NBA Rumors: Why Allen Iverson Is Not the Answer for LA Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers have enough problems right now to compound their woes with Allen Iverson, an over-the-hill shooting guard with no interest in passing the ball.

Has the team's lack of guard play become so serious that one of its major targets is only receiving offers from Los Angeles and Puerto Rico?

No other team in the league has shown recent interest in Iverson, and the Lakers were reportedly going to start him off in the D-League after signing him.

These should be two large hints to management that this idea needs to be taken off the board. The D-League is for young, upcoming talents, and not for aging prima donnas hanging onto one last shot at stardom.

The Lakers have certainly shown this season that they need a quality point guard. Derek Fisher is 37 years old and cannot keep up with quicker players, while Steve Blake has missed time due to injury and Darius Morris is a rookie.

The team's offense has been dismal, ranking 21st in the league by averaging just 92.7 points per game. The current players have struggled to move the ball and maintain fluidity.

The defense has been solid, but the lack of point guard play is evident in the Lakers' inability to get steals. Los Angeles has given up just 90.9 points per game, which is good enough for 4th in the NBA. However, the team is averaging just 5.6 steals per game, the worst throughout the league.

Iverson would only make the offensive problems worse and would not be an upgrade on defense.

He shoots the ball too much and towards the end of his career, became progressively less interested in passing. At his best, Iverson averaged nearly eight assists. In his last season in the NBA in 2009-10, which featured short stints with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Memphis Grizzlies, A.I. recorded just four assists a night. 

Iverson is everything that the Lakers should not be looking for in a backcourt partner for Kobe Bryant. Bryant has by far the highest usage rate in the league this season (35.0), which means that he uses more of his team's possessions than any other player. Throw Iverson on the court with him and Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum would never touch the ball.

Bryant and Iverson are both volume shooters; they need a lot of shots to get in rhythm and get points. Bryant is averaging 24 attempts per game this year while Iverson averaged just under 15 shots per game in his last decently productive season with Detroit in 2008-09. Gasol and Bynum take 13.5 and 12.2 attempts per night respectively.

If Iverson were to join the Lakers, it would be impossible for him to take the necessary amount of shots to be productive without stealing touches from the big men. Iverson has also been extremely unreceptive to the idea of being a bench player.

The Lakers need an unselfish player at the point guard position who's main focus is distributing the ball to the team's stars. Iverson's main focus would be to prove that he can still score like he used to, and to earn a quick buck to prevent bankruptcy. 

Defensively, Iverson's unparalleled quickness allowed him to get steals regularly when he was younger. As his first step started to gradually get slower, his ability to pick players' pockets became less effective. In his best defensive season in 2001-02, AI snatched 2.8 steals every game. In his last season with Philadelphia and Memphis in 2009-10, he averaged just 0.7 takeaways per game.

In addition to shooting too much and playing poor defense, Iverson would also make the Lakers—who are already an old team—even older.

Los Angeles has the third oldest roster in the league and four of the team's five starters are over 30 years old. Iverson is 36 and has not played an NBA game in almost two years. Adding an old and out-of-shape player would be the least savvy move that the Lakers' management could make.

The team is desperate for help at the 1-spot, but there are several better options than Iverson, who is not even a true point guard. The Lakers have shown interest in Gilbert Arenas, and even brought him in for a private workout on Sunday. Arenas is also not an ideal fit for LA, but he is six years younger than Iverson and has already played in a sixth-man role without publicly complaining about it.

The Lakers have also inquired about Cleveland Cavaliers' point guard Ramon Sessions, who would be a better option than Arenas or Iverson. Sessions is not a spectacular player, but is solid and reliable and does not have the ego that the Lakers' other targets have. He will not have a problem with deferring to Bryant, Bynum and Gasol.

The ideal option for L.A. would be a deal that would move either Bynum or Gasol and bring in either Deron Williams or Rajon Rondo. Williams is unlikely to re-sign with New Jersey if the team is unable to trade for another star, and Boston has reportedly been looking to trade Rondo and start a rebuilding process. 

When weighing all the Lakers' options to improve the point guard position, Iverson is the least attractive prospect. Arenas causes the same concerns over poor shot selection and sub-par defense, but he is six years younger than AI. Sessions is not as talented as Arenas or Iverson, but would unquestionably accept his role with the team. Lastly, Williams and Rondo are both All-Star caliber players and would be better options, even if the Lakers have to move Bynum or Gasol to get him.

"The Answer" does not solve any of the problems the Lakers currently face, and other players are available to fill L.A.'s needs at point guard.