Dwight Howard puts faith in Gilbert Arenas – NBA Update
The point guard who was all set to rule the NBA World once.
Gilbert Arenas.
Ever since the infamous locker room gun incident, Arenas career seems to be on a downward spiral. The once heartthrob of Washington Wizards was traded to the Orlando Magic during the midseason trade. He and his fans hoped that the things will change for Arenas at the South Beach. However, he failed to flatter.
Now about two months after the Magic were knocked out by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of playoffs, Arenas has got a vote of confidence from his superstar teammate Dwight Howard. Despite Arenas’ struggles since coming over to the Orlando Magic, Dwight Howard still believes the former Washington Wizards point guard can help the franchise in a big way.
Arenas established himself as one of the premier point guards and top scorers in the league a few years ago with the Washington Wizards. However, his off field issues soon spilled on court and his game started to suffer. The player was thrown a lifeline this year by the Orlando Magic, who traded for him in the belief that Gilbert could turn back the clock on his game and prove the final piece to Orlando’s NBA World Championship puzzle.
The move, so far, has been an utter disaster. Gilbert Arenas looks nothing like his old self. His weak defence makes him a liability while Arenas has also failed to provide any spark on offence. He averaged, by his standards, a low 17.3 points per game with the Wizards this season and after coming over to the Magic those numbers have plummeted to a very poor 8 points a game.
Still, Dwight Howard says he has belief in his teammate’s ability and brushed off his struggles this season, saying Arenas perhaps wasn’t used right,
“I don’t think our coach used him the right way, but I think he can do a lot of great things for our team,” Howard said.
The star centre went on to state that Gilbert had personally assured him of improving next year,
“He promised me this summer he was going to get better, physically and mentally, so he can come back and have an awesome year. I’m looking forward to that.”
It is still a gamble, but perhaps one the Magic have got to take. Gilbert Arenas came to town with a huge contract which restricts Orlando’s ability to add players and improve the team. The contract, along with his poor form, also means that it will be very, very hard to convince any NBA franchise to take Arenas off Orlando’s books.
Therefore it is the most viable course of action to back the troubled guard and hope he comes through this tough period. However it wasn’t wise of Howard to put the blame on his coach and the centre absolved Stan Van Gundy of any wrongdoing before the interview was over,
“I think Stan did a good job coaching this year,” Howard said. “He’s had us prepared for every game, for every playoff series that I’ve ever been in… He’s made sure that we were well-prepared. I like what he did.”
Tags: