NBA Daily Dribbles: The End Of The End For Allen Iverson

What I’m Reading

• We’re likely witnessing the demise of an NBA pioneer with Allen Iverson’s release from the Sixers. It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

• LeBron has launched the beginning stages of his own bailout plan for the NBA’s dismal financial situation. In other words, he’s changing his jersey number.

• I’ve never seen the movie, “Say Anything”, but I’d imagine that the Hawks’ courtship of Zydrunas Ilgauskas is somewhat relatable to this.

•Seriously, just call P.J. and Sam. This is getting ridiculous.

What I Think About It

Iverson

As a wannabe Georgetown University alumni (I was there in spirit), I’m taking Iverson’s year-long foray into “former-NBA All-Star” status especially hard.

It was clear that when he signed with Memphis that this was the beginning of the end. After three less-than-impressive games with the Grizzlies, it appeared that his ’09-’10 season was to be short-lived and his career had vanished quicker than G.O.B. Bluth made his family’s yacht disappear in an episode of “Arrested Development”. (Much like Iverson's skills, it had sunk to the bottom of the ocean.)

Hope was restored a few weeks later as Iverson was to make his triumphant return to Philadelphia and the game of basketball. Things started well—the Sixers sold out a few games, he had a few productive nights, but it didn’t feel the same.

And now we’re faced with the tough-to-swallow reality that we may have seen the last of our favorite six-foot former scoring champion.

When all is said and done, Allen is doing the right thing. He isn’t being selfish by causing distractions to his teammates. He isn’t being selfish by not bowing out of the basketball world the way we always pictured him doing so. And most importantly, he isn’t being selfish by leaving without saying goodbye.

He ushered in a new realm of basketball and set the bar for guys like Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and many more to come. And he gave us well over a decade’s worth of excitement, and that’s all we could ask for.

All that, and…

“Practice, man. Practice.”

(And I hope I’m not forced to eat my words if he ends up signing with another team. I’m particularly proud of what I just wrote.)

LeBron

LeBron is about to pass Kobe in one of the more important aspects of the Association—jersey sales.

James has officially put in his request to have his jersey number changed from his current Jordan tribute ‘23’ to his Olympic style ‘6’.

The. Amount. Of. New. LeBron. Jerseys. Sold. Will. Be. Ridiculous.

I decided to make every word its own sentence for dramatic effect. I felt it was the best way to convey the magnitude of what is about to happen.

Now, LeBron likely won’t see a decent portion of the sales from his new jerseys. The money spent on them gets thrown into a pool that is distributed between teams and then players based on seniority.

Hello, end of the NBA’s financial woes.

If I was the Nets PR person (and thankfully I am not—that is one tough job to take on) I’d immediately be on the phone with the billboard company making sure that the slogan “Bring your new jersey to New Jersey!” was plastered everywhere around town.

Oh, and what a coincidence. The Cavs play in New Jersey tomorrow night!

Would it surprise me at all if the slogan somehow ended up in his visitor’s locker? No, but I demand some cut of the profits NJ will get if he does indeed sign there this summer.

Ilgauskas

I admire the will power of the Hawks. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve fought insufferably hard for a girl who was fixed on one guy and the guy wasn’t me. Well, actually it was probably about three times.

Regardless, that’s basically what the Hawks find themselves doing right now.

Zydrunas, in all likelihood, hasn’t even remotely considered returning to the NBA with any other team other than the Cavs.

Why teams are wasting their precious time approaching him to see if they can sway him in another direction is beyond me. They should be going after buyout prizes like Mikki Moore, Father Time Michael Finley , and the injured Larry Hughes .

The Hawks aren’t planning on trying to sign anyone else if they can’t land Ilgauskas, which means we’re going to have to sit through this awkward “he’s just not that into you” storyline for a few more weeks. Stay tuned.

Celtics

Yes, the Celtics did find some success when they conjured up some insurance during their title run when they acquired Sam Cassell and P.J. Brown mid-season.

But was Stephon Marbury the answer last year? No.

Is Michael Finley the answer this year? What do you think?

Not a chance.

Finley was great back in the day. But what evidence is there to suggest that life can be shot back into Finley because it was done before with two completely different players on a team whose core was two years younger?

The C’s missed some great (reported) opportunities at the deadline.

Yes, it is because they want Ray Allen to stick around after this season. But come on. There are ways around that.

Danny Ainge, have you followed the news at all? The Cavs are doing it with Ilgauskas. You did the same thing with Gary Payton.

Sure, it’s technically against the rules to pre-arrange this kind of thing, but nobody can call you out on it. Everybody does it.

Wouldn’t a Celtics team with Monta Ellis/Kevin Martin and Ray Allen look pretty good right about now?

PD

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