Gilbert Arenas explains why NBA changed physicality this year (allow Hack-a-Jokic)

[90sgoat]

"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 up international


This is the thinking that has led to Silver changing the rules in the playoffs.

Silver knows the NBA is in a bad spot in the local US market.

Durant, Curry, Lebron, Kawhi, Harden, they're all out. Eliminated by euro stars who are simply better.

And what's worse is that there's no new generation of american talent. The next gen stars are mostly all foreigners too, even if just canadian.

What then to do for Silver?

Well, you listen to Arenas, that euros can't hang when its physical.

You ramp up the physicality to an absurd level, so it becomes a football game. Then you make Ant the next american star.

Ant is the new Lebron.

[SouBeachTalents]

Jeez, OP still whining about that ass kicking last night :lol

[WhiteKyrie]

No Ant is more Jordan than LeBron.

And yes, guys that played football are inherently tougher and are more courageous than guys who strictly played basketball. So they are much better equipped to handle and dish out physical punishment.

Kai has looked like the visually better player for Dallas than Luka under these new defensive conditions of allowing physicality too.

And yes, the softening of the rules was to open up perimeter scoring, which brings in casual viewers … offense in general, brings in more casual viewers for any sport, and they’ve done it, across-the-board in the NFL, NHL etc

But yes, the original crop of European stars, while talented and skilled couldn’t handle the same level of American physicality, and they didn’t look as great here in the NBA. And now the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. Just look what Minnesota has done to Denver, while being allowed to play defense, as the best defensive team in the league, there is a visual disparity.

Physicality is a part of sports, it never should’ve been taken away. What’s funnier is they remove physicality yet stars get injured more nowadays and miss more game.

They only did that to make it more of an entertainment product than a sport product. That’s why, as absurd as it is with how far the pendulum has swung in America in the NBA, that now the international game is the more physical sport.

It’s not slam ball, but there should be a level of physicality allowed. Defenses have been hand tied not only does nobody want to play it growing up anymore because it’s not emphasize and it’s not easily able to put in highlight reels on YouTube, you can’t even play it if you want to because you can’t touch anybody. That in combination with the European influence disgusting flopping that they brought to this American sport, it makes it impossible to referee.

Last night, Jamal Murray was getting hounded on a double team, he visually created the contact with his defender, the entire way down the floor, and then flopped and then got mad. He didn’t get a foul call even though the two other guys were just playing sound, defense, not hacking, not being overly physical, just being long and moving their feet quickly, he was trying to act his way into a foul call. This shit needs to be taken out of the game that European bullshit infected this sport.

[tpols]

I honestly didn't really see them "body" Murray at all... just a shit ton of deflections and strips. 7 foot + wingspans everywhere waving their bodies around like crazy. It was a maniacal swarm of limbs to try and get a pass through. And it failed a bunch of times for Denver and led to huge momentum shifts. It wasn't really physicality at all... McD and Alex were doing most of the work in that regard and they're toothpick brothers.

[WhiteKyrie]

I honestly didn't really see them "body" Murray at all... just a shit ton of deflections and strips. 7 foot + wingspans everywhere waving their bodies around like crazy. It was a maniacal swarm of limbs to try and get a pass through. And it failed a bunch of times for Denver and led to huge momentum shifts. It wasn't really physicality at all... McD and Alex were doing most of the work in that regard and they're toothpick brothers.

Facts but the play I’m referring to in particular was Murray hasn’t seen defense like that before so he was getting so frustrated he was throwing his body into the defender, the entire way down the floor to make it seem like he was being fouled and praying for a foul call and then throwing a mini tantrum when he didn’t get it

Just watching that game last night was all the visual evidence I needed to know that any of those 90s bulls teams with Michael and Scottie hounding people on the perimeter, would totally butt **** the Golden State team of the past 10 years and the current Denver team.

Play all these stupid excuse making mental gymnastics to excuse all these losses, LeBron has had as if he has been facing the greatest team, ever assembled, every single season. No, it’s just simply he’s a shitty leader, he’s not a takeover, the game, scorer, and he doesn’t play a lick a ****ing defense. Defense wins. The same guy that needed to combine his top three player status with top three Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and a litany of former good players just to beat the past their prime Boston Celtics, Kobe beat them with just Gasol and good defenders.

The same guys that were losing to Greece and these other international teams in international basketball, the second they got two perimeter defenders in Kobe and Jason Kidd, all of a sudden we were winning by 20 and 30 points game a game and looking like the return of Dream Team days

Defense.

It’s what wins. Only casuals don’t understand.

[tpols]

Facts but the play I’m referring to in particular was Murray hasn’t seen defense like that before so he was getting so frustrated he was throwing his body into the defender, the entire way down the floor to make it seem like he was being fouled and praying for a foul call and then throwing a mini tantrum when he didn’t get it

Just watching that game last night was all the visual evidence I needed to know that any of those 90s bulls teams with Michael and Scottie hounding people on the perimeter, would totally butt **** the Golden State team of the past 10 years and the current Denver team.

Play all these stupid excuse making mental gymnastics to excuse all these losses, LeBron has had as if he has been facing the greatest team, ever assembled, every single season. No, it’s just simply he’s a shitty leader, he’s not a takeover, the game, scorer, and he doesn’t play a lick a ****ing defense. Defense wins. The same guy that needed to combine his top three player status with top three Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and a litany of former good players just to beat the past their prime Boston Celtics, Kobe beat them with just Gasol and good defenders.

The same guys that were losing to Greece and these other international teams in international basketball, the second they got two perimeter defenders in Kobe and Jason Kidd, all of a sudden we were winning by 20 and 30 points game a game and looking like the return of Dream Team days

Defense.

It’s what wins. Only casuals don’t understand.

Yea thats all true. Except the golden state part when they had KD. That would just be a firepower mismatch. Curry and Durant are way better talents than Murray.

Murray has always done that though using his body to create separation and then shooting over the top. Easy to do against Dlo or shroeder or even Conley. Against 6'11 McDaniels? Or that 6'8 super quick Alex guy? It doesn't work.

[WhiteKyrie]

Yea thats all true. Murray has always done that though using his body to create separation and then shooting over the top. Easy to do against Dlo or shroeder or even Conley. Against 6'11 McDaniels? Or that 6'8 super quick Alex guy? It doesn't work.

He wasn’t doing it to create separation. He was doing it to create a foul call. He was doing it the entire length of the court not to free up a shot attempt. But yes I understand. He doesn’t have the blow by speed and quickness to make either of those guys pay

[Akeem34TheDream]

Is OP telling us that Euros are soft?

[hold this L]

That makes absolutely no sense since in Europe, the game is noticeably more physical. Silver allowed the game to get where it gets because he's a businessman, the dude is an absolute bozo when it comes to sports. He doesn't understand that having more points =/= better product.

[90sgoat]

Is OP telling us that Euros are soft?

Tough euros go into handball (middle class) or rugby (upper class) or football (lower class).

Soft upper middle class euros go into basketball.

[WhiteKyrie]

That makes absolutely no sense since in Europe, the game is noticeably more physical. Silver allowed the game to get where it gets because he's a businessman, the dude is an absolute bozo when it comes to sports. He doesn't understand that having more points =/= better product.
That’s just the oddness and hilarity of it

[FultzNationRISE]

The Spurs won numerous titles with a bunch of euros/euro league alums. Dirk made two finals and won an FMVP.

Arenas desperate for attention as usual.

[warriorfan]

The Spurs won numerous titles with a bunch of euros/euro league alums. Dirk made two finals and won an FMVP.

Arenas desperate for attention as usual.

Gilber Arenas is mentally ill.

That being said he can be surprisingly funny even though a lot of it is broken clock right twice a day stuff

I would definitely take ANYTHING he says with a grain of salt