The Magic of the Wizards

Okay, maybe ten minutes, tops.

With Flip Saunders as the Eastern Conference coach and four of his Detroit Pistons on the team, it was tough for anybody not named Shaquille O'Neal to get much playing time during the All Star Game. We saw glimpses of other guys here and there, but even crowd favorite (and former All Star MVP) Allen Iverson was seldom seen and barely noticed.

For someone nearly unknown outside the DC area, like Gilbert Arenas, court time was almost non-existant. (Remember Utah's Andrei Kirilenko's whopping five minutes a couple of years ago? Neither does anyone else.) Combine being an unknown in the company of superstars with his iffy status as "selected rather than elected," and you've got the perfect excuse for Saunders to not play Arenas more than the absolutely-required-by-courtesy five or so minutes.

Of course, it didn't help that Gilbert was hopeless. He bricked his few shots and assisted nobody. The first-timer nerves he (understandably) had last year carried over to this game, and he sure didn't go out of his way to impress anybody.

Ah, well. The point of all this was that Arenas deserved to be at the All Star Game. David Stern made right the fans' and coaches' oversight and got Gilbert to Houston. Anything else is just gravy.

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