Good Bye, Agent Zero

Today, the Washington Wizards, my favorite NBA team, traded Gilbert Arenas straight up to the Orlando Magic for Rashard Lewis.  This was clearly a swap of one bad contract for another.  Arenas still had 4 years of max money left on his contract while Lewis has 3 years of just under max money on his.

As someone who wants to see his team succeed, I had long been asking for this moment.  The Magic had long been interested in acquiring Arenas, and were often the only team to be so, given Gil's baggage.  Arenas contract was a burden for a player with bad knees who had not been able to stay healthy for a few years and was an abysmal defender.  To be sure, I'm not too thrilled to be getting back another bad contract in Lewis (I had been hoping for Vince Carter's expiring contract...though certainly not Vince the player) but at least Lewis doesn't play the exact same position as John Wall, the franchise's new golden boy.  Sadly, at this point, Arenas was nothing but an expensive hindrance to Wall's development.

But while part of me was happy to see Gil go, the rest of me feels a sense of loss (as much as one can in this instance, after all, it's just sports).  For all his foibles (bad at defense, injury-prone, huge/cap-killing contract, the minor issue with the guns), Gilbert Arenas was an enjoyable and unique experience.  Gilbert could score points in bunches.  His swagger made him more than a fan favorite: it made him a demigod in the District.  Between Hibachi! and Agent Zero, Gilbert made DC basketball something worth caring about again.  Hell before Arenas, you'd have to go back to the mid-90s to find anything positive about the team, and back to the early 80s before that.  Hell, the 3 highlights of the team between their '96-'97 playoff run and the arrival of Gilbert were a 10-years-too-old Mitch Richmond, the construction of the MCI (now Verizon) Center, and an old Michael Jordan playing pretty well and completely screwing the team from a personnel standpoint.  Gilbert was exciting and always fun to watch and led the team to the playoffs.

In addition, I will miss Gilbert because he was Gilbert.  Only a few times before have we ever seen a professional athlete as honest as Agent Zero.  His blog was hilarious and candid.  His interactions with the media were always good for a smile and often left you wondering, "What's he gonna do next?"  Even after his gun incident, Gilbert never shirked responsibility and his post-incident editorial in the Washington Post was intelligent and thoughtful.  Basically, Gil was what we hoped we would be like if we were professional athletes.  He was jovial.  He loved videogames.  He gave his time and money freely to those in need.  He loved being the life of the party.  He was quick with a joke.  He was always supportive of his teammates and wanted to win above all else.

So, Gilbert, I, and plenty of other Wizards fans out there, wish you nothing but the best.  I hope that Orlando embraces you like Washington did.  I can only wait for you to light up the score-board in the playoffs to the screams of "HIBACHI!"