At this rate, Gilbert Arenas will piss off every retired NBA veteran by the end of the year. Two-time champion Mark Aguirre took issue this time around with Agent Zero's condescending take on the talent of past players. The former Detroit Piston went passive-aggressive on Gil, dismissing the three-time All-Star's contribution to the game.
"I don't know his background. If I don't know your background, why should I be listening to you?" the Muffin Man said . "I don't even know your background. Why should I be listening to Gilbert Arenas? Give me one reason why I should be listening to Gilbert Arenas?"
"If you MJ, OK. If you Magic, OK. If you, Shaq, OK. If you Kobe, OK. I listen to ya'll. Why should I be listening to Gilbert Arenas? Gilbert Arenas, listen to what you saying. Gilbert Arenas?" Aguirre added.
The message is unambiguous; Gil's words don't hold enough water. To the Pillsbury Doughboy, his resume isn't up there with the legends he mentioned to make him sit down and listen.
'I'll kill 'em on an individual level'
The guys at Gil's Arena wanted the former Wizards All-Star to answer back. Still, Arenas was uncharacteristically at a loss for words. His only intelligible answer was: "I'll kill 'em on an individual level." Let's see if that claim even holds up.
While Arenas was one of his era's best-scoring point guards, Aguirre was no slouch either. The latter was the first overall pick of 1981, averaging at least 22 points in six of his first seven seasons. On the other hand, Gilbert's best run was a three-season stretch from 2004 to 2006, and then, his career came tumbling down after injuries.
As for Aguirre, he impressively adjusted his game after his early starring years. The Pistons traded for him in 1988 and immediately reaped the benefits: Mark was the perfect scorer to complement Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars in the Bad Boys' first title. Then, he accepted a reserve role in 1990 and formed a high-scoring tandem off the bench with Vinnie "The Microwave" Johnson.
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Prime on prime, Agent Zero's individual scoring skills were elite. However, Aguirre was a dominant force for many years. In fact, the Muffin Man held the highest single-season PPG (29.5 PPG in 1983-84) for the Mavs franchise before Luka Doncic came in.
"The defense knew Mark was coming every night, and they couldn't do a damn thing about it," former teammate Rolando Blackman told Mavs.com. "They were wasting all that damn chalk on the board. I don't even know why they wrote those (defensive strategies to contain Aguirre) on the chalkboard. He was just wearing them out from the low block, outside, inside. It was just all over the place."
More importantly, their playoff portfolios were anything but identical. Gil never led the Wizards past the second round and was only along for the ride in two of his five postseason trips. On the other hand, Aguirre took Magic and the mighty Lakers to seven games in the 1988 Western Conference Finals! He averaged 25/7/3 on 52% shooting in that series.
Going up and down the tale of the tape does not favor Gilbert Arenas in any way. Hibachi helped usher in the era of scoring point guards, but he should be careful who he's up against.
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