Iverson to Europe?

¹²³ · Apr 6, 2009

EUROPE

The rational among us never believed that the exodus of a dozen or so NBA role players to Europe last summer meant we should start buying the hysterical stories about Kobe Bryant and LeBron James getting one-year overseas offers of $30 million or more.

Apart from the free-spending Angelopoulos brothers from Greek League power Olympiacos -- known better stateside as the team that signed Josh Childress away from the Atlanta Hawks last summer -- pretty much no one has money to spend over there. Basketball simply isn't a revenue-generating sport in most foreign countries, where tiny, rundown arenas and a skeletal infrastructure are the norms.

It always was more likely, even before the global economic downturn hit European basketball harder than it hit the NBA, that the next big name to move abroad would be a former All-Star at the end of his career, just like we saw in the '80s (Bob McAdoo) and '90s (Dominique Wilkins).

Someone like Stephon Marbury.

Or someone like Iverson … assuming he's even interested in playing something other than NBA basketball.

One Eastern Conference general manager immediately tossed out the European option for A.I., since there would be no shortage of shots, minutes and adulation if he went to, say, Italy, Spain or Greece.

That GM, though, quickly caught himself, remembering how scarce money will be this summer for players seeking international work.

"It would have to be a Greek team," he said.
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¹²³ · Apr 6, 2009

That leaves the last two options listed, Europe and retirement. Iverson's star power is World-wide and he is followed closing by basketball fans all over the Earth. So much so that MLive's piston page and forum have been translated in Chinese basketball forums when Iverson is mentioned. So A.I. would have no trouble finding a team in Europe(or some other international basketball outlet) to pay him handsomely for his services. This is something Iverson might have to think about, but is it something he would want to do?
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ChadWick · Apr 6, 2009

Not happening...He would retire before playing over there...

¹²³ · Apr 6, 2009

ChadWick said: ↑

Not happening...He would retire before playing over there...
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Probably, unless some team found a way to throw an unbeleiveable amount of money at him.

¹²³ · Jul 15, 2009

L.A. ain’t the Answer, A.I.: Come to Europe!

I’ve been waiting to talk trash to my NBA-supremacist friends ever since the announcement in April of an imminent deal between free agent Allen Iverson and Olympiacos: Ha! That’s what you get for trying to make a Hall of Fame stud sit on the bench for some second-rank team in the ‘States! Think Europe’s top teams can’t play the financial ballgame with the US? Think again! And you know what? A.I. is just the first in what’s gonna be a wave of Hall of Fame-level players jumping the ocean in the ‘10s. I mean, you know Kobe’ll end up playing/coaching/GMing for Olimpia Milano before it’s over, and it’s a matter of time before some player in his prime decides to give a Barcelona or Moscow a try … it’s multinationalism, baby!

All right, all right, so Iverson-to-Olympiacos was hardly a done deal. But, um, here, look: Marc Stein mentions “Europe” – and Olympiacos specifically – as the no. 3 potential destination for The Answer. (Since since positions no. 1 and 2 are held by the now-spurned Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Clippers, always a brilliant negotiator, might not the Angelopoulos brothers be considering inking up a contract draft?) And here’s some high-level speculation … and, and … here’s a comment about Olympiacos on Iverson’s semi-official fan site.

So imagine my disappointment when i read this tragic (and absurd, really) news.

Wishful thinking, I know, but pondering how the typical Iverson boxscore line – say 8-for-25 shooting from the floor to go with 10-for-12 at the line for 29 points – would translate in the shorter European game simply made me giddy with excitement. Not to mention the possibility of teaming him with Childress and watching the duo first take control of Olympiacos on the floor, then proceed to cut through Greek and Euroleague competition while Ioannis Bourousis destroys rebounding records weekly.

Seriously, Monsieur Iverson, if you and/or your agent is reading this, we as a continent would ask you to consider jumping the puddle for the following reasons, among many many others.

• It’s a fresh start. Admit it, Answer: You and just about every other basketballer not named Shaquille O’Neal wishes more often than you admit that you could start all over again. Well, playing in Europe won’t regenerate your body, but it does give you a clean page with which to write a new chapter. After things with the Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons kind of blew up, this would be a swell time to begin anew.

• It’s an image redo. Over there in America, you never really got the love you deserved, despite the fact that you gave up the body night after night, typically playing hard even in lost-cause games. But in several European countries, you could inspire a generation of youngsters and probably, what, double your hardcore fanbase? Imagine the endorsement opportunities for “Die Antwort” here and back in the ‘States, the way you might parlay a couple of Spanish phrases into an entire international Nike, Gatorade, or McDonald’s advertising campaign. It’s multinationalism, baby!

• They won’t be able to answer the Answer. Okay, so no one’s been intimidated by the fearless out-of-control American crashing the paint since Team Croatia absorbed the Dream Team’s punishment in the ’92 Olympics, but this continent has never seen the likes of you, A.I. You need to bring that hard-won streetball game to Europe, if only to see the immediate reaction. So Shaq’s the Big Socrates – big deal. You could be the American Basketball Socrates, corrupting the youth of Europe with a whole new philosophy…

• Dude, you would start. Supposedly, though willing to pay out big money on a single-season contract, the Clippers are inflexible about the whole starting thing. Allen, Allen, Allen – Flex the short-term memory a little and recall how that went with Detroit last season. You don’t want that again, especially for a perpetual loser, do you? Well, do you?

• Think of no. 1 overall draft pick Blake Griffin’s career. Check out Wikipedia.org for “Kwame Brown” to get what i’m saying here.

• You’re not a comedian. Look, everyone who follows basketball is hoping that you sign with the other Los Angeles team strictly to see the NBA’s baddest player teamed up with the NBA’s worst coach, if only to dig on ESPN.com writer/Clipper season ticket-holder Bill Simmons’ daily rants about the latest battles between “Dumbleavy” and Iverson-and-Griffin and Baron Davis and god knows who else. But you don’t want that, do you?

• If we’re talking Olympiacos specifically, please remember that the Angelopoulos boys are not only generous, they’re also shrewd. Think Donald Sterling knows how to throw the big bucks because he wants to give you six-plus million a year? Hah! The Angelopouloses gave that to Childress last season and, unlike Donald Sterling, are actually committed to Olympiacos winning and winning big. The Clippers, meanwhile … ah, you know the rest.

• Greece is the place to be right now. Sure, your agent is seductively whispering to you about Los Angeles, an American basketball epicenter for decades now, but that L.A. mystique somehow completely avoids gracing the City of Angels’ second franchise at all. Greece, meanwhile, is enjoying something a basketball Renaissance at present, both in terms of youth output and international competition. Forget Boston and Indiana, forget nowheresvilles like Memphis and Washington. Forget the ‘States altogether: Think Athens, A.I. You could spice the Greek game forever, thereby achieving basketball immortality in two countries.
Imagine Allen “The Greek God” Iverson for a little while, and we’ll meet you at the airport whenever you arrive.
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¹²³ · Aug 3, 2009

Report: Olympiacos to offer Allen Iverson $10 million

Yes! In possible fulfillment of this writer’s dream for the 2009-10 Euroleague season, Lithuania-based Basketworld.lt is today reporting that Olympiacos will be extending a contract offer to Allen Iverson.

Reportedly, Olympiacos officials are ready to offer free agent Iverson a two-year, $10 million deal, “exactly the same proposal that was presented to Nate Robinson” earlier this year.

With nothing else on his table, you know A.I. will be thinking about this one … Ball in Europe sure hopes so.

Special thanks to Ball In Europe reader OlympiacosFAN for the tip!
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NJNetz · Aug 3, 2009

He'll dominate.

Mamba · Aug 3, 2009

If he wants to play ball for money, he'll go to Europe.

¹²³ · Aug 5, 2009

Maybe he wants fans like this:

[video=youtube;tji_KO7zBD4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tji_KO7zBD4[/video]

¹²³ · Sep 21, 2009

Iverson confirms Olympiacos offer, may yet play in Greece

While on his promotional tour through Europe, Allen Iverson has stated that he did indeed receive a formal offer from Olympiacos this summer, but ultimately declined the offer “due to family commitments.”

Greek-language website Red Planet, via Goal magazine, reported Iverson making the statement on Olympiacos’ contract offer after checking out Marc Gasol’s play for Team Spain. A.I. also threw in something of a tantalizing tease: Though saying “It was not the right time for me, and I preferred Memphis,” Iverson stated that the door to Greece is “definitely not closed” and the opportunity to play in Greece “may come” for The Answer.

Perhaps a season with the perpetually hapless Memphis Grizzlies will convince A.I. to jump across the ocean; after the relatively poor response Iverson’s free status received, it certainly remains conceivable that he’ll be suiting up for The Reds before all is said and done in his Hall of Fame career.
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onetwosports · Dec 15, 2009

Black Mamba said: ↑

If he wants to play ball for money, he'll go to Europe.
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Yes he can go

Blacklight · Jan 16, 2010

¹²³ said: ↑

Probably, unless some team found a way to throw an unbeleiveable amount of money at him.
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yeah some teams are ready to spit out lots of amount for AI to play in Europe.

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