Former Washington Wizards and Warriors star Gilbert Arenas had his say on Hakeem Olajuwon’s tutelage. The Houston Rockets legend is known to charge $50,000 per week for people who want to train with him. Speaking about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s recent comments about wanting to train with Olajuwon, Arenas claimed that the difference in generations and playing styles means that he should not. The revelation occurred during the recent September 22 episode of the No Chill with Gilbert Arenas podcast.
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Arenas had initially laughed off the rumors, claiming that Giannis had no reason to be training with Hakeem. This time around, he doubled down on his comments. Arenas claimed that while Giannis wanted to learn post-up moves, Hakeem was not necessarily the right player to look for advice from, especially due to the fee that he charges.
Gilbert Arenas does not want Giannis Antetokounmpo to train under Hakeem Olajuwon
Gilbert Arenas claimed that Giannis Antetokounmpo had no need to train along with Hakeem Olajuwon. He gave multiple reasons for the same.
First and foremost, he claimed that Hakeem was not a post-up player. Instead, he would often attack from the logo and relied on speed and footwork to get points:
“Hakeem the dream Olajuwon. What’s the problem? I don’t even understand what everybody is yapping about. I am serious. I made a statement. Giannis wanted to go to Hakeem for 50k a week. Do you all know, that is 200 grand a month, to learn, some post-up moves. Not even post-up moves, mid-range post-up. This is why these other analysts don’t really understand the concept of how I see things. Hakeem was not necessarily a post-up player, he was off the post, before the logo. What his ability was, he was faster, slimmer, footwork phenomenal. He was technically a guard in a big man body. He used his speed. Now that the generation is going to him, there is only a certain type of player that can actually adopt what he is teaching. 50 thousand a week? You crazy?”
Hence, Gilbert compared the two players’ styles, bodies, and positions. Arenas went on to claim that Giannis should take help from someone whose game was similar to his own. He named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the same and appeared to know exactly what the Bucks’ star needed.
Gilbert Arenas criticized by Stephen A. Smith
After Gilbert Arenas criticized Giannis’ intention of training with Olajuwon, he got support from Stephen A. Smith. He claimed Olajuwon was one of the 5 best centers of all time, and had trained LeBron in the past.
Asking people to watch the 1994 Finals as proof, Olajuwon also trained the likes of Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony. Apart from his offensive ability, Olajuwon was also defensively astute and was named to an elite list.
Hence, while Arenas does not see the usefulness of training with Olajuwon, for Giannis. However, his unique talent and skills mean that he can easily prove to be a help, for the Bucks’ star.
