http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9436532/No-question,-Iverson-was-never-the-Answer That's like half the article. PWNAGE
id say its pretty low when a writer cant find anything to bash a person about so he makes fun of their family life and upbringing.... pretty low blow.. i really dont even think iverson is to blame... well surely he has some but michael curry made the absolute worst of that situation and really never ever once played to iversons strengths....
So, a player getting old is now considered proof of moral turpitude? Guess what JW.....AI has accomplished more in sports than you did, and your jealous, petty self-rightousness is just as annoying as any of his character flaws. You were born to work for Fox - and that is not intended as a compliment!
damn kickin a man when he's down. Granted AI is selfish for abandoning the pistons, but to say that he's a "failure and underachiever" is a stretch. Jason Whitlock sounds like a fucking moron most of the time. For a good 4 or 5 year strectch there wasn't one player in the NBA who played harder than A.I. on a night in and night out basis. I mean seriously does he 4get A.I. playing through injuries in '01, only to lead his team of mediocre role players to the finals? Does he remember the MVP year? The only team to beat a great Laker team in '01?...I still say if A.I. had a "little" bit of help that the sixers could've won that series.
I think throughout AI's career people just look for the negatives. He's easily the best player ever under 6ft. I mean, it was kind of selfish of him the way things happened in Detroit, but it really just wasn't working. and what does anyone care that he's not playing anyway? Everyone thinks that the Pistons are better off without him, so lets see how they do now. Iverson isn't done, he's not retiring, he is still a true baller that can take a team to the next level.
I completely disagree here. Iverson was a dominating scorer, but not a dominating player. He doesn't make players around him better because he doesn't contribute without the ball in his hands. He doesn't set screens, he was never the on-the-ball defender he could have been, and he's always been flat out selfish. Please don't site his career steals number either, because for every gamble he took trying to get a steal he gave it up a lot more often when he didn't create the turnover. There's no chance the 76ers would have beat that Lakers team in 2001. They were lucky to win one game in the series. The Lakers steam rolled their way to the Finals that season and took out their toughest competitor in the WCF. What other help could Iverson have used? He had the DPOY in Mutombo, 6th man of the year in McKie, and a perfect cast of role players who were willing to do the little things and allow Iverson free reign to score majority of the points. What another scorer help? Absolutely not, because Iveson wouldn't trust anyone else with that responsibility. The 76ers tried numerous scoring options to pair with Iverson and it never worked out. ie Stackhouse, Hughes. I remember Larry Brown was so pissed at him during a practice because Iverson wasn't passing the ball he told the other 4 teammates on his practice team to sit down. He told Iverson to take the ball and check it inbounds. Iverson stood there dumbfounded with the ball in his hands with no one to pass to making Brown's point. You need teammates to play this game. Jason Whitlock's article was over the top, but there is some substance there. Iverson didn't ask to be traded to Detroit, but he quit because they didn't want to make him the focal point of the offense. He wasn't willing to play a role, come off the bench and help groom the younger backcourt players. That's a dick move and a prime example of his selfishness. Answer_AI03, I agree he shouldn't retire, but until he's willing to accept he's no longer option A, B & C on offense he's not going to help a team win or put them over the top.
I agree with shape on this, to say iverson is not a selfish player is pretty much summing up your total knowledge of basketball, zero. Iverson doesnt play for his team, he doesnt play for his teammates, he doesnt play for the home crowd or the home city for which "plays" for, he plays for his own self-gratification, he is a stats guy. just like stephan marbury, he is begining to allienate himself. remember iverson in the olympic team? what a display of stupidity, not even playing for his country! and his hero is tupac...um, yeah, if tupac is your hero then you must be insane, thats like saying marbury is your hero, but a whole lot worse. iverson embraces his thug persona like its a manly trait to have, but he is not a real man at all, he is selfish and self centered and one of my most hated people in the nba, he is what gives nba its bad name, a league full of selfish, overpaid ballhogs who are wasting their talent. fuk iverson detroit used to be good, what a complete failure of a man, no, a boy, a boy the same age as a man, one who hasnt learned the lessons given to him in life to grow and become an adult.
are you kidding?....Mckie was a banged up 6th man in that series. What other big offensive options did he have......Eric Snow????? Yes A.I. shoots a lot, but the man had to in order for the sixers to be competitive. Just like Kobe had to when he had no talent around him. And the Lakers didn't "steam roll" anything. As I recall 4 of the 5 games in that series were actually close. A.I. was a dominant player that year and if he had more firepower around him that could've been a series. Any man who can lead his team to the 2nd best record in the league, the finals, etc. while playing with multiple injuries with a minimal supporting cast is a man who "plays hard."........end of discussion.
AI got a bit more efficient in Philly towards the end of his tenure there, but he was pretty bad early on due to the combination of not being even a mediocre Three point shooter, and being a decent but not special Free throw shooter. He was a little erratic in this last area and had a true shooting percentage of 48 that year in his playoff run, five points below the average. LA won three of those four games pretty decisively I think, with an overall margin of victory of ten the last four games. They went 15-1 for the playoffs, the best record ever in the post-season.
My point is it wouldn't have made a difference if you added another scorer with A.I. He wouldn't make use of that player and there would be a dropoff in defense by taking Snow or McKie out of the lineup. I know Iverson plays hard, but it only correlates with his scoring. If he learned how to combine playing smart with playing hard he'd be a more accomplished winner. I agree the system was built around Iverson to score, and he had to shoulder the burden for them to compete. However, jacking up low percentage shots and not playing defense falls 100% on him. It's not the same comparison with Kobe's situation in LA either. People forget how many injuries that roster had the first year Shaq left, not to mention an ineffective headcoach Rudy T who had a completely different style of coaching to PJax. Iverson had a system and roster built around him when they made it to the Finals. I think the main point about this article though is the fact Iverson still thinks he's the dominant scorer he was in the early millenium. He hasn't accepted being on a steady decline the past few seasons.
He hasn't been on a steady decline, hes been getting better, until he landed on a team that clashed with his style more than any other team in the league could have. Maybe he did decline this year, but i think its unfair to judge until next season when he can weigh his options and chose a team that wants him, and that he wants to play for. Also, how do you know another scorer couldn't have made a difference? Maybe not another guy who gets 20 shots, but a guy who could create when they needed him to. Ala Mo Williams to Lebron James.
See Jerry Stackhouse in Philly See Tim Thomas in Philly See Larry Hughes in Philly See Andre Iguodala in Philly
that might seem like a good point, but were any of those players even remotely close to their primes, or were they on the team that AI took to the finals? NO
Look at Philly's record when he played with those guys. They were not as good and later broke out after getting away from Iverson. My point is Iverson has more success being surrounded by role players who don't care about scoring and will do all the little things. Saying Iverson would have won more if he had more offensive help is a b.s. argument. Iverson would have won more if he gave more effort on the defensive end and played smarter basketball, especially in terms of his shot selection.
Gotta agree with Shape here, and it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that I am. Iverson epitomizes what it means to be selfish. Cite his assist numbers all you want, but those are completely padded by how much he had the ball in his hand. The same is said about his defense. It was never good, even though he racked up a bunch of steals. Any scrub could get 2 steals per game when they gamble on almost any pass that comes to the person you're defending. His man defense was consistently pathetic as well. To say Iverson would have won more had he been surrounded by better talent is a total cop-out and BS argument, and anyone should realize that. It wouldn't matter if he had better talent around him because he wouldn't have won a title. Look at when he was in Denver. That team had some of the most talent out of any team in the NBA, but he couldn't put them over the top. You can claim that if he had more help in Philly it would have made a difference, but I'll go ahead and throw the BS flag on that too. That system was built around him to be the 1st, 2nd and 3rd option on offense, as has been mentioned earlier. Even if they added another player (which they did on numerous occasions), he didn't take advantage of it and still played his normal, selfish, 1 on 5 style of offensive play. Iverson is and always will be a selfish player, and this season in Detroit simply epitomized it. He couldn't accept a lesser role at any point, even if it was for the good of the team. Iverson has always been about me, myself and I, and I don't think that that's ever going to change.
Well what about a "great" player like Kobe, he never did jack shit unless he had shaq, or his current team, which is easily tops in the league.
You could win more if you surround any player with talent, but the "great" Iverson was pretty awful in the early part of his career. In his best playoff run that everyone mentions he shot 39% from the field, 48 true shooting percentage? Fact is he wouldn't get to the Finals if he played in the real conference that season. That doesn't have anything to do with teammates he was just terrible. He averages 40% shooting, 48 TS% in the playoffs, all of this in his prime as the #1 player who doesn't have to give up touches. He's just not that impressive, at least not until way later. His efficiency didn't rise until the mid 2000's when he became a smarter player imo, and there was no reason for him to complain about his minutes in Detroit. He was in his last year, he wasn't going to get traded after the deadline, is he really that invested in his career averages? That definitely had nothing valuable to add to his intangibles, heart, or whatever.
Well AI with Carmelo was pretty much a failure. Denver traded AI to the Pistons, now they are the second best team in the West and the Pistons suck. Pistons weren't great, but they were competitive last year. Managed to compete and give the Celtics a scare in the Finals. Now they are a joke in the NBA, because AI is selfish and cannot accept his role. Even when he first arrived, the Pistons were horrible, even with him in the lineup. The Sixers, at the time, were at the bottom of the league, competing for the Greg Oden sweepstakes. Traded AI to the Nuggets for Andre Miller and Joe Smith. Team did a complete 180 and almost made the playoffs. So Andre Miller and Joe Smith > Allen Iverson? Bottom line? AI has a huge ego, and wants things done "his way." He cannot accept a lesser role and believes he is the #1 option, at all times. As a result? His teams struggle, again and again this has been proven. Time to stop making excuses and man up.
