“Everybody Else is Dead Meat”- NBA Great Gilbert Arenas Explains Why Blake Griffin “Needed” Chris Paul at LA Clippers
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The role of a point guard in modern basketball is a source of great debate. Some argue for a point guard as the primary facilitator in the team, in the vein of Magic Johnson.
Whereas there are others that argue that a point-guard can be the primary scoring option, such as Chris Paul and Steph Curry. But one thing is for certain, the importance of a point guard is still paramount in basketball.
But maybe it shouldn’t be, and NBA legend Gilbert Arenas recently opened up about the same on the ‘No Chill’ podcast. He talked about why making the point guard the primary facilitator is a risky practice.
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“They used to tell us – Point Guard makes everyone better. When I got older I started realizing – that was wrong. If you’re making everyone better, then that means they’re actually not that damn good.
“If you have to do everything to get him open, that means he can’t get open by himself. These guys aren’t doing their job.”
Arenas, a point guard himself, believes that a playmaking point guard makes other players complacent. He gave a somewhat controversial opinion to back that up.
“Prime example, I’ll say it; that’s why someone like Blake Griffin. You had Chris Paul feeding you every meal. Driving in, breaking these guys down, you start at the 3-point line, you get the dunk….get all these highlights…
“Remove Chris Paul and we say ‘Eat’ – You don’t know how to post up, you don’t know to create a double team. You don’t know how to demand nothing because you never had to…You never hunted for yourself.
“So you take that playmaker off the court, or he gets tired or doubled, you don’t know how to eat on your own….”
Why Blake Griffin and Chris Paul didn’t see Playoff success
Arenas explained why the Clippers were a perennially good regular season team but struggled in the Playoffs. According to the 3-time All-Star, it came down to strategy from opposing teams.
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“They’ve got (big) names, why didn’t they have success. Well in the playoffs, when the game slows down, Chris Paul is picked up full court.
“Now he has to try and make the play. Then on offense, the guard is coming at him. He’s done in the fourth quarter. We done tired this man out. You don’t know how to post, you don’t know how to play.
“You sit there and look at the roster and go “the only person we have to worry about is Jamal Crawford trying to take over the game himself. So now we focus on Jamal and Chris Paul. Everybody else is dead meat once Chris Paul is tired.”
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Paul and Griffin played together in the Los Angeles Clippers for 6 years. They defined the Clippers era, forming ‘Lob City’ with their exciting alley-oop combinations.
Paul eventually left the Clippers to join the Rockets through a trade, whereas Griffin left for Detroit as part of a trade.
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