Steve Blake Swung At Gilbert Arenas In Practice And Was All-Around Mad Man When It Comes To Basketball

Terrence Vaccaro. Getty Images.

You know how some guys stick in the league forever? Steve Blake is one of those guys. He was a 2nd round pick in 2003 and was in the league for 13 seasons, playing for 8 teams (and the Trail Blazers 3 different times). He didn't stick around necessarily because he was the most talented or fast or even a lock-down defender. But he had, what we in the biz, call "it". That unteachable quality where you want Steve Blake in the foxhole with you. Do you need more proof of that? Enter Gilbert Arenas:

Nobody likes fighting teammates in practice more than Steve Blake, but it gets him all the respect in the world from his teammates. He doesn't half-ass anything. He is diving for every loose ball, going for every rebound, living and dying with every free throw. But then 30 seconds after practice he can turn off psycho-mode and go to lunch with you at Legal Seafoods. That's the best part. Gilbert thought they now had this huge problem between the two of them, and Steve didn't think anything of it. When he's playing basketball he's a maniac, and then off the court he's a gentle soul. That's why Steve Blake hung around the league for so long (and maybe why he bounced around a bunch too). He's like a WWE wrestler where he's hitting you over with a steelchair in the pain, but then doing charity events for malnourished youths on weekends.

Don't forget, his love of fighting goes back to his college days:

The legend of Steve Blake definitely isn't close to being over. Stories will trickle out forever about him. It's great too because so far the thing we know most about him is he loves to fight teammates. Loves it. The ultimate teammate fighter. But he obviously doesn't have a bad reputation because after his career he got right into coaching. He's a walking enigma. Steve f'ing Blake.