Fan-Friggin-Tastic

They do say 3rd time's a charm...if you haven't heard, Gil has knee surgery numero tres.

Arenas Cleared To Play, But....

He won't be playing the Bucks tonight. Ivan Carter of the Washington Post has the story. What are my thoughts, you say? Thought you'd never ask.

He doesn't want to have to guard a high scoring guard like Michael Redd. Although Redd does not get into the lane as much as some other guards in the league, I do seriously doubt Gil would be able to keep up with him. Coming off a 2-3 road trip tied for 5th in the East, we really need the wins. Keeping Arenas out is probably a smart move. If you buy into this (I do) then perhaps we will see him when the Wiz play the Heat.

Then again, maybe he's just waiting for that nationally televised game vs. Boston, when presumably their starters will be on the bench and Gil can get back at one of the few teams he actually did play this season. Nah. That is SO unlike Agent Zero.

UPDATE: Thoughts from BulletsForever. I had similiar thoughts, and I would not be the least bit surprised if it was true.

Arenas out for 6 months?

According to an article on Basketball Prospectus by Kevin Pelton and Will Carroll, yes, that seems to be the consensus of the article. I'll quote directly from the piece, but you should really go read it.

"The three-month recovery quoted by the Wizards is extremely aggressive--most physicians interviewed for this piece felt that six months was a more likely scenario--but none would rule it out. "Pain tolerance is what it will come down to," said one orthopaedist who regularly performs this type of surgery on skiers."

The rest of the article speaks to the future problem Arenas will most likely have. Whereas he was practically assured of getting a max deal from the Wizards or elsewhere when he announced he would opt-out, now that doesn't seem so guaranteed. His knee may have never healed completely, evidenced by the return of swelling when he pushed it.

The article goes on to discuss the fantastic contributions of AD and Blatche (to which every Wizards fan should remark, "well, no s**t, we knew they were good"). I'll end this with one other direct quote from the article, one that speaks differently of their defense than I have in the past.

"Butler and Jamison have been brilliant since Arenas' injury, averaging 24.3 and 29.0 points, respectively. More striking has been their efficiency. Butler has hit 11 three-pointers at a 64.7% clip and has a 65.7% True Shooting Percentage; Jamison is hitting 56.3% from the field and has a True Shooting Percentage just behind Butler's at 64.5%. Last year, their True Shooting Percentages were 53.7% and 54.5%, respectively, and both players will have a very tough time maintaining their efficiency. As they cool down, so too will the unsustainably-hot Wizards offense."

Gil Out 3 Months

I realize the news broke yesterday, but like most Americans, I was traveling and my mobile blogging stuff wasn't setup correctly (aka, I was sleeping on the train). Anyway, as soon as I read it (and here, and here) I sighed a big, long, sigh. Granted, we won 3 games without Gil, but this hurts. Just when we thought we might get him back, BAM! I am sure he is just as frustrated as we all are, especially since he's also dealing with a breakup.

But I have confidence in Gil and in this team. The Agent will work to get back in shape, and he will do it right this time. The knee injury at the end of last year was his first real injury (disregarding his rookie season), so he probably didn't know how hard, or not hard, he should go. Since Gil is Gil, he went hard. I just hope that it is really fixed this time and when he comes back, he comes back for good.

All us Wizards fans need to stick by him and this team to make sure we can stay afloat and keep winning games. We have a very strong bench, one that will surely be able to help us win some games. The upcoming road trip with games against Dallas and San Antonio is going to be tough, but hey, it was gonna be tough anyway.

I hope everyone had a fantastic turkey day. Gil will be back. The Wizards will make the playoffs. It will happen. Are you ready?