Allen Iverson Is Still The "Answer"

Allen Iverson is by no means a has-been. He is still the player who can blow by any defender anytime he wants. He is still the same player that can drop 50 points on you're team on any day of the week. He is still the same player who can break his defenders ankles with his deadly crossover.

After reading that you probably think that I am an idiot. No I am not. If you know basketball you should know that I am right.

You probably say remember what he did to the Detroit Pistons, and say he can't find a ring and needs to accept a reserve role. You probably say he is a thug who ruined the league with his hip-hop image and bad attitude. Than you probably say something like why did the Nuggets do so well without him. Than you say he is 34 years old, he has to be declining.

These questions are very easy to answer if you look deep into the question. So if you want to understand this, but you don't like Iverson you are going to have to do something. I know it will be hard. It depends on the person you are.

But if you want to understand this I suggest you forget about the tattoos, the braids, the "we talking about practice!" rants. Forget about the things those old racist people who put about Iverson in you're mind. Ignore it all just until the end of this article. Then you can continue to hate.

Allen Iverson has been labeled unfairly like no other basketball player or maybe athlete. He has been hated on by old white men, who want to see no hip-hop and want all fundamental basketball. He has been hated his whole career for the wrong reasons.

The thing is Iverson is not fake. He may be the realest player the league has ever seen and the only player that had to guts to bring his culture (which was by some unfairly labeled a bad culture) into the league. He did what he wanted and did not appear in any NBA Cares commercials because he knew it was all to show that the NBA is not a league with bad players, and that it has nice stars who all care. He described it as "fake." He was himself at all times and set trends for young kids and other players in the league that will go on forever. What the league is today Allen pretty much started. He revolutionized the league and David Stern and other executives and officials hated it.

So they waited until Allen had a bad year. They got it. But everyone put the blame on Iverson for the Pistons failed 2008-09 season. People started saying he is "washed up" because he no longer averaged 28 points with six assists. People said he couldn’t lead a team anymore.

Nobody saw that Allen made a major sacrifice to try and make it work. The Pistons did not let Iverson play like he has. The way he has played has led him to become one of the greatest players the league has ever seen, and it most certainly made him a first ballot Hall Of Famer. It led him to many records and awards that other players in the league dream of achieving.

Allen Iverson sacrificed all of that. He could have had more points, more assists, more steals, and many other individual achievements this season. But he wanted to make sacrifice in order for his team to win. Little did he know his teammates would get to play their style and they would not let Iverson play Iverson's style even a little bit.

Allen took a career low 14 shots per game. He could not do what he does best, which is scoring the ball because of this. He was not used at all in the Pistons offense. Than he is injured and all of a sudden people say he is faking. So when he returned he had to come off the bench.

How stupid does it sound to bring a guy off the bench who has come off of a 50 win season, averaging 26.4 ppg and 7.1 apg, and has roughly 24,000 points for his career, with a league MVP, and 10 all-star selections, along with outstanding career averages of 27.1 ppg and 6.2 apg along with 2.2 spg, who is one of the greatest ever and toughest ever to play the game..

That is a major sacrifice no matter how many games he does it for. First they asked him to play like Chauncy Billups but score a little more and then he tried that and it did not work. But it was all blamed on him. He had major egos around him that did not let him work either. Coach Michael Curry was not ready for this talent. Joe Dumars traded for Iverson but wanted Stuckey to start becoming the franchise guard at the same time. Rip was treated badly because his best friend was traded and he was asked to come off the bench.

All this was blamed on Iverson. But a wise man once said "One man can't make a team and one man can't break a team". Allen Iverson sacrificed a lot people and you should realize that if he took his usual 18-20 shots per game he would be top three in the league in scoring because he is one of the greatest scorers ever, and if he gets the ball and gets to play his way his team will always excel and he will be happy.

Everything will go well if Iverson gets to play the way he wants. That is not selfish, instead it just shows that you have a lot of talent when the best way you can succeed is when you are the main guy. Allen Iverson is not a reserve and he is not declining. If Allen Iverson is aloud to be Allen Iverson on his team he can win you 50 games and at the same time win himself some awards. He is just that good.

He is 34 now so he is going to get the usual slowing down that every great player goes through, but just like all the other greats who have played, Iverson is just another great player that will always work hard to make sure he does not get to a point where he is not a star. The only way Iverson can slow down is by slowing himself down. He needs to know that the one reason he is a legend is because he did not change for anybody and his way worked best for everybody.

No matter where Allen signs for next season he is going to play with a chip on his shoulder and prove to everybody why you should Never Question "The Answer."