‣ Gilbert Arenas criticizes the impact of European players on NBA defense, suggesting their playing style has led to a decline in defensive skills within the league. He controversially proposes removing all European players to improve defense.
‣ Arenas argues that the NBA has modified its rules to favor a more offensive, EuroLeague-style of play, which he believes has softened the game and allowed European players to thrive at the expense of traditional American basketball values.
‣ In a lighter moment, Shannon Sharpe humorously challenges Arenas’s claim that he would give up sex for an NBA championship ring, highlighting the lengths to which Arenas goes for attention and sparking a debate about the value of championships versus personal pleasures.
Gilbert Arenas on how to fix NBA defense: ‘Get rid of all Europeans’
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing)
Details
Gilbert Arena’s got opinions. Loads of ’em. And they’re not just any opinions. They’re the kind that have been marinating in a 12-year NBA career. Wildly popular? Yep. But sometimes, you gotta wonder if he’s just throwing stuff out there for kicks.
Recently, he’s been all about defense. Or the lack of it in the NBA. On his podcast, *Gil’s Arena*, he went off. His target? European players. According to him, they’re why the NBA’s defense game is slacking.
“I know what they can do. Get rid of all Europeans,” he declared. Bold? Absolutely. He argues they lack athleticism, speed, and can’t jump. “They’re a liability,” he says. Out of 150 Euros in the league, he only tips his hat to Rudy [Gobert] and the Greek Freak. The rest? Purely offensive players, in his view.
A tweet from Awful Announcing shared his controversial take. It sparked debates, as expected. Maybe the real issue is the NBA’s rule book, which now favors offensive plays. But Gilbert? He sees it differently.
“The NBA took away aggression,” he lamented. It was all to make the Euro players feel at home, he believes. The game’s gotten softer, according to him, to accommodate the international style. And it shows, he says, pointing out that the last five MVPs were Europeans.
“So when they say the euros are gonna run the league in the next five years, why do you think that?” he muses. It’s all about threes, passing, and cutting now. “This is not our league,” he insists. It’s the Euro style taking over.
Then there’s Shannon Sharpe’s take. On his podcast, he couldn’t help but clown Arenas. The topic? Sacrifices for a championship ring. Arenas claimed he’d give up sex forever for a ring. Sharpe? He’d rather lose a million dollars than follow Gilbert’s path.
“I give up s*x for a year for a championship ring,” Arenas started. But money? That’s where he draws the line. Sharpe, on the other hand, values his intimate moments over cash. “You outta your damn mind,” he told Arenas.
Sharpe, with his four NFL rings, puts it into perspective. “There’s like 25,000 men with Super Bowl rings,” he said. But the Hall of Fame? That’s another level. “I’ll take the Hall of Fame,” he concluded.
And there you have it. A glimpse into the unfiltered, sometimes perplexing world of Gilbert Arenas. His takes? Always a mix of intriguing, baffling, and downright bold. Just another day in the life of an NBA vet turned podcaster.
