Allen Iverson: Blackballed from NBA?
A.I. in Charlotte reunited with Larry Brown. Can it work?
According to a rumor in Hoops Market, Allen Iverson is considering taking his talents to China next season. While this doesn’t really shock me, I still am befuddled by the fact that not a single team in the NBA is willing to add the future Hall of Famer. I know this is the part where everyone is going to start saying well he’s a selfish basketball player, volume shooter, can’t play defense and doesn’t want to practice. Yes, we all know this. You can’t tell me that not one team could use him as an option at one of their two guard spots. Looking at the teams in the NBA, I see the fit that makes the most sense for A.I. being the Charlotte Bobcats. Charlotte just lost Raymond Felton to free agency and they have unproven D.J. Augustin as his replacement. Also Larry Brown is the coach and he is probably the only coach that The Answer truly respects and that can understand him. Charlotte’s scheme fits A.I. as well as they are a team that relies on perimeter players for scoring along with the scoring they get from the excellent defense they play. Imagine a team with Stephen Jackson, Iverson, Gerald Wallace as your perimeter defenders. Make no mistake this is definitely a risk because Iverson’s track record has been bad the last two years with his fallout in Detroit and in Memphis (w/ Philly he was on decent behavior) but I just feel like with Larry Brown as the coach it could definitely work out.
In regards to Iverson’s legacy as an NBA basketball player, I choose to remember the good things that the man did for basketball. He never showed fear no matter how difficult the opposition was and he put the Philadelphia 76ers back on the map in the late 90′s and early part of this decade. He never hid the type of person he was. He was defiant. He was the cornerstone of the hip-hop crossed with the NBA generation. He released an explicit rap album that was no different from any other rapper’s content (I listened to the single on it, he’s the best two way athlete/rapper of all time in my book). He bucked all the trends and walked his path alone, unwilling to conform to any standard. While that might have ruined his status as a media darling or elevated it as a coach’s nightmare, we all knew between the lines A.I. went to war with maximum effort. I will never and nor should you ever forget that historic 2001 NBA Finals Game 1 Performance he had when the Lakers were expected to destroy the Sixers in a sweep. He poured in 48 points including a memorable step back jumper over Tyronn Lue in the corner that had Hollywood and David Stern cursing under its breath.
All the young kids wanted his shoes, wanted to crossover like him, wear the sleeve like him, wear the corn rows, etc etc. Iverson changed the game for a significant amount of time in his own way. We’re talking about a man who may in the end be considered the greatest scoring little man of all time, a man who led a very small and weak NBA team all the way to the NBA Finals (The starters outside of Iverson were Mutombo, George Lynch, Eric Snow and Tyrone Hill), he played every game like it was his last and drove into the lane with no regard for his body whatsoever. He played through numerous injuries all over his body and never was afraid of the moment. Yes, Allen Iverson was and still is a selfish basketball player who does not want to accept a lesser role to stay in the NBA. He is a true Sixer for life and always will be regarded up there with Dr. J, Wilt, Mo Cheeks, Moses Malone and Charles Barkley.
He is a first ballot Hall of Famer in my book and I will not let a couple of sour stints to end an otherwise brilliant career effect my view of him.
This is just an opinion… so please Pardon My Bias
