I was fortunate enough to talk with JTIII(John Thompson III) and Brian Mitchell during the AT&T Classic.

My husband and Boss initiated the conversation about the U.S. Olympics and what players would be starting, lack of size, as well as a myriad of questions regarding the Olympic team.

Well my Boss who also golf with JTIII and he eats, and breathes anything basketball.

While talking about PG play, even though he didn't really mean to let the cat out of the bag, the comment was, it was assumed that Billups would have been a solid contributor, (and I quote this statement), however, he was possessed with the Gilbert Arenas disease, my husband asked what did that mean, he stated, and I quote "His Ego took up the entire gym", we all knew that". The conversation changed so fast, so quick, it would have made your head spun around a few times.

I just thought this was a very interesting piece. I always seem to get the most interesting tidbits of info at whenever I go to the AT&T event, even without Tiger being there. I only wished that I could have pumped him for more info.

Interesting.

KG, LeBron, Kobe....a lot of players have Arenas Disease too I would think. I never thought Chauncey was as bad as that but maybe he is.

The only difference is KG, LeBron and Kobe will be starting. I think Billups knew he wouldn't get the nod over CP3 and Deron Williams so he decided he wanted no part of coming off the bench.

That disease seems to be contagious. You would think winning a ship would cure it, however, the disease gets worse after recieving the O`Brien trophy.

Then, you have some players (Gilbert Arenas) who will perhaps never win a ship and succumb to this terrible attitude and mind numbing torment.

Pleae, someone develop a cure, or the NBA as we know it will be doomed. Or, should I say is doomed!!

Fact is, the majority of good/great NBA players are cut from this cloth. If they weren't brimming with overconfidence and ego a great deal of them would have been eaten alive in HS, College, and continuing into the professional ranks.

It is often viewed by the fans as a sign of fallibility when unfortunately it is more likely just another adaptive coping mechanism that certain players have developed and relied upon in order to get to where they are today.

Show me the All-Star caliber player in todays NBA that isn't infected with "the Gilbert Arenas" (preclusion of the word "disease" sounds better IMO, makes it sound like "the plague"), and that is when I am "moved" in a figurative sense. There just aren't many of them out there.

__________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIj1QpZMlPE

Let me clarify a little bit about this conversation. I really got the impression from listening, that CB hardly impressed anyone including Mike K and there was more to CB not being on the olympic team than what we have read or heard.

I really didn't want to push my luck afterall, I was a guest of my boss.

Gilbert is clutch, people should respect that.

.

I might get slammed for this, but I've always thought Billups was a snake-like person; knows what to say and how to be politically correct but very different privately than the image he portrays.

That being said, he REALLY impressed me last year the way he handled Stuckey and his decreasing minutes. Rip was the one who came off unable to handle playing less. You can argue that Stuckey never stole important min, but there were countless times CB told Flip to leave Stuckey in the game. For all his flaws, i don't really doubt his commitment or loyalty to this team. And in turn my previous opinion of him has lost alot of weight.

I'm really curious to what the issues are w/ the Olympics. I guess we'll see what happens in the coming season when/if he's benched for Stuckey in crucial minutes.

Cloud hit the nail on the head. It's a catch 22, it's tough to get to where CB is without having the type of confidence that borders on egotistical. Team USA is a tough deal, it's trying to manage a bunch of players who feel they are the man, and indeed they are for their respective teams. Tay is perfect for the system because his strength is his ability to complement, same can be said for Sheed and players like Odom, but Billups is who he is because of what JTIII complained about.