Not only are both from Los Angeles, but Nick Young was coached by Gilbert’s dad in AAU ball while in high school.

“In high school, Gilbert’s dad coached us. We have a true connection, and when I came up to Washington it felt like home. It just so happened that I ended up here.”

I know it gets said a lot, but it bears repeating since the draft is tonight. Just because you don’t have a lottery pick doesn’t mean you can’t land a quality player, and if you’re lucky a superstar.

Exhibit A:

So any teams picking players late 1st round or early second might want to look for a player that wants revenge for being picked so low, just a word to the wise.

Dime Magazine has a take of the Arenas-Durant NBA Live meeting that went down last night. According to their report, virtual Gilbert took almost every shot against Durant’s Suns and that he talked about 90% of the smack in the digital showdown.

In another interesting tidbit from the aritcle, it appears that once Gilbert is fully healed he will do some off-season training with D.C. United:

When we talked to Gil, he said that after his knee heals this summer, he’s going to be working out with the D.C. United soccer team. Not just conditioning, but actually out there on the soccer field. Between Arenas and Steve Nash, is soccer going to become the new boxing when it comes to ballplayer’s summer workouts?

So make sure to turn up your TV’s during D.C. United games to see if you can hear Christian Gomez shout out hibachi or quality shots or perhaps a new phrase that Gilbert comes up with for him.

Slam has their own take on the NBA Live 08 event that went down last night with Gilbert and Kevin Durant. Among the more interesting things not mentioned in the DC Sports Bog include:

Gilbert played as the Wizards against the Suns. He used his character as a huge ball hog and kept shouting himself out. For example, he took a buzzer beater at the end of a quarter and said out loud “Oh this is going in cause it’s me.” It didn’t go in, but it was Deshawn Stevenson, not Gil. He recognized that and said “Oh, that’s not me.” Virtual Gilbert had a bananas triple double, but the Steve Nash character had I believe 60 points against him.

According to Dan Steinberg, writer of the D.C. Sports Bog, today should be a busy day at Gilbertology:

Gilbert was interviewed by chaps (and the occasional female equivalent) from SLAM, SI.com, ESPN the Mag, SI for Kids, Spin, Fuse, NBA.com (which is why I’m guessing Gil’s blog will be updated today, if you know what I’m saying), some gamer publications, and several thousand more outlets, which means that Gilbertology is going to be busy today.

Of course, many thanks to Agent Bog for the heads up. Now the rest of you can’t say that you’re not forewarned about the onslaught of posts today. Among the things of note from his entry, he said that Gilbert was signing an endorsement deal with Spalding, along with Greg Oden, which probably isn’t the worst decision he’s ever made in his life, he’s now co-endorsing with the consensus top two picks in this year’s draft class. Arenas also said now that he’s back from his vacation in Tahiti that he wants to buy his own island, just like “Marvin Brando” (I’m pretty sure he meant Marlon Brando, but hey, it doesn’t take a Norman Einstein to mess those things up every once in a while).

He also commented on opting out of his deal next year and said that there’s a 100 percent chance he’s coming back next year unless “they [the Wizards] take a big step back next year”. I’m not sure what exactly quantifies a “big step back” but let’s hope for all intensive purposes the Wizards get way better this year.

Finally, he revealed that he won’t be watching tomorrow night’s draft. An understood sentiment, considering his history with the draft:

“I hate drafts,” he said. “I hate drafts. I don’t believe in them. They’re false. When they’re calling players out, 1 to 16, the top 16 players, the best 16, if they don’t go in the first 16 picks, that is not reality. You can’t pick the 17th best player 3rd or 4th or 5th. There’s no guessing, like, ‘Oh, this team needs this player so they need to go after the 10th-best player.’ No. The third-best player should go third, the fourth-best player should go fourth. That’s how an NBA draft should be.

“Then you won’t have players like Kobe Bryant going [13th.] There should be no “geniuses.” GM’s, they shouldn’t be called “geniuses” for finding a talent at 16. No…. Like last year, they said ‘Brandon Roy’s gonna be rookie of the year, Brandon Roy’s the best player in this draft.’ Why is Brandon Roy going seventh, eighth, ninth? If he’s the best player, he should go 1, 2, 3. Period. That’s just reality. So it’s not a fluke if he wins rookie of the year. If you said he was rookie of the year, he’s rookie of the year. That means you think he’s the best player.

“I haven’t watched the draft since the day they called me 31. I have not watched it since, and I won’t watch it. I won’t. I’ll be playing video games. The draft is bogus.”

Does anyone else get the feeling that Arenas could be a far better GM than say this guy?