<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"Allen is coming off what I feel was a strong summer for him," O'Brien said of Iverson's performance with the U.S. Olympic team in Greece. "They [settled for a bronze medal], but I felt his leadership was excellent, and I felt good about the way he represented our country. I was very proud of the job he did, and I know he's very hungry to change things around from the 33 wins the Sixers had last season. "I don't deal from a negative standpoint. Every NBA player has wear and tear. Williamson is coming off elbow surgery, Marc Jackson [22 games last season] and Aaron McKie have wear and tear on their bodies. Allen definitely does. "But I see his playing during the summer as a positive thing, from the standpoint of preparation for this season. I was happy with the way he moved, with the way he drove the ball to the basket. He didn't play a full season in the NBA. His injuries were significant enough to keep him out of more games than he had missed in his career, but they were something he could recover from.</div> <div align="center">Full Story</div> <font color="DarkRed"><font size="1"><div align="center">(Registration Required)</div></font></font> Hopefully, they will start off on the right foot. I for one don't want another season of the "Iverson and Brown" soap opera, so O'Brien appreciation of Allen Iverson is a very good sign. Whether Iverson feels the same way about him, it's yet to be determined, however let's just hope O'Brien doesn't get too fond of him and let Iverson get away with things. And while we came to conclusion that Iverson is indeed a changed man, don't let the talk manipulate you too much in thinking that we won?t see the old Iverson again, because we will. Iverson will show us shades of his old self old somewhere in the season, and hopefully his bond with O?Brien will cut the changes of that happening. But all in all, it's good to see that he's confident in Iverson and the team and just maybe they can have a great season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"They [settled for a bronze medal],</div> No, they were RELAGATED to a bronze medal. Settled indicates that they had a choice in the matter. There's a big difference. PS: There's no doubt that OB is going to try to be AI's best friend. It's the same way he gave carte blanche to PP and AW when he was coaching in Boston.
The reason I bealive that this relationship between Iverson and Jim Obrien will work is because,JO is trying to make an effort to get to know Allen and all of the other Sixers.
