Allen Iverson Will Go Down As One of The Greatest to Play The Game

He scored almost 20,000 points this decade.

He averaged 27 points per game this decade and 6 assists per game.

He won four scoring titles this decade!

He has 10 All-Star selections this decade.

Twice, he won the All-Star game MVP.

Three times he lead the league in steals.

He made All-NBA seven times this decade.

He was the 2001 MVP and took a Sixers team to the Finals whose second best player was Eric Snow!

He even won a game in the Finals.

He had some of the best performances in NBA history this decade.

He is ALLEN IVERSON and he was not included on TNT's Decades Best Player Poll.

Things like this happening to Iverson have been common lately and it is clear the media is trying to destroy this man, but they've taken it way too far. It is extremely unfair to take things away from Allen Iverson's career. He has changed basketball and dominated the past decade.

Kenny Smith said it best: "I have one problem with this list, Allen Iverson should be on it because he dominated the past decade and should be the fourth spot." Even Charles Barkley agreed! TNT blew it on this poll by not including Iverson, instead they featured the good guys LeBron James and Steve Nash.

Iverson who has clearly had a better decade than James and Nash was not even included on this list. Kobe Bryant was No. 1, which is well deserved and was followed by Tim Duncan, Shaq, and Kevin Garnett.

Iverson should have been in KG's spot. He would have been in KG's spot if someone that made a fair decision by looking at achievements and not off-court issues put this poll together. This goes to no surprise though because Allen Iverson is arguably the most hated player ever.

He brought the cornrows, tattoos, and hip-hop to the NBA and not too many people liked it. When he was the best player in the league, for about five years, he was loved by the fans. Chances are though, that Stern and his people didn't really like a guy who looked like a gangster running the NBA. Now Iverson has a tarnished reputation in the league and is trying to build it back up, playing team-oriented ball with the Sixers.

His whole career he has proven doubters wrong and he has achieved things in this league that only some accomplish. Iverson is easily the best little man to ever play the game and he is probably going to go down as one of the 25, if not 20 greatest players to play the game and will for sure be in the Hall of Fame. Iverson's will be remembered as one of the 4 or 5 greatest players of this decade no matter what TNT thinks.

It is wrong to take away from an amazing career like Iverson's. So what he wasn't the perfect person and did not say the right things, but that doesn't mean he wasn't one of the greatest basketball players ever. He has done it all and if he had a championship I'm pretty sure he would crack the top 20 for greatest players ever. 

Bottom line is if Iverson looked like Steve Nash (no tattoos, no cornrows, no baggy clothes) people would be including this guy on their top 15 of all-time lists. But he started trends that some people don't like and now their hating on him for those things.

Hate Iverson all you want and say what you want about the Iverson of 2010 but one thing is for sure, two things for certain, Allen Iverson is going to go down as one of the greatest players to play the game and will be remembered for a long time.