“This is just xenophobia” – Gilbert Arenas FLAMED for blaming European players after NBA’s offense-favoring rules

The NBA has transitioned from its hard-nosed defensive style and hand checking to a more free flowing style in recent years.

“This is just xenophobia” – Gilbert Arenas FLAMED for blaming European players after NBA’s offense-favoring rules

Gilbert Arenas blames European players like Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic for forcing NBA to move to offensive-minded gameplay

The NBA has more international players in the league than in any previous decade. Moreover, some of them have developed into premier superstars. However, former player Gilbert Arenas thinks the NBA has changed its rules to an offensive-minded game. This is to facilitate European players like Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic. Fans flame the former All-Star for comments.

While talking on his show Gil’s Arena, Gilbert Arenas alluded that the NBA has changed its rules to facilitate more offensive-minded European players to be successful.

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Here is what Arenas had to say:

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The NBA took away aggression to open up the Euro league. When they first started getting here, it was too rough for them and they didn't make it. So eventually they softened the rules to open it up internationally. They didn't soften the rules for the Americans. It is a three-point shooting league as this is the Euro style.
Gilbert Arenas said

Arenas said that the physicality of the NBA was one of the main attractions of the league. But in the process of making the NBA a global brand, they toned down the aggressiveness and hardcore defense. He Arenas believes that in the yesteryears, many Europeans struggled to play in the league for a long time. Most of them returned to play in European leagues as the NBA was too hard for them. Neither could their bodies sustain the constant punishment, nor could they score effectively due to the hard-nosed defensive style.

His logic is based on the fact that hand-checking is not allowed anymore and the referees call a lot more fouls than before. All this has allowed the seemingly offensive-minded Europeans such as Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic to take over the league.

Fans flame Gilbert Arenas for blaming European players

Basketball fans came out to flame Gilbert Arenas for blaming the European players for the current offense-minded play in the NBA. They believe the Europeans have done their part in elevating the league to new heights. The offensive-minded gameplay is not because of them. The Europeans would have had success even if the game was still aggressive and hard-nosed like in the past. In fact, the defensive ratings of players have steadily improved over the past few years.

So when clipping of Arenas’ claim spread online, fans took turns to bash the former player. Many think he does not have a clue how the Europeans play. Check out some of their reactions on social media below;

https://twitter.com/slimCurt/status/1763378925227618384?s=20

Fans believe Gilbert Arenas should actually watch some European games to know how they play. Not everyone from Europe will be successful in the NBA. Superstars like Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic are exceptionally great.

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