Can Gilbert Arenas "dodge a bullet"?

AntAltMike

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Wizards Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton pull pistols on each other
Teammates pull weapons on each other
By PETER VECSEY and DAVID K. L I EXCLUSIVE

Guess they're still the Bullets at heart.

NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas and his Washington Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other in the team's locker room during a Christmas Eve dispute over a gambling debt, The Post has learned.

League sources say the pistol-packing point guards had heaters at the ready inside the Verizon Center, the Washington, DC, home of the Wizards -- whose name was changed from the Bullets over gun violence concerns.

It was the three-time all-star Arenas, 27, who went for his gun first, sources said, drawing on the 22-year-old Crittenton, who quickly brandished a firearm as well.

It was not clear whether other teammates saw the shocking standoff, which happened on a practice day.

The duel in DC -- unprecedented in sports history -- was sparked when Crittenton became enraged at the veteran guard for refusing to make good on a gambling debt, a source said.

"I'm not your punk!" Crittenton shouted at Arenas, according to a league source close to the Wizards.

That prompted Arenas to draw on Crittenton, who then also grabbed for a gun, league security sources said.

A playground pal of Crittenton's from Atlanta, Kendrick "Bookie Ball" Long, confirmed the locker-room standoff and said he learned of it directly from the third-year player out of Georgia Tech.

"He [Arenas] was f- - -ing with him; he [Crittenton] was just defending himself!" declared Long, who said the dispute was over money but would not elaborate.

The Wizards announced on Christmas Day that Arenas had admitted to bringing guns to the locker room and had turned them over to team security. No ammunition was handed over.

Today, the Wizards in a statement said they "take this situation and the ongoing investigation very seriously. We are continuing to cooperate fully with the proper authorities and the NBA and will have no further comment at this time."

The NBA club's statement didn't disclose how Wizards officials discovered that Arenas was storing weapons on the job.

But a league source said Arenas' weapons were uncovered only after the confrontation with Crittenton.

Wizards General Manager Ernie Grunfeld declined to comment. "It's in the hands of [Washington] authorities," said Grunfeld, a former star Knicks player and president. "We're going to get to the bottom of this, if there is a bottom to this."

Washington police said they were investigating Arenas for gun-possession violations. But the Wizards' gun grab has also drawn the attention of the feds.

"We're working with the Metropolitan Police Department on the investigation. That's about all we can say at his point," said Ben Friedman, a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office in DC.

The feds have been investigating gambling within the NBA since disgraced ex-referee Tim Donaghy admitted betting on games and feeding information to bookies. It was not clear whether the gambling debt that sparked the Arenas-Crittenton duel had anything to do with league games.

A top players-union official said he was shocked by the allegations. "This is unprecedented in the history of sports," said Player's Association Executive Director Billy Hunter. "I've never heard of players pulling guns on each other in a locker room."

Team owner Abe Pollin -- his sensitivity heightened by the fatal shooting of his good friend Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 -- changed the club from the Bullets to the Wizards in 1997 because he didn't like the violent overtones of the original name. Pollin died in November.

Arenas, who has three kids, reportedly told team officials he brought guns to his Verizon Center locker so they wouldn't be close to his newborn at their home in Great Falls, Va.

He denied pulling a gun on Crittenton and even mocked the suggestion he would ever point a weapon at a teammate.

"You guys, I wanted to go rob banks, I wanted to be a bank robber on the weekends," Arenas said sarcastically after a game this week.

Firearm laws in Washington are among the nation's strictest. Until a recent US Supreme Court ruling, private ownership of guns was illegal in the nation's capital.

As it stands now, gun owners are allowed to transport firearms only within DC under very limited circumstances -- such as taking the weapon to be registered or to a practice range. There's no provision under current DC law for a private citizen to have a gun at work.

In 2003, Arenas pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of carrying a concealed weapon in San Francisco.

Arenas claimed the gun was legally registered in Arizona -- where he was star player for the University of Arizona Wildcats -- and said he forgot he needed California authorization to carry it there.

Crittenton hasn't played a minute this season for the Wizards and has struggled to overcome a bone bruise and strained tendons.

Read more: Wizards Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton pull pistols on each other - NYPOST.com
 
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The Wizards already have $26 million coming off the books at the end of this season, as the contracts of non-competitors Mike Miller, Mike James, Fabricio Oberto, Crittedon, and Boykins expire ($19 million subtotal), and only Brendan Haywood ($6 million) may be worth resigning, so if they can somehow parlay Arenas's self induced bad fortune into a contract voiding, then they would be down to $35.5 million on the books for the free agency shopping season. Trade Jamison for a younger player and a draft choice, buy a first tier star and a solid role player, and even use a mid-level exception to pick up another $5 million a year contributor, and you could change the direction of this woeful franchise almost overnight.
 
DC's gun laws were found unconstitutional two years ago, and the DC government has refused to update these in conformity with what the Constitution requires. End of criminal story.

If the guy is running a bookie operation out of the locker room, then that is the issue. The NBA does not need more exposure to gambling problems.
 
The Wizards already have $26 million coming off the books at the end of this season, as the contracts of non-competitors Mike Miller, Mike James, Fabricio Oberto, Crittedon, and Boykins expire ($19 million subtotal), and only Brendan Haywood ($6 million) may be worth resigning, so if they can somehow parlay Arenas's self induced bad fortune into a contract voiding, then they would be down to $35.5 million on the books for the free agency shopping season. Trade Jamison for a younger player and a draft choice, buy a first tier star and a solid role player, and even use a mid-level exception to pick up another $5 million a year contributor, and you could change the direction of this woeful franchise almost overnight.


It's hard to believe that this franchise was once one of the best in the NBA, with players like Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld, Kevin Grevey, etc. This franchise has now been irrelevant for almost 30 years!!

Oh, and what a tool Agent 0 is! :rolleyes:
 
DC's gun laws were found unconstitutional two years ago, and the DC government has refused to update these in conformity with what the Constitution requires. End of criminal story....
So as you interpret the effect of the Supreme Court "striking down" DC's most recent gun law, there is no enforcible restriction gun limitation law in DC? Seems unlikely to me. I will speculate that if the "new" ordinance explicitely, or even implicitely, had purported to replace the old one, then the striking of it would have been restored the earlier statute to force. It strikes me as implausible that there is presently no enforeable restriction on handgun possession in DC.
 
It's hard to believe that this franchise was once one of the best in the NBA, with players like Elvin Hayes, Wes Unseld, Kevin Grevey, etc. This franchise has now been irrelevant for almost 30 years!!

Oh, and what a tool Agent 0 is! :rolleyes:
:up:up agreed!! i really don't like this team. they always seem to have attitude issues with some of their key players. arenas has really turned out to be a BIG zero imo. now you have this situation which is no laughing matter. you hate to think what might have happened between those two in the locker room. its sad...........
 
McFilthy and McNasty!


Yup, but those Ruland and Mahorn led Bullets were never really a threat to those Celtics, Sixers and Bucks teams in the 80's. However, you did know when you played them in a playoff series...........you had the bruises to prove it! :eek:

OTOH, those 70's Bullets teams led by the Big E and Unseld were great teams!
 
I watched the Bullets kill the Boston Celtics back in the late 1970s. They won by forty something, but believe me, the game was nowhere near that close. Dave Cowens could not guard Elvin Hayes at all, and so Hayes only needed about twenty shots to foul out three other guys. He had that patented ,"bump the guy off with hip check at the foul line, and then turn and shoot an unguarded, fade away foul shot" going for him that worked all night.

First balcony, down front ticket price: $4.
 
I am wondering...IF the Wizards had started with a 30-10 record or was in 1st place....would this ever come out in public??

Odd question...the Giants were in first place when Plaxico shot himself, and first place didn't prevent that from coming out in public.


Sandra
 
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Odd question...the Giants were in first place when Plaxico shot himself, and first place didn't prevent that from coming out in public.


Sandra

But Plaxico was not THE star of the team. I bring this up Wilbon was on 790 The ticket with Dan Lebtard and Dan had brought up this question that no one asked.

He mentioned that he knew of 2 incidents similar and one WORSE that never came out to the public because one involved a star and the other two occassions involved teams starting out the season with great records. As much as Lebatard tried...he could not pry the info out of Wilbon.
 
But Plaxico was not THE star of the team.

You speculated if it was a first place team it may not come out in public. I gave you an example of a first place team where it DID come out in public.

And Plaxico was good enough that the indicent did end the Giants' chances last year.

He mentioned that he knew of 2 incidents similar and one WORSE that never came out to the public because one involved a star and the other two occassions involved teams starting out the season with great records. As much as Lebatard tried...he could not pry the info out of Wilbon.

Just like how the golfing press covered up for Tiger Woods all this time? ;)


Sandra
 
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