Gilbert Arenas Rips Players for Turning Down Big $$$

For those who didn't know, Washington Wizards star 2 guard Gilbert Arenas has a blog. And he posts all the time. So much so that Arenas has become known as the NBA's first superstar blogger.

Last week, Arenas caused controversy by ripping Luol Deng, Andre Igoudala, Emeka Okafor, Anderson Varejao and several other young NBA players who have recently turned down large, multi year contracts (scroll down to the subject header: "Let's Talk Contracts").

Arenas argued that the young players had erred by turning down such big, guaranteed contracts. Read the whole thing. "Agent Zero," as Arenas is known, sheds light on many players' attitudes toward contracts, and the often ill-informed thought processes that many young NBA players employ with regard to their finances.

This week, Arenas revisited the subject. His recent comments -- which detail a debate he had with his father about last week's blog post -- are spot on. Arenas argues that $12 million per year is too much for secondary players such as Igoudala and Varejao to turn down. He thinks that these players let their egos get in the way of making sound decisions about their finances.

Drive and Dish concurs with Gilbert Arenas. NBA players often spout the cliche: "the NBA is a business." But they often don't seem to understand the nature of that business, or their respective place in that business.

Well, the NBA is a business. But it's show business. And, just as in the music and film industries, entertainers (and professional basketball players) have to take advantage of any "breaks" that come their way. Those "breaks" may not come around again.

Washington Wizards Honor Earl "the Pearl": Can You Dig It?

Last night, the Washington Wizards honored former Knick and Baltimore / Washington Bullet Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, the man whom Washington Post Columnist Mike Wise said "changed the culture of the game (basketball)."

Wise says that although young people think that "improvisation and creativity started with Michael and now resides on an AND1 bus," Earl "the Pearl" was holdin' it down before "Jordan or LeBron's mother were born."

Unfortunately, most people don't know much about old school basketball. If you don't know about "Earl the Pearl," or old school basketball in general, read the article and take notes.