I’ve got a big paper that I’ve got to write, so I can’t get too in-depth right now, but here’s some recaps from Gilbert’s first day of practice from Wizards Insider, the Wizards website, and DC Sports Bog.

A few weeks back you may remember a post that linked to Oly Sandor’s argument that Gilbert should sit this season out.  Well, SVPStyle points out that in the comments section of that post that a baller name Sidney Pointer (not Sidney Poitier) asked for Gil’s help:

Agent 0 this is Sidney Pointer from Chattanooga,TN. I recently attended a workout for the Utah Flash. They told me that I was high on there List. But didn’t any thing happen. So I was wondering could you help a guy out trying to get connected playing ball in the states or overseas. Please help me out and contact me asap. Thanks so much.

You can also find a highlight reel of Pointer at SVPStyle.

The University of Arizona Wildcats will have a player in a #0 jersey this season but it won’t be Gilbert Arenas. Freshman guard Jerryd Bayless hand picked #0 after the number he wore in high school (#32) was unavailable and retired from former NBA player Sean Elliot.

Unlike Arenas, who wore the number because he was projected to get 0 minutes in college, Bayless is projected to be a full time starter throughout his college career. Still, he is fully aware of Gilbert’s legacy and knows that there are high expectations as the new college Agent Zero.

Besides Elliot, the other Arizona jersey numbers retired include Mike Bibby and Steve Kerr.

Even though Arenas will likely be one of the top players to ever come out of Arizona, don’t expect to see his #0 hanging from the Wildcat rafters anytime soon. The Arizona athletic department guidelines say, “Only student-athletes who were recognized as national athletes of the year or received a major national ‘athlete of the year’ honor are eligible for their jersey to be retired.”

Perhaps we will see an Arenas #0 jersey in the rafters of an NBA area when all is said and done.

The Takeover is just about everything. From taking over the city, I’m trying to take over the league, taking over sponsors, taking over you know … Just the industry of everything … Getting buildings in my name, getting leagues in my name … This is the time where, you know, me as a person is gonna go get bigger.

When Gilbert Arenas said the 2006-2007 was going to be “The Takeover”, he wasn’t kidding. In the home opener of the 06-07 season, he wore a satin boxing robe for pregame introductions and then proceeded to score 44 points after only scoring 7 in the first game.

Meanwhile, Adidas started their “It Takes 5ive” campaign that featured Gilbert.

In early December, “Hibachi!” was born. Gilbert’s first signature shoe, the Adidas Gil Zero also came out and got great reviews. Gilbert won Eastern Conference player of the week for two straight weeks including a career high 60 point game against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. He would later change “Hibachi!” to “Quality Shots” in reference to comments made by Kobe.

Gilbert went on to score 54 points on national television a week later against the Phoenix Suns and got people talking after he made comments earlier in the summer of what he would do for being cut from the US National Team.

“I’m going to be the silent assassin this year. I can’t wait to play the Suns and Portland. Against Portland, Nate McMillan, I’m going to try to score 100 in two games and against D’Antoni, I’m going to score 100 in two games. I’m going to try.”

Meanwhile, despite all the press and attention Arenas was getting and Allen Iverson being traded out West, Arenas was still in 3rd place in the All-Star ballot results behind Dwayne Wade and Vince Carter.

If attention was what Gilbert wanted, he certainly got it, when details of his 25th Birthday Bash were revealed, including his own Arenas Express Card as an invitation.

We also learned, when Gilbert was a rookie, he would exhange shoes for a box of All-Star ballots where he would vote for his teammates and himself.

Gilbert took home December Player of the Month honors and then went out and hit a game winning shot against the Bucks.

Arenas would say in the post game interview that his “swag was phenomenal”. Gilbert won the Player of the Week again for the first week in January and his jersey made it to the Top 10 in sales for the first time in his career, finishing at #8.

Against the Utah Jazz, Gilbert once again hit the game winning shot at the buzzer.

In the final All-Star Ballots, Arenas overtook Vince Carter to become a starter in the game.

In one of the most talked about basketball videos to surface on YouTube, Gilbert’s legend grew even more when he squared off against teammate DeShawn Stevenson, claiming he could shoot a 1 handed college 3 point shot better than DeShawn could shoot a NBA 3-point shot with two hands.

The All-Star game proved to be rather dull and lacking entertainment as the East was getting blown out. Gilbert showed why he is a crowd favorite by performing a trampoline dunk during a timeout.

Adidas launched a new campaign entitled “Nothing is Impossible” featuring Gilbert.

Gilbert would write on his blog his Mission Statement showing once again his love for the game and his fans. Against Seattle, Arenas would make another game winning shot, hitting a layup at the buzzer.

Gilbert’s season would come to an end with a few games remaining in the season after spraining his knee in a game against the Bobcats.

While the season may have ended badly for Arenas and the Wizards, one thing is for sure. Gilbert Arenas “tookover” the NBA this year. The 2006-2007 was season also marked the debut of Gilbert’s NBA.com blog, one of the most popular and written about blogs for a professional athlete. Slam’s Lang Whitaker wrote about Arenas being the First Blog Superstar.

Blogs such as D.C. Sports Bog, Wizznutzz, Bullets Forever, Wizards Insider, Washington Wizards Blog, The Hype, Yay! Sports, and many more were instrumental in Gilbert’s “Takeover”.

Thank you Gilbert for a great season and for many more to come. Take a bow, you deserve it.

Arenas appeared in 80 games and averaged a career-high 29.3 points per game ranking fourth in the NBA in scoring (29.3 ppg) in his 3rd year. He was selected to his second consecutive NBA All-Star Game, but only after a spot opened up due to an injury. Gilbert started to call himself the “East Coast Assassin”. He ranked second in the NBA in three-point field goals made (199), third in minutes per game (42.3) and free throws made (655), fourth in steals per game (2.01), and 18th in assists per game (6.1) including being named Eastern Conference Player of the Week three times. He set an NBA record for points scored in a game by a player who played 30 or fewer minutes when he scored 46 points in 30 minutes vs. New York (2/25).

In the 2006 Playoffs, Arenas led the NBA in scoring during with 34.0 points per game in six games vs. Cleveland and including a career playoff-high 44 points at Cleveland. He was named to the All-NBA Third Team for the second consecutive year. In the summer, he was invited to try out and represent the United States in the USA Men’s Senior National Team program but was later cut from the team.