<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">If Allen Iverson is The Answer, someone is asking the wrong question. The Nuggets would not win the NBA title with Allen Iverson. No team will win the NBA title with Iverson. The 76ers could not win with Iverson. The U.S. Olympic team could not win with Iverson. Georgetown could not win with Iverson. Iverson went from co-captain of America's Team to being unwelcomed on his own team, the same team he carried on his slight shoulders to the NBA Finals a few years ago, paid not to play, expunged from Philadelphia and denied international participation even after he had to ask. Anyone who looks at Iverson and sees a savior ought to turn the binoculars around. Sooner or later, everyone rejects Iverson, his coaches - five in the past five years - his teammates, his employers, his nation, or at least Team USA mentor Jerry Colangelo. Iverson will eventually be just too much trouble, and eventually could mean somewhere in the second quarter. There is no denying he is a nice little player, Iverson. Nice selfish little player. Plays hard. Can score. Causes trouble. Is defensive, not on the court, just in the world. Couldn't cover a sneeze with a tablecloth. Bad idea Iverson. An eye magnet, sure, that's Iverson. He is worth watching if you like loose threads on a dinner jacket. He is the olive in the salad - can't miss him, can't digest him. He would not be a bargain for the Nuggets, except that maybe Iverson and Carmelo Anthony would need only the single hairdresser. Iverson is almost everything the NBA has denied that it is, that it is not a league of punks and posers, that you love this game and not this guy or that guy and most certainly, please, not that Iverson. The NBA has passed rules to curb the bling that Iverson not only embodies but spreads, an infection of casual insolence, poor fashion and enough loud jewelry to anchor a cruise ship. And an attitude. Me first, you never. Iverson is just too seriously peculiar for comfort, like the nutty uncle at the picnic. You try to keep him away from the folks you have to do business with during the week. Iverson is the most distinctive creature to inhabit the NBA since Dennis Rodman, except with Iverson, tackiness is not an act. He seems, in fact, a rather decent sort, burdened by an obligation to be liked, if always on his terms. Iverson insists people have not tried to understand him, as if it is their duty to do so. Certainly basketball at the Pepsi Center would be more interesting and life around the Nuggets would be louder, a clash of posses maybe more a problem than any clash between Anthony and Iverson. Anthony apparently wants Iverson, this coming from a summer vacation in Athens during the Olympics, when Iverson played harder than anyone on the U.S. team and Anthony played almost not at all. Maybe there was a bonding of outcasts there, Iverson understanding how a young player could not get along with Larry Brown, since Iverson was one himself. But Iverson really does not get along with anybody; that is, anybody with whom he must share the basketball. Things are done on his schedule, from his vision, at his speed. If Iverson had clashes with Brown, his dealing with George Karl will make anything that Kenyon Martin did look like passing out hymnals. Following the truism that one great player is not enough, other good and some great players were added to Iverson in Philadelphia. He managed not to make anyone of them - the most recent example being Chris Webber - better. In fact, he made them worse. There is no reason to believe Iverson would not do the same to Anthony. He is not likely to accommodate his instincts in service of Anthony, to shoot only when Anthony has no shot, to dish when Anthony is open, to not dominate the ball but give it up. As remarkable as Iverson is as an individual attraction, too small to do what he does, too frail to do it as long as he has, all of that, he fits in about as well as a marble in the meat loaf. How desperate the Nuggets must be to consider taking this distraction into their parlor. This is not to say that it wouldn't work out. Not every garden slug ruins the tomatoes. Not every odor soils the carpet. Not every tattooed, head-banded, self-absorbed, me-first brat refuses to work well with others. Although none comes to mind. </div> Source Very well written piece. This is how I feel about Iverson going to a lot of the suggested teams. The bottomline, Denver is not going to win a title with Iverson. They'll improve, but the ends don't justify the means, and Denver would waste better opportunities to build around Carmelo Anthony. The only smart move in acquiring Iverson would be shipping out Kenyon Martin or Nene's outrageous contracts. Portland blew off the Nene rumor, and said they want no part of having to pay him and his suspect knees. No one will want KMart either, because he's out for the season, and has been consistently injured since he put on a Denver jersey.
All though I do question how AI would play alongside Melo, I think the writer has the wrong preception about AI. How was it Allen's fault that Team USA got Bronze? This writer acts like he was out there jacking up the shots, when in reality he was the best distributor Team USA had. This dude said he didn't make Chris Webber better? What the hell? Who could make Webber better? Thats the biggest load of junk I've heard in awhile. Webber also got his fair amount of shots last year didn't he? He also averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds. Nice selfish player? All great players are selfish to an extent; and the last time I checked not many players have averaged 30 and 7 in a season before. Allen is a scorer, but the selfish thing is played out because he does an ok job at setting people up. AI is also far from selfish when he is surrounded by talent, you put him next to better than average players and he'll be fine; put him on the Timberwolves and they could be contenders. Saying AI won't ever when a championship with anybody is just blatant hate to me. How could you predict such a thing when a player has spent 10 years on one franchise?
I think this guy's headline is right the rest of this article is so biased and negative that any good points he might have made I missed because I stopped reading about 1/3 of the way through. It's easy to see this isn't an objective article just a hateful tirade and therefor has no value to anyone actually interested in basketball. He says in the first sentence teams can't win with him, then less than a paragraph later acknowledges Iverson dragging his team to the finals. Way to make a point lol.
There is some biased, but this is a Denver writer making a stance against the team trading for Iverson. Like I mentioned, Iverson alone will not put Denver into Championship contenders. Landing him also restricts the team's ability to build around their franchise player, Carmelo Anthony, UNLESS they can ship out Nene or KMart. Air Fresh, you really think Minnesota can win a title with KG & AI? Minnesota is going to have to ship out 3 or 4 players just to match Iverson's salary. They won't have the depth to compete because a team of 2 is not going to beat a team of 8. The Western Conference is loaded with two star duos, but those teams also have a lot of depth. Duncan & Parker Amare & Nash Odom & Kobe Boozer & Williams Yao & TMac (if he ever gets healthy) Dirk & Howard All those teams have two stars and a deep bench. KG & AI are great and would probably work, but after those two, the talent level nosedives in comparison. In a 7 game series they wouldn't stand a chance.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">There is some biased, but this is a Denver writer making a stance against the team trading for Iverson. Like I mentioned, Iverson alone will not put Denver into Championship contenders. Landing him also restricts the team's ability to build around their franchise player, Carmelo Anthony, UNLESS they can ship out Nene or KMart. Air Fresh, you really think Minnesota can win a title with KG & AI? Minnesota is going to have to ship out 3 or 4 players just to match Iverson's salary. They won't have the depth to compete because a team of 2 is not going to beat a team of 8. The Western Conference is loaded with two star duos, but those teams also have a lot of depth. Duncan & Parker Amare & Nash Odom & Kobe Boozer & Williams Yao & TMac (if he ever gets healthy) Dirk & Howard All those teams have two stars and a deep bench. KG & AI are great and would probably work, but after those two, the talent level nosedives in comparison. In a 7 game series they wouldn't stand a chance.</div> Maybe not win a championship no, but in my opinion having AI and KG makes the Timberwolves a legitmate threat. It wouldn't take much to make them better either, they would just need some other solid role players. I also think having AI and KG together would attract interest in other players as well. So who knows what could happen. Also its possible another team could get involved in the trade so where Minny wouldn't have to send 3 or 4 players to the 76ers.
Seems like this article may be falling on deaf ears: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">NBA league sources say that the Denver Nuggets are close to a deal that would bring All-star point guard Allen Iverson from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Mile High City. The sources say the deal could be reached as early as Friday. Iverson demanded a trade from Philadelphia, where he has played his entire career. A source familiar with negotiations sas it would be a complicated trade involving at least three teams and at least five players. In addition, the Nuggets would likely have to give up both of their first round draft picks in the next draft. Philadelphia 76ers management has said every team in the NBA contacted them about acquiring Iverson. The point-guard is the leading vote-getter at his position in the Eastern Conference in All-star balloting.</div> Source
Disagree with this article. If you saw what happened when LA traded Shaq to Miami, you'll notice that Shaq sacrificed his game for the sake of Wade. This trade could work if Iverson were to defer to Anthony (when he gets back of course) and dominate only when necessary. It is Carmelo's team anyway.
I doubt that this will be the only move the nuggets make this season. I believe earl boykins is on the trading block, and so is nene. Its still possible for this team to make a couple changes and get better defensively on the perimeter. the offense can easliy be carried by iverson and anthony, but there defense seems to be a weakness that needs to be fixed. they definately need a bigger back up pg, and maybe nene to a team where the nuggets can get two decent players back.
