Agent (Worth) Zero

Another NBA season is winding down, which means the real season, the playoffs, is about to begin. The playoffs are a time of uncertainty as far as seeding, matchups, and favorites go. However, heading into this year’s competitions there is one certainty; viewers (and not to mention the Cavaliers) will not be subject to the postseason presence of the Washington Wizards and their oft-injured star, Gilbert Arenas. I have stated for quite some time that I feel Gilbert Arenas to be the most over-paid, and over-rated player in the NBA today. Up until this season, regardless of Gilbert’s presence in the lineup, the Wizards have proven to be an out-spoken, underachieving, mediocre team. I felt that their team remainded consistant with him in or out of the lineup. This is something that should never be said about an alleged superstar. Would the Lakers be the Lakers without Kobe Bryant? Would the Cavaliers be nearly as dangerous if Lebron was sidelined for an extended period of time. These are of course rhetorical questions, as the impact of a superstar's presence on a team usually need not be questioned. However, this is not the case with Agent Zero, as it seems that the Wizards remain largely unchanged with him out of the lineup, leading to questions about his overall worth to the team. Gilbert has never propelled this team to a deep playoff run. He has never carried them to a noteworthy regular season record, which would have helped to land them a spot in the playoffs that could potentially prevent their annual first round loss. Hell, he isn’t even on the court half the time anyway!

I am not trying to completely discredit Gilbert Arenas. In fact, if he wasn’t often touted as one of the best players in the league, I might feel quite different about Agent Zero. He can score with the best in the league, he has a bright personality, and a knack for hitting big-time shots. However, never has less results been rewarded with more praise and pay. Up until this season, in which the Wizards had a long-overdue collapse, the team remained consistently mediocre during Gilbert’s tenor as the team’s de-facto star. They would repeatedly finish with a record that hovered around .500, grab a lower seed, and then continue to be readily handled by their competition (The Cavs beating the Wizards in the first round seemed as though it had developed into a yearly tradition; one that will not be missed this year). Despite various injuries to Gilbert throughout these seasons, the Wizards continued down their path to mediocrity, at no point collapsing without their superstar. And once he returned to the lineup, Gilbert never delivered to the fans of Washington, except some spectacular highlights.

After finishing at the bottom of the pedestrian Eastern Conference, the Wizards are clearly in need of some adjustments. I am no executive, but I have to imagine that the $100 + million dollars they are dishing out to an injury-prone Gilbert Arenas could be dispersed in more beneficial ways. Regardless, two things are certain: Agent Zero and the Wiz will not be appearing in the playoffs this April, and they will not be missed.