The Argument for Allen Iverson

Allen Iverson spent a year at Georgetown in the 90’s where he was running up and down the floor, lighting up teams with his speed and grit, and showing us that Georgetown might come back to prominence, but from the 1 and not the 5. It was an intriguing thought to imagine Georgetown as a “point guard oriented” school, but it was becoming reality.

Then, the NBA came calling (and who isn’t going to turn down the money?) and AI was drafted by the 76ers and Pat Croce. Then the Sixers sucked and after a year of sucking under John Lucas with this new phenom on their team they fired Lucas and hired Larry Brown (already a perpetual job-hopper) to come in and clean up the mess. Now it’s 1997 and Larry Brown comes in to find this Iverson kid with all the potential in the world, but one of the worst attitudes you can imagine.

{This is where I have to interject and say “Maybe AI was pissed that John Lucas got fired. Maybe he thought it was his fault? Maybe AI ONLY wanted to play for John Lucas. Did anyone ever consider the possibility that John Thompson (Iverson’ coach at Georgetown) is buddies with John Lucas and John Lucas came so highly recommended by Thompson that once Lucas was gone AI said “How the hell am I going to play for anyone else?” How many late-night (and long) phone calls were made between AI and Thomspon: with AI venting and Thompson trying to calm him down, but all the time telling him to play hard and not lose his drive? I don’t think Larry Brown killed the relationship and I don’t think AI killed the relationship. The firing of John Lucas killed the relationship…so if you want to blame someone blame Pat Croce.}

Now, this isn’t to say that Larry Brown is not in some way culpable. Certainly he is. Pat Croce has been quoted as saying that he had to name Larry Brown the “Grand Poobah of Basketball Operations” just to get him to come to Philly. Iverson has been quoted as saying “We’re talking about practice! I’m da MVP!” So they both played a part in this not being the combo that it should have been. Hooooooowever, it was still a combo.

Larry Brown had nothing else to work with in Philly. When the Sixers made their run to the Finals (and all the other appearances they made as a highly ranked team in the playoffs) they only had one other guy who you MIGHT consider being worthy of being on an NBA floor besides AI. Who is that you ask?

Eric Snow.

Eric Snow was serviceable, but he flopped out of the league in a heartbeat after the Sixers cut him loose. Why? because he wasn’t a legitimate sidekick in the NBA to a guy like Iverson.

Other than that, who did AI have to work with? Dikembe Mutumbo (but only his finger-wag worked…he couldn’t do anything to warrant it anymore because he couldn’t MOVE anymore.) Aaron McKie? The best way to describe Aaron McKie is “Eric Snow wannabe.” (Yeah, he wasn’t even good enough to NOT be good enough to be on the floor with AI but he was their only option.) Tyrone Hill, George Lynch, Matt Geiger, Rodney Buford, Jumaine Jones (yes, I spelled it right!), Todd MacCulloch, Kevin Ollie, Roshown McLeod, Raja Bell (yes, before Mike D’Antoni got a hold of him and made him look better than he really was.) AND, Anthony Miller.

This was the garbage that Iverson had to carry around for an entire season. He averaged 31 points a game that season with NOTHING around him. That’s nearly impossible. Who’s going to feed you the ball? Nobody does…you feed it to yourself.

In his career in Philly he averaged: 23, 22, 26, 28, 31, 31, 27, 26, 30, 33, and 31 points a game. WITH NOTHING ON THE FLOOR BUT HIMSELF!!!!!!

He won 4 scoring titles. He was the MVP. He was the Rookie of the Year ad he drug a team (by himself) to the NBA Finals where they stole Game 1 from a team that eventually three-peated.

What more do you want from the man?

“Well, he had a bad attitude!” I didn’t say his attitude was great. You know who else had a sucky attitude? Michael Jordan. He’s the pain the ass to end all pains in the ass. Don’t talk to me about AI’s attitude.

“Well, he was selfish!” Ummm, how do you expect his team to do anything on the floor when he’s the ONLY NBA-worthy player that is hitting the court every night? How? He did more with less than anybody. Put AI on the Lakers and see how this thing turns out. He’d be just like Kobe. Good years with Shaq…some down years with nobody…he’d learn to be coached and win a ring. Period.

“Well, he really sucks now and we see how bad his attitude REALLY is!” Listen, when the team that you DRUG to the Finals, by YOURSELF, trades you to Denver your attitude is going to suck. I don’t care who you are. How do you think Chauncey felt about being dumped by the Pistons. I know the Nuggets had a better season than the Pistons (and he was dumped for AI) but he was ridiculous during the playoffs and his attitude was HORRIBLE. Look at the way Chauncey played some of those games and tell me he was an angel. You can’t.

“Well, now AI’s deserted the Grizzlies, so there!” Listen, I don’t think it’s the greatest showing ever to be leave for “Personal Reasons” and then basically be hanging out in Atlanta (which is apparently what he’s doing) but I can understand how a guy like that who’s made his bread being “the man” doesn’t want to be a reserve and is pretty much over it. I’m not saying it’s right to just desert your team, but I can understand…

Where does this all leave us?

I think it’s pretty simple stuff. Allen Iverson is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Period. He won 4 scoring titles. He took a team to the Finals on his back. He averaged over 25 points a game 9 times. He defines an entire generation of players who are gritty, will do anything to win, and don’t really care what people think. Allen Iverson is inextricably linked to the NBA in this era, and that’s a good thing.

Say what you want about the man. Make fun of him saying “I’m da MVP!” but always remember this. He was a damn good player.

Check out my college picks after the jump…we’ve got some doozies this week!

(25) West Virginia @ (5) Cincinnati: This game is Friday night and will probably give the Bearcats a scare, but not a loss. West Virginia is improving, but not enough to stop Cincy (especially not IN Cincy.) This is one of those games where everyone gets their panties all in a twist over an “upset special” and then the game ends up being 34-0. Bearcats rip the Mountaineers

(3) Texas @ Baylor: Here’s another one of those “panties” games that won’t pan out. Maybe Baylor scores first, but that’s about it. The Horns hook ‘em again

(7) Georgia Tech @ Duke: If you’re a Georgia Tech fan or you live in Atlanta you know how afraid the Jackets Nation is of games like this. Really crappy opponent, on the road, you’re supposed to kill ‘em and you lay an egg. The part Jackets fans forget is that all that fear was cultivated under Chan Gailey…and he got fired. Paul Johnson is the new Sheriff in town and I don’t think that’ll be an issue anymore. Jackets sting the Devs

Tennessee @ Ole Miss: In the wake of the whole “3 Vols freshman attempt an armed robbery” thing I think the thing that galls me the most is the fact that the person who had a gun stuck in his face during the robbery says these kids should be allowed to play Football at Tennessee again. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I know you love the Vols and everything, but are you serious? This alone is a reason for Tennessee to never win a game ever again. The Rebs win because they’re supposed to…

(1)Florida @ South Carolina: Florida doesn’t lose at inopportune times, but South Carolina sometimes wins at inopportune times for other teams. I’m sure how that will play out on Saturday, but I think it’s safe to say that Florida will get a scare and some help from the officials. Gators win because Mike Slive said so…

(10) Iowa @ (11) Ohio State: This game would’ve meant something if these teams were #1 and #2 like Ohio State and Michigan were a couple years ago, but they aren’t and it doesn’t. The Big Ten sucks and we all know it. Let’s just this game what it is…inconsequential. Hawkeyes probably put up a good on now that it’s too late…

(14) Miami @ North Carolina: Since GT in is the driver’s seat in the ACC I don’t really think it matters who they play in the ACC Title Game and I don’t really think it matters how the chase to meet them there ends up, but since this is Miami (Butch Davis’ old school) and North Carolina (Butch Davis’ new school) I’ll make a pick. Randy Shannon outcoaches ole Butch…

{On some related notes: No, Utah will not beat TCU. Miss. St. MIGHT be able to beat Bama if Terrence Cody has a bad game and Notre Dame still sucks. THE END}

Tune in on Saturday for my NFL picks and some NFL news from The General

Bookmark and Share
Posted by The General on Nov 13th, 2009 and filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

4 Responses for “The Argument for Allen Iverson”

  1. Mirande says:
    November 29, 2009 at 8:31 am

    Thanks for your support, i dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. I used google translator

    Reply
  2. george lynch says:
    January 31, 2010 at 8:59 am

    In my dreams

    Reply
  3. anthony miller says:
    March 18, 2010 at 3:11 am

    [...] breakdown by Anthony Miller, paid political operative of John McCain and chairman of the LD20 …The Argument for Allen Iverson | UncategorizedAllen Iverson spent a year at Georgetown in the 90's where he was running up and down the floor, [...]

    Reply

Leave a Reply