<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Incentive. Defined as a form of motivation, easily described as that extra push, it is something Allen Iverson has never lacked in his basketball career. Once tip-off time arrived. Throw the ball up and he goes for it fiercely. Deny him the ball and he grouses and moans. Paid or broke, injured or healthy, Iverson is his own spark plug, igniting a furor inside himself that is unseen in so many athletes on so many nights. Playing the game has never been his issue. Leading has been his problem. Now the Olympics are on the horizon, and Iverson is a cocaptain of the U.S. basketball team, purportedly because he has matured. "This summer is a huge chance for this kid," Team USA coach Larry Brown has said repeatedly. "This is another chance for him to shine, to show how much he's matured and grown." Yet it's only a step - the biggest of which comes once the summer ends and Tim Duncan, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are back in their respective cities, and the tag of proverbial favorite belongs to any team but the 76ers. In America, this gorgeous mosaic known as the land of opportunity, it's nice to see that the Sixers' mercurial superstar has been handed the baton, afforded another opportunity to prove how much he's grown. But if you're a Philadelphia fan, aching to erase perpetual second-tier status, you couldn't care less how much Iverson grows during the Games in Athens, Greece. Not if it comes at the expense of the coming season. The Sixers are coming off an accident-that-actually-happened season, a 33-49 debacle, with a new coach, new personnel and a familiar general manager/president vowing that we'll witness a new attitude. As bad as the Sixers' record was last season, it was dwarfed by the dysfunctional attitude that permeated the core of this franchise, penetrating the psyche of its superstar and piercing the hearts of fans whose attitudes went from skepticism to disgust.</div> <div align="center">Link</div> Iverson's priority must be the Sixers... As well it should be. This season is going to be different from his all his other seasons. Not only will this season be the dawn of a new beginning, but the next step in his career as he starts to mature. I believe he has something to prove next season. Coach Brown has departed to Detroit and had his best season as a coach and on the flipside Allen Iverson had his worst season. But that was the past and he now has a coach that WANTS to coach him, and he?s taking on more of a leadership role starting with the Olympic Team and is out to prove to the world that he doesn?t need someone to push him like Croce and Brown did. But in your opinion what do you think Allen Iverson is out to accomplish this upcoming season? And what do you expect from him?
I expect Iverson to have a GREAT . I believe he can and will lead this team to a 3rd seed. /his stas will be sometinh like this PPG-24.6 APG- 8.8 RPG- 3.9 SG- 2.69 BPG- .27 FG%- 465%( I hope) FT%- 79.4% Iverson now trust his teammates and will not be afriad to pass to them this year. He will stop trying to do everything by himself. His pPg wil go down but his FG% will go up. I expect him to get some MVP consideration. Yes coach Jim O Brien is a perfect fit for AI IMO.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Avery:</div><div class="quote_post"><div align="center">Link</div> Iverson's priority must be the Sixers... As well it should be. This season is going to be different from his all his other seasons. Not only will this season be the dawn of a new beginning, but the next step in his career as he starts to mature. I believe he has something to prove next season. Coach Brown has departed to Detroit and had his best season as a coach and on the flipside Allen Iverson had his worst season. But that was the past and he now has a coach that WANTS to coach him, and he?s taking on more of a leadership role starting with the Olympic Team and is out to prove to the world that he doesn?t need someone to push him like Croce and Brown did. But in your opinion what do you think Allen Iverson is out to accomplish this upcoming season? And what do you expect from him?</div> IMO this season AI is out to accomplish what every person who dreams of playing in the nba and being a superstar dreams of and expects... to win a nba title. He has already said he sees a nba title coming his way soon and players like iverson never want to settle for second best or faliure he will do his best to get the team to the finals and win this year like he tries to do every year he is in the nba and should. Also I am pretty sure he is expecting to win a gold metal with team USA in the olympics as well and come back better than ever to make a run at a title and possible the mvp award. Though some may not think AI and the sixers can get there a player every year he is in the nba has to go into the season with the mind set this is my year to get the title or else they will never win. This is the dawn of the new era for the sixers the short lived ayers and ford era was never really a rennassaince for the sixers because they werent big named coaches and were never expected to have a long stay with philly or coach the team well and replace larry brown as a philly icon in coaching history. Though O'brien being a philly native and a home town favorite can do that along with AI because he demands respect and will earn it. Edit- Ai's stats points- 28 rebounds -5 assists- 6.7 field goal percentage -44%
In recent interviews Jim O'Brien said he's going to let Allen Iverson be Allen Iverson. And by that he means the offensive juggernaut that he is. So I predict his stats will look something like this: PPG- 28.2 RPG- 3.8 ASP- 7.0 SPG- 2.39 FG %- 41 % Ft %- 78 % TO- 3.4
All this predicting and positive outlook stuff is all fine and dandy. However, I think the Sixers will go only as far as their "big" men will take them. They need to rebound like crazy to make the running game work. If their bigs do not produce, the Sixers are toast.
I like the way that everything is shaping up so far, he will get a chance to get more experience with the Olympic team, will try out his point thing there as well, as Brown might switch him from the two to the one. However everything is fine and dandy as Dond said but it is truly the big men that will produce the push for any kind of run, let alone an unseeable title run. The east is shaping up as big man's land this season where you have Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal, Big Ben, and others out there to stop the inexperienced Samuel Dalembert and scrappy Skinner, and Jackson. Even if our offense will call for us to run, we still need to be defensive minded, and I do not think Samuel can answer our problems just yet, we need another big man. As for Iverson, I wouldn't go out there and say that he will have an MVP type season, sure he'll get his in all areas (finally), but it will be guys like Kobe, and Garnett again that he will have more of a push for that title. He will no doubt be a great player, and with his point guard role and big name might even overshadow Jason Kidd as a point guard on the all-NBA first team list. However as far as his stats go, I see him having the same shot execution that he has had throughout his career, guys will still want to get at Allen and shut him down, no matter who is at the two spot. His assists will improve dramatically, we had seen him average seven assists per game last season, when he was playing both positions. Now with a hopefully healthy season and playing only one position in a run-and-gun type of system he could very well dish out ten assists per game. As for his points they could drop a point or two, allowing him to be that 25 and 10 guy. I hate doing statistical predictions before a season because who knows how accurate they will be, and we cannot rely on some flashy journalist or a few words spoken by our superstar player as a sign of a successful season.
It looks like Allen Iverson is starting to get serious about winning,we arent there yet but maybe in a another season of two Dalembert willl reach his potential and the Sixers will be at there best and probally have a better chance to make it far in the play offs. We have a good future and we have a pretty good defensive team,we have a good shot blocker in Sammy,a good overall defender in Iggy and the rest of are team are pretty good defenders. As for the Sixers and AI this season I think it will be an ok season we might not go far in the play offs but we will show some signs of being a good team in the future,I think AI will be a lot better he might not be as quick as he once was but maybe he will shoot better and take better shots.Here are my predictions for AI stats. PPG:28.3 APG:7.2 RPG:3.8 SPG:2.31 FG:41% FT:83% TPG:2.7
This season is definatly going to be better then last year..it was a nightmare..Iverson is gonna be back fully healthy and bouncing around the court everywhere trying to get the team a W which usually happens everytime he puts up 30 or more points..his stats willl be something like this PPG- 28.5 RPG- 3.8 ASP- 7.5 SPG- 2.81 FG %- 41 % or 40% Ft %- 79 % TO- 3.8
I like Stephen A. Smith, I agree with a lot of the stuff he says and he is real honest of what he says. AI stats 24ppg,6apg,3rpg,2.5spg
