<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">PHILADELPHIA -- For years, the young players on the 76ers could lean on Allen Iverson when things went well and blame him when they didn't. Now, Iverson is gone and so are their excuses. It's finally showtime for Andre Iguodala, Kyle Korver and Samuel Dalembert. Those are the young players who were supposed to complement Iverson, the role players general manager Billy King felt this team needed to contend for an NBA championship. Well, we all know how that turned out. Now, nobody expects the 76ers to contend for anything except a lottery pick, and they appear to be a shoo-in for that -- on Wednesday night, the Sixers lost their fifth straight game since announcing their divorce from Iverson, falling to the Boston Celtics 101-81. So the focus is on the future, and the rest of this season will determine who will be a part of that future. And Iverson isn't around anymore to distort that focus. In the past, when one of the young 76ers had a bad game or, more likely, an invisible game, everyone could point to Iverson's ball-hogging as the reason why. The rest of the Sixers would stand around with their hands on their hips, waiting for A.I. to finish whatever it was he was going to do, and it was easy to overlook Iguodala's inconsistency and Korver's streaky shooting and the fact that Dalembert seemed lost most of the time. No more. The young Sixers -- and these guys are in their third, fourth and fifth seasons, so they're not even that young anymore -- can't blame anybody but themselves if their careers continue to go nowhere. When Iverson left, so did his 25 shots a game, and somebody else has to take those shots. Now, they just have to make them. "The guys have to take advantage of their opportunities," coach Maurice Cheeks said. "That's my message to them all of the time." But it's hard to tell whether that message is getting through, as the 76ers' kids have have been as inconsistent and/or invisible as they were with Iverson.</div> Source
Yep, it's time for them to show and prove. No more excuses. They won't get the job done though, nobody is capable of being a consistent threat, so they just better get used to the idea of being in the lottery this year and having quite a few balls in there.
<div class="quote_poster">AIFan Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yep, it's time for them to show and prove. No more excuses. They won't get the job done though, nobody is capable of being a consistent threat, so they just better get used to the idea of being in the lottery this year and having quite a few balls in there.</div> I don't think anyone expects the 76ers to compete after trading Iverson. When you trade a superstar nowadays, whether you intend to or not, your going into rebuilding mode. However, in the long run the 76ers are going to benefit tremendously from this move, especially if the rumored trade with Denver goes down. If that should happen the 76ers would have three 1st round picks in the deepest, most talented draft in years. If they can get Greg Oden, and perhaps a Durant type player they will have a great young nucleus for years. Then factor in Webber's contract coming off the books just in time for one of the biggest free agent classes in years, and you got yourself a playoff team if everything goes well, possibly a title contender in a few years.
<div class="quote_poster">GameFace Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't think anyone expects the 76ers to compete after trading Iverson. When you trade a superstar nowadays, whether you intend to or not, your going into rebuilding mode. However, in the long run the 76ers are going to benefit tremendously from this move, especially if the rumored trade with Denver goes down. If that should happen the 76ers would have three 1st round picks in the deepest, most talented draft in years. If they can get Greg Oden, and perhaps a Durant type player they will have a great young nucleus for years. Then factor in Webber's contract coming off the books just in time for one of the biggest free agent classes in years, and you got yourself a playoff team if everything goes well, possibly a title contender in a few years.</div>So are you agreeing that Allen Iverson was the team, and that it wasn't a case of them simply not getting an opprotunity? Just out of spite for Billy King and Ed Snider, I hope they don't even come close to getting Greg Oden.
<div class="quote_poster">AIFan Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">So are you agreeing that Allen Iverson was the team, and that it wasn't a case of them simply not getting an opprotunity? Just out of spite for Billy King and Ed Snider, I hope they don't even come close to getting Greg Oden.</div> Uh..I actually hope we do, lol.
<div class="quote_poster">AIFan Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">So are you agreeing that Allen Iverson was the team, and that it wasn't a case of them simply not getting an opprotunity? </div> It was actually a combination of both. Obviously, Allen is the teams best player by far. However, when he is on the court his mere presence intimidates the opponents and his teammates as well. I think the 76ers did a horrible job of surrounding him with talent, but at the same time I do believe AI could of been a better leader, and the situation would have turned out better.
<div class="quote_poster">GameFace Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">It was actually a combination of both. Obviously, Allen is the teams best player by far. However, when he is on the court his mere presence intimidates the opponents and his teammates as well. I think the 76ers did a horrible job of surrounding him with talent, but at the same time I do believe AI could of been a better leader, and the situation would have turned out better.</div>Better leader by sacrificing wins for more defaulting to inconsistent scrubs for the sole sake of helping them come into their own? I thought the goal of each season was to try to win a championship. If AI shoots 5 less shots per game, his team loses alot more games and he catches alot more flak than he's getting now. I can live with the fact that he's catching flak now, he had no choice but to play the way he did, best believe he will fit into the game plan on his next team and won't pout if he doesn't get 30 shots per game.
<div class="quote_poster">AIFan Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Better leader by sacrificing wins for more defaulting to inconsistent scrubs for the sole sake of helping them come into their own? I thought the goal of each season was to try to win a championship. If AI shoots 5 less shots per game, his team loses alot more games and he catches alot more flak than he's getting now. I can live with the fact that he's catching flak now, he had no choice but to play the way he did, best believe he will fit into the game plan on his next team and won't pout if he doesn't get 30 shots per game.</div> Better leader in terms of getting his teammates involved, much in the way Kobe Bryant has done this year. Allen Iverson could have been a better leader if he constantly showed up to practice on time, encouraged his teammates more, and took that extra step to be an even greater player. Don't get me wrong I love Iverson. He is a sure fire hall of famer, but his leadership abilities could have been better.
<div class="quote_poster">GameFace Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Better leader in terms of getting his teammates involved, much in the way Kobe Bryant has done this year. Allen Iverson could have been a better leader if he constantly showed up to practice on time, encouraged his teammates more, and took that extra step to be an even greater player. Don't get me wrong I love Iverson. He is a sure fire hall of famer, but his leadership abilities could have been better.</div>Not that I think AI was perfect, but I don't fault him for doing what he thought was needed in order to go for the W's. Kobe caught hell the last couple of years for trying to do it all himself and not getting his teammates involved and this year he seems to be doing just that so big up to Kobe. I have no doubt in my mind that AI will do the same with his next team, he will not play the same way he did in Philly
