Bleacher Report - NBA History

Best NBA Players of the 00's

Joe Gerrity — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:55:47 -0500

As part of an ongoing series we will be looking at which player had the best decade. There were four stars who were in their primes during these years, all of whom had multiple all star appearances, MVP's, championships and too many accolades to fit in this little text box. I think most will agree that between Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, and Shaq we have covered the premier NBA players throughout the last decade. But who really was the best? To start with let's determine what makes a players the best of a decade. Big three statistics- Arguable the most useful indicator of a players accomplishments are his points (and how he got them), rebounds, and assists. They are totally 100% objective records of what happened. I'll take other stats into account, but only as part of broader discussion. Defense- This is one aspect of the game that really isn't always rewarded by typical statistics. Sure we can look at advanced plus/minus numbers, but I've always found my eye to be pretty reliable when judging a player's defensive merit. Titles- In order to be the best you really need to win. Although all of these players didn't win a title, with only five men on the court at a time, basketball is a rarity. A team sport, where one individual player can carry a team on his back. Awards- Just to keep things objective it's important to look at what professional sports writers thought about these guys throughout the decade. @Lebron fans- I can't in good conscience include him in the discussion for player of the decade since he missed four years of it and never won a title.

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To Ed Snider, Ed Stefanski, and Eddie Jordan: We Want Allen Iverson

gabe allen — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:43:46 -0500

This will be the last article I write in regard to the 76ers bringing back Allen Iverson.

I want to start by getting rid of some common misconceptions.

First of all, the 76ers fill the lowest percentage of their stadium at 58 percent, while they still face the second worst overall attendance in the league.

With Iverson, that would change quickly.

If there is one thing you can say about Iverson, it's that he has some of the most loyal fans in the world, most of whom are 76ers fans. Think of all the people who would pay good money to see Allen Iverson's farewell season in the NBA.

I know, because I'm one of them.

For most of the Iverson era, I was a season ticket holder, and can tell you I'd make more games than I'd miss if Iverson comes back to Philly.

The next misconception is that Iverson would stunt the development of the young players, and ruin all team chemistry. But the Sixers could still give Jrue Holiday plenty of time as the point or shooting guard, especially since Lou Williams will be out for eight weeks. Even when Lou comes back, the only guards that should see playing time are Iverson, Williams, and Holiday.

Last night against the Mavericks, Willie Green played 38 minutes. 38 MINUTES! HELLO! This guy is not a young developing player. He should be a journeyman, but Billy King chose to re-sign him several off seasons ago over John Salmons.

The next misconception is that Iverson is a selfish player or a ball hog. Throughout his career the guy averages over six assists per game, to go along with his 27 PPG, and two SPG. Iverson is one of three players in NBA history to average 25 points, five assists, and two steals per game (the other two are MJ and Jerry West).

When Iverson played for the 76ers, he lacked other offensive options. He was forced to carry the load. The more he shot, the more likely the 76ers were going to win. Anyone who wants to say the 76ers would have made it to the finals in 2001, and been the only team to defeat the Lakers in the whole playoffs, without Iverson taking the majority of the shots is absolutely insane.

When Iverson went to Denver, his shot attempts went down and his percentages went up. He was shooting 20 times a game, 46 percent overall, and 35 percent from downtown while still getting to the free throw line almost 10 times a game (80 percent FT's), averaging 7.5 assists, and two steals. He also led the league in minutes. In his last full season in Denver, he started and played all 82 games, leading the Nuggets to 50 wins without Nene.

Iverson's time in Detroit and Memphis do not mean a thing.

The Pistons made the trade for cap purposes, because they knew Iverson would keep people coming to the games. And the Grizzlies, are you serious? You sign Iverson and then tell him you are going to bring him off the bench and start Mike Conley? You've got to be kidding me.

Next, some people seem to think Iverson would not fit on this 76ers team. The truth is, there may not be another team in the NBA that Iverson would be a better fit for. They lack a No. 1 scorer, and while Iverson has only expressed that he wants to start, he would immediately be the 76ers best offensive player.

The Sixers need to stop playing Iguodala as a shooting guard. He is shooting 42 percent from the field this season and 29 percent on three-pointers. He is a good player and can be an excellent point forward guy, but isn't it clear that he can't handle being the No. 1 option?

Then, between Thaddeus Young, Elton Brand, and Marreese Speights, the 76ers have a solid group of players receiving the bulk of the minutes, as well as a very happy City of Brotherly Love.

Iverson has made his mistakes in Philadelphia, no doubt. There are his run-ins with the law, his practice rant, and his divorce with Philadelphia in December of 2006.

Philadelphia misses the Answer, and the Answer misses Philadelphia.

The last time the 76ers had a player of Iverson's caliber, he went by the name of Charles Barkley. Bring back the best little guy the NBA has ever seen for a proper farewell. Do not let him go out having played his last game as a Memphis Grizzly.

"I always wanted to finish my career a Sixer," Iverson said when he reached out to the 76ers several days ago, in hopes of being welcomed back, shortly after announcing his plans to retire.

All in all, I beg Ed Snider, Ed Stefanski, and Eddie Jordan to bring back the six-foot guard from Georgetown, No. 3, ALLLLLENNNNNN IIIIIIVVERRSOOOONNNNNNNNN!

Read more NBA History news on BleacherReport.com

NBA Deal Winners: Top Teams To Get Lucky After Trading Away A Star

Ethan McVansen — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:52:11 -0500

A lot of trades seem completely lop-sided. One team gets the huge All-Star, the other team ends up with a worn out veteran, a draft pick, or a young player who "could" turn out good. And sometimes, the teams on the bottom half of the deal get a big surprise. These are the top teams to get a little lucky boost from a trade that looks really bad on paper.

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The Worst NBA Organizations of the 2000s

Joe Gerrity — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:24:58 -0500

Although there were plenty of good teams throguhout the 00's, it's time we take a few seconds to look at the sheer horror that other franchises have dealth with. Be it through injuries, insane trades, awful draft picks, terrible signing, or just plain old bad management, these clubs exemplify the wrong way to run a team.

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Thugs "R" Us: Looking Back at the Infamous Portland Jail Blazers Era

Mike B. — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:27:19 -0500

Things are really looking good for the Portland Trail Blazers. Led by youngsters Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden, the Blazers are truly one of the most talented teams in the NBA.

Most people would agree that this up-and-coming ball club could win a championship or two in the near future.

But things in Portland haven't always been so peachy.

A few years ago, the darkest period in franchise history existed known as the "Jail Blazers" era. Those were the days when the roster was filled with players who constantly made headlines for the wrong reasons.

The turmoil began in April 2001 when Shawn Kemp ended his first season with the team by checking into a drug rehabilitation center for cocaine abuse.

In May 2002, Zach Randolph was cited for underage drinking in his hometown of Marion, Indiana.

November 2002 was a month in which three controversial Blazers' players were in the news.

Rasheed Wallace and Damon Stoudamire were cited for misdemeanor marijuana possession after their car was stopped on the way home from a game in Seattle. Both players agreed to attend drug counseling and stay out of legal trouble for a certain amount of time to have charges dropped against them.

In addition, Ruben Patterson was arrested on felony domestic abuse charges on his wife. The charges were later dropped.

Four months later, rookie forward Qyntel Woods was cited for speeding, driving without insurance or a driver's license, and of course, marijuana possession.

In April 2003, Randolph punched Patterson in the face during practice breaking his eye socket. Ouch, that must have been a pretty hard punch. Maybe Patterson's wife had paid Randolph to do it. Just kidding.

In July 2003, Stoudamire was back in trouble with the law. The former Rookie of the Year was arrested at an Arizona airport after he was caught with an ounce of marijuana wrapped in aluminum foil.

Man, that's the third use of the word, "marijuana" in this article.

Anyway, during the 2004-05 season, Woods pleaded guilty to misdemeanor animal abuse. I guess Michael Vick wasn't the first athlete linked to dog fighting.

And head coach Maurice Cheeks was later fired after being cussed out by both Bonzi Wells (in 2003) and Darius Miles (in 2005).

I heard that Miles actually called Cheeks the "N" word. That's pretty interesting since Miles is African American as well. I just don't get it.

In closing, I left out several events that occurred during that forgettable era simply because I didn't want this article to be 30 pages long.

My advice to all NBA general managers: Don't build a team with a bunch of dysfunctional players.

It will never work.

Read more NBA History news on BleacherReport.com

Attention Sports Fans: Get Ready To Hate Brandon Jennings

Alex McVeigh — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:50:50 -0500

Everybody loves a good story. The problem with a good story in these days of the 24-hour news cycle, is that a good story quickly becomes an old story, beaten to death by countless talking heads for hours, days, weeks.

Welcome to this world, Brandon Jennings. After getting ripped by the "experts" in the pre-draft conversations for A) Not being mature enough; B) Not having a good jump shot; and C) not being a good leader, it has taken him less than five months to become the new darling child of sports media everywhere.

And here's the rub: Brandon Jennings is a blast to watch, he is bringing back basketball in Milwaukee, and he is the most exciting rookie we've seen splash onto the scene in a long time.

Which is why it's so frustrating that he's being shoved down our throats with such alarming intensity already.

After his 55-point explosion (which is better than the hype, believe you me, I saw it live, and I was reduced to a slack-jawed yokel for most of the third quarter), it seems media outlets, particularly ESPN (always known for restraint when it comes to storylines), cannot get enough of shoving it down our throats.

We've already seen the stories for weeks populating ESPN.com, and today, it rose to a fever pitch. I logged onto ESPN.com's NBA section to see what I missed while I was in my gravy-induced coma.

Brandon Jennings is the picture on front, due to his clash with Kevin Durant and the Thunder, which is the second game of the ESPN double-header.

Side note: That was the final sign that the hype is in high-gear. How often does ESPN change its programming like that, but they bumped Phoenix-Minnesota (not that I was all that upset about missing that one) for Bucks-Thunder.

Of the five headlines on the front graphic, there's the story about the Thunder-Bucks preview.

Next, there's a J.A. Adande piece about how Allen Iverson is passing the buck onto Brandon Jennings.

Really? That's just ridiculous. I know Jennings has been impressive, but he has played in 14 NBA games. Let's hold off all this talk about passing torches, until maybe he plays a half-season, fellas.

It speaks to the media's obsession with instantly categorizing anything new as the "next (fill in the blank)."

They've been looking for the next Jordan since 1998. They've been looking for the next Isiah, the next Magic, the next Shaq, and anyone else who makes an impression.

And not only does it take away from the person who you are now trying to replace, all it does it set up expectations for that person to fail, unless they manage to climb the mountain that lies before them.

Take people like Jerry Stackhouse or Vince Carter. Good, sometimes great players, who played the game well, and had a fair amount of success.

But since they were athletic shooting guards who went to UNC, they were thought of as the next Jordan. And they're looked down upon for not fulfilling that destiny, a destiny that they didn't ask to be a part of.

Jennings shouldn't be compared to Iverson; they're two different players. Sure, they could put the ball in the basket, but Jennings doesn't have that cold fire behind his eyes that characterized AI while he was taking the league by storm in his early years.

AI doesn't have Jennings' passing skills, or rebounding skills, and he also doesn't seem to have the sense of team and the sense of the moment that Brandon Jennings has.

Brandon Jennings has been more than open about his flaws, and his mistakes, and he addresses them in a very mature manner, always vowing to fix them.

The next article on the NBA front page was titled, "Brandon Jennings for MVP."

My jaw dropped at that one too, and not in a good way. Brandon Jennings as a serious MVP candidate? For real?

Of course, you click on the page, and Brandon Jennings is ranked nine out of 10 on the list, which is probably fair, but the fact that they're blaring "Brandon Jennings for MVP" to stir up that hype machine is very annoying.

Side note: It's the same thing ESPN did when they ran a headline that Jim Kelly says Tim Tebow would be perfect for the Bills. All Kelly said in the article was that the Bills need to look at the top three quarterbacks in the draft, whether it's Tebow or someone else. That's it. Talk about a misleading headline.

The next link was for the Weekend Dime, which promised to chronicle all the buzz on Jennings.

As if we hadn't seen enough buzz already.

Now, I get that they're trying to embrace a young star, but they are really just beating it into the ground, and in record time.

And I don't know about you, but I start to resent athletes (and people, for that matter) who are overexposed. No matter how I might feel about them personally, I just get sick of hearing about them, and that in turn causes me to resent the person themselves, because it's their face plastered across all the stories.

And it's not Brandon Jennings' fault. Hell, he's just playing amazing basketball and trying to help his team win.

That's why its so frustrating to see people blown up so quickly, and now, should Jennings and the Bucks hit a skid, or Jennings has a few sub-par games, then we get to see all the stories about how Brandon was all hype, about how he was a flash in the pan, about how overrated he became.

And all he does is play basketball every day, has a good game, has a bad game.

That's why I titled this article the way I did. Because it seems like it's going to be a matter of time before I'm sick of hearing about Brandon Jennings.

But I want to watch him play, I want to learn about who he is and how he became the player he is, I just don't care about who he is the "next" of and any of that other crap.

The real catch-22? The better he is, the more sports fans (myself included) want to watch him, and the more the hype gets overblown until he cannot possibly live up to expectations.

It's a vicious cycle, but it seems like it's the only one we have now.

Read more NBA History news on BleacherReport.com

Why Allen Iverson Is the Most Important NBA Player Since Michael Jordan

ChiChi Madu — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:20:07 -0500

Somewhere in the middle of the New York Giants crapping the bed against the Denver Broncos on Thanksgiving night, I resisted the urge to throw my remote against the wall and instead decided it would be a better idea to use it to change the channel. I flipped over to NBA-TV and ended up watching the 2001 NBA All-Star Game. A few things struck me from this game...

The quality of play in this game was absolutely atrocious. This was back when NBA All-Star games were basically two hours of uncontested layups, no-look passes going out of bounds and big men awkwardly bricking wide open threes.

The East won the game 111-110, which is unbelievable if you look at the rosters . Only two guys from the East team (Vince Carter and Ray Allen) are still relevant players while for the West, six guys are still going strong (Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess).

Did we really have a league where Antonio Davis and Anthony Mason were all-stars? Good Lord. No wonder people hated the NBA in the early 2000s.

After a while, Allen Iverson was the only reason I kept watching this game. He was the most exciting player on the court and he cruised his way to the All-Star game MVP award.

I’m assuming the reason this game was on was in honor of Allen Iverson’s recent retirement. It’s an odd choice considering this was a meaningless all-star game and they could have shown one of his dozens of truly epic performances.

But I guess the one thing this game showed was that earlier in this decade, before there was LeBron, before there was Wade, and before Chris Paul or Dwight Howard, AI was the league's biggest star.

In fact, for better or worse, Allen Iverson is the most important superstar in the NBA since Michael Jordan retired from the Bulls.

Iverson is the man most responsible for bringing the “hiphop culture” into the NBA. He was one of the first mainstream stars with multiple tattoos (including one on his neck), he popularized cornrow braids, brought back the headband, introduced the elbow sleeve and wore baggy shorts down to his ankles.

He was the ultimate trendsetter, and his bending of the uniform rules is the reason NBA players get fined for having their shorts go an inch pass their knee, and why the NBA adopted a dress code for players in 2005. He made it okay for players to wear throwback jerseys, doo-rags, and Timberlands, and David Stern put an end to it.

Perhaps most importantly though, besides just the culture, Iverson also introduced the hiphop style of play. Everyone knows Jordan was the best player ever, but his style of play just didn’t resonate for young people the way Iverson’s did.

There’s no coincidence that the AND1 mix tapes took off around the same time as Iverson’s career did. He legitimized that type of thing. Nobody could beat a guy of the dribble like AI could in his prime.

Iverson was the guy everyone my age wanted to play like growing up: the point guard with an attitude who maybe had slight Napoleon complex, but made up for his lack of height by utilizing his killer handle to get to the lane at will. The little guy who couldn't windmill dunk or block shots now got his street cred through breaking ankles.

That’s how you got noticed then. Cross someone over in a rec league and crowds would go nuts; do it in the NBA or college and you made it onto Sportscenter. Sure, it was the epitome of style over substance, but culturally, this meant a lot to a lot of people.

The official passing of the torch from the Jordan era to the Iverson era was the famous video of AI crossing up Jordan during his rookie year. I remember thinking, “Holy crap!! Nobody makes Jordan look bad! This guy is awesome.” Iverson’s defiance and swagger instantly vaulted him to cult hero status.

Iverson was the “coolest” player in the NBA from 1998-2005 and loved by everyone under the age of 25 at the time. He sold billions of jerseys, and other than Jordan, he probably had the most successful run of signature shoes. People are still wearing The Questions to this day (you could also argue that he single-handedly saved Reebok in the '90s).

We all know about his negatives: shot too much, didn’t make his team better, questionable work ethic, etc. Most of the criticism is valid, but honestly look at this roster he played with in 2001. Remember, he took this team to the Finals! He should have been taking 40 shots per game with that supporting cast.

Iverson had no choice but to go one vs. five on most possessions to give his team the best chance to win. Jordan and Kobe basically did the same thing at similar points in their careers, but those guys were lucky enough to eventually get good teammates and good coaching (aka Phil Jackson) while Iverson toiled away on mediocre teams.

Jordan and Kobe were also considered the ultimate competitors while Iverson was seen as a petulant, ballhog who represented streetball and thuggery. Not surprisingly, that happened to the guy with braids and covered in tattoos.

Anytime Iverson is brought up in the media, his press conference where he mocked “practice” is way overblown compared to a solid decade of toughness and competitiveness that has rarely seen in the NBA.

And unlike most of the problems that have plagued the NBA for the past 50 years, this wasn't even a race thing. This was strictly a generational gap. A 59-year-old black guy did not appreciate Iverson's impact as much as a 19-year-old white guy did in 2001.

No doubt he brought some of the bad media attention on himself. He had numerous run-ins with the law; many of them were stupid and completely unavoidable. But honestly, he’s no worse than 90 percent of the league. Athletes are not perfect human beings—never have been, never will be—so there’s no reason to really hold that against him.

I don't see anyway that AI doesn't come back and play again. In 2008 he averaged 26 points per game, shot a career high 46 percent from the field and played all 82 games. This was only two seasons ago! But sadly, his reputation precedes him, and no GM on a good team seems particularly interested on taking a flyer on him at this stage in his career.

Even if he never plays again, Iverson has left an indelible stamp on this league. Since MJ retired there have been better players that have come along, but none were more important than The Answer.

Read more NBA History news on BleacherReport.com

Allen Iverson: The Story Of The Man, Player and Person Who Never Gave Up

Josh Dhani — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:52:13 -0500

2009: Allen Iverson joins the Memphis Grizzlies. Injury happens during training camp which holds him out for the preseason, and a couple of games for the regular season. Iverson's debut was pretty good and he did well off the bench. But he wanted minutes. He wanted to be the starter.

He wanted to be "the man" like he was in Philly. Ah, the good ol' days.But you're in Memphis now, and entering your 13th year as an NBA player. At 34, you still got some gas left in the tank.

Now, you left the team. Personal reasons according to the sources.

Then rumors began to erupt. The Knicks, Bobcats, and the Heat all refused to sign A.I. The C's sparked up yesterday. But then, about nine-to-ten hours later, Iverson retired.

A legend scoring more than 24,000 points, 5,000 assists, and about 2,000 steals in his career. Yeah, that's Hall-of-Fame type. You'll retire as a great player.

But never the winner. Never won a NBA Championship. You deserved an NBA ring. You truly did. That was one goal left on the list.

But still, you are a role model to a lot of people. For what you went through, there's a winner in your heart. And you know that. So do we. And for those of you who don't know his story, let's roll:

Ann Iverson was a basketball star at high school. Heck, WNBA may be an easy shot. Possibly. But at about 16 years old, all the dreams were shattered. Why? She was having a baby.

She knew who she slept with. She told the man that he has a son now. On June 7, 1975, Allen Iverson was born in poverty stricken place in Hampton, Virginia.

And the man who was Iverson's real dad abandoned him and his mom when A.I. was just only three. Ann then moved in with here boyfriend, Michael Freeman. Freeman was trying to make the money.

The house was just messed up. They would go days without water. And what made things worse was that a sewage pipe ran right underneath the house. And then, all the sewage would come up into the house.

No wonder why it would stink. That's when Freeman started selling drugs for money. And then came the jail time. He did a total of about 50 months in prison. So Ann was left alone make money in order to support her family.

And Iverson was the man of the house.

Two more kids rolled by: one in 1979 and one in 1991. Ann introduced Iverson into basketball when she thought he should play sports. Iverson said he didn't want to. He loved football, and he thought football was his dream.

Ann bought Iverson some Jordan shoes and it was off to basketball practice. Iverson then recalled in the book, Fear No One , that he was happy his mom did that.

In high school, Iverson started to become a sports star. In football and basketball, he was the leader. But some days, he would have to miss school. The sister he had that was born in '91 was having problems.

Seizures began to emerge but Ann couldn't pay for the medical help that she desperately needed. Iverson would have to help then out.

Iverson's coaches stopped by to see if everything is okay but sometimes, Iverson would just sleep somewhere outside randomly around the town. Iverson was poor. He just couldn't believe what he was going through.

People from the school actually started to lend him money. Iverson didn't want to take it, but everyone insisted.

When things started to go good at school, in sports, Iverson's coach said he should have some fun. Go to the bowling alley. Be a regular high school guy and have some fun.

Iverson did just that. Or, at least he tried. People at the bowling alley started saying racial slurs at Iverson. Hatred. One of Iverson's friends then punched the man. Then a fight of more than 50 people started to come into view.

After the fight was stopped, the police only picked out the blacks, which was just Iverson and his friends.

At 17, Iverson was convicted with an adult felony charge. He had to serve up to ten years in prison but it was later reduced four months. Iverson received an education for a tutor and he could not play sports in his senior year.

After graduating from high school, Iverson wanted to play basketball in college. Nobody believed he could make it. Not from where he was from. He would later prove them wrong.

Iverson went on to Georgetown and played great. People doubted his ability to play. People thought he wasn't a good fit for a point guard. Allen redefined the point guard position. He changed it.

After his sophomore year was done in Georgetown, his house was a mess, and so was his baby sister. A press conference was set up, and Allen said he was going to the NBA. He needed to help his sister.

Iverson was now part of the NBA draft. The 76ers held the top pick. The Sixers were looking at a lot of players such as Stephon Marbury, Ray Allen, and Marcus Camby.

The Sixers' staff liked Iverson. They picked him first overall and the city of Philly felt happy with the pick. A riot would have emerged if he wasn't picked.

In his rookie year, Iverson was spectacular, playing like he was in the NBA for over five years or so.

People picked on him though, guys like Dennis Rodman, who claimed that Iverson hated Michael Jordan, in which he didn't. Then there came Charles Barkley as well. Iverson hated the criticism.

So what if he was a rookie? Iverson meant business on the court. He respected no one on the court. He feared no one. He was the one. The man of the court. The leader.

Iverson then won Rookie of the Year. People began to criticize Allen even more, saying that Marbury should have won besides some selfish player who didn't help his team win, in which Kevin McHale said.

Iverson didn't care what anyone said about him.

Iverson then went on to help the Sixers for the next couple of years. Then in 2000-2001 season, Iverson led the Sixers to a 56-26 record. Iverson then helped his team advance to the NBA Finals against the Lakers and also won MVP.

He proved what he can do, after all he had went through. Guys like Jason Kidd, Shaq, and Dikembe Mutombo admired him.

In the 2001 NBA Finals, Iverson and Sixers shocked L.A. in the first game, beating them in overtime. But then, with the heroics of Shaq and Kobe tandem (Shaqobe), the Lakers won the Finals 4-1.

It didn't matter that much to A.I. He was still a winner. After all he had been through, nobody could have done it but him.

But after that, stupid things came with Iverson. With Talkin' About Practice came and all of that, Iverson shut everybody up on the court. In the 2005-06, Iverson had a great year, averaging 33 points a game with 7.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds.

In 2006, Iverson was traded to Nuggets. He had some pretty good seasons there but never made the duo of him with Melo unstoppable. Iverson then went on to play with the Pistons in 2008, recalling that it was the worst year of his career. Detroit treated him badly.

After the Grizzlies' misconceptions, Iverson retired in 2009. In 13 years, he has averaged 27 points, 6.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game in his career.

If you had gone through what Allen had went, would you have made it? Could you have completed all of those tasks and make it on top? No, I guess not. It would seem impossible.

Iverson was the guy who was on top of the world.

He was a legend.

A great player.

A great person.

And he never gave up.

And that's what makes him a winner to me.

Read more NBA History news on BleacherReport.com

The Retirement of Allen Iverson: Glory, Tragedy, Selfishness, and Business

D REW — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:56:10 -0500

I was on my treadmill when the radio announced that Allen Iverson was retiring from the NBA at age 36 after being discontent with his role in Memphis and unable to be signed by the New York Knicks.

I turned off my treadmill and had to take a second to reflect.

As an NBA and Iverson fan:

1. It was just over a month ago I was thrilled to write about Iverson's potential to help the Memphis Grizzlies become playoff contenders.

2. It was just over six months ago I watched the Detroit Pistons organization come to terms with the fact he was not the best choice for their organization.

3. It was three years ago I was convinced he would help the Denver Nuggets go far in the playoffs. (Which led to two first round playoff ousts...)

4. I was seven years ago I was disappointed with the Philadelphia 76ers performance in the NBA playoffs. (An ouster in the first round...)

5. And it was eight years ago that I sat on the edge of my seat and screamed like a maniac during the 2001 NBA post season to watch the buildup of what I consider the performance of the decade: Allen Iverson during Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals.

In 2001, Allen Iverson was my hero.

He was a rebel, a young super-talent unafraid to speak his mind and play his game, leading a rag—tag group of players consisting of guys like Matt Geiger and Tyrone Hill through the NBA playoffs to face off against the Juggernaut that was the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers were undefeated in the 2001 post season, defeating my Blazers, the Kings, and the Spurs by an average of 20 points. They were looking to be the only team in the NBA to ever go undefeated in the post season.

Because the Lakers had knocked my Blazers out during game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals in heartbreaking manner...Iverson was my ticket to revenge.

In Game 1 of the NBA Finals Allen Iverson scored 48 points to lead his team to a five point victory in overtime.

The Lakers dreams of a perfect season were squashed by the rebel with corn-rows, tattoos, and a larger than life determination to win the NBA Finals.

Proof the little guy can win. A fairy tale?

But as usual with true—life David V. Goliath storylines...the Lakers would win four games in a row and take the 2001 NBA title.

Yet even in defeat, the Philadelphia 76ers led by Allen Iverson prevented the Lakers from accomplishing a goal far more significant than their second NBA title in two years.

They prevented them from setting an undefeated postseason record.

For many, myself included, it was a bigger accomplishment for the 76ers than it was for the Lakers to win the title.

That's glory.

But in the years that followed, perhaps it was injury or perhaps it was the fact that coaches never ran the game that Iverson was accustomed to playing...Iverson had struggles that included a loss in the 2004 Summer Olympics and numerous first round postseason exits.

He would win scoring titles and even a second All Star game MVP, but he never led another team to the glory of 2001.

To me, that's a tragedy. I think winning meant more to Iverson in 2001 than all the money or stats in the world. He was in inspiration to the nation. I even bought his sneakers and they made my whack—white—boy game way better.

I was so sure that Iverson would help Memphis, but he was discontent being taken in off the bench.

That's selfishness.

Here was his chance to be Uncle Iverson to the new kids on the block. To reassert himself as a leader.

It seemed that money and stats were more important to him than helping rebuild an organization that could use him.

Perhaps that is why the New York Knicks passed on him.

And now he has retired.

That's business.

Iverson wants to shake the whole league up by letting them know he's:

a. OUT

b. AVAILABLE

He's making a ton of racket, using his influence to gain plenty of media hype over the course of the season (pulling a Brett Favre?) to let teams who maybe aren't paying as close enough attention as they should that he is ready to play when called upon.

But, only if he's inserted into the starting line-up and given control of the ball.

Well, in the end that technically is the game he played during his glory year.

So I doubt the league has heard the last of Mr. Allen Iverson.

At least, I hope not.

But I hope that one day Iverson can realize that the last eight seasons of his career have been marred by tragedy, selfishness, and business.

Come on, Allen.

Go back for the glory.

It's well worth it!

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Abe Pollin Was No Sell Out

JW Nix — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:52:27 -0500

Today is a sad day for the Pollin family, the city of Washington D.C., the world of sports, and mankind itself, because Abe Pollin passed away at the age of 85 earlier this evening.

He was much more than the owner of the NBA's Washington Wizards or the longest tenured NBA owner to millions of people. Mr. Pollin was a beacon of courage and hope for all. His impact on the Washington Metropolitan Area for the past 46 years will be felt for countless future years ahead. He was a philanthropist whose generosity has donated countless millions of dollars that fed, clothed, housed, and educated many of the misfortunate dwellers of our Nation's Capitol.

He moved into the area in 1931 at the age of eight years old, and stayed in the area for the rest of his life. He attended George Washington University at a time when future NBA Legend Red Auerbach was a star player on the basketball team. After graduating, he went into the construction business and prospered. Pollin then made a business move in 1964 that changed the landscape of the area forever.

There had not been a professional basketball team since the Washington Capitols went defunct in 1951. Ironically, Auerbach had coached that team for three years and set records that still stand today. Pollin bought the Chicago Zephyrs for $1.1 million, which was a record at the time. He then moved the team to the city of Baltimore and named them the Bullets. The team moved to the Washington D.C. area in 1973, and has been here since.

His teams quickly became a force in the league, and helped the NBA from being a regional marketed game to the global entity is is today. The Bullets went to the Western Conference Finals in 1965, but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. The Bullets then later became a consistent winner a few years later after drafting two of the greatest players in NBA history, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe and Wes Unseld, in two consecutive years on 1967 and 1968.

From 1969 to 1979, the Bullets won seven division titles, including five straight at one point. They also won Eastern Conference crown four times in the era, and won the NBA Championship in 1978. The franchise has failed to achieve any of these accolades since, though there have been several excellent teams that have competed over the last thirty seasons.

Thirty years ago, he had his Bullets travel overseas to play basketball in China to serve as an ambassador to the game and help spread the game into the global market. This was an important move, because several international players have played in the NBA since. The NBA commemorated this trip earlier in the year, and sent another team to play in China. Antawn Jamison and Randy Foye represented Pollin's Wizards in the games.

Another of Pollin's contributions to the city was bringing in the game of professional hockey in 1974, when the Washington Capitals were born. He has just built a huge arena in Landover, Maryland called the Capital Centre, and it was the first arena ever to have luxury box seating and a large screen television that stood in the middle of the arena suspended above the field of play.

The Capitals struggled for decades as the fourth most popular team in the area, behind the Redskins, Bullets, and the neighboring Baltimore Orioles. Many years the team struggled to make the playoffs, though their fortunes began to turn for the better in the 1980's. The Capitals even made the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998, but Pollin still lost over $20 million that season on the team. He then sold the team to current owner Ted Leonsis.

Pollin also brought the city women's professional basketball in 1998, when he founded the Washingtom Mystics just before the second year of the WNBA. The teams mostly struggled on the court, though they did reach the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002. What the Mystics did attain, however, was a huge following. They led the WNBA in attendance in six of the seven years Pollin owned the team. He sold the team to Leonsis just before the 2005 season.

One common theme he had with his ownership was a family run atmosphere. He was fiercely loyal to his players and teams. He would often voice his displeasure to media members who had spoken negatively of his teams, which he viewed as his family. His loyalty was legendary to the people of Washington D.C. especially.

When he changed the teams name from the Bullets to the Wizards in 1995, he gave his reasons as to being uncomfortable with the names connotation of violence in the wake of the areas high crime and murder rate. When his close friend, Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated, he felt further compelled to hasten the move. Some fans note the lack of success the team has had since this moment, since the Wizards have mostly struggled.

It is almost fitting that his Wizards faced their long time rival Philadelphia 76ers today in D.C., a game he had planned on attending. The 76ers are coached by local legend Eddie Jordan, who was fired one year ago today by the Wizards after a stint of just over five years with the team. Jordan, like many other Wizard employees, probably stayed on longer than he deserved because of Pollin's loyalty.

Sometimes this loyalty was met with the chagrin of fans. This was echoed today by Bullets legend Unseld, the face of the franchise, when he said, "He saw the big picture. He had an answer for everything. He kept me on longer with the team than I should have been, and longer than perhaps I wanted to be at times. He knew what was best for the team and community."

Pollin always put the community first. This can be seen throughout the history of his ownership. He would often fire a star player if he felt that person was having a negative impact. The list of greats he cut ties with is long, and includes such players like Chris Webber, Rasheed Wallace, and Michael Jordan.

Though he often lamented the escalating salaries of players over the years, he knew how much impact they had on society. He was the man who demanded, and brought in, the rule of player conduct on the current labor agreement of the league. "You may or may not want to be role models, but you are role models. If you don't want to be role models, you should get out of this business and go do something else."

He was a role model himself. He saved a historic synagogue from being turned into a dance club a few blocks from his offices, even though it cost millions of dollars to refurbish. He gave every school in the city working computers so children could use them. He established a program called "Abe's Table", where his team would go door to door and give food to the needy. Today the program was out giving food when he passed away.

A mere hours before he died today, he spoke with his assistant on the phone. He told the assistant to make sure everyone employed by his Washington Sports & Entertainment Company went home early tomorrow to beat the holiday traffic. That truly epitomizes what type of character he had. As he stood on deaths doorstep, he was thinking of others.

The contribution that Pollin gave to the city that may be most remembered was when he built the Verizon Center in 1997 with his own money. He spent over $200 million on the building in his effort to revitalize a part of town that had not yet fully recovered from being torched to the ground during the 1968 riots. "I wanted to build a beautiful arena and one that served as a catalyst to turn things around downtown. I'm proud to say we succeeded in both scores."

That part of town is now immensely popular in the city, and is chock full of restaurants and other businesses. Every person who partakes in this areas enjoyment can thank Pollin for this, and can be reminded of his impact on the street named after him by the arena known to locals as, "The Phone Booth".

This year had been both mixed with pain and pleasure for Pollin. He was diagnosed with a rare disease called progressive supranuclear palsy. The disease impairs movement and balance, and left Pollin wheelchair bound in his final months. The disease and wheelchair did not slow him down, however, as Pollin could often be seen around his team so he could continue to stay close with his players.

Earlier this year, his Alma mater George Washington University inducted him into their School of Business Sports Executives Hall of Fame. At his induction he told fans that he wanted to win another championship, and that the team would not ever move so as long as he owned the team. "I've contracted a very rare disease, but it's not going to keep me from winning a championship. Until then I'm not going to quit, and I'm going to do whatever I can to win a championship for this town, for me, and for the fans."

Leonsis, his longtime business partner, is expected to take ownership of the Wizards and Washington Sports & Entertainment Company as agreed upon by the two men several years ago. Fans of the team are relieved at this thought, and expect the Wizards to be in the area for many more years to come.

All Abe Pollin wanted was for his teams to win. He did not own the Wizards for the money he made alone. He was a competitor, and it showed by his actions both with the team and community. Most of the fans of the team, especially the older ones who had been along with Abe on the fun journey, knew this.

As a life long fan of the team myself, I hope the Wizards rally and win a championship for him this season. Pollin would want them to win it all for the town, fans, and themselves first. As the Wizards would play with a heavy heart tonight against the 76ers, they showed a lot of energy and brotherhood in their hard fought 108 - 107 victory despite being short handed due to injuries.

They did for Abe. As team captain Antawn Jamison said, "It is tough. I love him. He had a lot of faith in me, and I am just trying to walk in the shoes he expected me to wear. It won't be the same without him with his pumping us up and wanting us to do our best. He loved the game of basketball, but is in a better place now. He saw us win tonight."

The real winners were us for having been blessed to have known and to have lived alongside him. Thank you Abe Pollin. Rest In Peace.

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Who Would Be Better in The NFL, Usain Bolt or LeBron James?

Frank Gasper — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:14:44 -0500

There has been many reports that both LeBron James and Usain Bolt could be great NFL players. I personally think that they both could be great with a little work. But who would be better if they both joined?

LeBron:

LeBron James watched the Cleveland Browns get shut out by Baltimore on Monday November 16, and came to one simple conclusion: He could help.

"If I put all my time and commitment into it, if I dedicated myself to the game of football, I could be really good, no matter what team I am on," the Cavaliers superstar said. Is it possible for this to be true?

LeBron was a star football player in high school. After the commercial of him playing for the Cleveland Browns, people started wondering, could he be good in the NFL?

I think he is quick, elusive, and strong enough to be a WR. Some NFL players disagree or say he would be a good TE.

I would definitely want to see LeBron in the NFL.

The most successful athlete to change sports was definitely Bo Jackson. Jackson was the first athlete to be named an All-Star in two major sports. Before his professional career, he earned the 1985 Heisman Trophy, the prize annually awarded to the most outstanding collegiate football player in the United States. He also ran a 4.12 40 yard dash, still considered the fastest verifiable 40 time at an NFL Combine. So he clearly had the skills to change sports.

I think LeBron would be a great football player.

Usain:

Usain has been labeled the fastest man in the world by millions of people, including me.

People wondered if he could be good in the NFL as well. I don't think he is strong enough. He would have to work out constantly for about a year before he comes to the NFL.

But let's say he comes now. What position would he play? He would definitely start out returning kicks and punts. But what would be his main position? Would it be WR? But nobody knows if he can catch. He would have to go through an NFL Combine for about five different positions so we know what his main position would be.

No matter what he would be the quickest player on the field at all times, but would he be almost too quick? If he was a WR, would QB's be able to time his quickness and be able to still lead the pass? I think it would take some time to adjust, but they would get it eventually.

Also, has he ever played football before? You can't bring someone in that has no clue about the game.

I think he would be an average player.

LeBron vs. Usain

I think, overall, LeBron would be a better NFL player because he is stronger and because he has actually played football before.

In 2010, when LeBron is a free agent, maybe he will change his mind and go to the NFL.

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A Community Thanks You

Joe G — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:38:21 -0500

: Courtesy Asad Naqvi/Facebook

Where else do you start but saying Thank you.

A man who had two dreams in life, one to own a sports franchise and the other to help impoverished children all over the world, today can rest peacefully after fighting corticobasal degeneration that over the past few years had left him confined to a wheel chair. Mr. Pollin's legacy however will live on forever as not only did he accomplish his lifelong dreams, but he exceeded them ten fold.

A graduate of The George Washington University in 1945, Mr. Pollin went to work for his family’s construction company for 12 years before starting his own company and, as a local contractor, built several large apartment houses and office buildings.

Asked what started Mr. Pollin in his real estate journey, he recalled the following story...

I worked for my father, and once I was carrying bathtubs and hurt my back. I ruptured three discs and was not eligible to serve during World War Two. So my father decided that it was time for us to go into the building business. He came to me one day and said, "Son, I just bought 60 lots, and I'm leaving for Florida." I said, "You what?!" He said, "I'm leaving for Florida and you're going to build these 60 lots."

My older brother was in the service in England, so I had to build these 60 lots myself. I didn't know much about building houses, plus during the war, there were no building materials available. All the established builders in Washington said it's impossible to build, so they didn't build.

But I was a dumb kid so I went ahead building anyway. I would call the contractor and say, "Okay I'm ready for the concrete," and he would say, "Are you kidding, kid? There's no concrete here." So I had to go out and find my own cement. Then I'd tell the bricklayer to come, and he would say, "Are you kidding? There's no bricks. No mortar. No cinder block."

I finally built the houses -- three bedrooms, full basement, and full backyard -- for $10,000. They were the first houses built in Washington after the war and we sold those 60 houses in three hours. So that's how I became a builder in the Washington area.

---------------------------------------------------

Many people know of the obvious things Abe did in his life, but most do not know the pain he endured within his own family. Mr. Pollin lost two children to major heart disease and spoke of the devastation he and his wife endured. He was quoted as saying that he was so depressed to the point where he gave up his business.

However, finally realizing that he still had a family to take care of, Abe decided to build a memorial to his daughter. This building block—literally, the Linda Pollin Memorial Housing project, was a non-profit for poor people in southeast Washington. Abe credited building that project in her memory for getting him back to life. This was simply the start of a life long endeavor to give to those who didn't have.

This is a man who thought like this...

"Those of us who are fortunate enough to be on the giving end, rather than the receiving end, are very lucky. Because the more we give, the more we get back. And it's hard to believe, but in America, the richest country the world has ever seen, there are almost five million children who go to bed hungry every night. That's a disgrace. So I believe that for the people who are in a position to give, it's incumbent upon us to help."

I lead with all of this because as fans we need to understand that Abe Pollin's success as a man, as a human being, is not only far more important than what he ever did as an owner but should be remembered and told to generation after generation.

Luckily anytime anyone steps foot on Abe Pollin Way, into the Verizon Center, or simply enjoys Chinatown, they will be forced to remember a man who built an arena with his own money at a time when nobody wanted anything to do with DC construction, a man who single handedly revitalized an area that was simply dire. Pollin was quoted at the time, “I had two goals when I decided to build this building,” said Abe Pollin. “The first was that if I was building in downtown Washington, the nation’s capital, it had to be the best building of its kind in the country. The second was to be the catalyst that turned the city around.”

We must also remember that this was not the first arena Abe and Irene Pollin purchased. Thirty-six years ago, the Pollins opened the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, the new home for their Baltimore Bullets, and applied for a National Hockey League expansion franchise. The Capital Centre opened on December 2, 1973, and it was what Verizon Center is today—a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment facility that became the standard for new arenas throughout the world.

: Capital Centre/US Air Arena

Among his many accomplishments, Pollin was awarded the Duke Ziebert Capital Achievement Award for his efforts in revitalizing downtown Washington, DC. He has also been the recipient of the Distinguished Civilian Service Award, presented by the US Army, the 1996 Robert F. Kennedy-Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, presented by Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the 1996 United Cerebral Palsy Achievement Award and the 1997 Jewish Leadership Award. In 2006, Pollin was honored for his contributions to the world of sports and his community when the United States Sports Academy tabbed him for their Distinguished Service Award. On December 3, 2007, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty proclaimed “Abe Pollin Day” in the District of Columbia in honor of Abe Pollin’s 84th birthday and all of his contributions to the city. In addition to proclaiming Abe Pollin Day, the Mayor unveiled F Street between 6th and 7th Streets NW as “Abe Pollin Way.”

Abe Pollin's pinnacle moment in his second passion, sports, came in 1978 when he delivered DC's only NBA Championship.

Some will want to talk about the mismanagement, the bad years, the trials and tribulations of the last 30+ years that have passed since that June day in 1978 but WE will simply take the time to remember the Great Man that was just taken from us.

I would rather remember Abe Pollin as the man who provided us with these great memories...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqIevVbnoFw

You will never be forgotten Mr. Abe Pollin, and WE salute you and your lifetime of achievements.

Thank You from WE.

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Charles Barkley vs Robert Horry: Whose Career Would You Rather Have?

Matt Smith — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:58:34 -0500

Here's a debate for you. A few friends and I were discussing which career would you rather have between Charles Barkley and Robert Horry. What is more important to you being the best individual player you can be or having an incredible amount of team success. Would you rather dominate other players to a Hall of Fame level or hit shots that are unforgettable? Tough decision, right... Let's take a closer look.

Begin Slideshow

The Decade in Review: The NBA Over the Past 10 Years

Mike Freilich — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:37:48 -0500

A lot can take place in 10 years.

Ten championship rings earned, 10 Most Valuable Players, 10 All-Star Games, and most of all, 10 years of amazing basketball stories.

The past 10 years have been a wild ride, and while it's sad to see it end, another 10 are just around the corner.

For now, we can look back at the decade and judge the teams, players, and moments that have made it so much fun.

Lets start by evaluating the top teams from the decade. These teams are being judged on championships, playoff performances, and winning seasons.

1. Los Angeles Lakers

2. San Antonio Spurs

3. Detroit Pistons

4. Boston Celtics

5. New Jersey Nets

The Lakers and the Spurs are shoe-ins. The Lakers have four rings, and the Spurs have three. From there, it's really a toss-up.

Pistons

Detroit won its lone Championship of the decade in 2004, defeating the Lakers 4-1. They also made it to the Finals the year after, eventually losing to the Spurs in seven games.

The Pistons made it to the Eastern Conference Finals six times in the decade, showing that they were the beast of the East for many years. They were known for their stingy defense, with Ben Wallace under the hoop. At one point, all five starters were voted All-Stars.

Celtics

We can forget the years they were just absolutely miserable, because they more than made up for it in the years before and after. Everyone knows about the "Big Three"—Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce—and how they led the Celtics to a remarkable season-ending the run with a championship over that season's MVP, Kobe Bryant.

The year after, they again had a great record but were beaten by the Magic after a tough series with the Bulls (more about that later). Some people who are not avid Celts fans seem to forget about Boston in the beginning of the decade.

In the 2001-2002 season, they won 49 games and went to the conference finals, eventually losing to New Jersey.

The following year, they won 44 games and again met defeat at the hands of the Nets, only in the earlier rounds this time. The season after was a disappointment, but, since they were in the weak East, they made the playoffs as the eighth seed.

In 2004-2005, they won the Atlantic Division and were third in the East, winning 45 games. Eventually they lost to Indiana for the second year in a row.

Considering the decade as a whole, the Celtics were a force to be reckoned with.

Nets

This pick makes more sense then any of the other teams being considered.

The Suns could have been put here but they never even made the Finals. The Nets made it twice. In a decade where seven of the 10 championships were won by two teams, it was hard for any other teams to win the Finals. The Heat did it with Shaq, the Celtics did it with the "Big Three," and the Pistons did it with defense.

It would make sense to consider Miami, but we are looking at the decade as a whole, and there are too many holes in Miami's resume to consider them as a power. New Jersey, on the other hand, was much more consistent—without winning a championship.

The first two years of the decade they had records of 31-51 and 26-56, consecutively. From there they became a force in the league.

Kidd and Richard Jefferson led them to a 52-30 record in 2001-2002. They won the Atlantic, but were swept by the Lakers in the Finals. The season after, the Nets compiled a record of 49-33, winning the Atlantic Division for the second season in a row. They beat Milwaukee, Boston, and Detroit en route to the Finals, where they fell 4-2 to the Spurs.

Over the next four years they won the Atlantic twice, made it to the playoffs all four years, and made it to the conference semifinals three times.

Regardless of the fact that the past two seasons have produced identical 34-48 records, the Nets were a powerful team for most of the decade, which is why they come in at No. 5.

Outside Looking In: Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers.

All these teams would not have been the teams they were if it weren't for the players who carried them. We have come to the best players of the past 10 years. These players are judged on their individual statistics, awards, and their team's success:

Point Guard: Steve Nash—Mavericks, Suns

Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant—Lakers

Small Forward: LeBron James—Cavaliers

Power Forward: Tim Duncan—Spurs

Center: Shaquille O'Neal—Lakers, Heat, Suns, Cavaliers

Reserves: Dwyane Wade, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Allen Iverson, and Jason Kidd

Let's go through these one by one.

Steve Nash

He has been one of the best point guards in the NBA, and his résumé shows it. NBA regular season MVP in '05 and '06. Six All-Star selections. All NBA First Team in 05—07. Led the NBA in assists three times. Ninth on the career assists list with 7,667.

He was the motor that made the Phoenix machine run. He helped them to the Western Conference Finals but never to a Finals. Though he never won a championship, it's hard to ignore his two MVP seasons and dominating presence at the point guard position.

Kobe Bryant

This choice was easy. There has been no better player in the NBA the past 10 years than Bryant. Sorry, LeBron fans. Bryant has four championship rings. He made it to the Finals six times—and was named the Finals MVP in 2009.

He took home the regular season MVP in 2008. But it doesn't end there: two scoring titles; 10 All-Star appearances; and named to the NBA First Team seven times.

He is the youngest player to reach 24,000 career points. He owns the record for most points at Madison Square Garden with 61. His 81 points against Toronto are the second most in a game behind Wilt's 100. Kobe is also 16th in scoring on the all-time list.

LeBron James

This was also pretty easy, considering there is no one of his caliber at his position. Since coming into the league, he has been an international icon.

His other qualifications? Rookie of the Year in '04. Five-time All-Star, including winning All-Star MVP twice. Led the Cavaliers to the Finals in 2007, but lost to the Spurs. Regular season MVP in 2009. Made the All-NBA First Team three times. Fastest to 10,000 points, and has 13,405 career points already in his young career.

He turned around a dying franchise and has made them into a perennial power in the Eastern Conference and NBA.

Tim Duncan

Let's start with saying that he is considered by most to be one of the most dominant power forwards of all-time. He has three rings since 2000 and one prior. Of those three championships, he won the Finals MVP twice.

In '02 and '03, he won the regular season MVP. In his career, he has made 12 All-NBA defensive teams. He sits at 40th on the all-time scoring list with 19,424 career points and has 10,660 career rebounds to go with those.

Throughout the decade, he has given the Spurs a shot at a Championship. For that, he is alone at the power forward position.

Shaquille O'Neal

The big fella! He is big, all right. Four championship rings, three Finals MVPs, one regular season MVP, and fifth on the all-time scoring list. Quite a list of accomplishments for a center.

It is why he is considered by many to be one of the best players of all time. 27,721 career points, 12,628 rebounds and 2,642 blocks. Nothing more needs to be said.

A look at the Reserves:

Dwyane Wade

Wade is the first of the great 2003 draft class to win a championship. He not only won the ring, but also was named the Finals MVP. He is a five-time All-Star. He is the all-time leading scorer for the Heat franchise.

He has 10,287 career points, and a career average in the playoffs of 29.1. Aside from those awards, he was also named the 2006 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year and won the 2006 ESPY for Best NBA Player.

Kevin Garnett

Many said Garnett could never be considered truly great until he won a title. When he was traded to the Celtics, he shut everybody up (including me) and made himself one of the elite players of this era.

In addition to that ring, he added these accomplishments: 2004 regular season MVP; 2008 Defensive Player of the Year; All-Star MVP in 2003; and appeared in every All-Star game since the turn of the century.

He is also the only player in NBA history to: 1) average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists per game for six consecutive seasons; and 2) reach at least 20,000 points, 11,000 rebounds, 4,000 assists, 1,200 steals, and 1,500 blocks in his playing career.

In 2003 he became one of four players in NBA history to lead their team in all five major statistical categories (points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals) in one season. He now sits in 26th place on the all-time scoring list.

Ray Allen

All of his nine All-Star appearances have come since 2000. His one ring came in Boston in 2008.

He holds the record for most three-pointers made in one season with 269. He is in second place for most three-pointers made in career, trailing only Reggie Miller. He is in 33rd on the scoring list and is closing in on 20,000 points for his career.

He was the main guy on Milwaukee and Seattle while he was with those teams and was always among the top scorers in the NBA for years.

Allen Iverson

His best season was in 2000-2001. He was named regular season MVP and took the Sixers to the Finals against the Lakers. In Game One in L.A., Iverson put a scare into the Lakers by scoring a menacing 48 points to lead the Sixers to a 107-101 victory against the heavily-favored Lakers.

Aside from that season, he is 17th in scoring with more then 24,000 points for his career. He has scored 25 points per game or more nine times since 2000.

Controversy seems to follow him where ever he goes, and having no title will hurt his Hall of Fame chances. For the past 10 years, however, he has been one of the most prolific scorers in the NBA and deserves recognition here.

Jason Kidd

This was the most obvious of the reserves. He is also another player with no title, like Iverson, but he will not have any problems making the Hall. Since 2000, he has made the All-Star team seven times. He has been selected for the All-NBA First Team four times, led the league four times in assists per game, and has 10,317 assists for his career.

He is closing in on second all-time. He is the only player to record 15,000 points, 7,000 rebounds, and 10,000 assists in a career. He is the second player in NBA history to average a triple-double for an entire postseason.

He finished with averages of 14.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 10.9 assists in 12 games during the 2007 playoffs. He also sits third on the all-time triple-doubles list with 103. He led the Nets to two Finals appearances and has become on of the greatest point guards of all-time.

We have gone through the top teams and top players of the decade. Now it is time to conclude with the Top Five Moments of the last 10 years in the NBA. These are the moments that I think are the best and will be remembered for years to come. Let's do this in backwards order.

5. 2000 Dunk Contest

"I was in the building in Oakland. I really thought the top was going to come off the building. I've never seen that before."

Those were the words of Kenny Smith after seeing Vince Carter doing what no one had ever seen before. Not since Michael Jordan had fans of the NBA seen anything like they did that night. Carter put on a show, bringing the dunk contest back to the spotlight.

4. Kobe's 81

There are certain times in history when you can remember what you were doing at the moment something took place.

On Jan. 22, 2006, I was studying for a midterm when I got a call from my friend telling me to turn on the Lakers game. He said that Kobe had 26 in the first half and would maybe go for 50. I turned on the TV and I remember thinking maybe he could get 60 but most likely not.

It's funny how wrong I was.

In the second half Bryant went off for 55 points to finish with 81, the second-most in NBA history for one game. I can't help thinking, though, "OK, LeBron. It's your turn."

3. Warriors Defeat Mavericks

In the history of the NBA, a No. 8 seed had only beaten a No. 1 seed twice in the playoffs. The Golden State Warriors knew this going into their series with the Mavericks, who had won 67 games that season.

The Warriors had made it into the playoffs by a hair and now had to face the league's best. In the end, though, the Warriors made history. With a victory, they sent the Mavericks and Mark Cuban back to Dallas wondering what had just happened.

The series itself was fun to watch—league MVP Dirk versus the fast-paced, high scoring, talent-filled Warriors. It will be remembered as one of the biggest upsets in NBA history.

2. LeBron's 25 in a Row

James' brilliance in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals was one of the best playoff performances of all-time. His sheer dominance gave the Cavs a 109-107 overtime win.

He scored 29 of the Cavs last 30 points, including 25 straight. He sliced through Detroit's defense as if it were butter, dunking and hitting floaters. He would rain down threes and jumpers from the perimeter with confidence, never faltering at any point.

His historic performance will go down as one of the best of his career.

1. Celtics vs. Bulls 2009 Playoffs

The Celtics were the No. 2 seed in the East, the Bulls, 7th. Game One set the pace for the series, with the Bulls taking the victory 105-103 in overtime. Derrick Rose scored 36 points in his postseason debut, showing the Celtics that they should not take Chicago lightly.

Game Two was another close one—a 118-115 win for the Celtics. Ray Allen hit a three with two seconds remaining to clinch it for Boston. In this game, there were 15 lead changes, and it was back and forth until the final shot. Former UConn guard Ben Gordon scored 42 points in the loss, and Allen finished with 30.

Game Three was the only game that was a blowout. Boston pounded the Bulls 107-86. In Game Four, things got back to "normal." The game went to two overtimes with the Bulls pulling out a 121-118 victory.

On the last play, John Salmons blocked Paul Pierce's three-point attempt to seal it. Derrick Rose was brilliant again, scoring 23 points along with 11 rebounds and nine assists. Seven Bulls players reached double figures, and Chicago tied the series at two.

Game Five was again decided by three or fewer points—the Celtics won 106-104 in overtime on a Pierce jumper with 3.4 seconds left.

Game Six was another addition to the greatest series ever played. A three-overtime thriller that saw the Bulls tie the series with a 128-127 win. Rose sealed it with a block on Rajon Rondo with eight seconds to play, and the Bulls walked away with the one-point victory.

Game Seven set a national cable television-ratings record. The 109-99 score might be a bit deceiving. The Bulls came back from a 14-points deficit and pulled within five with a minute to play. The defending champions, however, came out victorious.

Ten years of fun are now over, and NBA fans everywhere look forward to another 10 years of excitement.

Read more NBA History news on BleacherReport.com

"The Pearl" Still Shining: An Interview with New York Knicks Legend Earl Monroe

Keith Schlosser — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:46:36 -0500

The NBA, HP, and Microsoft have joined forces to promote the new Windows 7 operating system. NBA legends have been appearing at Best Buy locations around the country to help aid the promotion.

Thanks to Bleacher Report, I was given the tremendous opportunity to take part in the promotion in New York City to meet and interview Knicks legend Earl “The Pearl” Monroe.

Monroe, a Hall of Famer, enjoyed a 13-year career with the New York Knicks and the Baltimore Bullets. Best known for his flashy and jaw dropping moves, Monroe was a pioneer in bringing the playground moves onto the court. His career was capped off by four all-star appearances and a championship ring with the Knicks in 1973.

To this day, he is a special part of the New York community. It was an honor to meet such a lighthearted individual who carries himself with such pride and not to mention, a terrific sense of humor. “Black Jesus” himself sat down with me to discuss his career, today’s NBA—including the current status of the Knicks—what he is up to today, and much more.

Without further adieu, here are 15 questions in honor of the Knicks’ own No. 15, Earl Monroe.

Q: Earl, You were one of the flashiest players on the court during your playing days. How did you come up with all of your signature moves?

A: I didn’t really think about it because I didn’t start playing until I was 14. It was mainly just trial and error. Nowadays, you have clinics where somebody comes and teaches you how to play. I basically taught myself. The things that worked, I kept and the things that didn’t, I threw out. I’m not a self made player, but the things that worked certainly came from playing in the playgrounds.

Q: Besides your flashiness, is there anything else that you would like to be remembered by?

A: That’s an interesting question. More than anything else, the way I understood and played the game. When I came here to New York with bone spurs in my foot, understanding how to play the game really helped me out when I had to adjust my game.

What I usually tell people is had I known networks like ESPN were starting to show highlights, I would have played longer!

Q: Do you have a favorite accomplishment?

A: Well, obviously winning the championship is the pinnacle of everything. The other thing that I am really happy about is the fact that the guys that I played with and I are still friends. They invited me to the 40th anniversary of the first Knicks championship.

Even though I was an enemy at that time (Monroe did not join the Knicks until the 1971-72 season), they felt well enough to invite me to that. The great thing about sports is that if you have not seen anybody in a long time, when you come together, it’s like you haven’t missed a beat.

Q: Was that one of your favorite things about playing with the Knicks?

A: Definitely—the friendships. When people ask me what I miss most about the game, it’s being in the locker room and getting to know the guys. Back in those days, we had roommates. We had to talk basketball and that was a great way to understand the game itself and form those lasting relationships.

Q: Do any of today’s guards remind you of yourself during your career?

A: Well you know, not really. Every now and then, I see guys do things that I might have done, but they have taken it to another level. It’s always good to know when I look back, however, that I can recognize what I did. I’m pretty satisfied with that.

Q: You and Chris Paul both came up in North Carolina. Do you follow his game at all?

A: Yes, my college coach was very close to his family. He has not only become a great player, but a great statesman in terms of the way people see him. That’s a tribute to the great family he grew up with. The game of basketball is one thing, but the image of the game is another thing. I think Chris understands that very well.

Q: And how important is that, to be involved in the community? Do you still try to stay involved with this New York community?

A: Oh yeah, I call myself a man of the people. I was just at a World Children’s Health Association function the other night. The kind of things that they are doing is just fantastic—finding kids with deformities and matching them up with hospitals and doctors to perform operations for free. There are a lot of charitable foundations that people can let themselves become involved in.

Q: Basketball fans may not know that you are involved in Reverse Spin Records. Can you tell me a little about that?

A: Yes! We just finished shooting a couple of music videos. We have got a tremendous pop artist named Ciara Corr. We are trying to move forward. I have been involved in music since 1972 when I started managing two artists from The Jimi Hendrix Band. My family has been involved in music for years, so it’s kind of in my blood. I just wish I could sing!

Q: What do you think of the Knicks this season?

A: Tough so far. I do not think they are as bad as their record, but sometimes you just get into a funk. It is just about getting over the hump.

Q: What do the Knicks need to do to get over the hump?

A: I think a lot of it has to do with leadership. Guys have to look up to somebody. Everybody needs to have their own role and somebody has to be the star.

Q: Is the team lacking that star?

A: They are lacking that star at this point because the team lacks consistency. I think the one thing they can do right now is play their young guys. You might as well focus on your future if you’ve already given up the season.

Q: The development of the young guys was said to be the reason the Knicks did not sign Allen Iverson. Do you agree with that decision?

A: I like playing the young guys. Furthermore, I do not think this is the place for Allen Iverson. At this point in his career, it’s not just about playing. If he were playing in my day when you didn’t make any money, then you play as long as you can. Obviously, Iverson’s made a ton of money, and now it’s time to go for the championship.

Q: In that case, is this really the place for LeBron James?

A: I don’t know that either. Obviously in LeBron’s situation, the money will be there wherever he goes. That being said, you want to go to a place where you can put your name on championship banners. If he is going to come to New York, there would obviously have to be other guys around him.

I could be wrong, but if I were him, that is the situation I would want to put myself in. Cleveland was in bad shape when he got there. Now that franchise is going up, and if he came to the Knicks, it would be like starting all over again.

Q: Should LeBron even be considering the Knicks? Is there that potential to lay the foundation in order to win?

A: I think there is always potential. The young guys have to develop first. I was thinking this morning about Brandon Jennings. His coach is letting him play and realize his potential. When you have a coach that has confidence in you, it makes a big difference in your career.

Jennings started off a little slow, but he is at a plateau now. That is how I was in my career. Scoring 41 points per game in college, I knew I could score!. That being said, the NBA is a different animal. You have to feel like you belong. My coaches did a good job of helping me feel like that.

I guess I am talking about Jennings, because guys have been calling me saying “he almost got as many points as you did!” (referring to his own rookie scoring record of 56 in 1968). Back in the limelight, I suppose!

Q: Thanks Earl. One last question before we go—who had more style, on and off the court, you or Knicks teammate Walt “Clyde” Frazier?

A: Ah, Clyde is Clyde. I will give that nod to him. He had more style.

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The Wizards' Talk Is Cheap and Getting Old

Joe G — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:53:54 -0500

When is enough, enough?

We've heard all of the championship chatter from multiple players on the Wizards this season. Jamison believed. Butler had his take. Then you have the one guy who we expected to be a prognosticator who didn't talk, but now he does which leaves some asking after the latest set of media interviews whether he should go back to being Quiet Zero.

Gil told us last April that he doesn't want to be a distraction this season and laughed at the reports that he could be a handful for the next coach to deal with.

From the Washington Post, "I know everyone thinks I'm going to be the big head case," Arenas said. "But I don't fight with anybody. I don't fight with the coaches. I don't fight with the players. I don't really say anything—only to the media. I'm just a hype man. It's all smoke and mirrors with me."

So how is it that 12 games into the 09-10 season, a season where the expectations have been set at Championship, or bust and the Wizards are being mentioned in the same breath as their wonderful NFL counterparts who set up shop in Ashburn, VA?

This Wizards season has been nothing short of a soap opera and we haven't even gotten out of the first month yet. What the hell is smoke and mirrors when you are quoted saying, "Everyone's got their own individual goals, I guess," "Hidden agendas. You can't win like that. I've never been on a team where you have eight free agents next year. I've never played on a team like that. I've never seen it turn out well. Sometimes it works out for the best because everybody's hungry and everybody's fighting. Sometimes it works out for the worst when everybody's out for their own."

Then we hear from Michael Lee today via Twitter that "Just for clarification, Gilbert Arenas & Brendan Haywood do not have a rift. Their comments were not directed at each other."

So who the hell is the rift with? When your franchise player, and let's not sugar foot this, Gilbert is the franchise player, but when he says that 14 out of 15 guys get along, somebody needs to come forward and say let's cut the BS. It's about that time for Antawn to step forward and insert a giant Adidas into somebody's ass and get all 15 of these guys on the same page.

The real question we have left to ask ourselves at this point is why did we believe them in the first place? Kyle Weidie from TruthAboutIt.net asked that very same question back in September. But the issue doesn't start there, it goes back further.

Why is it that year in and year out DC is promised great green pastures and championship dreams only to end up with a huge steamy pile of manure at the end of every season? We've become accustomed to this as we take the losing season, go into the off season and basically forget what it tasted like and get right back in line for another serving.

Even the Capitals which now have the most exciting player in hockey and seem poised to break a two decade long championship drought may have trouble breaking through that nightmare called the Penguins. It just always seems that the local teams in the four major sports cannot get breaks (the good kind anyway).

Going back to Wizards, is it really just coincidence that nothing seems to ever fall the right way? Could there really be credence to the Curse of Les Boulez?

Back in 2007 Michael Wilbon penned an article for the Post in which he outlined some of the bad "misfortunes" of the Washington Wizards, which included these memories:

Bernard King becoming an all-star, then injuring himself after the break and essentially never playing for the Bullets again?

Mark Price coming to town in 1995 to be the point guard the Bullets needed before suffering injuries that would limit him to a total of seven games here?

John "Hot Plate" Williams, the 6-foot-7 phenom out of Louisiana State whose game was so sweet he made Magic Johnson rave . . . until Williams ate himself out of the league.

"Dinner Bell" Mel Turpin did the same. Kevin Duckworth seemed to weigh about 280 when the Bullets acquired him, but got up to 325 or so before training camp.

The Bullets were poised and ready to draft Reggie Miller out of UCLA in 1987, but the Pacers unexpectedly snatched him and the Bullets wound up with Muggsy Bogues...for a year until he left in the expansion draft. Gheorghe Muresan appeared to be the giant centerpiece for a pretty imposing front line with Chris Webber and Juwan Howard, except that Muresan hurt his back filming the movie "My Giant" with Billy Crystal over the summer after that 1997 playoff appearance and for all practical purposes was done.

Webber, who represented as much hope as Arenas and Butler together when he arrived in 1994, suffered a shoulder injury and went off to titillate Northern California with playoff runs there. Even when Howard remained with the Bullets, via a David Stern mulligan, his $105 contract turned the town against him.

Part of me, however irrational this sounds, was convinced the Wizards needed to move out of Capital Centre, that a nice shiny new arena would change everything...and I was proven wrong. Ike Austin came and was terrible here after being really good in Miami. Ben Wallace went away before he became one of the great defensive forces of the last 10 years. The franchise finally gets the No. 1 pick in the draft—and the only thing worse than having the No. 1 pick in a year when there's no great franchise-altering player, is taking a high school kid. Kwame Brown turns out to be the worst No. 1 overall pick since LaRue Martin in 1972. Michael Jordan, the second greatest winner in league history after Bill Russell, couldn't get the team to the playoffs.

Stuff just happens to people. Andray Blatche got shot before he played his first game. Mitch Richmond, who played 3,000 minutes in a season four times before he got here, apparently had left it all on the court in California before he got here.

I know the Wizards people, the ones who remember it all so clearly, don't want to see this recounted today and it's understandable...but so many of the rest of us can't see Butler and Arenas go down without connecting the dots...without saying in a very high-pitched tone," How can this happen again?"

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/05/AR2007040502262.html

That is a lot of crap for one franchise to go through, no doubt about that, but a good portion of the Bullets/Wizards FAIL was due to the crappy management we had for the longest time. Abe Pollin's loyalty to Wes being the main culprit. That's why this was supposed to be different though. Ernie Grunfeld is a proven winner, a bona fide, well respected GM among many NBA circles.

But if this team doesn't get significantly better in a hurry how can you not start to point the finger at the architect of the plan? This is his team, his coach.

The one thing we don't need more of is excuses. If it's not injuries, it's not getting along, or the young kids don't understand the system. Perhaps the system doesn't work for the personnel. Maybe it's the coaches fault. Could it be because Gilbert is too selfish? Is it because Gilbert doesn't talk? Now Gilbert talks too much. Gilbert needs to pass more.

Whatever your flavor may be, all we have heard since we were leading the Eastern Conference in 2006/2007 and sending our coach and all stars to Vegas has been excuse after excuse after excuse.

The Big Three seem about this distant now

This city deserves better.

The fans deserve better.

Imagine how nice it would be to finally root for a team that actually lived up to the hype that THEY put out there. You wanna be a championship basketball team, first things first, act like one. Stop the finger pointing.

It's time for every member of the Washington Wizards to take a deep long look in the mirror and remind themselves why they play this game. If you don't play to win championships, you need to get the hell off the team.

All the teams that have won championships have done it with star players, role players and bench players. The most important group out of those three could arguably be the role players. But if you've got role players who want to be stars and bench guys who whine and bitch about playing time you will end up where we've been for the last 3 decades, watching the Finals from home.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Lhw4M-GTg[/youtube]

I learned a long time ago that if you need to brag about what you've done to help others or how much you've sacrificed, you really haven't done sh*t. Your actions should speak louder than anything you could possibly say.

I guess the bottom line is, enough with the chatter already, can we just have a team that wins at any cost?

Can this team simply shut up and play basketball before the season gets anymore out of hand?

Then again, who the hell am I kidding, these are our Washington Bullets/Wizards, this is where....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdK8s4Dc-Rs[/youtube]

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