Sure, when Ruben Patterson is released by the Clippers and Rockets fans on clutchfans.net wonder whether it’s a good idea to sign him, well, I generally feel compelled to argue against signing violent sex offenders who get involved in police-horse-punching incidents; but guns in the locker room is just eye-roll inducing stupidity and almost as bad as the socially conscious articles from socially conscious writers that follow.  And also, it involves one of my favorite players (Arenas, not Crittenden) and ruins his comeback from serious injuries.

I just find the whole thing mildly depressing—seriously, power through a few Nicholas Kristof articles and try to tell me this incident is more than “mildly” depressing—and one more thing that sullies this NBA season, along with Tracy McGrady’s tenure with the Rockets ending and Yao Ming making babies instead of game-winners—congrats Yao, and may your first child be a masculine child.

As much as anything (a throwaway phrase I’ve always enjoyed) this incident reminds me of Jayson Williams’ foibles.  No, there’s no comparison between displaying a gun and drunkenly shooting and killing your employee.  But yeah there is, in the same way that there is a perfectly valid comparison between my sex life and Wilt Chamberlain’s.  Arenas and Williams are/were favorite players of mine, as much for their off the court hilariousness as their hardwood successes.  Both f#cked up.  Reading Williams’ classic memoir, Loose Balls, you have to conclude that it was only a matter of time until he went completely nuts with a gun in his hand.  He was a gun toting alcoholic before injury forced him to retire.  After he left the game, Williams just more opportunity to booze and play with guns.  Something was bound to go wrong.  And Arenas?  Until now, Arenas has only been silly nutty, (seemingly) not dangerous nutty.

As for the claim that he welched on a bet with Crittenden, that’s hardly surprising, given what we know of his previous gambling behavior (below).  Now, this clip is hysterical, in part because he’s blatantly cheating, in front of a crowd, and being silly about it—and come on, one millionaire ripping $10K off another millionaire in a (basketball) shooting contest is funny in itself.  And accusations Arenas cheating at Halo* prompted him to spend 2,300 words on nba.com, defending himself.  That’s priceless, and nothing says, “I did it!” like mounting that kind of rambling defense.  But breaking out the guns just spoils the joke.

*[after clicking on the link, search for "don't call me"]

First off, the Wizards make a nice little deal here with potential upside and no downside. The Wizards are going absolutely nowhere anytime soon. They have two stars in Gilbert Arenas (provided he returns to form) and Caron Butler, in their primes, Antwan Jamison, whose contract will soon be universally perceived as one of the worst in the game, some useful non-impressive bench vets, and some kids I don’t know, but seem to have middling upside. In this deal, they get Mike James, a perfectly decent overpaid bench scorer who should get about 20 minutes a game, for the rest of this season and the next. They also get James Crittenton, who may turn out to be nothing or may turn out to be quite something, signed to a jump-change rookie contract through ’10-’11. They lose Daniels, a nice 33 year-old rotation-quality guy who will be retired before Washington is in a position to make noise in the playoffs.

Daniels is a nice piece for the Hornets, though. The Hornets are going somewhere, immediate contenders and at least the next few years. Daniels is a solid SG backup who doesn’t do terribly much on offense, but doesn’t hurt you either, and plays pretty sound defense. Morris Peterson and Rasul Butler are two shooters who don’t do much else, so Daniels off the bench is a nice change of pace, especially when the opposition has a serious scorer at SG (as is often the case.) Conveniently, Daniels is also quite capable of backing up Chris Paul at the point. He’s no natural, but he can run the offense and rarely turns the ball over. Meanwhile, Mike James wasn’t really doing anything for them. And Daniels, making about the same salary as James is only signed through next year, so there’s no need to be concerned with his mid-30s decline. This is a nice little move for New Orleans that might be one of those deals that turns out to be far more meaningful than it seems, initially.

Memphis meanwhile, makes a dumb, pointless move. I suppose that though initially talking up Crittenton’s potential, when he was acquired in the Pau Gasol trade, Memphis GM Chris Wallce felt there was no reason to keep him around when OJ Mayo and Mike Conley Jr. were cemented at SG and PG for the foreseeable future. But there was no reason not to keep Crittenton around, either. He was barely playing at all for Memphis, but he’s also only 21 (in a few weeks) and though I haven’t seen him play and can’t express a strong opinion at him, he seems to have some upside. He was touted as an athletic 6’5″ PG-in-the-making, but doesn’t seem to have PG chops. Still, he projects to have solid SG size, once he gets a little muscle on his frame, and his PG handle makes him very capable of creating his own shot. Provided he learns to shoot (he can’t shoot a lick) he sounds like a solid prospect. What’s the harm in sending him down to the Developmental League to see how he turns out? Instead they get the mid-draft first round pick they gave Wizards in the Juan Carlos Navarro deal. Here’s the breakdown on that pick, from a Washington Post article on the Navarro deal:

“According to a league source, the draft pick received by the Wizards will be top 19 protected in 2008, meaning the Grizzlies would keep the pick if they finish with one of the top 19 picks. The pick is top 16 protected in 2009, top 14 protected from 2010 to 2012 and top 12 protected in 2013.

If the Wizards have not received the pick by 2013, they will receive a second-round pick and cash considerations.”

It’s something, sure, but nothing amazing, and they traded Crittenton at the lowest point of his value. He isn’t a 26 year-old once-prospect who still hasn’t figured it out, that people insist on describing as “young,” like Hakim Warrick. Two years from now, Crittenton will still be legitimately young. There just seems no reason to trade a guy with upside for a non-impact first-rounder. Of course, this is exactly what you’d expect from Chris Wallace. You can check out his full ugly history of decision-making here. He started his tenure as GM with the Celtics by drafting Chauncey Billups third overall, and then traded him (and others) 50 games into his career for Kenny Anderson, Popeye Jones, and Zan Tabak. And he never really improved on that jackass blunder. Well, here’s to the humor value of Chris Wallace’s continued employment.