A bit of an interesting comment from Ivan Carter a few days ago regarding the news (or lack thereof) on Gilbert Arenas:

Me thinks that Gilbert Arenas has been given a gag order (not that it really matters with him but still) because he’s been keeping a VERY low profile of late.

I can say this: he is feeling pressure, implied and otherwise, to get back onto the court and start earning that $111 million but he’s also looking at this team’s record and at the fact that he has undergone three surgeries on the same knee and that’s made him very cautious. That pressure he’s feeling – from upstairs and from fans – is only going to increase as this season continues to go into the tank.

It’s certainly understandable to see why the team would try to keep Gilbert from talking.  One of the things about Gilbert that can simultaneously be endearing and infuriating is his honestly.  Especially given the flap over Gilbert’s tanking comments earlier in the season, it’s not that hard to understand why the Wizards might want to keep him away from the media where he might blurt out that he’s being shut down for the year, or whatever else he might say that could cause an uproar or distraction.

It sounds kind of sneaky and I’m not a big fan of it since it gives me less to blog about, but I can’t say that I wouldn’t be considering the same thing if I was in there position.  Of course, there’s no way to know for sure if that’s actually what’s going on, but given how little we’ve seen of him lately, it would be a stretch to assume that’s what we’re looking at here.

I know that there’s been a lot of he said, she said with Gilbert’s injury and where he’s at in his recovery and whether or not he’ll be coming back this season.  There’s still nothing definitive to report either way, but here’s what Yahoo reported in the latest Wizards team report.

Here is the skinny, according to a source with intimate knowledge of the situation.

Arenas’ knee is better off right now than it was when he tried to come back at the end of last season. While he has yet to play a game for the team, he regularly plays in two-on-two and three-on-three games with teammates.

In fact, if this season weren’t already a wash, Arenas would probably, according to the source, be playing games right now. He would not, however, play in back-to-back games.

One of the main concerns is whether or not he would have any swelling in the knee and, according to the source, there is no swelling at all. This was not the case at any point last season.

Still, there is no guarantee that he will be back this season. In fact, with the Wizards so far out of playoff contention already, it is a good possibility that he won’t be back at all this season.

If it’s true, it’s somewhat depressing but probably good news in the long term.  The most important thing is that there’s no swelling.  As long as that doesn’t flare up, then there shouldn’t be any need for another surgery.  If it’s also true that Gilbert would be healthy enough to play if the Wizards were in the playoff hunt, that’s a good sign as well.  The thing is, if you want to believe this is true, then you also have to believe that Gilbert won’t be coming back this season, even if he gets to 100% before the end of the season.  While I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that being a good idea, it wouldn’t shock me if that’s the route they take.  Then again, it’s kind of moot point anyway since I doubt Gilbert or anyone else in the Wizards organization would come out and say that he’s not playing even though he’s completely healthy so it’s not like we would ever know the truth.

With Gilbert still recovering from knee surgery and the Wizards nowhere near playoff contention, it was only a matter of time before people started questioning whether or not he would return this season.  Here’s what Ivan Carter had to say on the subject after last night’s game:

They are only whispers but I’m hearing chatter that Gilbert Arenas and the team is seriously pondering whether to bring him back at all this season. He originally targeted Dec. 1 as a possible comeback date and certainly expected to be in uniform last night but remains on the shelf with not clear date in sight.

When you add that together with Ed Tapscott mentioning a few weeks ago that there’s no timetable for Arenas’ return and it doesn’t take much to come to the conclusion that there’s probably at least been some discussions at Wizards headquarters about the subject, if nothing else.

Fanhouse’s Tom Ziller has penned the argument for the Sit Gilbert camp. Like all of Ziller’s work, it deserves your attention and consideration.  I get the feeling that my argument for Gilbert’s return this season won’t be nearly as well put, but I feel compelled to argue the other side, so here’ goes nothing.  Here are the reasons (in no particular order) why Gilbert should play this season if he’s 100% healthy:

• Many have expressed fear that all of Gilbert’s knee surgeries have robbed him of his talent and turned him into Penny Hardaway 2.0.  The only way we’ll be able to find out if that’s happened is to get him out on the court and see how well he performs.  If the knee surgeries have robbed him of his abilities it would be a devastating blow, but at least both sides would know what they have and they could adjust their plans moving forward, which would be big since the Wizards will probably have a high draft pick this summer.  Even if they just brought him back for a few games late in the season long after everything has been decided (think Elton Brand last season), it would go a long way in making decisions easier this off-season.
• Remember what happened last year when the team kept pushing Gilbert’s return back farther and farther?  The most disturbing line from that incident for me was when he said “Now, they are messing with my mind.”  While it seems to be more of a mutual decision this time around, you have to wonder if all of this time on the bench will play more games with his mind as he starts to question whether or not he’s ever going to get healthy.  And if there’s one player in the NBA that you don’t want playing head games with himself, it’s probably Gilbert Arenas.
• It’s hard to write a blog about a guy that’s played less than 30 games in the last 2 years.  I can only show those buzzer beaters so many times before they get boring.

We all know that Gilbert Arenas has a pretty ridiculous jersey collection (including a throwback Chick Hearn!) that’s always growing, presumably out of the fear that one day they’ll stop producing jerseys altogether and Gilbert will be the only place to turn to get a jersey…or something like that.

Anyways, last night during the Wizards-Pacers game, Gilbert added T.J. Ford’s jersey to his collection:

Rehabilitating Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas added yet another autographed jersey to his collection when the Pacers came to town, getting Indiana point guard T.J. Ford to sign a road jersey before game time.

Ford is a fifth-year player with a career average of 11.8 points and 6.7 assists, but his jersey wouldn’t be considered a hot commodity to many basketball fans. Arenas believes differently, however.

“I had to get it; he didn’t play for them last year,” Arenas said in the locker room before the game. “If it’s an NBA player’s jersey, it’s worth something. Any autographed NBA jersey is worth at least $250.

“But Kobe’s is worth between $550 and $750,” said Arenas, who figures his own official autographed jersey is worth between $250 and $500.

You probably heard yesterday that the Wizards were involved in a deal that brought guards Javaris Crittenton and Mike James to the District.  Presumably, these will be the two guys sharing point guard duties with Gilbert on the Wizards for the next year and a half, give or take.  So how does Gilbert feel about the new additions?

“They wanted bigger guards so when I come back they can play me at the two.  [Just a] Switch up.  They’re bringing them in to help me and Desteve.”

Now, Gilbert also makes it clear that a switch to shooting guard wouldn’t be a permanent switch, but with Javaris on board, it’ll be interesting to see if they utilize Arenas & Crittenton in the same way that they utilitzed Arenas & Larry Hughes during their time together.  Both Crittenton and Hughes are 6-5, 200 lb. guys who can play at point and shooting guard which in turn gives Gilbert the flexibility to play at either guard.

We’ll see how that works out once Gilbert comes back.  While Gilbert has worked on his rehab to get back on the court, he’s also been helping out the Wizards’ coaching staff, according to Hoops Addict.

During the many Wizards’ film session, Brendan Haywood and Gilbert Arenas are extremely helpful to both Coach Tapscott and the team in general.  Coach Tapscott said that they bring the unique perspective of being players but also being keen observers because they are injured, so their input is extremely useful.  Coach added that Haywood and Arenas also play close attention to the college game, and they can easily break down the top prospects in the college game right now.

Somehow I get the feeling that 10 years from now that there’s going to be a minor league team with an infrastructure that looks something like this:

Owner: Gilbert Arenas

GM: Gilbert Arenas

Head Coach: Gilbert Arenas

Head Scout: Gilbert Arenas

Starting Point/Shooting Guard: Gilbert Arenas

Mascot: Gilbert Arenas