Small ball is a big thing in the NBA today, with the Golden State Warriors mastering the art of playing a lot of smaller players to get advantages on the court.
Although the Warriors are considered the innovators of this style of basketball, along with sparking the three-point revolution in the NBA, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas has a different take.
Arenas, who is never shy about throwing out a controversial take or sharing an opinion that might be a bit questionable, believes that it was Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls that started the small-ball trend, as he claimed on Gil’s Arena via ClutchPoints.
"The small-ball started with the Chicago Bulls, people don't realize that… Unfortunately they were big small-ball. They were the biggest small-ball team because their point guard was at 6'4"."
—Gilbert Arenas
(via @GilsArenaShow) pic.twitter.com/Sa7jfJXsGA
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 10, 2023
With the majority of the Bulls team, especially the starting lineup during some of the later championship years, being 6’8″ and under, Arenas might actually have a valid point.
The lineup of Ron Harper, Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Luc Longley, with Toni Kukoc replacing the center, could be considered a small-ball lineup.
However, that likely wasn’t Phil Jackson’s intention at the time, as that lineup just worked while running the triangle offense, so he stuck with it and won three straight titles at the end of the Jordan era in Chicago.
Ironically enough, Steve Kerr was coming off the bench for Jackson, and he helped create what the Warriors do today that other teams around the league try to emulate each and every year in the NBA.
This year, the Warriors have gone a little smaller, with the team recently trading Jordan Poole to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Chris Paul.
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