Leonsis: Arenas will be 'a great part' of the new Wizards

[duncan228]

This is the Arenas part, hit the link for more highlights.

Leonsis: Arenas will be 'a great part' of the new Wizards
Michael Lee
The Washington Post

Earlier this afternoon, Ted Leonsis was introduced as owner of the Wizards, officially giving him control of a sports empire that includes the Caps, Mystics, Verizon Center and the local Ticketmaster franchise.

Here are a few of the highlights from a nearly hour-long press conference on the floor at VC:

*Leonsis confirmed that Gilbert Arenas will be back with the Wizards next season and that the two have been in touch in recent months.

"There will be a time [when] we should spend quality time, me with Gilbert," Leonsis said. "Gilbert is the biggest asset that the Wizards have in terms of contract. And statistically, if you look at his contribution, he is a great player, both as being a star and his productivity. Last year was a very difficult year for the organization and for Gilbert and everyone around it. One of the first things I did was reach out to Gilbert and we've had several conversations, and now we're emailing back and forth. I think it's very important that Gilbert be re-embraced as a person and as a player. Suffice to say, Gilbert knows that the most important thing for him to do is to get in shape and be a great teammate and be a pillar of our community and show atonement. But his major deliverable is to come back and be a great part of this next generation Wizard franchise and what we're trying to accomplish.

"And what I feel comfortable with," he added, "is that we communicate very well. He knows the expectations. And I kinda liked him. That's the first part of it. If you have mutual respect and you like each other and can communicate. So I think we're going to be okay."

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[ChrisRichards]

i think the media has overblown arenas rep as a "bad apple" i live in dc and before the gun incident, arenas has always been a great character guy.


leonsis made a great decision keeping arenas. wall-gil duo is going to be sick. only concern now is the arenas-grunfeld relationship. but i think they'll patch things up when the wiz are back to their winning ways.

[DPG21920]

So how long is Arenas suspended for again? Does it run into next season?

I am NOT drafting Arenas again in fantasy.