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MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Do you trust a man without a conscience, one who operates on a different -- even nonexistent -- moral code?

For basketball purists, that’s a tough one. We subscribe to the high-minded principles of “quality shot selection,” of “taking what the defense gives you,” of “not settling.” These tenets make up the basketball code we romanticize in “Hoosiers” and in the longevity of the San Antonio Spurs.

But Los Angeles Clippers’ swingman Nick Young doesn’t subscribe to this code -- not by a long shot. When Young has the ball in his hands, he doesn't factor his decision-making the way coaches, fans and analysts would.

"I'd say I have no conscience, to a certain extent," Young says. "I feel like I can make any shot. That's something that's been in me since I started playing the game."

Young doesn't deny that he takes a few ill-advised shots a game, but he won't apologize for them. And on Sunday in the Clippers' improbable comeback, he had nothing to be sorry about. He went for 19 points on 11 shots, including a trio of 3-pointers in a span of a minute to shave a 12-point deficit to three in a flash.

Most of those shots on Sunday were open looks, but for most of his tenure with the Clippers the degree of difficulty on his shot selection has been astronomical.

"Those shots? I still think I can make them," Young said. "Some people might think, 'He's glad to shoot that shot,' but I practice those shots."

This entire premise can offend certain sensibilities. I ask Young, "Really? You practice taking contested 21-footers inside the arc with two guys on you?"

"I know I can make 'em," Young says.

This certitude can drive an empiricist nuts. An average NBA game has about 94 possessions, and if you have a guy like Young chucking up bad shots on three or four of those possessions, that can kill your efficiency. Look at the point differentials of most NBA teams -- a bucket or two per game is the difference between a top-four seed and a seat at the draft lottery.

Despite these truths, is it possible that Young has a point? Are some of those bad shots loss leaders that ultimately pay off in a game like Sunday night's?

In an effort to try to make sense of whether a lack of conscience can translate to success, I go in search of Gilbert Arenas.

After Arenas dropped 61 points against the Los Angeles Lakers in December 2006, Kobe Bryant famously said of the then-Washington Wizards star, "He doesn't seem to have much of a conscience. I really don't think he does. Some of the shots he took tonight, you miss those, and they're just terrible shots. Awful. You make them and they're unbelievable shots."

Setting aside the irony of the source, Bryant gets to the heart of the matter. Many interpreted his comments as a swipe at Arenas, but it wasn't. Bryant was just delving into the mindset of the unconscionable shooter, who is neither good nor bad -- but just is.

On Monday, Arenas had plenty to offer on the matter:

The best players in any sport in the world have no conscience.

It's like someone who has ADD (attention deficit disorder). They have a creative mind. They can see things that other people can't see. They can do things that other people can't do. But once they take the medicine, it calms them down -- just like a coach who gives a conscience to a guy who doesn't have a conscience.

It's like an assassin. In any movie, he starts off killing everybody, but then he finds the girl who stops him from being an assassin. That's just like players. The reason Steve Nash can make the passes he can make is because nobody has ever told him when he makes a turnover, "Don't make that pass." Same thing with Rondo. It gives them that freedom to expand and create anything he can think of.

I challenge Arenas on the notion that really bad shots are part of the creative process, that a guy somehow can't be both judicious and aggressive, but he rejected the premise that there's anything wrong with taking a 20-footer with a defender in your face and time on the shot clock:

His creativity lets him do that. It's a shot he thinks he can make. Just like Kobe. If you think about the best players in the world, they have no conscience. They try anything. They do anything. Brett Favre -- he threw any pass he thought he could throw. That's his creativity. That's what he's like. He's going to fail and he's also going to win.

But a guy with a conscience won't pull that trigger.

I ask Arenas whether you can be a great player and still have a conscience.

"I don't think so," Arenas says. "Michael Jordan never had a conscience. A.I. didn't have a conscience. Kobe doesn't have a conscience."

I counter that Kevin Garnett has a conscience, that he exercises an uncommon discipline and has still been one of the best players of his time.

Arenas' response?

And that's why he doesn't get the ball in the fourth quarter. That's why they give it to Paul Pierce, because he has no conscience. LeBron has a conscience. He cares what you think about him. But Kevin Durant doesn't have a conscience. D-Wade doesn't have a conscience. But Bosh has a conscience.

You're born with it or you're not. Some people are what I call "killers." Some people have the killer mentality and that's who you want with the ball at the end of the game. You want them taking that shot because they don't care about failing -- even if it's a bad shot.

It's hard to let Arenas off the hook on this point. Does he deny there are bad shots that cost you basketball games?

That's the game of basketball. You can't go around and play like we did yesterday -- like college basketball when you're up 20 with a few minutes left and you're stalling and you do the four corners, and before you know it, you stop being aggressive.

So the Grizzlies developed a conscience at the wrong time in Game 1?

"Yes," Arenas says.

Arenas' theory that conscience is a congenital trait is interesting. In his worldview, a player can't develop -- or rather shed -- his conscience. He's either hard-wired to kill, like Nick Young or, on a larger scale, Kobe Bryant. Or he's not.

Arenas might be half-right, half-wrong:

A lack of conscience might be a necessary ingredient for Arenas' "killers," but those moral vacuums aren't created equally.

On Sunday, we saw the best of Young's nihilism. Without it, the Grizzlies are up 1-0 in this series. But down the road, it's possible a lack of conscience might shoot the Clippers out of a game.

Such is the fickle nature of the code.

LOS ANGELES -- Agent Zero is probably long gone. The guy who could fill it up for 20 or 30 or 40 points a night, the one whose playful antics on and off the court were met with cheers rather than conniptions, probably left for good when he was shown the door in Washington for the final 50 games in 2010.

But after missing the first four months of this NBA season following his ouster from Orlando, Gilbert Arenas is back on the court. And that alone is enough to bring out the big grin that was once plastered on the point guard’s face.

“I’m just back to my old self -- laid back, funny guy,” Arenas said with a smile after his second game with the Memphis Grizzlies, a 101-85 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center. “Last couple years I was just stressed (laughs). Right now I’m just trying to get back to my own element."

After garnering interest from a few teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Arenas worked out for the Grizzlies earlier this week and signed with the team on Tuesday for a reported $300,000 (on top of the hefty sum he’s still receiving from the Magic after being waived via the amnesty clause before the season).

Arenas said it was important that everyone on the team was accepting of him before his arrival -- “I need all 100 people on board!” he said with a chuckle -- but since then, things have been a bit of a blur.

“I was in Memphis for a day,” said Arenas, who chose to add a one to the numeral he’s known for on his new Grizzlies jersey. “I went to go try out, and in my mind I thought it was going to be like in L.A. (with the Lakers): tryout, I go back home and they call me. It was like, tryout, take the physical, meet the team in Portland. It happened so fast.”

His game, and his body, have yet to catch up. Admittedly out of playing shape, the 30-year-old guard looked a step slow against a quick Clippers backcourt, finishing with two points on 1-for-5 shooting with an assist, three fouls and two turnovers in 19 minutes. Memphis saw similar returns in his re-debut two days earlier in Portland, in which Arenas finished with two points on 1-for-4 shooting with two assists, three fouls and two turnovers in another loss.

“It’s more difficult than I thought,” he said. “I went from being a couch potato and playing at the Y on Thursdays to playing in an NBA game. I haven’t had a practice yet, I haven’t got in shape yet. I’m trying to get the feel of the game again.”

A role is still being defined for him on a Grizzlies team in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, but it’s not an unfamiliar position for Arenas, who was brought to Orlando by Magic GM Otis Smith, an Arenas confidant, via trade in the middle of last season.

“I came from Washington where I was [scoring] 20, 30, but when I got [to Orlando], it was different style, different coaches,” Arenas said.” I just wasn’t used to it. I never bounced out of it, I never caught a rhythm.

“The games they did play me, [when] I was forced to play, I did score. But other than that I just didn’t get a rhythm. It’s basically like me coming out here just trying to find the rhythm, make sure everybody’s OK with me shooting. I just didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes in Orlando. Here, I feel a little bit more comfortable and I now I’m just trying to get in shape.”

Arenas said he talks to Smith every day, and that Smith told him to “be relaxed, just play.” He has also kept in touch with Dwight Howard, who had taken the brunt of the drama in central Florida now that Arenas is no longer around.

“I look at it like, it’s smart thing to do, opting into $19 million instead of signing a new deal and it’s $14 million,” Arenas said of Howard’s decision to opt-in with the Magic for next season. “But it’s like, it’s the same stuff next year. So you gave the fans two more months, but you got next season. Same drama.

“But hopefully he does the right thing. I talk to him every day. You have your home and you see that green grass over there, and it’s tempting. But he made the right decision for this year. We’ll see what happens next year."

Arenas is staying out of all the drama now, wherever it may be. Signing on with a small-market team will surely help that cause.

“I don’t want to be in the public eye anymore,” Arenas said. “I just want to go out there, get in shape and when the time comes, help this team win.”

He just wants to be on the court again. And be happy.

“It feels good,” he said.

Justin Verrier is an NBA editor for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter.

On Monday, Ricky Rubio had eight assists in a win over the Sacramento Kings. Rubio now has 108 assists in 13 games, tied for the sixth-most assists all-time in the first 13 games of a player's career, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Rubio doesn't always start, but he certainly does finish. He came off the bench the first 10 games but has started the last three games. Rubio is at his best down the stretch. Not only does he lead the NBA in 4th-quarter minutes but Rubio also leads the NBA in fourth-quarter assists this season (30).

John Wall had 38 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals for the Washington Wizards in a loss to the New York Knicks on Monday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Wall is only the second Wizards/Bullets player ever to put up those numbers in a game. The only other player with at least 38 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals in a game in the team's franchise history was Gilbert Arenas, who had 38 points, eight assists, eight rebounds and four steals in a win over the Boston Celtics in April 2006.

Ryan Anderson had a career-high 30 points, including seven 3-pointers, and seven rebounds on Monday in a win over the Knicks. Anderson is the first Orlando Magic player since Tracy McGrady in March 2003 with at least 30 points, seven 3-pointers and seven rebounds in a game. McGrady had 37 points, including seven 3-pointers, and seven rebounds in a win over the Heat.

Anderson is one of the main reasons the Magic are 9-3 this season. Anderson, who averaged 10.6 points per game this season, is scoring 18.3 points per game this season. The Magic are 7-1 this season when Anderson scores at least 15 points, 5-1 when he shoots at least 50 percent from the field, 9-1 when he makes at least two 3-pointers, and 6-0 when he shoots better than 50 percent from 3-point range.

The Philadelphia 76ers are off to a remarkable 10-3 start this season and have a four-game lead in the Atlantic Division. Their average margin of victory in their 10 wins is 20.7 points. It's the Sixers' best start since the 2000-01 season, when they advanced to the NBA Finals.

What's the recipe for success for the Sixers? Defense. They have held their opponents to 93 or fewer points in each of their 10 wins. More specifically, it's their 3-point defense which has carried the Sixers. In each of their 10 wins, their opponent has made four or fewer 3-pointers and shot less than 31 percent from 3-point range. In each of their three losses, their opponent has made at least six 3-pointers.

The Sixers, who are 9-1 in their last 10 games, have held opponents to 31 percent or less from 3-point range in 10 straight games. Since 1988-89, only one team -- the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons (12 games), who went on to win the NBA Championship -- has had a longer single-season streak of holding opponents to under 31 percent on 3-point attempts.

The basketball landscape is littered with symbols, but none more damning than the bad contract.

Rhetorically, there's a good reason for this. No matter how conscientiously you point out that bad contracts represent a small fraction of the whole, or that the volume of underpaid rookie-scale players and superstars far exceeds the number of bloated deals, the trump card is irrefutable:

"Jerome James," "Eddy Curry," "Gilbert Arenas," "Drew Gooden."

Bogeymen have always populated the political debate: the welfare recipient who drives a Cadillac. The failed CEO with his golden parachute. The undocumented immigrant who uses the emergency room and public school. The retailer who gouges a community after a natural disaster. The corporate jet owners who get tax breaks.

In that same spirit, basketball has James, Curry, Arenas, Gooden and the guy who slurped up your team's budget and then failed to live up to his contract. These players might be the far-reaching outliers, but they represent something fundamentally unfair to most fans:

Getting paid to do a job, then not doing it.

That transgression is particularly rotten when the job in question is playing a child's game, and this breach of public trust makes the overpaid player a very convenient talking point.

Of course, a bad contract doesn't birth itself. It starts off as an offer extended by a team soliciting the services of a player -- usually in free agency, sometimes as an extension of an existing deal. Either way, an NBA front office saw a vacant roster slot, thought enough of a player's potential to pursue him, then ultimately inked him to a lucrative deal. As much as we can fault the work ethic of someone who phones it in after signing such a deal, the job of vetting the character and projecting the performance of a player falls on team executives and the owners who employ them.

As much fun as it looks from the outside and the ranks of a fantasy league, general manager is a grueling, all-consuming, difficult position. The tenure of a general manager usually ends with a pink slip. Unless he's wearing a baseball cap in June standing alongside a star player who's lifting the Larry O'Brien Trophy, a GM's missteps always attract a brighter spotlight than the small victories. The chase for NBA talent is fraught with all kinds of hazards, and even the best human resource managers in the league are going to have an expensive blemish or two on their record.

For this reason, a push for shorter contracts has been a central part of the "system issues" conversation since well before the expiration of the previous collective bargaining agreement. Whether you interpret this as a means for bad teams to seek protection from themselves, a smart way to keep spending in check, or a way to prevent deadbeats from profiting without performing, reduced contract length is almost certain to find its way into the next CBA, whenever the deal happens to be executed.

In the owners' Nov. 11 proposal to the players' union, the length in contract of the mid-level exception signees for both taxpaying and non-taxpaying teams was reduced from five years to either four or three years. Maximum contract length for players with Bird rights was reduced from six years to five, and from five years to four for non-Bird players. In addition, option years for players earning greater than the league average were eliminated (which would effectively shorten contracts vis-a-vis the last CBA), as were sign-and-trade deals for taxpaying teams after Year 2 of contracts (ditto).

What are the repercussions of shorter contracts?

Shorter contracts mean more turnover, which means more free agency. And free agency, lest we forget, has always been the vehicle for the creation of bad contracts.

On the surface, this change would provide a modicum of safety for front offices and ownerships. Never again will a player like Gooden earn a mid-level deal of five years and $32 million. In the new NBA, the maximum a mid-level player could be offered would be 4 years and $20 million. Curry's 6-year, $60 million contract would also be an impossibility.

In other words, execs' colossal mistakes will be trimmed in scale by about 20 percent and their medium-size stupid pills would be reduced by 35 to 40 percent. Curry would've merely been a 5-year, $50 million blunder, while Milwaukee would be on the hook for one year and $12 million less, assuming the Bucks would've opted to use the mid-level on Gooden -- and that Gooden wouldn't have had suitor willing to pay him more.

General managers would be inoculated from truly epic failures, but they'll also be filling more roster spots, more often in more feverish free agent markets. Execs will have more opportunities to make more mistakes of, albeit, slightly less detrimental consequences. That means bad judgment could potentially be compounded in an off-season when a league has dozens of more roster spots to fill with free agents.

On the flip side, shorter contracts would punish crafty executives capable of locking in talent to favorable long-term contracts. With more roster slots to fill more frequently, smart execs will have more shot attempts to work their magic. In 2002, Joe Dumars signed Chauncey Billups to a 6-year, $34 million deal, possibly the best mid-level deal in history. In today's NBA, Dumars would be denied full reward for his prescience. The jury is still out on Wes Matthews in Portland, but his $7.2 million contract in the final year of his 5-year deal might prove to be a bargain. Under the new system, the Trail Blazers wouldn't enjoy the benefits of Matthews' potentially cost-efficient services.

In a league with shorter contracts and greater turnover, navigating the free agent market will be more important than ever. But if making sound judgments on extending free agent contracts is a task front offices as a whole have mismanaged -- by the league's own admission -- is it reasonable to expect that to change with even more opportunities for mistakes?

The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that when the New York Knicks hosted the Phoenix Suns on Monday it was the 24th NBA game played at Madison Square Garden on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the highest total at any venue. The Staples Center is second with 20 MLK Day games played.

Traditionally, the Knicks have done well to defend home court on MLK Day, however Monday the trend was broken as the Suns handed the Knicks their sixth loss in the 24 home games played on this historic day.

Amar'e Stoudemire scored a season-high 41 points, which is the most for him since scoring 44 on March 19, last season against the Utah Jazz. It's the 16th time in his career that Stoudemire has topped 40 points, but only the third time his team has lost the game. Stoudemire has now scored at least 20 points in 25 straight games, the third-longest streak in Knicks history (he entered the game tied with Bernard King). Next on that list are Patrick Ewing (28) and Richie Guerin who is the franchise leader at 29 straight.

Stoudemire’s day was impressive, but Los Angeles Clippers rookie Blake Griffin had a day that will be etched in history forever.

Griffin had a career-high 47 points, the highest total by any NBA player in a single game this season, and the most by a Clipper since Charles Smith scored 52 points at the Denver Nuggets on December 1, 1990. Griffin’s 47 points were also the second-most by any player in a game on MLK Day (Gilbert Arenas had 51 for the Washington Wizards against the Jazz in 2007).

What makes Griffin’s performance even more interesting is that his 79.2 field-goal percentage (19-of-24) was the highest by a rookie who took at least 20 shots in an NBA game since Dec. 6, 1984, when Hakeem Olajuwon made 18-of-22 (81.8 percent) for the Houston Rockets.

It gets better.

In the history of the NBA, only two other players under the age of 22 have ever had a game like Griffin's … Michael Jordan and Rick Barry. Griffin also became just the second rookie over the last 25 seasons to record at least 45 points and 10 rebounds. The other was a 20-year old Shaquille O'Neal back in February of 1993.

Now clearly nobody had a day like Griffin, but there was one more individual performance we couldn’t overlook.

Derrick Rose recorded his first career triple-double, which was the fourth against the Memphis Grizzlies. Over the last five seasons; Baron Davis, LeBron James and Brad Miller have also had triple doubles in Memphis. The only team that has allowed more triple-doubles at home over the last five seasons is the Sacramento Kings, who have surrendered five.

• Just how did the Knicks play better against the Heat? Strategy savant Sebastian Pruiti shows us how New York found success, curbing pick and rolls.

• Love when John Krolik uses a device like “Teams are allowed to shoot from behind that line, and in fact shots made from beyond that line count for more points bullets” to convey his Cavs frustration. I thought the second biggest tragedy of the Gilbert era was how a great writer got robbed of good fodder. Krolik is somehow finding new comedic heights in subterranean Cavs mediocrity.

• As the reaper taps his foot next to Tim Duncan’s career, the Spurs are blossoming. 48 Minutes of Hell parses how San Antonio could be escaping the funeral pyre.

• Darius Soriano from Forum Blue and Gold wonders if this is rock bottom for the Lakers. Why do I feel like Los Angeles will emerge from this funk, strong and scary as ever? Oh ya, the two consecutive championships. Now I remember.

• Matt McHale of Bulls by the Horns presents “The Shooting Guard Quandary,” otherwise known as, “Keith Bogans isn’t very good.”

• Kyle Weidie from Truth About It pays Magic Basketball a visit, dishes Part II on Arenas.

• Dallas loses, Dirk is the difference.

• Dan Feldman wonders: Is Stuckey the most available Piston?

• Personally, I enjoyed Indy's dalliance with decency. Jared Wade is here to tell us that the Pacers have officially become mediocre.

• Ryan DeGarma of Celtics Hub delves into the mysteries of Boston's bench. And apparently, a hilariously glum-looking Marquis Daniels is the straw that stirs the drink.

Here’s how well things are going for the San Antonio Spurs.

On a night in which veterans Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili had games that would rank among the worst of their careers, they still beat the Los Angeles Lakers by 15 points, 97-82.

Duncan played 29 minutes and made just one shot, the most minutes he’s played in any of the half-dozen games in which he’s made just one basket or fewer. Ginobili was 3-for-12 from the field, his worst shooting night when taking that many shots in more than two years.

The Spurs shot 42.5 percent from the field, 28.1 percent from 3-point range, and 66.7 percent from the line. A quick check of Basketball-Reference.com shows they hadn’t won a game with that sort of statistical combination since beating the Phoenix Suns in November, 2005.

How did they win? It took a great effort from Tony Parker (San Antonio is 21-1 when he scores at least 15 points) and their defense. Los Angeles shot 35.4 percent from the field, the third time they've shot that badly against the Spurs in the 49 regular season games that Kobe Bryant has played against them. Bryant missed 13 straight shots, which according to Elias, is the worst run of misses he's had in any game in his career.

The Lakers have dropped three straight games by at least 15 points, one shy of their longest stretch ever, done in November 2007.

Kobe Bryant matched his worst shooting day of the season, but you can go 8-for-27 against the Minnesota Timberwolves (as he did on November 19) and still win. Not against these Spurs, who have won 11 straight home games.

Elsewhere in the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks 84-76 home loss to the Toronto Raptors may add fuel to Dirk Nowitzki's early MVP candidacy. The Mavericks outscore opponents by 13.3 points per 48 minutes with him on the floor, and get outscored by almost 14 points per 48 minutes with him off the floor. According to Elias, his plus-minus differential of 27.0 is the best in the NBA among qualifying players.

The Celtics and center Shaquille O’Neal got a win over the Indiana Pacers, but he fouled out for the second straight game, this time in just 16 minutes. He’s the first player to foul out of consecutive games, playing 16 minutes or fewer in each since Dan Gadzuric, in December 2008.

O’Neal’s former team, the Orlando Magic, got strong production from its bench, though one player’s value may have gone a bit unnoticed. On a night where Gilbert Arenas stole the headlines with 22 points and 11 assists, Ryan Anderson may have been the Magic’s most valuable man.

In 23 minutes, Anderson netted only six points in a 110-95 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, but Orlando outscored Cleveland by 27 points when he was on the floor. That’s noteworthy considering that Orlando had three starters who posted a negative plus-minus rating in this contest.

Speaking of valuable players, the best of the best was the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade, who scored 40 points in a win over the New York Knicks. Wade has 18 games with at least 40 points over the last three seasons, matching LeBron James for most in the NBA.

• Evidently the Kings have found themselves at the point of threatening No. 5 overall draft pick DeMarcus Cousins with a demotion to the D-League to get him to act right ... since kicking him out of practice, fining him and pulling him from the starting lineup doesn't seem to work. One can only shake their head and wonder what the next step in disciplinary progression is for a player that some advanced stat heads claimed should have been the 2010 first overall pick.
• Gilbert Arenas tried to tow the company line this season in Washington, to be the good guy who aimed to avoid conflict (for the most part). Now he's trying to do the same in Orlando by attempting to nip controversy in the bud before it happens, quite a diversion from Gilbertology of the past. "I don't want to start, this team is too talented," he says. Too bad, when you make $18 million and are playing better than the incumbent for a single game, the media is going to rush to find an issue regardless.
• Wizards owner Ted Leonsis often likes to think about the "coulda been" wins when pumping positivity on his blog, Ted's Take, recently writing, "It is a shame. There have been six other games this season that were winnable for [the Wizards] and we came up short." But those close games follow a two-way street, and Tim Varner of 48 Minutes of Hell likes to travel the other way, pointing out that the San Antonio Spurs might not be as good as their league-best record reflects.
• John Wall rides a tiny bike while handing out presents to underserved families in the D.C. area ... Nick Young with a tiny bike while doing the same thing ... Ernie Grunfeld sports a puffy adidas coat.
• Without Amare Stoudemire around to dive into the paint after setting a screen for Steve Nash, it's less of a gamble to hard double the two-time MVP off P&R action -- so that's exactly what the Miami Heat effectively did last night. Sebastian Pruiti of NBA Playbook explains.
• The Atlanta Hawks are in a tough position. They aren't good enough to compete for a championship, and they don't have the financial means to add key pieces to their core. Oh, and even though they have the fourth best record in the East, their average attendance ranks 25th in the League. What should they do? The Atlanta-Journal-Constitution's Michael Cunningham says just about all they can do is hope things come together under first-year coach Larry Drew.
• Nick Young is finally breaking out with consistent effort, this being his fourth NBA season. Young is starting now with the departure of Arenas from Washington, but came into his own earlier this season when he started being more comfortable with a role off the bench. Now in his third NBA season, should OJ Mayo be doing the same thing in Memphis? Perhaps Mayo should follow a mold set by Jason Terry, says Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak.
• At Truth About It.net, we talk to the Wizards about the best and worst holiday presents that they've ever received.
• Evidently Stephen Jackson and new coach Paul Silas can call each other "Cuz."
• Orlando's new dynamic formula involves putting diverse offense players on the floor together and running at every opportunity.
• Arenas was never able to complete some folks in D.C.
• A sheriff in Polk County Florida has decided that prisoners in his jail don't deserve to play basketball, so he made the inmates dig up the goals and then donated them to a local church. Talk about cruel and unusual.

You see the improved Orlando stat line of Gilbert Arenas: 14 points, 6-14 on field-goals, nine assists, three turnovers, six rebounds and one steal in 29 minutes off the bench. But do you know the circumstances that created it? That's in comparison to 12 points on 3-17 shooting with seven assists, four turnovers and three rebounds in 44 total minutes over his first two games with the Magic. By the way, Orlando looked like the youthful contender taking down the fading dynasty last night, running a San Antonio Spurs team with the best winning percentage in the NBA out the gym 123-101.

And then all was calm in the Magic Kingdom, quelling for the moment festering Dwight Howard future free-agency concerns. Arenas and his newcomer cohorts, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Richardson, combined for 40 points. Understandable that Gilbert would hate the cold weather of Washington, D.C. and relish the warmth of the Sunshine State on his aging joints and surgically repaired knee, but he didn’t have to make it so obvious with a newfound crispness in his game that barely glimmered as a Wizard this season. Arenas’ plus/minus of plus-21 was second to Turkoglu’s plus-24, but the ex-gun slinger was the protagonist of Orlando’s scoring boon and the ultimate win.

“I haven’t run in two years,” Arenas told TNT’s David Aldridge in his post game television interview. At the same time, not only could you tell he missed the days of yore, running alongside of Larry Hughes or DeShawn Stevenson in Eddie Jordan’s uptempo pro-style Princeton offense, but also that he appreciates the ability to do so more now because of one thing he’s never had. A Dwight Howard.

But it’s not always all about surface statistics, or even advanced statistics, or the feel-good story about how Arenas is now removed from his own Beltway Mentality. It’s also about the circumstance provided for him to boost his confidence and excel … thanks to the San Antonio Spurs, his teammates and the Stan Van Gundy charm.

Now, after all that, I’ll stop for a brief introduction. My name is Kyle Weidie. Normally you’ll find me covering the Washington Wizards as part of the TrueHoop Network at TruthAboutIt.net (name origin unrelated, yet all truth somehow is related, I suppose), but today I’m manning the controls of the mother ship. Hence, the discussion of Gilbert Arenas you’ve found yourself in. Don’t worry, it won’t be about current or ex-Wizards all day.

Arenas and Turkoglu first checked in with 2:24 remaining in the first quarter, Orlando was down 24-18 to San Antonio. With JJ Redick, Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson, they out-scored the Spurs 10-2 to close out the period. Arenas ran the point, already picking up his first assist by the time his offensive number was initially called. Coming off a double screen, he nailed a wide open jumper just beyond the free-throw line. Antonio McDyess laid back and dared Arenas to shoot. Gilbert did. Almost 30 seconds later, Chris Quinn made the mistake of going behind the screen against Arenas. Three-pointer, 2-2 from the field. Was it really Gregg Popovich’s game plan to tempt the Hibachi flame?

Then, Arenas almost did the amazing. Orlando got the ball back at the far end with 0.8 seconds left in the first. He caught the inbounds pass ready to move and got a one-step running start to launch a 59-footer, not a two-handed chuck or a baseball throw, but in the form of a running jumper. It just rattled off the rim.

Arenas continued to run the point to start the second quarter, getting Magic off to a solid 12-8 start in the first 4:22. He patiently waited for teammates to get in the right places -- zipping a pass to Anderson for three, hitting Redick with a bounce pass on a back-door cut, seeing Dwight Howard for a lob dunk -- Arenas picked up his fourth assist in less than six total minutes of game action.

Jameer Nelson checked back in at the 7:38 mark and Arenas slid to the two. He found similar success, albeit against the mousy/spritely Quinn. Arenas bullied him with size to the block and rose above him to kiss a jumper off the glass as Howard cleared space. Another trip, Arenas posted Quinn on the left block and attracted defensive attention that great ball movement will exploit every time. He passed out of the post to Nelson, who swung the ball around the horn to Turkoglu, then to Jason Richardson, who drove the gap from the opposite baseline and lobbed it to Howard for a dunk. Just about as perfect as you can get for a bunch guys trying to get used to playing with each other, but we forget Gilbert and Hedo are talented passers as well.

Along with the friendly circumstance of Quinn’s defense and the cursory attention the Spurs tempted Arenas with when the ball in his hands, the circumstance of Nelson also played to Arenas’ favor. He’s much more apt to be a creating 2-guard next to a point guard who can shoot, and one who doesn’t always command a high usage percentage, as with Nelson under Van Gundy. John Wall wasn’t that. He and Arenas would have never truly worked.

Arenas got in trouble against San Antonio when he forced shots in precarious, off-balanced situations coming off screens. The whistles of referees have not favored him this season, so he’s not going draw those bump calls he used to get. He also might not have it in him anymore to hit jumpers without his legs under him. Arenas didn’t drive to the basket much in the first half either, looking more interested in creating for his teammates and hitting jumpers. The results are inarguable though, he finished with a plus/minus of plus-11 to go with 12 points, five assists, two turnovers and four rebounds after two quarters.

Arenas was called back into duty an early 67 seconds into the third when Nelson picked up his fourth foul. He immediately came off a double screen and hit another free-throw line jumper, San Antonio still intent on daring Arenas to hit dead-on, 15-footers for some reason. After that, he kept it simple -- fed his big man, got Anderson a trip to the free-throw line by skipping a pin-point bounce pass to him on a cut out of a 2-man game -- Arenas dropped his ninth dime on a swing pass softly into Brandon Bass’ hands for a jumper at the end of the period.

By the start of the fourth quarter, Orlando had built a 97-76 lead and Arenas provided a plus-21 in his time on the court. He showed some fatigue before checking out for good at the 8:34 mark, stumbling through some drives to the basket. Understandable since Arenas still isn’t in top shape, or more likely because he simply doesn’t have the legs for 29 fast-paced minutes. But by then, Orlando had the game in hand, holding off one push from San Antonio when they got within 14 with 6:32 left.

Arenas made a strong impression on the game. And as much as the new guys were able to find free-flowing offense together, it was Arenas’ handing of the point duties that went to further bury notions that he kills teams by jacking shots. But it was also the surrounding circumstances for Arenas -- the compatibility with Nelson, the embracing of finally playing with a true big man with the ball in his hands, the fleeting defense of the Spurs, the boosts of confidence from his coach's play-calling.

The jury is still out on the circumstance created by Otis Smith, he still needs to find that backup big man. Now Van Gundy is the primary manipulator of the circumstances, at least those he can control. At one moment he’s said to be leaving notes on Arenas locker room chair -- no, it didn’t say “Pick one.” Rather, “Go out there and play your game.” It’s Van Gundy who might have to pick one, as some have started stirring the controversy of Arenas versus Nelson in the starting lineup. Arenas actually may be better suited expending his energy with a change of pace and scoring punch off the bench, but know that he and Nelson can work together with Howard behind them to defend.

The circumstances beyond grasp won’t always be the same as the blowout of the Spurs anomaly. What happens when Orlando faces a bruising Boston team with more size? Cue why, despite grumblings from players and coaches, Christmas Day games are so fun. Sure, there's the glamour matchup of the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers. But the prelude of Boston at Orlando could be just as intriguing, especially if the circumstance calls for breaking out the Hibachi on a warm Florida December 25 afternoon.

• Wizards owner Ted Leonsis: "Last night there was a pick-up game played at Verizon Center on our practice court. There were many NBA players in attendance and a few NBA All-Stars played as well. I stumbled into watching purely by accident. Gilbert Arenas played last night. It was a very good evening of basketball. Gil -- our All-Star --matched up against another NBA All-Star. It was quite a show and quite a display of talent. I won’t comment yet on Gilbert or who was in the gym last night but suffice to say Gilbert looked trim, fit and explosive. His shot was sweet and he did one left handed dunk that was something to see. It had everyone talking. I was impressed and am happy." (Update via an email from Unprofessional Foul: Was it Chris Paul?)
• Andrew A. McNeill of 48 Minutes of Hell uses some sharp diagrams to illustrate San Antonio's prompt, low-risk, stay-at-home defensive principles.
• On the heels of the presentation of the prestigious Fields Medal to French mathematician Cedric Villani, Tom Ziller of AOL FanHouse asks, "Does defense really come down to atomic physics?"
• Steve Perrin of Clips Nation on Eric Gordon's inclusion on Team USA's final roster: "He came in less well known than many of the other players, a fact that Coach K acknowledged last week. But his work ethic in practice and his solid play on the court has given Team USA no choice but to keep him. He may be less flashy than the other guards on the team, but coaches tend to covet solid unspectacular play, especially from their role players. EJ plays unrelenting man to man defense, he doesn't need the ball on offense, he moves the ball well, and in the end Coach K and his staff appreciated the little things he was doing. It hasn't hurt that he has lived up to his reputation as a knockdown shooter."
• It hasn't been all confetti and champagne for the Lakers since 2000. Jeff Skibiski of Forum Blue & Gold walks you through the Lakers' 10 most forgettable moments of the decade.
• Michael Schwartz of Valley of the Suns says Phoenix could actually field a five-man small forward unit if it wants to: "Such a small forward lineup could put Hedo Turkoglu at the point, Josh Childress at the two, Grant Hill at his natural three, Jared Dudley at the four and Earl Clark at the five."
• Dudley asks a pretty interesting question via Twitter: "Imagine if the NBA had Int rules.. U think the All Star teams would be different?"
• Jeremy Wagner of Roundball Mining Company on why the grass is greener for Carmelo Anthony in Denver.
• Milwaukee did some intriguing things to its roster this offseason -- some of them curious, some of them clever. However we size up John Hammond's maneuvering, one thing is clear: The Bucks should finish at the rim at a measurably higher percentage this upcoming season.
• Mark Cuban says it's time to stay liquid: " If you don’t fully understand the risks of an investment you are contemplating, it’s ok to do nothing. In times of massive uncertainty like we are facing today, doing nothing is a valid and IMHO preferable investment strategy. Just put your money in the bank."
• Rob Mahoney of Pro Basketball Talk on Andre Iguodala's role on Team USA: "Iggy is easily Team USA's top perimeter defender, but offensively, he moves the ball, is a decent spot-up option (just don't ask him to shoot off the dribble...yeesh), and is a good positional rebounder."
• Some video of Wizards draft pick Kevin Seraphin.
• When Gary Grant ruled the world ... for one night.
• How to apply your childhood piano lessons to your NBA viewing habits.
• If the Wizards win 50 games this upcoming season, credit the new red stairs in the Verizon Center.
• Via J.E. Skeets, Living and Dying by the Jazz unearths some sharp threads from Jerry Sloan's playing days with the Bulls.
• FreeDarko revisits how Kwame Brown came to be a No 1 draft pick and the hazards of the pre-draft workout.
• In retrospect, exactly how bad for Cleveland was the Luke Jackson pick at No. 10 in the 2004 draft?
• Press row will be a cozier place next season in Miami.
• Somewhere in Italy is a bedroom treasure trove of NBA goodies.
• The Warriors have made crafty use of the D-League in recent seasons. Rasheed Malek of Warriors World tells D-League Digest's Matt Hubert: "Players such as Kelenna Azubuike, C.J. Watson and Reggie Williams are some of the players who’ve secured multi-year deals from NBA teams after initially being called up by the Warriors from the D-League. Add in other players such as Anthony Tolliver and Chris Hunter who’ve experienced significant playing time with the Warriors and it’s clear that the Warriors are the model franchise when it comes to utilizing the D-League."

• Lang Whitaker will be live-blogging the draft Thursday with Brandon Jennings at SLAMonline: "No player had a crazier Draft night last year than Brandon — remember him showing up late to shake David Stern’s hand? — and only one or two rookies had better first seasons than Brandon. Few of the Draft 'experts' you’ll hear from on Thursday night (including myself) actually played in the NBA. But none of them averaged 15.5 ppg and 5.7 apg and led their team to the Playoffs last season."
• The Mies van der Rohe Award for roster minimalism goes to ... the Miami Heat. After dealing away Daequan Cook to Oklahoma City on Wednesday, Miami has only two players under contract for the 2010-11 season -- Mario Chalmers and Michael Beasley. They also have a boatload of cap space to re-sign Dwyane Wade and add possibly two additional marquee names.
• Chalmers will be doing some important work in Lawrence, Kansas today: "The Mario V. Chalmers Foundation is donating $25,000 to LMH Endowment Association to establish the first 'Mario’s Closet.' Mario’s Closet will be a specialty shop for a variety of free or low cost accessories for cancer patients. Lawrence Memorial Hospital will operate Mario’s Closet and is anticipated to open in Winter 2010."
• Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus says the deal makes a lot of sense for the Thunder: "Cook is hardly a typical contract dump. His salary for next season ($2.2 million, per Sham Sports) is perfectly reasonable, and Cook brings to Oklahoma City a skill (perimeter shooting) that is still in relatively short supply there. The Thunder has a chance to look at Cook next season and see if he can return to usefulness as a reserve; if not, Oklahoma City can cut bait at the end of the year with no further obligation."
• Peter Keating revisits the D.R.A.F.T. Initiative developed by Jordan Brenner and Tom Haberstroh. Keating adds: "[K]eep an eye on Al-Farouq Aminu. He's from Wake Forest, the school whose players have most surpassed draft-day expectations. He's a sophomore, the best-producing class among early picks. And he's one of the top small forwards in a draft top-heavy guards and big men, so a team that grabs him around No. 7 or 8 could get great value."
• If you watched enough ACC basketball last winter, then you know big, savvy guard Greivis Vasquez is a prime candidate for 2010 draft sleeper. John Hollinger's Draft Rater projects Vasquez as the 10th best pro on the board. Vasquez worked out for the Magic on Monday. Ben Q. Rock of Orlando Pinstriped Post broke down Vasquez's game, and enumerates why he'd be a particularly good fit in Orlando if he's still available.
• Lest we forget how well Evan Turner performed at Ohio State in 2009-10, Ed Weiland of Hoops Analyst spells it out nicely: "[T]his was almost a historic season by Evan Turner in how truly impressive it was. I can’t imagine how overboard the hype would have been if this season had been accomplished by a player from Duke or North Carolina. Turner scored like the best SGs, rebounded like a PF and passed like a PG. There wasn’t anything here not to like."
• Ted Leonsis, Homer, LeBron James, Aaron Rodgers and Gilbert Arenas all in one place.
• The salary cap and on-court implications of Corey Maggette's arrival in Milwaukee.
• Kansas Jayhawks Cole Aldrich and Xavier Henry are making the most of their time in New York City, which included a visit to Sean John: "So swanky was the experience that at one point, when Aldrich and his girlfriend, KU student Britt Claflin, were in the back picking out the suit’s particulars, a woman emerged from the suite and said, 'Mr. Aldrich would like a cranberry juice.' Within seconds, a bartender chipped the ice, popped the top and served up a refreshing beverage."
• Evan Turner in pleated khakis, Al-Farouq Aminu in Urkel eyewear and Luke Babbitt in Naomi Wolf-inspired earth tones.
• Roland Lazenby on the prospect of Phil Jackson's retirement: "All across the NBA you can hear coaches breathing a sigh of relief. If Jackson retires, there'll be no pressure to meditate and read books."
• If you see an impatient J.R. Smith or DeAndre Jordan in line at the Apple Store, today is your lucky day.
• NBA Elite 11 will have some new features that will improve upon NBA Live: "'That's why when we started this year, we addressed the two biggest problems people have with basketball games. Number one: losing control of your player. If you played the basketball games the past few years, you know that there are times when you get locked into these animations and you have no control over your player as these long animations play out.' With 'NBA Elite 11,' Littman and crew think they've solved that problem by separating the upper body from the lower body with the use of the two analog sticks."

Kevin Broom is a basketball fan, a TrueHoop reader, and a 15-year veteran of public relations. As he watched the Gilbert Arenas gun escapade play out in real time, he had a lot of thoughts about how the Wizards and Arenas could have handled things better:

The public perceptions of the Washington Wizards and Gilbert Arenas got pummeled when news broke that Arenas had brought guns into the locker room. While the action itself inevitably was going to hurt, much of the damage was self-inflicted.

When a "crisis" occurs, silence is not an option in today's media environment. Too many media outlets, too many blogs, too many message boards. Rumors and speculation get treated like fact.

The Wizards and Arenas blundered by letting someone else tell the story. Peter Vecsey got a number of details wrong -- compared to the version that made the court documents. But Vecsey’s narrative became the one that stuck: that the Wizards locker room had turned into the Wild West. That Arenas and Javaris Crittenton drew guns on each other over a gambling dispute.

The impression was clear: that the incident was angry and dangerous. Eyewitnesses later contradicted important portions of that story, but public perception was set. The first story is the one that sticks. Especially one so indelibly dramatic. Everything that comes later looks like damage control.

What could the team have done?

They should have either a) announced the incident themselves when they reported it to the league; or b) arranged to have the story leaked to a friendly reporter who would write about it responsibly.

Had the Wizards and Arenas gotten the story out first, they would have been in control of the narrative and their version of the facts would have established the lasting impression. Plus, the act of coming forward voluntarily would have created the impression of openness and transparency, which are extremely important factors in establishing public credibility. Letting Vecsey break the story was a huge mistake.

The “stay silent and hope no one finds out about it” approach often comes from relying too heavily on the advice of lawyers. Attorneys almost always prefer for nothing to be said to reporters, because they fear that any public statement could ultimately hurt them in legal proceedings. These concerns become particularly strong in criminal cases, such as this one.

But, for pro sports teams, public perception is critical, and that perception should be managed aggressively, even during a criminal investigation. Announcing the basic facts, coupled with tangible actions (more on that in a minute) would have gone a long way toward softening the P.R. blow.

Unfortunately, they compounded the initial mistake by making others. They blundered when they let Arenas talk to reporters without having a defined message. Arenas lied (or at least stretched the truth) when he told reporters he brought in the guns to get them away from his kids. There was no problem with letting Arenas talk to reporters, but the team should have had a P.R. guy babysitting him to shut down any comments that strayed away from the message the team was already delivering about the incident.

I'm aware that Arenas may have lied to the front office about the nature of the incident. I've had that happen to me -- company executives withhold information or tell me outright untruths. Still, the team should have had a thorough and quick investigation to figure out what happened. Every one of those players who ultimately talked with D.C. police should have been long-since interviewed by a team-hired investigator.

The team should have done something concrete early to demonstrate they were taking the incident seriously. Maybe Arenas should have turned in all his guns back in December. Maybe Arenas should have issued an apology like the one published after he pleaded guilty -- but back in December. Maybe the team should have put Arenas on indefinite suspension right away, or (better) placed him on the inactive list pending the outcome of the investigation. The important thing was to be seen as taking action to address a serious issue. Taking action also would have removed Arenas from the limelight, gotten him away from reporters, and prevented the silliness that finally did result in David Stern stepping in.

And they should have shut down his Twitter account immediately.

The team needed to be aggressive (at least via phone calls and emails to reporters) about correcting mischaracterizations and factual errors. When a reporter gets something wrong, call them up and tell them. With the volume of coverage, it's a big job, but that's why teams have P.R. staff. It won't fix the article that just came out, but there's a chance the reporter will get it right the next time he writes about it.

The team also needed to reach out to fans -- especially season ticket holders -- early and often. Provide updates. Let them know what actions the team is taking. Tell them directly about developments. It's easy to do nowadays with e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, the team’s webpage, text messaging, etc. Plus, whatever message the team puts out gets amplified by mainstream media reporting it.

In effect, the team should constantly beat the media to the punch in reporting the latest news on the crisis. Putting out a nothing statement after the fact makes management look slow, stodgy, out of touch, and even a bit dishonest and disingenuous. This doesn’t mean revealing every lurid detail, but the team should be out front every step of the way. Because that’s when the team gets to present developments in the manner most favorable to the team. Once the media gets its teeth into the story, the team is boxed into reactively answering questions. Reporting information before the press has it gives the team the chance to be proactive.

When there's a big incident like this, the battle for public opinion is often shaped by emotion, visuals and grand gestures. Arenas and the Wizards needed to come across as being authentic, having integrity and "doing the right thing." They needed to manage facts and perceptions. By that, I mean that they needed find ways to have the facts presented in the manner most favorable to them.

But, they didn't. And so, instead of looking open, forthright, accountable and responsible they look incompetent, out of touch, foolish and dishonest. They looked like they were trying to hide. They most assuredly did not look like they did the "right thing" at any point in all this.

Kevin Broom can be reached at broomassociates@verizon.com.

Several people saw Gilbert Arenas with guns in the Wizards' locker room last December.

In the days and hours to follow, hard questions were asked. It would have been a great time for Arenas to "come clean" about his dispute with teammate Javaris Crittenton. Lawyers insist that doing so would been a good way to reduce his sentence.

According to prosecutors armed with strong research -- including testimony from many eye witnesses -- Arenas chose a far trickier tactic:

• He told team officials that he brought the guns to the arena to get them away from his family, even on the same day he told a teammate to take a case holding the guns and put it in his car, which he would presumably drive home ... to his family.
• That same day he told team officials a second version of events: That he brought the guns to the arena to sell them to a teammate.
• Arenas told officials that he thought guns were allowed in the locker room -- even though a month before he had been part of a mandatory team meeting which made clear to everybody else in the room that they most certainly were not.
• In a decisive indictment of Arenas' regard for the judicial proces and the truth, Arenas sent Javaris Crittenton specific instructions about the story he should tell officials (in fairness to Arenas, this story exonerated Crittenton).
• Arenas changed his story several times about when he brought the guns to the locker room, saying first that he brought them all to the arena weeks before, and then later releasing a statement saying in which he brought at least one on the day of the confrontation -- a version that hurts his case that the incident was meaningless.
• After denying publicly that there had been a confrontation of any kind, Arenas signed a guilty plea in which he admits there was one.
• Arenas released public statements expressing remorse, which he has contradicted by telling reporters that he didn't do anything wrong, and that "if I really did something wrong, it would bother me."

What's particularly troubling about all that story-changing is how it points so strongly to a worldview where the criminal justice system is some childish game -- The truth be damned, just make up something to keep yourself out of trouble. It's almost like he's trying to cheat at some video game, which is also something he has confessed to.

Doesn't all that just seem incredibly naive? You can't beat the law like that, can you? He should be embarrassed to have even tried.

But before we get to lecturing Arenas too harshly on not respecting the legal system, or the rule of law, let's consider the biggest, strongest and likely most effective of his varied attempts to avoid harsh punishment. Like rich people in jams everywhere, he hired a very powerful attorney.

Kenneth Wainstein is not just a good lawyer. He has his fingers on many of the buttons that matter in Washington D.C.'s legal system. Most importantly for this case, he recently oversaw the office prosecuting Arenas in this very matter. From 2004-2006, Wainstein was U.S. attorney in the same district. He has also directed the executive office of U.S. attorneys, worked for the F.B.I., founded an important new national security division at the Justice Department. He even advised President George W. Bush on homeland security.

In arguing for jail time for Arenas, assistant U.S. attorney Chris Kavanaugh (who joined the office in 2007, after Wainstein had moved on) wrote that a sentence without jail time would send a bad message, built on the idea that "With enough money, fame, and the right representation, you can avoid paying the price that others in this city would certainly pay in these circumstances."

Kavanaugh was worried that the right attorney might get someone special treatment from the legal system. Now that Arenas has received just about the lightest sentence anyone imagined for him -- 30 days in a halfway house, two years' probation, 400 hours community service and a $5,000 fine -- it's hard not to think that the situation Kavanaugh proposed has come to pass.

Hiring an attorney like Wainstein was certainly not overtly devious, like some of the other things Arenas has done. But it was certainly clever. Who could argue that a special kind of lawyer was essential to keeping him out of jail?

Despite ample evidence Arenas made many crucial errors in the aftermath of the gun incident, in the final analysis, it's hard to imagine he could have gotten a better result. That's a pretty good trick.

Legal analyst and journalist Lester Munson hits the nail on the head when he says prosecutors have been "prodigious and occasionally masterly" in building the case that the judge should decide to jail Gilbert Arenas at his sentencing this afternoon in Washington D.C. Though the government attorneys gave light treatment to the deterrents already in place, the case is strong that in addition to flouting gun laws he must have known about, Arenas behaved in a genuinely dangerous fashion, changed his story several times and showed only intermittent remorse.

But there's a small point -- maybe it doesn't matter at all -- on which the lawyers are less masterly. That's when they insist that Arenas was not trying to be funny:

The government's evidence, contradicts the notion that this was a joke. Both Crittenton and uninvolved witnesses stated that the defendant was serious when he was threatening Crittenton on the plane. At times, the defendant may have laughed, but people familiar with his personality were still left with the impression that his threats were genuine. Further, in the locker room, even though the defendant may have been laughing, Crittenton and other people were not. Some present went so far as to say they "felt endangered." They did not take it as a joke because it was not a joke. Instead, this was the defendant's calculated response to confront a more junior player who had disprespected him in front of his entire team.

Everything they say about the danger of the situation, the disrespect and all that, is undoubtedly true. But that in no way disproves the notion that it was also, in addition to all that, a joke.

The Joe Pesci factor
I must now insist that you watch Joe Pesci's profanity-laced masterpiece "Goodfellas" scene. Yes, even if you've seen it before.

Now, let me ask you:

Did Pesci's character really intend to scare the crap out of that young mobster, to remind him who's boss?

Yes.

Did he assault the restauranteur, to intimidate him out of having to pay the bill?

Absolutely.

Was he playing it for laughs the whole time?

Yes.

Was he "joking?"

His audience was howling. Yes.


The stench of bad humor
Not a lot of people joke/intimidate like fictional mobsters. It's an almost outlandish proposition that Arenas has that capacity.

But his credentials are hard to ignore, especially if you're Andray Blatche. As the prosecutors point out, (based on a Mike Wise and Michael Lee Washington Post article) Arenas once defecated in Andray Blatche's shoe.

I discourage you from picturing that. But if you already did ... let's all agree that this is one of the filthiest, most aggressive and craziest things imaginable. This is not crossing a line. This is scoffing at the idea of basic human decency.

The insult to Blatche (and, for good measure, whatever poor soul had to clean that up) could hardly be more stark. This must be seen as yet another case (like Pesci and young mobster, Arenas and Crittenton) of an elder putting a youngster almost violently in his place. This certainly could have started a fight. This was so reckless a joke that it was dangerous. You break a glass over a guy's face over the presentation of the check, like Pesci's character, you're both itching for a fight and telling the room that when the fight starts, you can be counted on to be totally out of control. (Note the gun in his belt!)

The ultimate sneaker fouling makes a similar statement. You're supposed to laugh at that thing. It's intended to be a million things, including funny. But if you don't get the message to back off and let the joker have the last word -- you're asking for it.

Anyone who has seen a mob movie gets the message of the dead fish wrapped in newspaper. This is the dead fish wrapped in comics.

Little points
There's one other point that the prosecutors gloss over. Despite doing exhaustive research since the December incident, they haven't turned up the slightest connection between Arenas and ammunition. No trips to the shooting range. No glove box full of bullets. In the NBA's other "horsing around" gun incident, Jayson Williams' shooting of driver Gus Christofi, people rightly pointed to Williams' book "Loose Balls," where he tells of once almost accidentally shooting Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet while horsing around. This is not like that, which makes Arenas' horrible version of humor at least 1% more credible. It's believable that Agent Zero had zero interest in actually shooting anyone.

As long as we're talking about comedy, how about the Chris Rock line, that guns don't kill people, bullets kill people.

Prosecutors say it was a premeditated confrontation designed to intimidate a teammate into capitulating. Arenas can say it was a premeditated joke, in which he knew -- by omitting bullets -- no one was ever going to get hurt. Under the Pesci rules, they can both be right.

The laws are about guns (not just loaded guns), and Arenas had those for sure. So that is that. And he surely did create the exact kind of dangers that the laws were intended to prevent. Even if he thought he was never going to shoot anybody, he scared enough people to the point that they might have done something crazy in self-defense, and in that case Arenas surely would have been the instigator. It's a good role of the judicial system to do what it can to put a stop to that reckless kind of one-upsmanship.

But in the interest of accuracy, let's not be too emphatic in insisting that humor played no part. Crazy though it may seem, this whole scary thing could well have been some kind of joke, even if it upset the audience.

And it's a joke whose ultimate punch line, due this afternoon, may upset the joker.

Zach Lowe of CelticsHub points us to page 105 of "When the Game Was Ours," the book Jackie MacMullan wrote with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

It's part of a really troubling passage about how black players were treated in Boston decades ago. Robert Parish found himself continually pulled over or searched by police, and eventually stopped having dinner in the North End because of it. K.C. Jones was put on a waiting list at a golf club where his white friend got in immediately. A restaurant owner once asked Jones to leave because of the color of his skin.

In that setting, M.L. Carr purchased a gun. Lowe cited this paragraph:

After a couple of racial incidents involving his family, the affable Carr carried a registered gun with him at all times, including game days to and from Boston Garden, a practice he continued when he became coach.

That's probably enough to take some of the sting out of David Stern's indignation at the idea of guns at arenas -- Gilbert Arenas was far from the first. But read on!

"I never had to fire it," said Carr, "but that doesn't mean I didn't have to use it."

Wow. I don't even know what that means. But it sure sounds like there were some dangerous situations involving an armed NBA player or coach. That's the kind of thing that would result in serious trouble and extraordinary shame today. Yet Carr is a respected NBA character, and rightly so, despite doing something years ago that would have sullied his name today.

Which probably means nothing, for Gilbert Arenas and his sentencing. They're just very different cases. Carr was protecting himself with a registered gun in a racially tense city. Arenas was incorporating guns, in goofball fashion, into a real argument. The danger Arenas put people in was the height of unaware and unnecessary. Carr's story is very different, and hardly relevant.

It means a lot, however, in terms of recognizing where we are in history. It might seem like we're in a time when athletes are handling things like guns more than ever. But I could make a strong case that athletes are doing similar things to what they have always done, but are getting in the media for it more than ever.