned (and still own, for that matter) nine Wizards jerseys. Their story is a story of my decade and a half plus journey of me being a member of the Wizards faithful. Here's what I've worn over the years. Try to be gentle with your criticism, especially about halfway through this post. I was misguided. Nothing more.

Brendan Haywood

My first favorite Wizards player ever was Brendan Haywood. The year was 2001 and it was my second year as a Wizards season ticket holder. I'd just sat through parts of an awful inaugural (for me) Wizards season that saw my new favorite team go 19-63 and end up in last place of the Atlantic Division (this was back when there were just four divisions in the league).

Through the first 12 games of the 2001-2002 season, the Wizards didn't look a whole lot better than they did the prior year, winning just three times in 12 tries. Brendan Haywood was a rookie that year and didn't play in the first dozen games due to a hand injury. But when he did play starting in late November he just looked like he was trying way harder than anyone else on our team. And he seemed to be blocking a ton of shots, including seven against Atlanta on December 19 of that year.

Here was a guy I could get behind and follow: a role player who played hard, played D and did things like block shots. Instantly he fit neatly into the category of players I loved in this league. In the first 20 games Brendan played in a Wizards uniform, the team went 15-5. I'm not saying it was all due to B-Wood but there may be a cause and effect.

Over the years, Brendan had some high spots and low spots with the Wizards: fighting with teammate Etan Thomas (yes, literally fighting), some pouting due to loss of playing time, statements about not wanting to teach JaVale McGee how to be a professional (although he may have been really smart here) but also being the defensive anchor and a model of consistency on the court for years for a team that in its prime was really pretty good.

I didn't buy a Brendan Haywood jersey that first season when he wore 3 nor the second season when he wore 00. I finally broke down sometime after that and sprung for an authentic jersey which cost about $160 or something like that back then. I remember getting yelled at by some fan ("Hey Haywood, make your free throws!") after a game in which B-Wood missed some free throws towards the end of the game. I assume the dude could tell the difference between a 5'-11" (basketball height; not actual height) 30 some year old white dude and a 7'-0" black professional athlete but didn't care anyway. Brendan signed both 3s on the back of his jersey at some Washington Auto Show in the mid-aughts which I appreciate.

Gilbert Arenas

I remember being at my parents place watching television when the announcement that the winner of the NBA's 2003 Most Improved Player was Golden State's Gilbert Arenas scrolled across the bottom of the screen. My first reaction was to tell my dad "the Wizards should sign THAT guy." And they did. Gave him everything we had in cap space to sign him. Gilbert pretty much tied B-Wood for my favorite Wizards player that day without ever having played a second in a Wizards jersey.

When he got to D.C., I started hearing more and more stories about Gilbert that proved to me that this guy was not just an ordinary basketball player: the locker room hijinks as a rookie refusing to be hazed, the reason he wore zero as a chip on his shoulder, the gym rat mentality, the hyperbaric chamber, the playoff guarantee from his first press conference, his single parent upbringing. What was not to like about Gilbert?

Then he started playing. The first year in D.C. Gil was good. The next few, he was awesome. We had a guy who could go off for 50 points seemingly when he wanted. And of course there came with it all sorts of nicknames and crazy behaviors: hibachi, Agent Zero, the turning around on buzzer beaters before they hit the bottom of the net to kill the other team, throwing his jersey into the crowd at the end of each game, guaranteeing financial support to a local boy who'd lost his family in a fire, staying and signing autographs at fan events when all his teammates had split when the allocated time was up. Everything about Gilbert Arenas, I loved.

I bought the gold alternate jersey because that was Gil's jersey more than anyone else's. Gilbert made that jersey special. He set the all-time franchise single game scoring mark (60) in that jersey. He was Agent Zero in that thing. And of course I had to get the authentic jersey again which set me back again north of $150.

Gilbert's ending in Washington wasn't special. It was marred by a devastating injury to the best player I'd seen in a Wizards jersey to that point by far and then by a locker room gun showdown that I won't recount here because I just don't want to. Before he got traded to the Orlando Magic and started his farewell tour of other NBA franchises, Gil signed my jersey in the best way possible, with an "Agent 0" signature. I love Gil for that and for his time in D.C.

Caron Butler

OK, so my Caron Butler 2008 NBA All-Star Game jersey is a bit of an oddball in my collection because it was gifted, not bought. The Wizards gave one to each season ticket holder who renewed their full season plan in 2008. That's not to say that I wouldn't buy a Caron Butler jersey (because I totally would; I love Tough Juice), just that I already had my perfectly good Arenas jersey at that time and I didn't need to drop any more money on a new kit.

Of the big three of Butler, Arenas and Antawn Jamison, I appreciate that Caron has been the most vocal about what a missed opportunity his time in D.C. was and how much he genuinely thought that team would achieve greatness before (through no fault of Caron's) the team imploded and collapsed in on itself. The result of all that was Jamison playing with LeBron James and the hated Cleveland Cavaliers (and winning nothing) while Caron, B-Wood and DeShawn Stevenson ended up getting a ring each with the Dallas Mavericks. The Wizards meanwhile rebuilt around rookie John Wall which right now looks like a smart choice.

Of course, just like the other two earlier jerseys in my collection, my CB jersey is autographed. It came that way. Otherwise the Wizards would just be handing out old stock that they couldn't sell to their season ticket holders.

Andray Blatche

I'm a smart guy but sometimes I make silly decisions. Actually sometimes I make really dumb, naïve and ignorant decisions.

At the beginning of the 2009-2010 season, Andray Blatche made a decision. He decided to change his number from 32 to 7 as a signal to the world that he would now be dedicated to becoming a professional basketball player and the best he could be in a Wizards uniform all seven days of every week. This was a guy who was a second round pick of the Wizards right out of high school and had just completed the best season of his four year career, starting more games (32) than any other year, finally averaging double digits in scoring and having increased his scoring and rebounding number each year since his NBA debut. I bought it because I wanted to believe in Andray Blatche and the power of Ernie Grunfeld to pick a unknown gem out of the second round of the draft. I bought it so much that I dropped $170 on an authentic jersey, the last one (to this point) I have bought because the cost is just so freaking out of control now.

So there are some logical questions behind this move, right? The first is why would a professional athlete NOT be dedicated to being a professional seven days a week? What did Dray's number mean before he donned a number 7 jersey? 32 days a year? That answer is not out of the realm of possibility by the way. There were certainly flags about Andray's past that would raise some doubts. Before he even played a minute in the NBA he was shot in some kind of incident with a prior Wizards questionable second round draft pick Peter John Ramos and he'd been famously casual about his diet and work ethic, relying on his natural talents to keep him going despite being questioned seemingly daily on this issue by team captain Antawn Jamsion. As a fan, you could see Dray lacked any sort of real chiseling in his physique.

Of course, all this nonsense didn't work. Andray had his moments in a Wizards jersey after he started working full-time, twice scoring 36 points in a game and combining those two scoring efforts with 19 and 15 rebounds in those two games. But one of those games per year just ain't enough and before the 2012-2013 season the Wizards used the amnesty provision in the Collective Bargaining Agreement to part ways with Andray, still having to pay him but not having his salary count against the cap.

After being released by the Wizards, Dray spent two years with the Brooklyn Nets and became one of Wizards' fans favorite targets for booing. He didn't look like he was in any better shape as a Net than he did as a Wizard. I remember one game at Verizon Center when he looked especially winded and was grabbing his shorts while standing on the edge of the lane during a Wizards free throw attempt. Because the arena was especially quiet at that time, I yelled "Hey, Dray! What are you, tired?" from my fifth row seat and I swear he looked right at me and smiled like a kid who didn't know what he'd gotten himself into. I felt bad about yelling that.

To his credit, I guess, Andray signed my jersey gorgeously before a road game in Indiana. I think it's one of the best and clearest signatures I have. Too bad the jersey and the signature are not only worthless but also really pretty embarrassing that I actually have this jersey in my collection. Like I said, sometimes I make silly decisions.

Chris Singleton

At the end of the 2010-2011 season (John Wall's rookie year), the Wizards decided it was time for a re-brand. They rolled out a couple of new logos (while also inexplicably refusing to kill off the Wizard logo for a year or so) and some gorgeous new threads. I still think the home whites are the best unis in the league. I had to get a new jersey. I mean after all, even if I could be seen in public in a signed Andray Blatche jersey, there's really no way I wanted to wear those hideous old blue, black and gold things any more.

Almost inexplicably (although I can and will actually explain), I picked rookie Chris Singleton's 31 as my new jersey. Singleton was the 18th overall pick in the 2011 draft and the Wizards second of three, selected between number six overall pick Jan Vesely and number 34 overall Shelvin Mack. It was a disaster of a draft for the Wizards. Vesely made it through all four years of his rookie deal but only just. Singleton made it just three years. The only one of the trio still playing in the NBA is Mack and the Wizards cut him not once but twice. To make matters worse, the Wizards selected opted for Ves ahead of Klay Thompson and Kawhi Leonard.

When the Wizards drafted Chris Singleton, I saw that as a commitment by the front office to put someone on the team who might be a defense first guy and I loved that. Chris had alleged he could cover the 1 through 4 positions in college and I supposed he would being some heart and toughness to a team that finished solidly in the bottom ten of the league in defensive rating. It didn't work. Chris proved too slow to cover the 1 through 3 spots at the NBA level and wasn't big enough to cover the power forwards in the league. 

I'm not sorry I bought a Chris Singleton jersey despite the questions I got on it (usually "did I attend Florida State?"). I talked with Chris a couple of times during his tenure with the Wiz and found him relatable and open to talking with a fan of the team and I appreciated that. 

And yes...I do have two Singleton jerseys (I downgraded to the cheaper Swingman version starting with this purchase) as shown in the picture above. I ordered the home white before the season started from the NBA store online. After a couple of weeks of it not showing up, they sent me an email saying the product I had ordered was not available so I ordered a road red one instead. About a day later the original white jersey I ordered showed up. I called the NBA store and ended up with a 2-for-1 deal. So I didn't really buy two Chris Singleton jerseys. I just own two now.

When I handed Chris the white jersey to sign (which you can just make out in silver on the "3", his comment was "Now that's what I'm talking about." I have a feeling the NBA didn't sell too many Wizards 31 jerseys from 2011 to 2014.

Martell Webster

After a couple of misses in the jersey department I was determined to right the ship with the next one I bought. I picked Martell Webster, a guy who was a lottery pick in the draft but had a history of back issues and had struggled to score the ball in his prior contracts with both the Portland Trail Blazers and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Surprisingly, Martell fit into the Wizards' offense perfectly and would become the first of a string of guys who put up gaudy numbers from beyond the three point line by playing on the same team as John Wall.

What I liked most about Martell was his team first attitude and his appreciation for playing in Washington and playing for Randy Wittman (who remains, barely, my favorite Wizards coach of all time). Martell didn't care how many points he scored or how much playing time he received. He (correctly) was concerned with the team winning. If that meant he played zero minutes some days or played 30 minutes and scored nothing, so be it. He was absolutely correct: individual accomplishments are secondary to the team's performance.

I also appreciated Martell's life story. Not that it's unusual for an NBA player to have a difficult upbringing, but his reaction to what he experienced through how he deals with his own family is what impresses me. He was raised by his grandmother after his mom disappeared when he was four years old. And when I say disappeared, that's true. Nobody knows what happened to her, although there are theories that she was a victim of a serial killer. His dad left before he was born but lived nearby in silence until after Martell was drafted and was then predictably and appropriately rejected by his son. Martell's response to his personal history is to put his own family first above all else, determined to not repeat anything like his father's mistakes.

I bought my Webster jersey right after the team eliminated the center horizontal stripe from the back of their uniform (see the jersey below) that made some of the numbers (particularly 2s, 3s and 5s) too difficult to read so when it showed up in my mailbox it was already a throwback. Of course, I got the jersey signed and wore it to games with Martell's ink on the back.

John Wall

Ultimately, I took my friend Mike's advice and made my next jersey someone good by picking up a John Wall jersey. It's been the only jersey I've worn to games for the last two years at Verizon Center and I anticipate it will be the only one I'll wear (although I may need a new one at some point) for the foreseeable future.

John Wall is without question in my mind the best player who has ever pulled on a Wizards jersey. By the time he's done in D.C. he seems pretty determined to be one of the best, if not THE best, who has ever worn a Wizards or Bullets or Zephyrs or Packers jersey. And he may get there, either with or without a championship.

I love that John works constantly to improve his game. I love that he takes every slight anyone in or out of the league throws his way (and there have been a lot) and uses those to push himself to get better. I love that he wants to be in Washington in an era when loyalty doesn't matter much to teams or players or even fans sometimes (the author of this post is definitely excluded). I love that he's deservedly a four time All-Star and has been named to an All-NBA team and an All-NBA Defense team. I love that he's getting better every year. I love his commitment to the community and those less fortunate than himself. And I love watching him throw passes from my seat in Section 105 of Verizon Center and now Capital One Arena. I am proud to wear this jersey each time I slip it over my head. I can't see myself wearing another jersey until John no longer plays for the Wizards.

So I sort of lied. By the time I asked Mike for some advice about my next jersey purchase, I already owned a John Wall jersey (below). I had the extreme good fortune to attend the 2015 NBA All-Star Game in New York a couple of years ago and sprang for a John Wall All-Star jersey as a souvenir of that experience, which coincidentally is the only All-Star Game start of John's career. I have worn this jersey exactly once and that was at the game itself. After that, I had John sign it, which looks great in silver against the blue number, and retired it. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this and my other signed jerseys. For now I'm just holding on to them.

17 years and counting. Nine jerseys and counting. They are some of the most expensive and useless (it's not like I can wear them at time or anywhere other than to games) Wizards souvenirs I own. But collectively they tell a story of my love for the Wizards, as passionate and frustrating and glorious and misguided as it has been since I first ponied up some dough for a full season back in the year 2000. I don't think I need to get my 10th jersey anytime soon but you just never know in this business.

Top 10 Wizards

The 2016-2017 NBA season is the 20th that the Washington Wizards have played under their current nickname. By and large, it has NOT been a wonderful ride. But with the team seemingly surging towards more wins than they have had in over 35 years and with point guard John Wall in the All-Star Game this past weekend for the fourth consecutive year, I thought it might be a good time to create a top 10 list of the greatest players ever to suit up for the Wizards. Sort of a mini-20th anniversary celebration.

Now admittedly, I haven't been around for all 20 years of Wizards ball. I mean, I've been alive and watching NBA basketball for all that time but not necessarily paying close attention to the Wizards. I started watching the Wizards as my primary team during their third season under the new name, bought season tickets one year later and am now in my 17th year as a season ticket holder. I figure that's close enough, especially given the team's performance (9th and 13th in the Eastern Conference) in those two years I missed. No matter what list I create, there are always going to be folks who disagree with me.

This list considers a player's accomplishments as a Wizard, not a Bullet or on any other franchise's team. I'm deliberately considering the accomplishments of players who played for the team under both nicknames as Wizards. That both emphasizes performance since 1997 and makes my job a little easier. It also is not a list of the 10 greatest players to don a Wizards blue, black and bronze (later gold) or red, white and blue jersey. Michael Jordan may be among the greatest, if not the greatest, to play in the NBA but he ain't the number one Wizard with just two years under his 38-40 year old belt.

So having said that, let's get right to my list. There are some honors listed under some players' names; these are their achievements while playing for the Wizards (everything before or after is missing) There are also some top five franchise rankings in the list below. These are the spots these players occupy on the Packers / Zephyrs / Bullets / Wizards leaderboard. I know I'm switching standards there. Just deal with it. And finally a quick spoiler alert: none of the players in the cover picture of this post made the list.

10. Marcin Gortat (2013-Present)
Two Postseason Appearances.

I really wrestled with this 10 spot. I was tempted to sneak in someone like Paul Pierce or Emeka Okafor; someone who impacted the Wizards in a teammate development way (Pierce with the whole team; Okafor with John Wall and leadership) but ultimately I decided Marcin's three plus years of steady play meant that I had to put him at number 10. 

I think Marcin's under appreciated as a Wizard. So many fans focus on the games with little offense or quick fouls and ignore the larger body of work. Sure there are bad games out there and Marcin's not the number one locker room leader some fans want him to be but look at the numbers: three plus years averaging double figure points with close to double figure rebounds (for sure double figures this year). Moreover, he's extremely durable; he's played at least 75 games each of his first three years with our team and is poised to do the same this year.

9. Bradley Beal (2012- Present)

Two Postseason Appearances. NBA All-Rookie First Team (2013); Franchise Leader 3rd in 3 Point FG Made.

Before too many people get upset with Brad at this spot, let me say I don't expect that if I made this same list two or three years from now that he'd be at number nine. At least he better not be. Not with his contract.

I believe Bradley Beal is having a fantastic year. All the promise of his first four years are coming to bear in a single season. He's also healthier than he's ever been which I am sure is a huge relief to Wizards fans beyond me. I also believe Brad should have been an All-Star this year. If not on the coaches' ballots then as a replacement for Kevin Love. He and John Wall should provide many many moments for Wizards fans to savor this season and the next few years. He's clearly the second best player on our current squad. And (again) he should be with his contract.

But one year doesn't rocket you to the top of a list like this created by me. I need to see some more consistency first, which I believe I will see for hopefully the rest of this season and the next four beyond this. Beal has turned the corner in major way. And I love it. I just want to see more of it.

8. Nenê (2012-2016)
Two Postseason Appearances.

There may be some emotion behind my number eight selection on this list and I think that's OK. I'm a fan, after all, and this is a blog about being a fan.

If this current Wizards squad ever amounts to something serious, I'll always remember Nenê as the first one in the door. Once the Wizards traded away Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and every other player that resembled a leader in the locker room in the spring of 2010, things devolved into chaos pretty quickly. One year later it was no better; the team had failed to instill any sort of professionalism in the 12 months since the team had been dismantled. The stakes were pretty high: John Wall was supposed to be the face of the franchise and he had nobody to show him how to be a professional ballplayer.

Enter Nenê, on the trading block in Denver because that team was convinced Kenneth Faried was going to be just as good in a couple of years if not in the moment the Nuggets pulled the trigger to swap Nenê for JaVale McGee. Thank God for this trade. Nenê was never a vocal leader in Washington, but he brought a credible presence to the Wizards team. He also showed everyone in Washington what it meant to be a team player after a period of misdirection. Nenê produced in his time in D.C., averaging double digits as a starter. Yes, there was always the next injury looming but I give Nenê a ton of credit for holding this franchise together until John Wall could assume the clear role of team leader.

7. Michael Jordan (2001-2003)

2x All-Star (2002-2003).

I hate putting Micheal Jordan on this list. I thought Jordan's two years in Washington put the franchise on hold just so Jordan and Doug Collins could try to make one more run at playing and coaching in the league. I thought his leadership in the locker room (which spilled out in public all too often) was poor and every move he engineered emphasized getting into the playoffs now at the expense of player development of anyone not worthy to play with MJ. It was completely selfish.

However, he was good, even at 38, 39 and 40. He was clearly the best player on the team those two years he was in D.C. (I know the bar was set pretty low) and he had some spectacular nights. Sometimes he just seemed to will himself to beat the other team. He scored 40 points or more six times in two seasons, including an MCI / Verizon Center record 51 on December 29, 2001, a mark that stood (Gilbert Arenas tied it years later) until John Wall scored 52 earlier this season. Those two years were exciting until they ended and you realized it was all for the glory of MJ. 

Jordan is one of only five Wizards players to make it to two All-Star Games, although the first was a fan vote and the second was likely a coaches' sympathy vote. 

6. Larry Hughes (2002-2005)

NBA All-Defensive 1st Team (2005); One Postseason Appearance.

Larry Hughes is the one guy in my 17 years as a season ticket holder that I wished had not walked away from the team. I don't feel the same way about Trevor Ariza or Paul Pierce or Jared Jeffries or any other player. I understand why Larry did it; it's hard to turn down that kind of money. But he and Gilbert Arenas were a backcourt to behold. Yep, it was fun seeing Gilbert team up with DeShawn Stevenson and for sure D-Steve was a cheaper option but I always thought Larry and Gil could have taken that team to a really good place.

Larry spent just three years in Washington, and he never played a full season (he never played more than 67 games). But the two last years he played at 601 F Street were among the best of his career and his last (the 2004-2005 season) was without a doubt the best. That year he averaged an astonishing 2.9 steals per game (albeit with a lot of gambling that paid off) and led the league in that category. Larry should have been in the All-Star Game that year; his injury right before the voting ended game coaches an excuse to not put him in the game along with Gil and Antawn Jamison. I saw Larry at the Oklahoma City game this year and told him as much. He agreed.

5. Brendan Haywood (2001-2010)

Franchise Leader 4th in Blocks; Four Postseason Appearances.

Brendan Haywood is at the five spot on this list for four simple reasons: (1) he made it to four consecutive playoff appearances with the team; (2) he was the most important defensive player in his years as an established starter; (3) he has played more games as a Wizard than any other player ever; and (4) he was my first favorite Wizards player. I warned you it was a fan's list.

I loved Brendan Haywood playing for the Wizards. Yes, he was selfish; he fought with Etan Thomas (I mean like actually fought with fists) and was reluctant to or just plain refused to mentor JaVale McGee. Yes, he was terrible from the free throw line except for that one season that Dave Hopla got him to shoot 73.5 percent.  But he was the primary starter at center in his second year in the league and held that spot (except for the 2008-2009 season when he was hurt) until the Wizards traded him to Dallas and he was the difference maker at the defensive end. He called the defensive sets for a team which sometimes had few defenders and made up for the mistakes of his teammates. The Wizards would have been a lot worse off if it wasn't for B Wood back there.

I'm putting Brendan unapologetically at the five spot while also conceding there might be a lot of emotion behind this decision.

4. Caron Butler (2005-2010)

2x All-Star (2007-2008); Three Postseason Appearances.

Caron Butler has spent time with nine NBA franchises in his 14 year career but he spent more than twice as long in Washington than he did in any other spot. He also had his greatest success in a Wizards uniform, being named to two All-Star Games. He also acquired his nickname, Tough Juice, while playing too hard in practice at Verizon Center. Nicknames don't really make much difference to me but Tough Juice is such a great nickname that it counts with Caron.

Caron's greatest seasons statistically during the 2006-2007 season and the 2007-2008 season, the two years he represented the East as an All-Star. The work he did along with Antawn Jamison in keeping the franchise afloat was phenomenal. If there's a season this franchise could have collapsed but didn't it was that one. I'll always remember Caron for the buzzer beater at Cleveland in the 2007 playoffs to stave off elimination (at least for one game) and for the monster slam dunk he had in Sacramentto. It's number two in this video.

Good times...

3. Antawn Jamison (2004-2010)

2x All-Star (2005 & 2008); Franchise Leader 2nd in 3 Point FG Made; Four Postseason Appearances.

Antawn Jamison was the guy that first put the Wizards into the playoffs. The franchise had struck out on the postseason in its first seven years under its new name. Jamison got them there in his very first year and he kept them there for the next four years. Before Nenê joined the Wizards in 2011, AJ was the only guy who showed any sort of leadership in the locker room. He was rewarded with the captaincy and with Abe Pollin's undying affection.

Antawn earned his only two All-Star nods while in a Wizards uniform and was the model of consistency on the offensive end, averaging more than 19 but less than 23 points every year he suited up in D.C. Antawn is likely to be one of two players (along with Tom Chambers) who scored more than 20,000 career points who will not be in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (hoping I'm wrong here; maybe in a down year?) and he scored more than 8,500 of them in Washington. He still has one of the quickest shots I've ever seen. I'll forget all about the baseline he let LeBron James have to beat us in the playoffs. There were few better than Antawn in the last 20 years for the Wizards.

2. Gilbert Arenas  (2003-2010) 

All-NBA Second Team (2007); 2x All-NBA Third Team (2005-2006); 3x All-Star (2005-2007); Franchise Leader 1st in 3 Point FG Made / 5th in Steals; Four Postseason Appearances.

And then there's Gilbert Arenas. I clearly love Gil. I mean I named this blog after him for crying out loud. There's only one player in Wizards history who has captured national attention with his play and his antics off the court. Where do I begin? Agent Zero. Hibachi. Oxygen tents. Walk off three pointers. Highest single game point total in franchise history. Throwing jerseys into the stands. Staying at season ticket holder events to sign every autograph even when the rest of the players have gone. Early morning shooting sessions at Verizon Center after sleeping on the couch in the players' lounge. Guns in the locker room. Trampoline dunks at the All-Star Game. His swag was phenomenal. 

Unfortunate about that whole guns in the locker room thing. More unfortunate about Gerald Wallace landing on his knee.

Gilbert is the only player who as a Wizard has been arguably the best player in the NBA. I'll admit it didn't last long but there was a time when he was dropping 60 and 56 points on a west coast road trip during the 2006-2007 season where he was legitimately in the discussion. There were rumors about the Lakers and Wizards discussing a Kobe for Gil deal and the Wiz legitimately saying no. And that was before Kobe's fourth and fifth championships. Gilbert was amazing that season and for the three that preceded it. He was instantly my favorite player (sorry B Wood) and I still love the signed gold jersey I have hanging in my closet with the "Agent Zero" personalization. Gil's the only Wizard other than John Wall and Michael Jordan to be voted as a starter in the All-Star Game and he's the only one to be named to an All-NBA team three times, or at all really. That knee injury...

1. John Wall (2010-Present)

NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2015); 4x All-Star (2014-2017); NBA Slam Dunk Contest Winner (2014); NBA All-Rookie First Team (2011); Franchise Leader 1st in Assists / 1st in Steals; Two Postseason Appearances.

As good as Gilbert Arenas was in a Wizards uniform and as many All-NBA teams as he made, he's still not John Wall. John has more All-Star appearances than Gil, he's a more complete player than Gil, he's a better leader than Gil and I can't tell you how many passes that he's thrown down at the east end of Verizon Center that have taken my breath away from my seats in Section 109. And this season has been the best of all; the leap he's made this year whether it's due to his health or Scott Brooks or just natural maturity is astounding. He's a better player than I could have hoped for this year. He's definitely for me in the top 10 discussion of players in the NBA.

On top of all that, John openly wants to be here in D.C. There is no question that this team is his and he wants as many fans in the building cheering for the entire team (not just him) as he can possibly get. He's already the franchise leader in assists and steals and he's likely to be second in scoring if he plays out his current contract with the team and remains healthy. All this from a guy who rival team executives say can't pass and who most everyone in the media says can't shoot. I don't see any competition for John Wall as the greatest Wizard. Just don't.

So that's my list. Call me crazy for some of these picks but that's what I believe. I took a hard look at (in no particular order) Otto Porter, Paul Pierce, Rod Strickland, Chris Whitney and DeShawn Stevenson but ultimately I went with the ten above. I expect some guys to move up the board quickly if I ever do this again. Wizards back in action on Friday in Philly. Let's go Wizards!

Tough Juice

This past Saturday night I was supposed to be sitting in Section 109 at Verizon Center watching the Wizards take on the Utah Jazz for their annual meeting in the District. But winter storm Jonas had other ideas and forced the NBA to postpone that contest, only the second time I've seen a weather postponement in my 16 years as a season ticket holder. So last weekend instead of hoping the Wizards could finally find a way to win a couple in a row at home, I spent most of my time as a shut in from the snow just like most of the rest of the residents of Arlington, VA.

Other than the game cancellation, the weekend proved to be pretty enjoyable: pretty much nothing accomplished, some great company, a couple of movies, a Patriots loss, a Cavaliers loss, tons of Trader Joe's food and some hot chocolate (with a little dark rum). Sounds pretty perfect to me except for the lack of Wizards happenings. Luckily, I'd been hanging onto former Wizard Caron Butler's autobiography since Santa brought me a copy for Christmas for just such an occasion. So why not, right?

In case you are a Wizards novice, Butler (along with Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas) managed to guide the Wizards to the last three of four straight playoff appearances in the middle of the last decade. Unfortunately for Butler and the rest of our team (and me), they managed to lose to the hated Cleveland Cavaliers each of those seasons in the first round of the playoffs. Caron's four plus seasons in Washington represented the longest tenure with any one franchise and garnered him his only two All-Star selections. Caron is one of my favorite ex-Wizards and I always give him a one-man standing ovation along with one or two "TOOUUGGH JUUUUUICE"s whenever he returns to VC for another team. Caron's one of the classiest guys who has ever played for the Wizards.

Caron's autobiography is all about his escape from the mess he got himself into and almost couldn't get himself out of as a kid. I'm not going to cover all that here because I'm really here to write about the Wizards part of his book but suffice it to say he sold his first drugs at age 11, bought his first gun at 12, set up his first drug selling network at age 14 and was sentenced to his first jail term (of two years) at 15. Considering his environment, the guys he hung with and the fact that he was in numerous shootouts before he turned 17, it's a total miracle he's even still alive, let alone made it out of his hometown of Racine, Wisconsin to become the person he is today. It's an amazing story.

Caron's book is 224 pages long. Pages 202 through 209 cover his four and a half seasons with the Wizards. If you read this book, you should read the first 201 pages because it's worth it. But if you are like me, you really want to get to the Wizards stuff.

Caron focuses his very brief Wizards story on his arrival in Washington; his relationship with former owner Abe Pollin; and the lack of real results the team achieved in his time in D.C. But the juiciest bit of his story about being a Wizard is his recounting of the Gilbert Arenas - Javaris Crittenton feud that ultimately led to the 50 plus game suspension of Gilbert Arenas; the downward spiral of Crittenton that now has him sitting in jail for 20 plus years; and the blowup of a once promising team in Washington.

After reading the seven or so pages Caron devotes to his time as a Wizard, I'm confused. In addition to really learning nothing groundbreaking about Wizards history, I have an issue with one statement and questions about two other stories. I am not, by the way, too surprised I learned nothing new about the Wizards since I spend about 10 months of each year scheduling my life around this team. I'm pretty much embroiled in everything that happens to this team without actually being there for anything other than all the home games (in other words, I miss what happens behind closed doors).

But onto my two questions and one issue. My first question is about what really happened between Gilbert and Javaris Crittenton. Caron's account, which says the initial dispute was over $1,100 that Javaris alleged Gilbert owed him and ends with Gilbert and Javaris getting into it verbally a couple of days later is slightly different from what I wrote in this blog in 2012 which had the initial money argument about $200 between JaVale McGee and Earl Boykins and ends with Gilbert writing a "Pick 1" note for Javaris at Verizon Center. My version of the story was culled from various newspaper accounts written by people who quite definitively did not see the events unfold in person. Both versions end with Gilbert having a gun pointed at him before the situation calmed down a bit.

So the folks I relied on got some things wrong. No big deal, right? Maybe. But Gilbert Arenas doesn't agree with Caron's account either and he was most certainly there. We know this because Gilbert published at least two rants on Instagram (Gil's current soapbox of choice) disputing the accounts. Now, going on character alone, I'm likely to believe Caron but there's no question Gil's version is closer to the written accounts published before Caron's book came out. So what really happened? I guess we'll probably never really know and the truth is probably somewhere between the two stories but I think it's interesting it's taken this long for an alternate truth to be written down.

My issue, which I hope is not seen as nitpicking, is Caron's story of how he arrived in Washington. He writes "After one season with the Lakers, I took advantage of free agency to become a Wizard when they offered me a great deal." Now this doesn't exactly say Caron was a free agent with the ability to choose a new team, but it's pretty darn close. The truth is Caron was traded to the Wizards along with Chucky Atkins for Kwame Brown and had a year left on his rookie deal. His first season in Washington was spent on that rookie contract. He did sign a five year extension before he began that year, but he wasn't a free agent at that time. It's difficult to say the story is factually incorrect because there are facts missing. But it affects how I view the Arenas - Crittenton story.

My second question is about how Caron got his nickname, Tough Juice (or Tuff Juice depending on your preferred spelling). And this is really my only serious question. The story that has been laid out in the Washington Post at least twice is that Caron's teammates were complaining about how aggressive he was being in practice to which Caron responded "Man, you guys need to drink some tough juice." Eddie Jordan, the Wizards coach at the time picked up on this and started calling Caron by the nickname he carries around to this day.  Great story and one of the great all-time nicknames in sports.

Caron offers a different version. He claims Eddie Jordan used to call him a tough dude because of all the stuff he went through growing up. He then goes on to explain how Jordan eventually changed it to Tuff Juice after the expression "you got the juice now" that folks use to describe a player on a roll. While the two gunplay in the locker room stories play with shades of gray, the two Tuff Juice stories are totally different. I mean they are not even close. What gives??? I'm confused. Maybe one day Caron and Mike Wise (who wrote the story for the Post) can jointly clarify for me.

So that's my book report. A solid thumbs way up for a book about a solid guy and a great weekend's read. Still itching to know about the nickname story though. That one's going to stick with me.

The Arenas Effect

DISCLAIMER: I had this post mostly ready to go in mid-January of this year but got distracted with other things. I figured I could hold it a bit. After all, who's going to write something about the number zero in the NBA during the 2014-2015 season? Well, about six weeks ago, Tom Ziller, whom I follow on Twitter and read regularly, beat me to the punch. Go figure. Before you read my post, go read Tom's post. He said it first after all. Plus he has a really cool graph.

I was sitting with my girlfriend a couple of months ago watching some Wizards game on TV (I believe it was the January 14 game at Chicago) when she asked me "What's with all these guys wearing zero?" My immediate response was "It's because of Gilbert Arenas." This was not the first time she had asked me this question. That night it was because Aaron Brooks was playing in the game for Chicago but before that I'm sure I'd been asked the question about Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, Avery Bradley and probably a handful of other players. Each time I was asked the same question in the past, I gave the same response. So in between work, an All-Star Weekend in New York and some discouraging play from my favorite basketball squad, I thought I'd better find out if I was right.

My uneducated and unresearched  impression about zero jerseys was that the number of players wearing that jersey had been on the rise recently. Like really noticeably. Turns out that hunch is correct. According to Basketball-Reference.com, there have been 62 players who have worn the number zero since the 1946-1947 season, which the NBA now considers its first season. Of those 62 players, only 11 wore the number before the 2001-2002 season, which was Gilbert Arenas' rookie season. In case you are counting seasons, that's 11 players in the first 55 years of the league's existence and 51 in the last 14 years.

So something's going on there, right? There's an average of one player every five years until the end of the 2000-2001 season and an average of 3.64 players per year after that. That's a 1821% increase in zero wearers between those two spans. The numbers are a bit skewed here. The first player to wear zero was Johnny Jorgensen who played just one game for the Chicago Stags during the 1948-1949 season. The next time someone donned a zero jersey was 1982, when Orlando Woolridge suited up for the Chicago Bulls (something about Chicago I guess), so there was a very large zero-less period in the league there.

Looking at the recent numbers in more detail provides additional clarity to the zero jersey's upswing. From the 2001-2002 season to the 2007-2008 season (or from Gilbert's rookie season until the last time he made the All-Star team), there were an average of 5.3 players in the league each year wearing zero. The following season (2008-2009), that number stays pretty much the same at 5. This five or so number is generally attributable to multiple players wearing the number zero consistently for several seasons in a row: Walter McCarty at the beginning of this period; Arenas throughout; Jeff McInnis in the middle; and Aaron Brooks and Russell Westbrook at the end.

Starting with the 2010-2011 season, though, the numbers explode. That year, nine players wore zero. The next year, 12. Ever since then, the number of players wearing zero has never dropped into single digits. The last two years have seen 15 players wearing zero and during the 2012-2013 season, the number peaked at 17. Something happened from 2001 to today that caused about half the teams in the NBA to sport a number zero on their roster consistently for five years after pretty much nothing (or zero if you prefer) in the league's first fifty plus years. I'm making the case it's all because of Gilbert.

Gilbert chose the number zero when he entered college at the University of Arizona. He chose that number because the number he wanted, 25, was retired at the University of Arizona (Steve Kerr) and, according to Gilbert, "Zero is the number of minutes people predicted I would play my freshman year at Arizona." It became the biggest chip on Gilbert's shoulder that he carried until the time he signed his six year, $111 million contract in the summer of 2008. So did other players copy Gil?

Some of the Gilbert Arenas influence among players in the NBA is pretty obvious. Larry Hughes, Nick Young and Andray Blatche all wore (or wear) zero playing for teams after they left the Wizards. All three of those guys were Gilbert's guys, either as a back court running mate (Hughes) or as a protégé of sorts (Young and Blatche). I didn't research interviews with these guys to get their first hand rationale for wearing zero. I figured I didn't have to. These guys are slam dunks.

It is perhaps more informative to seek out the logic for some other guys who wear zero, notably Jeff Teague, Aaron Brooks, Avery Bradley, Russell Westbrook and Damian Lillard. Each of these guys has either made an All-Star appearance or has been in the league long enough to sign multiple significant deals. I struck out with Teague but found something on the other four.

Avery Bradley claims he wears number zero because when he got to the University of Texas he felt like he had to prove himself all over again. Gee, who does that sounds like? Russell Westbrook wanted the number 4 when he got to college but it was unavailable, so he decided to go with zero to represent a new beginning. Yep, it sounds like I've heard that before. Aaron Brooks had a similar experience when he found the number 30 available when he got to the University of Oregon. And Damian Lillard's story is that his zero is actually an O, symbolizing his journey from Oakland to Ogden (Utah) to Portland, Oregon.

Bradley, Westbrook and Brooks totally copied Gilbert. Their stories may be significantly different for them to believe they are not copying Gil, but they are. If Gilbert hadn't paved the way for zero symbolizing a new beginning or a need to prove oneself all over again, they never would have come up with it. And I'm totally not buying Lillard's story. Would he wear number 1 if he had been selected by the Indiana Pacers because I looks like 1? I don't think so. 

Why do I think I'm arrogant enough to question these guys' stories? Here's why.

My opinion is Gilbert started getting really popular league-wide when he won the NBA's Most Improved Player award after the 2002-2003 season and peaked with his three All-Star appearances in 2005 through his All-Star start in 2007 (the first player wearing zero to appear in the All-Star Game by the way). All-Star starters are of course determined through a popularity contest known as fan voting and in December 2006 and January 2007, Gilbert was arguably the hottest player in the game. Hotter even than Kobe.

So assuming kids in high school are watching the NBA and switching their numbers from whatever they had before to zero to match their newest hoop hero in Gilbert Arenas, we are looking at four (assuming a switch in sophomore year of high school and one year of college) to eight years (assuming a switch in freshman year of high school and four years of college) before those same kids are in the NBA. That would put the zero explosion based on Gilbert's influence between the 2009-2010 season and the 2013-2014 season, which is exactly what happened assuming kids adopted the number between 2003 and 2007. Brooks was a freshman at Oregon in 2003, Westbrook followed at UCLA two years later and Lillard started at Weber State in '08, a year before Bradley graduated high school.

This is a theory and the math sort of magically works out, but my opinion is that it is correct. Whatever you want to think, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Today, you see kids in college wearing zero all the time and they are likely wearing the number because of Russell Westbrook or Damian Lillard or some other player. But for me (and likely for a lot of other folks), the number zero begins and ends with Gilbert Arenas. 'Nuff said!