Gilbert Arenas has exploded as one of the leading voices among former NBA players turned basement podcast stars. Arenas, like many of these podcasters, uses his NBA success to make outlandish and shocking takes and then discredit any pushback.
To be honest, Gil’s Arena podcast has serious comedic and entertainment value, and you can’t dispute that Arenas has experienced all sides of NBA life.
This particular episode featured former NBA players Rashad McCants and Kenyon Martin, as the list of eyebrow-raising takes continues to mount.
It’s a formula that’s working for Arenas, and his latest rant speaks to the explosion of offense in the NBA, the lack of defense and how European players taking over the game is to blame.
Glibert Arenas Says NBA Can Stop Offensive Explosion By Getting Rid Of European Players
“I know what they can do. Get rid of all Europeans,” Arenas said during a recent episode.
Arenas was not known for his defense, especially at the height of his career in the NBA, where he was notorious for long-range bombing and had an uninhibited green light during his years with an average Washington Bullets squad who faced early eliminations in four playoff appearances.
Gil had a four-year prime, from 2003-4 to 2006-07 season in which he averaged 25.7 points per game and made three NBA All-Star teams.
During his 11-year career, he’s played against and with plenty of European players and for some reason, he says they are the reason why NBA defense has become almost non-existent.
His theory behind this accusation is even more intriguing. Gilbert took the baton from Martin, who mentioned that top players in general are finding ways to circumvent college before advancing to the NBA, and college is where many defensive and team principles are taught.
Then Gilbert ran up the ratings with his take.
“You go to college to learn defense. What college do Europeans go to? They have no athleticism,” Arenas repeatedly shouted over a chorus of snickers and disbelief. “They have no speed, no jumping ability. They are a liability on defense. They are 150 Euros in the league today… name the top defenders. None! Just Rudy [Gobert] and the Greek Freak. Other than that, they are offensive players.”
As far as international players who can flat out defend, he left out Joel “The Big Camerron” Embiid, who is a tough defender, but not European. French rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama has definitely asserted himself as a defensive force in the league.
Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic, from Bosnia, grabbed a team-record 31 rebounds in a loss to the OKC Thunder on Sunday night.
Is Gilbert Arena Being Disrespectful Or Honest?
He was reckless in how he expressed it and very demeaning, but Gilbert isn’t totally crazy with this take.
With the exception of the aforementioned Embiid, Gobert and Greek Freak, who all rank in the top 10 of Ranker’s best NBA defenders list, you won’t find another European-born player until you get to Atlanta Hawks Clint Capela, who is from Switzerland and known for his shot-blocking and rebounding prowess.
Most of the NBA European stars are actually offense-based players, but not because they didn’t attend U.S. colleges as Arenas said and Martin suggested. A change in league rules, philosophy and culture has also contributed to this, as Arenas also notes.
“The NBA took away aggression,” Arenas said. “They took away aggression to open up the EuroLeague. When they first started getting here, it was too rough for them. They didn’t make it. Eventually, they softened the rules. They didn’t soften the rules for the Americans. They softened the rules to open up internationally.”
The NBA Is Much Less Physical In 2024
Arenas’ assessment isn’t far-fetched to some basketball purists. The elevation of Giannis and Luka Doncic and Embiid and Nikola Jokic and a host of other European stars has the American hoops contingent stressing the future of the game and blaming the NBA for purposely manipulating it to enable European players to do what they do best.
Gilbert Arenas Was A Eurocentric Guard: NBA Is Changing
Let’s make one thing clear. Arenas averaged 1.6 steals throughout his career, but he was emphatically recognized as a one-dimensional player and a high-volume gunner, low efficiency guy.
He shot 42.1 percent for his career from the field and 35 percent from three-point range, averaging 5.6 attempts per game. The way he gave it up on the court is perfectly crafted for the current style of play that he is criticizing.
“So when they say the Euros are going to run the league in the next five years, why do you think that?” Arenas asked. “More threes, passing, cutting — this is not our league, this is not the American style, this is the Euro style. Drive in, suck the defense in, pass the ball to the three-point line.”
Which sounds like a description of how the Golden State Warriors won four championships over the last decade. He conveniently decided to leave out the main culprit when it comes to this obsession with three-pointers and motion offense.
Arenas is right about another thing. The game is changing, and league brass has decided that fans want points and will probably never return to 80 and low-90 scoring outputs. Regardless of what kinds of adjustments the league makes to rules that inhibit the defender, don’t expect the physicality to reach the level of 30 years ago.
And to be frank, the NBA has been trying to make the league more international and it has devoted a tremendous amount of time and effort over the past three decades helping to develop basketball programs in African and China and Europe and other parts of the globe. The Euro stars of today may be seen as outsiders by guys like Arenas, but they are products of the NBA corporate mission, the first sons of international expansion.
So rather than a calculated ploy to eliminate American-style hoops and American-born players, the NBA is capitalizing on the moment and doing everything it can to advance the game and keep it as a revenue-generating gold mine.
Arenas doesn’t have to like it. You’ll probably find few ballers who played in the ’90s and 2000’s that embrace this style of NBA, where scoring is the highest it’s been across the league since 1970. Defensive brilliance has become the least-promoted aspect of the sport.
On the flip side, American coaches have been raving about the fundamentals, shooting prowess, work ethic and intelligence of Euro players for years. While criticizing AAU hoops, parents, coaches and highlight culture as determinants to the development of the game here in the states. That might have something to do with it too, Mr. Arenas.
NBA Is International Now
The Euro explosion is here, and American players will have to adjust to the changes or continue to lose spots in the league to international talents. The NBA has a firm grasp on the international market, and it doesn’t benefit the league to do anything to ensure that American players compromise a certain percentage of league roster spots.
The U.S. will always have its elite talents, players who are top 5 in the game. Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum and Minnesota Timberwolves youngster Anthony Edwards look like future faces of the league. The list goes on. Americans still have the highest selling jerseys in the U.S., so there’s still hope.
But allowing more hand-checking or encouraging more post-play and less threes isn’t going to stop Luka Doncic or Nikola Jokic from dominating the game, and, let’s be honest, in situations like this, you have to consider the source.
