Former three-time NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas rarely fails to amaze with his outrageous takes. On the February 28 episode of “Gil’s Arena,” he blamed the infusion of European players for the ongoing explosion of offense in the NBA.
“Get rid of all Europeans,” Arenas said when asked if he had a solution for the sport becoming too advantageous to scorers. “…You go to college to learn defense. What college do Europeans go to? They don’t go to college whatsoever. They have no athleticism, right? They have no speed, no jumping ability. They are a liability on defense.
“There are a 150 Euros in the league today… name the top 10 defenders. None! Just Rudy Gobert and the Greek Freak [Giannis Antetokounmpo]. Other than that, they are just offensive players. They aren’t defensive players, right?”
Does the NBA Have a Scoring Problem?
As outrageous as Arenas’ take is, there’s no denying that the sport has become far too advantageous to scorers. Just consider that, in January 2024, four players – Joel Embiid, Luka Doncic, Karl Anthony-Towns and Devin Booker – scored at least 60 points within five days. That had never happened in the 77-year history of the NBA.
Furthermore, the league average for points in the 2023-24 season (115.3) is the highest it’s been since the 1969-70 season, and the NBA has set a record for offensive efficiency six times in the past eight seasons. As teams continue to pile on the points, Arenas blames the NBA for changing the rules to entice Europeans and other global players.
“The NBA took away aggression to open up the EuroLeague,” Arenas stressed. “When they [Europeans] first started to get here, it was too rough for them. They didn’t make it. Eventually, they [the NBA] softened the rules. They didn’t soften the rules for the Americans. So, when they are saying that Euros are going to run the league in the next five years, why do you think that? More threes, more passing, more cutting. This isn’t our league; this isn’t the American style. This is the Euro style. It’s a 3-point shooting league because they’re copying the Euro style.”
NBA Preparing for Rule Changes?
According to a new report from ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Kevin Pelton, the NBA’s competition committee is “reviewing whether the game has tilted too much toward offense and whether changes need to be implemented to achieve better balance.”
Joe Dumars, the NBA’s head of basketball operations, told ESPN that the league is determined to bring back a semblance of parity between offense and defense.
“It is a topic that we’re monitoring,” Dumars said. “We’re diving in right now to make sure that we’re on the right side of this.”
Will the NBA implement any rule changes ahead of the 2024-25 season? While some analysts have suggested that the league bring back hand checking, thereby allowing defenders to get more physical with ball-handlers, others have implored the NBA to get rid of the defensive three-second rule.
Former NBA player JJ Redick has been a strong proponent of the latter change, arguing that with the 3-point shot creating more floor spacing, rim protectors should be allowed to guard the paint for more than just three seconds.
“Hand checking is not the answer,” Redick said on ESPN’s “First Take” on February 20. “If you want a rule that favors the defense, we need to get rid of the defensive three-second rule. We need to go to the FIBA rule where you can be in the paint for as long as you want. Why was the defensive rule put in place in the first place? We put it in to create space. Now, there’s too much space. Let’s put it [the rule] back in.”
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