Key Gilbert Arenas Quotes from Media Day

Check out Bullets Forver for full coverage of Wizards media day, and here’s a sample of what Gilbert Arenas had to say:

Gil had some moments where he was warm and engaging, but he also had some moments where he was a bit defensive. His answers about whether he saw himself as a leader were among his most defensive.

“What is a leader? Is a leader someone who comes into the gym at 7 o’clock when practice is at 11. Or when the game’s at seven, you’re here at 3:30? [Is a leader] someone who plays hard? Is that a leader?” Or is a leader something where you say ‘Coach, I’m a leader,’ and in the papers, he says I’m a leader. Is that a leader? I have no idea,” he said.

He then went on to explain why he didn’t really take the “leadership role,” so to speak, in the past.

“In my first year here, Eddie [Jordan] appointed [Jerry] Stackhouse and Larry [Hughes] to be the leaders. He didn’t want me to be a leader. He says I was too young,” he said. “So from that moment, I was never a leader. In my mind, I was always too young. So every time he tried to appoint me as a leader, I didn’t want to be it. This year, Flip said I was to be his leader, so I said okay.”