Wizards turn to Jamison in troubled times and he delivers
By: Turner Sports Desk
You never know how valuable a good leader is until you either have a bad one or an empty suit posing as a leader. Gilbert Arenas showed everyone he clearly did not
understand how serious everyone else was taking his gun shenanigans. His tweets, his TV interviews and finally the
picture of him making the gun gestures during the pre game announcements was the
final straw for NBA Commissioner Stern.
Lost in all of this was the fact that one of the greatest
men I’ve ever met, Abe Pollin hated guns so much that he changed the name of his
NBA franchise. In fact had Abe been alive I have zero doubt he would have cut
Arenas on the spot contract or not. Pollin spent his life helping the people of
Washington DC so to tarnish his legacy like this is the real criminal act in my
opinion. So how do you fix this? You separate yourself from everything Gilbert
Arenas and you follow the lead of a man that Abe Pollin loved like a son for
good reason in Antawn
Jamison. I originally disagreed when the Wizards re-signed Jamison citing
the fact that he is in the twilight of his career and he was never was known
for playing stellar defense. Last
night’s performance by the Wizards Captain both before and during the game
allowed me to see what Abe Pollin saw in him. Jamison gave a pre-game address
to the crowd in which he said the Wizards team was embarrassed by the events of
this week but vowed that this team will correct it and move forward. Jamison is
a standup guy that leads from the front both in word and in his actions. If there is any player the Wizards and their
fans can look to as the “anti-Arenas” it
is the 11 year veteran. For the record I do not think Gilbert Arenas is a
horrifically bad guy. I think he is very quirky and he handled this situation
poorly. In terms of basketball Arenas is a terrific scorer but not someone I
would have paid 111 million dollars. Any player that gets that much money has
to be a leader and willing to do everything to win. Arenas got angry when
Former Coach Eddie Jordan asked him to play more defense. Are you kidding me?
The Wizards are not a very good basketball team right now
and things could get a lot worse since their best player is suspended
indefinitely. The Wizards can turn adversity into advantage by using everything
in their power to void Arenas contract. Hopefully
the Wizards will have Jamison to guide them from this mess back to some form of
respectability.