NBA: Only the Strong Survive

When Michael Jordan retired following the 1998 season, an era ended not just for the Bulls and the city of Chicago.

The NBA as a whole went through a complete change.

The glory days of the ‘80s and ‘90s unofficially ended as Jordan walked away and the rest of the league was locked out.

Between Michael’s exit and the emergence of LeBron, Wade, and Anthony, the league went through some depressing times.

Legends like Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwan, and even Jordan himself retired unceremoniously from teams they never should have joined. New personalities attempted to take over the game, yet fell incredibly short.

Between the 1999 and 2007 seasons, we’ve seen two teams gobble up seven championships—teams with Hall of Fame players and coaches.

But the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs couldn’t bring back what the NBA had lost. The league went through a period where international players flooded team rosters, and the United States couldn’t field a team capable of finishing better than third in international competition.

Now, the NBA is in a great period of rebirth.

Two all-time greats in LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are battling nightly for the right to be the best in the world.

A new crop of point guards in Chris Paul and Deron Williams have brought speed, excitement, and unselfishness back to a game that sorely needed it.

And the old guards—Steve Nash and Jason Kidd—seem reluctant to relinquish their crown.

Amidst a wild championship chase where many around the world are ready to signal a new era of NBA greatness, one great player has been lost in the shuffle.

Through all the down times the NBA has gone through recently, Allen Iverson has remained one of the most consistent and tenacious players the league has ever seen.

Iverson’s greatness does not need to be discussed. It’s his place in history that needs to be affirmed.

Iverson’s game has few weaknesses, but the memory of him may not be as strong as it should be.  If anything, Iverson’s timing was all wrong.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird came in and made the NBA popular again.

Four years later, they were joined by Michael, Charles, Hakeem, and Stockton and the good times kept going. Players that will forever be linked to one another because of their arrival together.

Other superstars have also had this luxury. LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony will always be linked. Dwayne Wade came in with them and a new era was born.

Deron Williams and Chris Paul went three and four in the same draft and will play mirroring careers.

Kobe Bryant came into the league in one of the best draft classes of all time and we watched him grow in front of our eyes. He played with a legend, won three championships, and is now the heir to Jordan’s throne.

Iverson had no such luxuries. He came into the league as an attitude problem waiting to happen.

He didn’t have a transcendent Larry Bird to compliment his Magic Johnson. He had more of a Ryan Leaf to his Peyton Manning.

Iverson came into the league being compared to Stephon Marbury. While Marbury is hardly a flameout—he is a two-time all star—he is hardly comparable to Iverson. It was players like Marbury who defined the Iverson generation. Brash, thuggish, selfish players who would never succeed on a team level, or appeal to a wide audience.

Their styles were so similar, yet the result was completely different. Iverson has never taken a night off for his team and has always begged to play on a championship squad. Marbury couldn’t stand being paid less than Kevin Garnett and orchestrated his own NBA exile that has led him to the bench at Madison Square Garden.

Iverson’s look and attitude may have reminded folks of the brooding Marbury, but his talents were far superior.

The problem is, the league found itself with more Marbury's and fewer Iverson's. Me-first players like Steve Francis, Darius Miles, and Vince Carter littered the league and stood more for wasted talent than anything else.

Ten years after he came into the league, Iverson has outlasted his contemporaries.

The unlikely rose that grew from the urban cement the NBA represented between 2000 and 2006, Allen Iverson has grown up.

No longer a petulant kid with more basketball ability than good sense, he has become one of the NBA’s all-time greats and has been an All-Star in two memorable generations.

It’s a shame that Iverson did his best work in a time when no one was paying attention, but his consistency and longevity has let him shine alongside the greats and the not so greats.

One of the best to ever pick up a basketball, Allen Iverson will not be defined by any generation. He has transcended a single time period and has earned the highest level of success. He’s timeless.