•There has not been a time in at least 20 years when a player has worked so hard, practically begged, to be handed a lengthy suspension and forfeit millions. That's the amazing part of the otherwise predictable Gilbert Arenas banishment, length of time TBA. With the league prepared to let the legal process advance before making its own ruling, Arenas forced the new timetable by continuously mocking a very serious situation. For all the players who have made regrettable and even criminal decisions, it is impossible to remember anyone who so blatantly laughed in the face of common sense with a series of actions the way he did with John Wayne references on Twitter and the historically stupid move Tuesday to pantomime firing on teammates as they gathered in the pre-game circle.
•Antawn Jamison is in his 12th season, Caron Butler is in his eighth, Fabricio Oberto his fifth, Randy Foye his fourth, Earl Boykins his 11th, DeShawn Stevenson his 10th, and Mike Miller his 10th. And no veteran convinced Arenas the whole shoot-'em-up act in front of fans and cameras minutes before tip in Philadelphia was a bad idea? No one tackled Arenas to save him from himself? "They said, 'Do it. Do it. Do it,' " Michael Lee of the Washington Post quoted Arenas as saying. And now you know another reason the Wizards are 11-22.
•One more (for the moment) basketball implication: Arenas played 13 games in 2007-08 because of a knee injury, two games in 2008-09 because of a knee injury and 32 games in 2009-10, and the inactivity of 47 games over three seasons may begin to add up. That's not a certainty, as anyone who has watched Grant Hill or Zydrunas Ilgauskas will attest, but certainly a possibility that has to be considered under the reasonable assumption that Arenas is done for a long time. He turned 28 on Wednesday -- happy birthday! -- an age consideration that obviously works in his favor.
•Big moment for the Grizzlies. A challenging schedule in the last 20 games made the surge into the playoff conversation that much more impressive, with a five-game trip and a separate span of five of six on the road. That now gives way to the closest thing to a favorable stretch they'll see for a while. Seven of the next nine are at home, with one run of, in order, the Bobcats, Clippers and Timberwolves, while leaving FedEx Forum only for a pair of single-game swings. This is a good chance for Memphis to continue to pressure the postseason lead pack.
•No matter what assumptions are wrongly made as his once-unthinkable reserve role continues, Elton Brand is not hoping for a trade to escape a lengthy commitment to the 76ers. While not the preferred job, consistently getting 30 minutes a game off the bench is enough to make the former All-Star feel like a valuable member of the rotation. Plus, he is averaging 16.2 points and shooting 55.2 percent the last nine outings.
•The program that tallies the votes must be infected, because there's no way Robert Horry and his history-tilting shot in Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference finals can be fourth among playoff buzzer-beaters in the TNT All-Decade online balloting. C'mon. Only two of the nominees, Chauncey Billups' shot in Game 5 of the 2004 East semifinals and Horry's, led to championships, and that has to count for something. All the Horry lightning strike did was turn a 3-1 series deficit into 2-2 and become the turning point to keep the Lakers in position to beat the Kings in seven. Oh, that and getting them closer to winning the second of three consecutive titles while crushing Sacramento beyond repair. Derek Fisher leads the polling for stunning the Spurs in Game 5 of the 2004 West semis, a classic shot for sure, but L.A. lost to the Pistons in the Finals.
•Welcome to celebration day for players who spent the opening months with non-guaranteed contracts. Deals were locked in for anyone on a roster Wednesday, the main reason for the flurry of cuts in recent hours and days. The new hope for the unemployed is, likely, via one 10-day contract and then maybe another and then, when teams can go no further on the brief arrangement, to get picked up for the rest of 2009-10.
•There has been a DeAndre Jordan sighting. The second-year Clippers center, considered a possible lottery pick a couple weeks before the 2008 Draft because of a rare combination of size and athleticism -- before going No. 35 because of actual ability -- took advantage of the injury absence of Marcus Camby to get six points, eight rebounds and three blocks in one game last week and seven points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes in another. The Clippers have been talking up Jordan since camp, even if he didn't seize the moment to fill the void for big-man minutes when Blake Griffin went out.
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