At the start of Gilbert Arenas’ collegiate career, he was told that he would play zero minutes at the University of Arizona and would never set foot in the NBA. When it came to choose a jersey number, Arenas chose zero as a constant reminder of what he was told.

Through his two years at Arizona, he averaged 15.8 points and was a standout player, despite sharing the spotlight with future NBA players Richard Jefferson, Luke Walton and Loren Woods. But prior to the 2001 NBA draft, scouts viewed Arenas as too small to play shooting guard, and not enough of a ball handler to run the point. He slipped to the second round where he was drafted by the Golden State Warriors, but left without a guaranteed contract.

He internalized that snub, donned the zero jersey once again and vowed to show all the teams who passed on him exactly what they were missing.

Fast forward to the year 2008 and no one is doubting or snubbing Arenas anymore. In fact, it is quite opposite.

Last week, just two days after becoming an free agent, the Washington Wizards signed Arenas to a six-year, $111 million contract. The Wizards actually thought enough of Arenas’ services that they offered him the maximum contract worth $127 million but Arenas wanted to give his team salary cap flexibility.

When the 2007-2008 season ended, Arenas had mentioned that he would accept less money to get Antawn Jamison signed in an effort to keep the current nucleus together, and to build towards the future. Now, here was Arenas following through on his initial statement.

“I looked at it like this: There is nothing I can do for my family with $127 million that I can’t do with $111 million,” said Arenas. “I mean, college is expensive but it ain’t that dang expensive. Now, we have room to add a piece. There is a window of opportunity for us. Adding key pieces leads to championships and that’s what we all want.”

Owner Abe Pollin thought so much of Arenas and what he brings to the Wizards organization, the he personally placed a call to the star guard before he left the country.

“When I picked you up five years ago,” Pollin told Arenas, “You’re my guy and I meant that. You’re the face of the Wizards. When you’re out of the country walking down the street, I know that I have a fine young man representing me, this organization and the city of Washington to the fullest.”

The Wizards were not the only organization with a high level of appreciation for his services. adidas, the official sponsor the 2008 Beijing Olympics, asked Arenas to represent them for this historical event. This was also in conjunction with the opening of the all new Adidas Brand Center in Beijing China. Arenas will also be showing off his new “Hibachi” Adidas basketball shoe in the Philippines.

But despite the new contract, the love from adidas, and even the popular “Agent Zero” blog he writes for NBA.com, it is on the court where Arenas is being counted on the most.

Before his two knee surgeries Arenas was clear and away the leader of the Washington Wizards. He took the big shots at the end of the game, he was top-five in the league in scoring, and his play opened up the floor for the other two members of the Wizards’ Big Three: Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison. Although they were unable to get past the second round of the playoffs, there was a sense that with Arenas on the floor the Wizards always had a chance for victory.

That dynamic changed drastically last season when Arenas only played 13 regular season games and during the Wizards playoff series against the Cavaliers when Arenas played brilliantly during the initial game but was not a factor the remainder of the series. The team’s leaders were now Jamison and Butler and the contributions went deeper than just the Big Three.

Arenas’ replacement, Antonio Daniels, was seemingly better at getting the team to play together and despite not having their biggest star, the Wizards rode their newfound formula to a fifth place Eastern Conference finish.

Arenas heard the whispers about the Wizards being better without him, but it didn’t faze him.

“I never tripped or never got really mad about the whole sentiment that, ‘The Wizards are better with Gilbert on the bench,’ Arenas wrote in his blog. “That’s one of those things that somebody throws out there and everyone else just jumps aboard. The same people that said that are the same people that said when, Cleveland won a couple games last year when LeBron was out, that the ball moves more without LeBron. I’m a three-time All-Leaguer, I think you put that on anybody’s team and you automatically make them better.”

The reality of the Wizards’ situation lies somewhere in between. Arenas is the highest paid player on the Wizards, and when he is on his game, the Wizards are still a dangerous team with options. However, he’ll be counted on to adopt more of a traditional point guard role at times so that the rest of his teammates can maximize their potential as well. The key to Washington competing with Cleveland, Boston and Orlando in the Eastern Conference will be finding that balance.

When Arenas steps on the floor this fall for the Washington Wizards, he will have come full circle. No longer will he be the underdog who has to use the motivation of his naysayers to thrive and succeed. He will be stepping on the court as a team leader, an adidas spokesman, the owner of a new contract, and with significant expectations to boot.

If all goes right, he just may have a championship ring to add to that list next October.

Be sure to check HoopsAddict.com on Friday and Saturday, when Rashad will be covering the Wizards 2-day minicamp, in preparation for their summer league games in Las Vegas.