Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Two Quotes, Two Very Different Styles - Gilbert Arenas & Shaquille O'Neal.

According to a report out of the Washington Times, Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler aren't getting along. Along with Antawn Jamison, the three are co-captains of the 3-9 Wizards and primarily responsible for the teams success.

Arenas, having missed most of the last two seasons with injury is never happy. Just as all of his problems in life are usually someone elses fault.

The feud with Butler stems from Arenas's belief that Butler isn't a good fit for Washington's offense, or he simply isn't trying hard enough.

I think Arenas is totally out of line here and he should show more respect to Butler. Caron has been fantastic for the Wizards and has improved and evolved into a star in the league, and a two-time All Star. This was after the Miami Heat and L.A. Lakers kind of gave up on him after only three seasons in the league.

Since signing his $111-million contract last year, Arenas has yet to prove that he's worth anywhere near that sort of money.

*****

Shaquille O'Neal's days as a dominant player in the NBA are well and truly over. When it comes to hosting a scrum or press conference though, Diesel remains in a league of his own.

Touche Shaq.

The Cavs have started out slowly and I don't think that the acquisition of Shaq is going to be enough for them to win the championship this year, but one thing's for sure. If this is Shaq's last season, his sense of humour will be missed around the NBA. We'll still hear from him as it's unlikely he'll fade off quietly into the sunset, but it will be the end of one of the most charismatic players ever.

*****

A large part of the reason the Phoenix Suns sit atop the Western Conference.

It must be so much fun to play on a team like the Suns. Especially when you see guys respond like Channing Frye and Jared Dudley have.

When you have a distributor like Steve Nash, guys know that they'll get their shots. Ego's get pushed aside because that's the way. Nash seems disinterested in scoring the ball himself a lot of the time, even though he's more than capable of doing so.

But, look at Frye and Dudley. Already, Frye has tried more three-pointers (86) through 14 games than he did during his previous four seasons (70). And he's knocking them down at a decent clip - 44-percent. You get the feeling that he's so happy to be finally given a chance to just play and to play the way that suits him best.

It's the same for Dudley. He's on track for career highs in points and rebounds and even he is jacking up a few three-balls as well, he's 24-for-49.

It remains to be seen if the Suns method can overcome the odds and win a championship, but they are certainly fun to watch and Nash is showing no signs of slowing down, despite his age.

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