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Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas is the undisputed leader of the team, and his star power grows stronger with each season. Here's what Arenas said on media day:

On the team’s chemistry heading into the season: “It’s great. That’s what you’re looking for when you’re trying to take that next step. You can’t be in that rebuilding stage every year. We may have lost Jared (Jefferies), but we added DeShawn (Stevenson) and (Darius) Songaila, and I think that’s going to help out a lot. We going to help them make an easy transition and just keep going forward. We have some great pieces, defensively and offensively, and now it’s just about getting it done.”

On getting to ‘the next level’: “We have to play defense, we know that. We have to become a better defensive team overall, every player. I know the NBA is built now for scoring, but your best teams in this league play defense.”

On being a team leader: “I’m going to take that challenge this year by stopping the best players. Like your Kevin Garnetts and your Shaqs -- they lead on both ends. I’m going to have to stick to the Kobes and the Tracy McGradys out there. If players are seeing me go out there, willing to take that challenge, they will do that with me. It’s about setting an example and leading with my play. That’s what the best do. MJ did it on both ends; Kobe does it. That’s what’s next for me.”

On his United States’ National Team experience: “I have totally forgotten about that experience. It’s in the past and I have ‘Wizards’ on my chest now so that’s what I’m about now. I said some things, and I vented out against Phoenix and Portland, but those teams actually had nothing to do with anything. That was wrong of me. I really want to say sorry for it and I want to say sorry to Mike D’Antoni. That was the immature Gilbert two months ago. I’m growing as a person, and I’m ready to be a leader for the Washington Wizards.”

On his anxiousness for the season opener versus Cleveland: “That’s a real good game right there. It’s going to be a lot of sweat and blood going into that game, I can say that now. There’s going to be hard playing and I’m going to try to stick to LeBron (James). It’s going to be different; he’s going to see a different player than he saw in the Playoffs.”

On the ‘different player’ that he’ll be this year: “I’m going to focus more on defense. I’m just going to harass players. I’m still going to score, that is my nature, but I’m going to be more of a defensive player. The best Kobe Bryant game I have seen is when he scored 40 and he held Tracy McGrady to 10 or 15 points. That is the kind of player I want to be like. I want to become a defensive person.”

On his missed free throws in the playoffs: “I can’t explain it. I don’t know. I made the great shot and then I missed two free throws that could have helped us seal the game. I just look at it like it wasn’t our time. They had a guy who played for 30 minutes in the whole series and he comes in and hits a game winning shot, and I missed two free throws. Well, I guess it wasn’t our time. So all summer I got ready for this year.”

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