"A snail compared to f**king Allen Iverson" - Gilbert Arenas doesn't pull punches on Kyrie Irving vs AI debate
Gilbert Arenas is stirring the pot once again with his latest sports take, this time about the Kyrie Irving vs. Allen Iverson debate. Arenas is seemingly not a fan of Irving, who many people think has the greatest handles in NBA history. The former NBA player prefers Iverson's crossover that took over the league in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
On an episode of the "Gil's Arena" podcast uploaded to YouTube on Friday, the crew of Gilbert Arenas, Brandon Jennings, Rashad McCants and Josiah Johnson discussed Steph Curry's place among the point guard GOAT list. They brought up his handles, so naturally, Irving and Iverson were thrown into a debate.
Arenas chose Iverson's crossover over the Dallas Mavericks guard's bagful of tricks.
"Kyrie is a snail compared to f*cking Allen Iverson. A snail. How many combo moves Kyrie has to do to get by somebody? One move, this is all AI had to do (mimics crossover) … You couldn't touch Allen Iverson," Arenas said. [8:09 onwards]
Brandon Jennings countered by saying that Kyrie Irving was defended by longer and bigger guards compared to Allen Iverson. However, Rashad McCants was on Gilbert Arenas' side and thought that Iverson was harder to guard because of his crossover.
Iverson didn't invent the move, but he was the one who popularized it. It was one of the reasons why he was hard to guard back then. He won the scoring title four times in his career with the crossover as his go-to move to get past defenders and attack the basket.
On the other hand, Irving's handles came from his desire to have every counter against almost every defender he had to face, as per Bleacher Report. He even prepares a backup move as a failsafe just in case the defense throws a different look at different times of the game.
Allen Iverson thinks Kyrie Irving has the best handles ever
While people still want to debate Kyrie Irving vs. Allen Iverson, "The Answer" crowned the one-time NBA champion as the greatest ball handler in NBA history. Iverson explained in an appearance on "The Big Podcast with Shaq" why Irving has the best handles ever.
"He got the best. ... Kyrie will have you beat and then bring it back and play with it. He's toying with people, you know what I mean? He can still just go, but if he feels like playing with you," Iverson said. [H/T Sports Illustrated]
Iverson also praised Steph Curry's handles, although his shooting creates more problems for the defense. On the other hand, Shaquille O'Neal has his former teammate Jason Williams atop the list.