As the NBA's fourth-leading scorer last season, Gilbert Arenas and his 29.3 points per game average led the Washington Wizards to Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs vs. LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Entering his sixth year in the league, Arenas will blog on NBA.com throughout the 2006-07 campaign, a season which Gilbert dubs "The Takeover."

I got the Halo team. I guess everybody is finding out about that. I’m just a big video gamer. I love video games. That’s my off the court project that I own a Halo team called “Final Boss.” They’ll be competing for the championship in Vegas on the 17th or 15 of November; around that area.

If I can’t make it, I have some guys going out there to support them and make them feel comfortable. Hopefully they can bring home the trophy.

And now “THE TENT,” the hyperbaric-chamber tent.

A guy came to practice and gave a presentation on it, and I was eavesdropping on it. I got excited about it and I thought, “This is an edge I can use before any other NBA player gets a hold to it.” I know I get called weird for it, but I call it smart. If I can work out and get in the chamber and get my altitude up to Colorado, why not? I’m getting the benefits of Colorado’s altitude when I’m resting. You know, so why wouldn’t I do it? That’s a no brainer.

My bedroom is on the third floor, the tent is in the basement. It’s in the basement and I actually have it over a couch.

I don’t know what I was thinking … I bought an 18,000 piece puzzle. The lady told me four years that it would take me to do it, and I was like, “yeah right, I can do it in a couple months.” I don’t think I’ve found two pieces that connected together yet.

In high school, if you ever looked at it, I always, whenever somebody said, “The best high school player is this,” and I was like, “Man, the best player y’all never heard of is me.” And they was like, “Yeah, right.” And then I’d tell them my numbers and they be like, “Wow.”

I’ve always been a scorer. So when I went to Arizona, I led the team in scoring both years. But, I mean, I never thought it would be to this point to what I’m doing now...I knew if I worked hard I’d be in the top 10, but at the end of the year I was like, “Man, I averaged 29 this year, what the hell is going on?” So, I know I can score, but I didn’t know like that.

Each year I’ll look at the end results and I’ll see, “OK, Iverson and Kobe…how many 40 point games did they have? How many 30 point games did they have?” You know, most players are like, “Man, I need to get, you know, three 50 games!” Like no, you can break it down and make it easier for yourself.

I know everybody keeps telling me about the Olympics. I mean, you know, I really enjoyed my time out there. I met players that on the court…You don’t meet players on the court. I never knew anything about Brad Miller, never knew anything about Chris Bosh or Kirk Hinrich … Bruce Bowen. We go to the Olympics, and you guys are having that downtime and its like, “Wow, you guys are actually cool as hell.” You know, “I’m sorry about that fight we had in Chicago…” You’re just reminiscing and you’re actually having fun.

If it wasn’t for the basketball aspect of it, I had a great time. Its hard when you’re out there doing everything that coach says and you’re one of the premier players in the NBA but you can’t get three minutes on a team that doesn’t have Kobe, Kevin Garnett, Chauncey, Jason Kidd … and you’re looking out there and you’re second guessing yourself and like, “Am I good enough? What’s going on?” Now your focus is off, and you’re coming into the game with that attitude and you’re sitting there with an attitude, when it’s all about fun and you lose your mindset and think what was it all for?

I think that’s why I got frustrated. I was frustrated I’m not playing, but it was still a team thing. So that’s when I lashed out. I sat back and I was like, “Damn.” To an extent I shouldn’t have done that, because it wasn’t their fault.

I was tired of people telling me, “Man, I’m sorry you got hurt.” And I was like, “You know what? Look, I’m not a liar. I got cut. I was getting cut. That’s it.” I was getting cut and it happens. It happens to the best of us. I just got to bounce back, that’s it.

The first goal for this season is: We have to beat Miami. We’re 0-16 against them. Since I’ve been here, we have not won yet. I’m not counting…but yeah, we’re 0-16. That will be one goal. If we can beat them, that’s a turnaround. That’s a turnaround for us. The season will be all uphill from there.

I had to hear it from Dwyane in Vegas. We’ve beaten every team in the league … not them. We all know it. We have the record. It seems like no matter what we do, like we can flat-out outplay them and something goes wrong and we end up losing the game. It don’t matter if they are the defending champions or if they was last place. We just want to get that big monkey, that dinosaur, off our back.

Shaq didn’t play four of the games … they beat us. Dwyane didn’t play four of the games … they beat us. It's like, “What is going on?”

It’s amazing and different being a celebrity in D.C. When I think of the faces of franchises and cities, its like, LeBron James, Dwyane and Shaq, Kobe and Shaq. A.I., but you still have Donovan McNabb … Who else? KG … I mean, and someone throws my name in and it’s like, “All right.”

At the beginning of the summer I sat down with a lot of financial, a lot of business, to see where I want to take this. I call it, “The Takeover.” I want this year to be “The Takeover,” and I’m going to position myself. I think there’s only two people in this league that have done it recently: Magic Johnson understood the outside of basketball life and Shaq is doing it. Shaq is understanding the cop, “I want to be a cop,” and doing all this. I got some ideas that I heard from him for like Christmas giveaways and stuff like that where he buys all these Tonka trucks and hands them all out. I want politicians coming to me and asking me for advice … I know nothing about politics, but, hey. So if I can control the people in D.C., then they have to come talk to me. I want to set up restaurants and get into Starbucks.

The best way is that you have to have extended arms; you got to be an octopus out there. Most people call me weird, but I’m kind of smart when it comes to stuff like that.

Since I was small my dad and I have always been friends. He was never really hard on me. He never really pushed me to basketball. It was like, “Dad, can I play?” And he straight told me, “You suck. You’re not good enough for this team! You can sit over there and be my assistant coach.” So I used to get teased all the day, and when he leave I used to go practice by myself. And then one day I had the opportunity to prove him wrong and I did. From there, it’s always competition, no matter what; video games, dominoes …

I just ordered a car for him because he’s getting married. I ordered a Maybach, you know, the 57. It’s a one-of-one. They made it for the movie “Memoirs of a Geisha.” They made it for that movie. And now, we’re arguing about the car because it’s a one-of-one, and I want it. He wants it because, “the wood looks nice.” No what the? Come on … but I’m gonna end up giving it to him.

We just end up arguing about the dumbest things in the world. Like, after a game, and he thought I played bad, oh, I have to hear it. I’m gonna hear it. The first name he brings up every time: Dwyane Wade. “Well, did you see what Dwyane Wade did tonight? Dwyane Wade has four dunks, three reverse lay-ups, if you was talented like him …” and I’m like “Man!” And I’ll be like, “Dad, are you going to come to any of the games?” He’s like, “No. You guys are playing the Bobcats and the Grizzlies. I’m gonna come when Dwyane Wade comes to town or Kobe.” He just wants to see those players. He’ll look at the schedule and be like, “Oh yeah, we got four good games. I got Dwyane Wade, I got Kobe, LeBron, A.I. coming to town … I’m coming.” Any other week, he never wants to come.

Oh man, my Wildcats ... Me and Richard Jefferson, we’re having it with them. But, Coach Olsen keeps them a winner. They got new pieces … Chase Budinger from San Diego. He’s coming in. And Shakur, he’s still there, so they should do. Hopefully they can make it past the second round, because after the second round, anything goes. So I want to give them a shout-out.

Other than that, shout-out to my Halo team, “Go Final Boss!” I’m signing a deal with Vitamin Water. That’s all I drink is Vitamin Water. I’m making deals, I’m making progress. I have a Zero 2 Hero foundation. I have a Zero 2 Hero site where I’m going to be selling memorabilia stuff. I own 300 jerseys. Most of them are going to be giveaways.

Check it out at http://www.zerotwohero.com. Right now it’s filled with adidas stuff, but once the season gets started I’m going to have my Gilbert line. I have a pair of my signature shoes, and I can’t believe I got my own shoe. That’s amazing! They’re the Gil Zeros. I had a thousand names for them. I think the new name is Agent Zero. Oh that’s hot. Whoever made that “Agent Zero” up gets a percentage.