Gilbert Arenas Impresses at Barry Farms

In the past, I've gone on record as not being impressed when NBA players hit the street-ball courts during the summer to put on a show. After all, when guys like Kevin Durant dominate against a bunch of nobodies, isn't that what's supposed to happen? The breaking news would be if Durant didn't drop 60 in a league where no one plays defense and the traveling rules are selectively (if ever) enforced.

So yeah, celebrating these performances just seems to be a bit silly. But in the case of Gilbert Arenas -- who's missed the majority of the last two seasons after having three different knee surgeries -- his play in the Goodman League at Barry Farms over the weekend is something that's definitely worth mentioning.

It wasn't the 35 points that Gilbert finished with that was so amazing; he wasn't even the game's high scorer. It was the way he played that was so impressive. The Washington Post's Michael Lee has the eyewitness account:

[Arenas] was surprisingly spry and springy, as he effortlessly attacked the rim for dunks. He had two-handed slams. He had a vicious tomahawk slam. He even dunked on someone. When was the last time you recall seeing Arenas dunking?

More impressive, he wasn't wearing a knee brace or favoring his leg in any way.

And Mike Jones of The Washington Times corroborates the story:

Arenas didn't display his Hibachi shooting touch, but I'm told that was because, ever the crowd-pleasing showman, he wanted to give the fans what they wanted to see: dizzying ball-handling displays finished off by high-flying takes to the basket.

You have to take the level of competion into account, but one thing's for sure, the Gilbert Arenas on the Barry Farms courts Friday night was much stronger, more aggressive and more explosive than the version of him we saw for those two games late last season.

This isn't just great news for Wizards' fans, it's great news for anyone that enjoys watching the NBA's brightest stars shine.

Arenas has certainly been among the game's most entertaining players when healthy, and if the explosiveness he showed in this glorified rec league is any indication of what we can expect to see when the season starts, there's no reason to believe that the Wizards can't compete for a middle-of-the-pack playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

And who knows? A healthy, high-flying Arenas might even be able to lead the team out of the first round ... which, incredibly, is somewhere the Wizards have gone just once in the past 27 years.