Can Arenas Lead The Wizards To A Title?

Looks like Gilbert is making waves not only locally but nationally. Check out what some reporters from Sports Illustrated have to say about building a team around Agent Zero.

Come on Gil, DLR still believes in you but the chants of cut that zero, get with a hero are growing louder by the second…(tick, tock)

Four SI.com writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the NBA each week. (All stats and records are through Nov. 23.)

1. Gilbert Arenas recently criticized his teammates by saying he is the only player on the Wizards to sacrifice something for the good of the team this season. Is Arenas the sort of player around which a title team can be built?

Ian Thomsen: The answer at the moment is no. He’s an All-NBA point guard who has made it past the opening round of the playoffs once in his career. I’m on record as believing he has it in him to go far — I picked the Wizards to earn first-round home-court advantage in the East this year — but it’s entirely up to Arenas. He wants to be a franchise player, and he has been surrounded by an excellent coach and a lot of talented players. Now he needs to pull it all together constructively.

Jack McCallum: The short answer is no, but more because of who he is as a player. For the most part, you don’t get to the Finals behind me-first gunners who are weak on defense, don’t love to pass and are loose cannons in the locker room. (I say “for the most part” since Allen Iverson got the 76ers to the championship series in 2001.) But I sort of like Arenas’ brazenness (then again, I don’t have to coach him), and would take him over, say, Tracy McGrady (see below).

Chris Mannix: There aren’t many franchise players out there — Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard are a few — so it’s no knock on Arenas to say he’s not on that list. While Agent Zero is a terrific scorer with that eye-popping ability to drop 50 on you every night, he’s not a complete player, and if you look at the aforementioned list, those are complete players. Can Arenas be a No. 1 guy? No. Can he be 1A, a Scottie Pippen to someone’s Michael Jordan? Possibly.

Arash Markazi: Considering Arenas played in a grand total of 15 games the past two seasons heading into this year, I’m not sure he’s the best person to be criticizing his teammates for not sacrificing. Arenas is a great talent and one of the best pure scorers in basketball, but I don’t think he’s the sort of player who would be the centerpiece for a championship team. If I were casting a potential Academy Award-winning movie, Arenas would be the quirky sidekick who stole every scene he was in but wouldn’t be the headlined on the marquee.

Source: SportsIllustrated.com