“Kids always want to see something then copy it. Kids started to copy Richard Hamilton when he made it to the playoffs for the first time. So I said, I might as well make my own up.”

Three spins around the waist, three dribbles, and a ball spin.

“Well, they’ve got a little bird down there named Gilbert who’s not too bad. He’s one of those guys who’s special. He’ll go down in history as being one of the greatest. He showed his greatness in the second half. He just turned it on and it’s almost impossible to guard him.” - Keyon Dooling

Arenas finished the game with 36 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists as the Wizards took over the division lead.

Gilbert isn’t the only one wearing his signature shoe. TJ Ford and Sebastian Telfair were wearing personalized pairs of the Gil Zeros during games this week (click pictures for larger image).

Michael Wilbon wrote an article today in the Washington Post about Gilbert sleeping outside of the practice gym some nights to be able to start shooting immediately after waking up, being preoccupied with the refs trying to adjust his game to referee’s behaviors, and how being cut from Team USA made him work so much in the summer that when the season started he already felt like he had played 80 games.

My favorite quote from the article:

I was in the gym too much. The trainer would say, ‘Gil, you’ve already had a long summer. Get out of here.’ And I would sleep right outside the practice gym. The way I am, I would judge myself based on my performance with Team USA. So I felt I wasn’t good enough. I was questioning myself. You know, stuff starts running through your head. I was feeling, ‘I’m not even playing. I’m sitting and the guys out there aren’t even Kobe and T-Mac. There’s no Tim Duncan or Kevin Garnett out there.’ “