Former NBA point guard Gilbert Arenas compared himself to current Houston Rockets guard James Harden during a Reddit Q&A Wednesday afternoon.
Arenas said his game was closest to that of “The Beard,” but injuries prevented him from developing into a generational scorer.
“Agent Zero” also said he would have been even more of a slasher in the modern NBA game because there is a shortage of rim protectors, relative to the guys in his era.
“My game was in the lines of James Harden w/out the evolution of the great scoring he's been doing,” Arenas said. “I was 25 when i got hurt so i did get to evolve into the great scoring he is. w/the rules today i would have done a lot more driving since everyone is so intrigued w/the 3 point line. no one is protecting the rim. no one like Shaq there now.”
Arenas might not have averaged 30-plus points, but he was still a revolutionary scorer at the point guard spot during his heyday in the mid-2000s when he was with the Washington Wizards.
The early 2000s were still predicated mostly on paint scoring, but Arenas was a gunner. The former Arizona product averaged at least six 3-point attempts per game in each year between 2003 and 2008, and he averaged 29.3 points per game during the 2005-06 NBA season.
Gilbert Arenas' affinity for launching from beyond the arc and isolating against opposing defenders does indeed make for an interesting parallel with James Harden. However, it is also interesting to hear Arenas say he would try to get to the rim more.
One of the things Harden does so well is get to the free-throw line. It would seem Arenas would employ a similar mentality if he were in the game today.
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